"United we bargain, divided we beg."

Friday, July 18, 2008

More Cheesemaking Notes

I love the clean pyramid of fresh cheese that comes out of my cone shaped colander. When I make chevre, I don't weight the curds, so I get a big, airy pyramid like this one. When I'm making queso fresco, I press the curds as hard as I can and I get a much smaller, denser cone.


But the cheese isn't salted at this point, so I have to use a fork to mash it all up and stir in the salt. I haven't really measured the salt, I just taste test as I go along, but I'd say I use perhaps a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half of salt to a pyramid of cheese. (How much does a pyramid weigh? I don't know, it varies. This one was pretty big, probably about a pound.) My guess is that I use less salt than the recommended amount because I am very sensitive to salt and don't like anything too salty. This is an ongoing source of friction between Homero and myself.

I separated some of the chevre for flavoring. This batch is getting parsley, chives, red pepper flakes, and fresh ground black pepper. 

Breakfast. Bread Man's homemade whole wheat bread thickly spread with herbed chevre and a quad-shot of espresso over ice. Breakfast of Champions.

0 comments: