Drew’s Story
Hello from St. Catharines, a city in Canada near Niagara Falls! The Niagara region is famous for its wineries and tourist attractions along with fresh fruit and vegetables purchased right off the farm.
Aerial view of St. Catharines
I work in IT for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) helping to procure, build, integrate and support transportation related business applications. These days, we’re working from home, due to the pandemic, so we’re adapting to this new situation like so many others.
In my spare time, I love to cook and have recently added home cheese making as a hobby. This came to be when visiting a friend’s home for a get together with some friends.
The host served cheese & crackers and the blue cheese was amazing. I asked her where she bought it and she replied, “I made it myself.” From that point on, I really wanted to give cheese making a try so for Christmas 2019, my wife, Rachel, bought me a basic cheddar cheese making kit and I gave it a go.
For my first attempt, I used a double boiler on the stove and had a lot of trouble controlling the temperature. Luckily, as someone who has a lot of cooking gadgets, I moved to using my Sous Vide to accurately control the temperature of the milk. This really helped streamline the process along with freeing me up to do other things when the recipe calls for something like 60 minutes at a given temperature.
For those that may not be familiar with the Sous Vide form of cooking, its used to keep a “water bath” at an exact temperature for a long period of time. It is basically a highly sensitive temperature control along with a small impeller that circulates the water to keep the temperature constant.
I put the cheese pot in the sink with the drain plug in and once the sink is filled with water around the pot, I put the Sous Vide into the water outside the milk pot. Then, I adjust the Sous Vide temperature control to match the recipe. I do find the water outside the milk pot comes to the exact temperature setting on the Sous Vide and is held there, but the milk takes time to come up to that temperature. This is why I still use a thermometer to check the milk temperature from time to time. I have found this technique saves me a lot of effort and helps automate that part of the process.
Moving On
After getting some experience with the first few “kit cheeses,” I purchased some additional equipment and ingredients from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, and I moved on to make Blue, Monterey Jack, Goat Cheddar, Gouda and Halloumi.
Halloumi
Halloumi in salt brine
Halloumi sliced
Blue
It seems there is no end to this hobby and I’m really enjoying it.
Cheese “cave”
Goals
I have a nice herb garden and want to experiment with using herbs in some of my cheeses.
During the early stage of the pandemic the purchase of milk was being limited in our stores while the dairy farmers were forced to dump thousands of gallons due to lack of demand. Seems like something is wrong with that picture but, since then, restrictions have since been relaxed so I am making more cheese now with a plan to use it as gifts this coming Christmas (2020).
I would say the main goal in my cheesemaking is “continuous improvement.” I am striving to learn to make a variety of cheese as close to the original as possible. A good example is the Halloumi I made, it was quite nice but a little dryer and far saltier than the store-bought variety. After tasting mine, I went out and bought some from a deli and confirmed my opinion in a side by side taste test.
I think I was distracted for a time during the process and left it in the press too long which explains the dryness. And, I overdid the salt in the brine because my brine container is too small for the recommended amount of salt, i.e. not enough water. I will make these changes and try again.
Finally found a use for my daughter’s dumbbells
Another goal I have is to get the base cheese right and then start some experimentation to develop my own style. A good cook may look at a recipe just to get some inspiration and confirm which ingredients go together but then improvises and makes some changes based on the ingredients on hand and personal preference. So, once you have the base right you can add your own style into the mix and may end up with something original and spectacular… or not😊
