Terrence Dinnan
Terrence Dinnan, a cheese maker in Charlotte, Vermont, sent us this great idea in a review he wrote for our Bleu Cheese Mold (M111). He had purchased the mold to make brie.
Why, you may ask, did he buy the taller and slightly larger bleu mold when he could have bought our shorter Brie or Multipurpose Mold (M110)? He told us that for the same price as the brie mold, he got a similar diameter with 3 inches more in height. More for his money! He figured he could also use the mold he bought for larger cheeses if he decided to go that route.
The only issue is that, sometimes, when a mold is much higher than the cheese you are making, it can be tricky to take the cheese out of the mold. This is especially true when the mold is very wide, as for bleu cheese or brie. Terrence solved this problem by cutting the mold and placing a band around it as follows:
1. He used a table saw and rotated the mold to slice 1 1/2″ off the original height. (He warned us that this should only be done with extreme care as plastic can sometimes “grab” when sawing.) The relatively hard plastic cut well and, although there was some minor melting at the cut line, it could be sanded smooth.
2. He then cut a wide rubber band cut from an inner tube.
He cut the band from a large used inner tube by simply using kitchen shears. He washed and sterilized the band before using. (Used tire tubes should be easy to find at tire shops if none are on hand.)
3. He cut a 1 1/2″ ring off the bottom of the mold and re-attached that shallow ring to the large upper piece with the inner tube band.
The brie curd drained down into the bottom ring and then the top could be removed. At that point, the 1 1/2″ cheese was easily handled.
Terrence’s approximately 8″ diameter by 1 1/2″ thick brie (about 6 days along-developing its rind)
