- May 31, 2022
- 694
- 1,315
This is another one that I want to be able to age unsealed in the cave, so I want it to be big enough to not dry out too hard or too fast. Parmesan is normally made with 2% milk. The farm where I get my raw milk has yet to convince the cows to produce low-fat milk, so I had to improvise.
I started with six gallons of raw milk. I put three gallons of it into Cambros, then let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours. This allows the cream to rise to the top, where I can skim it off. I drew a couple of lines here to show where the separation is. After skimming, I removed around a third of a gallon of cream.
I mixed the skimmed milk back in with 3 gallons of whole milk, and fired up the sous vide.
As usual, there's not much to see when adding cultures, rennet, etc. When the curds set, I used a whisk to break them up (parmesan is a very dry cheese, you want to get rid of a ton of the whey -- this is done with small curds and warm temp cooking).
Into my biggest mold, then into the press.
First press - 10# for 15 mins
Flip, then second press, 20# for 15m
Flip, then third press, 40# for 2 hours
Flip, then fourth press, overnight at 50# (roughly 13 hours)
For the final flip & press, 60# until the PH hits 5.4, which only took about 3 extra hours. I left the cheesecloth off for the final press to reduce the creases in the surface of the cheese.
Here's the final wheel.
Left at room temp for a day to let the bacteria continue to snack, then into a 30-hour brine (parmesan is a very salty cheese, so 6 hours/pound is what I went with).
It's air drying now, it will go into the cave probably tomorrow.
I started with six gallons of raw milk. I put three gallons of it into Cambros, then let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours. This allows the cream to rise to the top, where I can skim it off. I drew a couple of lines here to show where the separation is. After skimming, I removed around a third of a gallon of cream.
I mixed the skimmed milk back in with 3 gallons of whole milk, and fired up the sous vide.
As usual, there's not much to see when adding cultures, rennet, etc. When the curds set, I used a whisk to break them up (parmesan is a very dry cheese, you want to get rid of a ton of the whey -- this is done with small curds and warm temp cooking).
Into my biggest mold, then into the press.
First press - 10# for 15 mins
Flip, then second press, 20# for 15m
Flip, then third press, 40# for 2 hours
Flip, then fourth press, overnight at 50# (roughly 13 hours)
For the final flip & press, 60# until the PH hits 5.4, which only took about 3 extra hours. I left the cheesecloth off for the final press to reduce the creases in the surface of the cheese.
Here's the final wheel.
Left at room temp for a day to let the bacteria continue to snack, then into a 30-hour brine (parmesan is a very salty cheese, so 6 hours/pound is what I went with).
It's air drying now, it will go into the cave probably tomorrow.
