Cheese A Day: So I haven't blogged about making cheese for awhile...

Cheese Makers Forum FAQ Equipment part 1 Equipment part 2 History

Thursday, March 11, 2010

So I haven't blogged about making cheese for awhile...

And I probably won't for awhile as well :D I feel comfortable with making a decent tasting cheese, so when I do make some I'll document everything, but it's just likely going to be a few times a year, not every day like last year. Maybe I was a little too optimistic in my domain name choice when I started...

Anyway, I am going to continue blogging about food, travel, and photography. Hope you don't mind. I'm also gonna keep blogging about gardening, since I think it is fascinating, and I find a lot of people like enjoy cheese making also enjoy other difficult, hard pursuits ;) I am proud of the 'Pickett Press' and some of the discoveries I've made--better bagels, cheese flavor, etc. And I hope to continue making these kind of simple, but sometimes profound discoveries.

So, my projects for the coming weeks include:

Building a smoker out of wine barrels
Starting about a bajillion veggies from seed
Smoking a ham 'Prague Style' on my birthday (March 19th baby, 32 here I come!!)
Improving and fixing plantacious.com (tell your friends!!!)
Diagnosing some issues with our new stream leading to the big pond

I'm most excited about building this new smoker, I've seen some pics of a few others that have built them out of wine barrels and they look amazing. Only trick is not to set them on fire--which considering that is how my last smoker, made of metal, ended up trashed I may be in trouble.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Creative Commons License

Cheese A Day by Jeremy Pickett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at cheeseaday.blogspot.com.

Kicking and Screaming into the Kitchen
The Weekday Vegetarian
Washington Cheese Guild
The Dairy Show
Serious Eats
So Good
Schack Farm
Cheese Wire
FU Cheese
Cheese Forum
BBQ Bretheren
Savor PDX

Roasted Garlic and Onion Hummus
Simple, delicious, though non-traditional take on hummus. Whether you've made hummus or not, give this recipe a try.

Belhaven 90 Shilling
Ten gallon, all grain clone of the Wee Heavy Scottish ale Belhaven 90 shilling.

Theakston Old Peculiar
Ten gallon, all grain clone of the wonderful British beer Old Peculiar.

Squash and Tomato Tartlets
Two recipes, one for butternut squash tartlets, and the other for tomato tartlets. Two different approaches to savory pastry that are both delicious, and easy.

"Instant Ramen" From scratch
Do you like ramen? Do you like tasty ramen? Do you like to put a lot of work but not much money into a noodle based soup? Then this is for you!

All Grain IPA
An attempt at an all grain, 10 gallon version in the spirit of our favorite local microbreweries.

Newcastle Brown Ale
All grain, 10 gallon recipe for Newcastle Brown Ale that will make you famous and generally more awesome.

Asparagus Tartlets
These little tartlets are delicious, straightforward, and not your average pastry.

Easy Kimchi
Making spicy, fermented cabbage is easy and much cheaper than buying it. This simple formula will get you on the way to making world class kimchi in very little time.

No-Egg Chocolate Pudding
Chocolate pudding is a wonderful dessert, and this recipe is dead simple. There are a couple of things that you do need to do, and a few things that you absolutely must not do, but as long as you follow those directions it is pretty foolproof.

British Bangers
British sausages, i.e. bangers are delicious, and with the right equipment quite easy to make. This recipe explains some simple techniques for making your own authentic banger at home.

Bagels
Here is a modern take on how to make bagels, without the 12 hour fermentation that traditional recipes require, but still with a big full flavor and chewy delicious texture.

Russian Dressing
Once a popular condiment, Russian dressing is getting harder and harder to find. Here is a great recipe that can be used on sandwiches, salads, and charcuterie.

Caraway Sauerkraut
Kraut with a hint of caraway sounds like the perfect accompaniment to a Reuben sandwich in my opinion, and here is how you can make it.

Halloumi
Ever heard of a cheese that doesn't melt, and can be grilled on the barbecue? I hadn't either until I ran into the cheese called Halloumi.

Ginger Ale with Lavender
A delicious adult soft drink that packs a big ginger taste, but has about a quarter the calories of regular soda pop.

Fried Curd
Have more cheese curd than can fit in your press? Deep fry it!

Lasagna for One
A simple, delicious pasta dish perfect for spring and a snap to make.

Tilapia Fish Pie
So good, do not miss this one even if the term 'Fish Pie' puts you off.

Simple Hard Cheese
This is a recipe for a Jack like cheese that doesn't require a cheese press to make. The only specialized ingredient is rennet.

Techniques

The Pickett Press
Here is how to build a very large capacity cheese press for 10-20 gallon batches for less than $20 brand new. Warning--reading these instructions may result in an extreme obsession for Very Large Cheese (VLC).

How To Use Cheesecloth
Using cheesecloth for pressed cheeses can be a little bit frustrating. Here is a technique that is really easy to set up and gives great results.

How to cut curd
Baffled by cutting the curd and draining the whey? Well, wait no longer and check out this quick little tutorial on how to get the most whey out of your curd.