Lentil Soup ....gentle.

When it's a day like today, a nice worm bowl of some hearty soup always sounds wonderful. Plus making soup on a snow day always draws me to the kitchen in a more joyful mood than most.

So what to make? Lentil soup! With all the ingredients making themselves known to our kitchen on a regular basis, it takes little planning.

Ingredients: 3 cups dry lentils. (I went with brown)

7 cups water

2 tsp. salt

6-8 med. cloves garlic crushed

2 cups chopped onion (about small onions or 1 large. I used 1 large walla walla sweet)

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1/2-1 tsp Basil, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp oregano (I have all these in out herb garden, two of theses grow year round. I had to brush the snow off the top, but the flavor was just as delicious as ever!)

Lots and lots of freshly ground black pepper

3 medium sized ripe tomatoes

Red wine vinegar to drizzle on top

Place the lentils, water, and salt in a large pot (I used a dutch oven). Bring to a boil, lower heat to the slowest possible simmer, and cook quietly, partially covered for 20-30 minuets stirring occasionally.

meanwhile, chop all of your veggies (*except tomatoes) and herbs to get ready for the next step.


Add vegetables (*except tomatoes), herbs, and black pepper. partially cover, and let simmer peacefully for another 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.


Heat a medium sauce pan of water to boiling. Drop in the tomatoes for 10 seconds, then take them out, peel off the skin, and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the remaining pulp and add to the soup. let the soup cook for at least 5 minutes more.

Serve hot with a drizzle of vinegar to the top of each steaming bowlful! And Enjoy with a delicious rustic bread!

If you eat this without the bread, you have a vegan, fat-free, gluten-free, dairy and soy free meal!!

Artisan Cheese Making: Coastal Blue

Coastal Blue Cheese.


So...I've never been a huge blue cheese fan. It kinda grossed me out to think of eating...MOLD. But then, when I started making cheese, I learned that there is mold and then there is... mold. The ones you control actually behave more like a probiotic, from what I understand. The greenish/blue-ish/grayish stuff that grows randomly on cheese is not the stuff we wanna be eating. Nope. No sir. Ick. But the kind that you sort of baby and groom and work at...? Yep. That's the good stuff!


I decided to do the Coastal Blue cheese from Mary's book. It was fairly easy to make. I got it done fairly quickly and it smelled utterly divine! I just had to wait for that blue-ish mold to start making its presence known. Today, it did!

Coastal Blue at 12 days.

I went down to the cheese cave and had a peek, to tend to all my cheesy babies down there and for the first time, I saw movement! Well, not LITERALLY movement, but change. My piercings into the cheese are doing just what they're supposed to do and it looks GREAT! I'm so excited to try this...


Soon, my prrrrrrrecious!


The Caerphilly is finally developing its rind too. The Jack is looking' fabulous. The Tallegio...whoa. Man. The fragrance is beyond amazing.




But...I think the one cheese I was most excited to make, watch and then of course, consume, was this blue. It feels like I've just graduated to a higher skill level. haha.


I'll post more pix and info on this at a later date. Right now, I've got 200 cheese recipes to go through to decide which I'll do next...


Until then, I remain,


Your Friendly Neighborhood CheeseLady.


Update 1: The blue is now enveloping the entire cheese! I'm not sure if I'm supposed to just leave it be or wipe it down with vinegar/salt water but I'm about to find out. At any rate, it's a huge phenomenon in my cheese cave. Others that I've done that are supposed to have some sort of mold rind haven't developed anything like this one. The fragrance is sweet and not too strong. I can barely wait for the tasting!

Farmhouse Chive-Cheddar

Chive-Cheddar.


I saw this recipe and I thought hmmmmm..... I mean, I like chives just fine but I wondered if they'd overpower that awesome cheddary-cheesiness!! But...I had to give 'er a shot. 


Today I did! But not before making one that did *not* have chives... Call me chicken, but I just couldn't bear the thought of making a cheddar cheese and then not really enjoying it. Sooo...I hedged my bets. I now have two of the Farmhouse cheddars, colored this lovely cheddar-orange color...one with chives and one without. :)

Farmhouse Chive Cheddar at FLIP time.

And also, I tried a new "cheesecloth" thing...it's this type of perforated material that feels kinda like a plastic but I think it's a fiber like silk or something along that line. Weird but, it is wonderful! Thinner than cheesecloth and it makes a beautiful finish on the cheese! 


Anyway, I'll write more later about my newest members of my lovely little cheese family that has grown steadily over the past weeks to include:

1. Mozzerella
2. Irish Brew Cheddar
3. Crescenza
4. Caerphilly
5. Havarti (done two--so good...so so so good)
6. Coastal Blue
7. White Cheddar
8. "Just" Jack
9. American Brick Cheddar
10. Farmhouse Cheddar
11. Alpine Tomme
12. Feta
13. Jarlsberg Swiss
14. Provolone
15. Asiago (two types)
16. Taleggio
17. Farmhouse Chive Cheddar
18. American Brie

All but the Havarti, Feta and the Crescenza are down in our converted refrigerator (converted that is, into a CHEESE CAVE!!) aging as per each's need. Humidity, temperature, etc., all have to be managed. I think there's one more that I've done but right now I'm not sure which I'm leaving out!

The Feta is AWESOME. I mean, seriously great. I didn't use goat milk but cow's milk with a touch of lipase in it to add some goaty-sharpness. 

We tasted the Irish Brew and yummmmm, even though it's not time yet. The Havarti, which is ready to eat within 18 hours of making, we started on at one week old. It was so fabulous that I already made another two pound brick. :) The others are all awaiting ripening but I'll surely be writing about each one. I hope to put up a page for each cheese as they are ready to cut into!

Go CHEESE!!

Artisan Cheese Making: Havarti

Havarti.

Of the many, many slice-able and grate-able cheeses out there, my personal favorites have to be cheddar (in an all-around sense) and asiago (in a more select sense). Havarti hasn't been on my radar except for the time or two I've gotten it sliced at the deli counter instead of cheddar, provolone or swiss for making sub sandwiches. I always liked it but it wasn't really one I gave a lot of thought to.

Then I was trying to find another cheese in my new book to make and voila! I discovered a recipe for Havarti. I remember liking it a lot, so I thought yes, I'll give it a shot.

Let me again state how much I enjoy making cheese. The process is very precise; I can be a really serious perfectionist, so it suits me fine to have something that requires a lot of careful and patient effort. From the first part of bringing the temperature to a required degree, stirring in the culture for ripening an hour, to then stirring in the calcium chloride and rennet to waiting another half-to-three quarters of an hour for coagulating... Then cutting the curds. Stirring them gently and watching them change shape and size. Wow how miraculous it is to see that happen! (See photos below.)

Cut curds at rest before stirring first time.

When you go through all the steps and then prepare your mold, fill it with curds and put the pressure on it in the press, it's exciting. Anticipation mounts as the days, then weeks, pass, and you get to test out your cheese: the product of your loving labor! And when you get the first bite, it's sort of one of those scary-exciting moments where you hope (but cannot KNOW) that your cheese will be oh-so-worth the time and effort you've put into it.



So, back to the Havarti...

The slow process of making this cheese is amazingly restful. Strangely enough, the days that I make cheese are good, happy days where I can just tune out the whole world and spend time in meditation on the Lord as I work. That is so uplifting! I end my cheese-making day tired but emotionally and spiritually uplifted from the time spent quietly contemplating the Lord Jesus!

After stirring the curds gently...

Havarti in the press.

We used the 8" mold with follower when the time came to press. It doesn't take a lot of weight; maybe 8 lbs or so--and not for a lengthy period of time, either. We did everything just as we were told. Waited about a week (Havarti is one cheese that can be consumed 18 hours after you start making it) and then cut it. It was a tiny bit salty, but only around the outside, where a thin rind had formed. Tasted very good! We had it with crackers for the Super Bowl game on Sunday. The next night, I tried grating it. YES!! It grated wonderfully, so I melted it in the microwave atop corn chips. Mmmmm....it was the taste (somewhat) of a very good cheddar but the stretchy-ness of mozzarella! We knew then that this would be a staple for us from now on.

Our homemade Havarti at just under a week.

It's a little more labor intensive than some cheeses, but it is so worth it. The labor is at the front of the project rather than the back (by "the back", I refer to the cautiousness of ripening the cheeses--flipping them daily or weekly or 2x a week, controlling temp and humidity, etc. for months at a time). It takes 5-6 hours to make Havarti.

Ozark Razorback Smokin' Pork Butts and Salsa

SMOKIN’ Boston Butt and Salsa

From Nels' Kitchen:--

Having lived most of my life in the South, I’ve had the opportunity to sample many different kinds of barbecue. My earliest attempt of smoking meat had a Justin Wilson Cajun attitude with an abundance of spicy taste. He was the first to deep fry turkeys some fifty years ago. I can remember him doing a lot of prepping of his meats, covering them with garlic, onions and hot red peppers (Cayenne, also known as Chile de Arbol). So I went through a phase of poking holes in my roast to insert the Cajun Trinity. I spent too much time plugging holes in the roast with green onions, split cloves of garlic and Cayenne peppers and would end up with overly spicy meat that few could enjoy. Then I had a thing with using aluminum foil to either pre-cook or post-cook my barbecue into a fall-off-the-bone mush...but all the prepping and pre and post treatments in the world can’t stand up to plain ol’ pit/smoke barbecue—a Southern tradition that will make you want to call the hogs. Sooooooie Pig!  

The night before the BQ, ready yourself by removing the Boston Butt from your freezer to thaw in the sink. When cruising the meat department, I’m always on the lookout for raging butts that hail, “Pick me! Pick me!” It always gets my attention when roasts, in the six to seven pound range and priced right ($1.79 to $1.89/lb) —trimmed of all excess fat, maintaining alean marbling, are out on display. I’ll jump on a couple of them if they call out to me loud enough and somehow find room for them in our deep freeze, without hesitation. Those butts are like money in the bank and will never go to waste—they promise mouth watering, tongue slapping, olfactory tantalizing, pulled pork extravaganza—I guarantee to borrow the words of the first Ragin’ Cajun Justin Wilson.  Here Pig, pig, pig, pig!

While making my weekly run to town for provisions, I cruise the produce department when my garden is out of season. I’m searching for vine ripened tomatoes, green peppers, garlic and sweet onions to fire up with my butt in the smoker. I love nothing more than to throw together some of the best Salsa this side of the Mason Dixon line…Woooo Pig!! Sooie!! This Salsa is the best! I guarantee…

KNOW YOUR SMOKER

— Discussion—

I prefer indirect fired charcoal/wood burning smokers with built-in thermometers. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They will all work for you, if you know your smoker and can control the temperature, because making award winning BQ is all about controlling time and temperature. 

Since we are not grilling but rather smoking, water pans are provided with all stack-type smokers. I started out smoking with this type of grill and learned the disadvantages of temperature variances between the top and bottom of whichever grill is closest to the water pan. The biggest disadvantage in that is having to break it down when adding fresh coals or water to the pan. But it can be done…

—Precaution—

In furnace and grilling operations heat storage loss can spell disaster. Maintaining proper temperature is of utmost importance throughout the smoking process. When selecting a smoker, be sure to keep that in mind. Holding a specific temperature in the smoking operation is easier with the firebox-chimney type smoker, because it is not necessary to remove the lid to either replace spent coals or add water… conserving temperature loss.

The other disadvantage with the stack type smokers (as I see it) is that the grilling racks are substantially smaller and won’t hold as much meat—presenting problems when trying to cook for larger parties and other special occasions. But if your needs are strictly for family use, the stack type might be right one for you. Honestly, the only advantage I see in the stack type smoker is that it’s lightweight and mobile. You can take them just about anywhere...and you can play around with adding citrus leaves and other things to your water pan. Clove-studded, honey basted hams, with pan-boiled orange peels/leaves…are divine. 

Step (1)   Prepping your Butt.

Remove the bottom layer of fat from the butt. It’s easily removed when your butt is about half thawed. Fillet the half- to three-quarter-inch fatty layer off at the mesentery layer of the meat and fat interfaces. Then carefully rinse your butt with cold water and pat dry.

• Seasoning: I have tried every imaginable assortment of sauces, spices and seasonings to flavor my butts. Injecting them with marinade is good and works for some folks. When I inject my roast I cover nearly every inch at varying depths to sweeten the meat. My taste for a marinade is a rich solution of balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce with a squeeze of lemon….this can be done the night before or day of your barbecue. Then I use a rub of a variety of spices on the outside of the roast. My rub usually consists of onion and garlic powder, paprika, salt and fresh ground pepper, but I’ve been known to incorporate cumin and chili powders into the mix as well.
• Apply olive oil to the outside of the roast, then sprinkle and rub assorted spices into every crevice and surface possible.

—Precaution—

Remember, one can reach a point of diminishing returns using a lot of marinating solutions and rubs. Some of the best pork barbecue I’ve tasted came from an open pit grill with minimal amounts of spices. An old African-American guy I knew, commandeering the fork, would use a mixture of white pepper, black pepper, garlic powder and salt, dissolved in a solution of apple and white vinegars. Don’t forget most of the mouth watering favor will be achieved through the slow cooking in your smoker and an abundance of spices will be overwhelmed by the smoke. Keep it simple is my motto; it works for me and my butts. A good season-salt with extra garlic powder for your seasoning rub will work fine. Don’t be duped by the so-called professionals...creating a masterpiece butt has more to do with finding the right cut of meat and a low cooking temperature than an abundance of marinades and spices.  

      

Step (2)  Building the Fire.

Tubular-shaped, metal charcoal starters that hold the charcoal above two sheets of wadded newspaper to ignite the briquettes works great for smoking purposes. Charcoal fluid starters can taint your meat, giving your butt an unfavorable taste. However, the starters that use newspaper are ideal for charging your smoker with fresh coals after the smoking has begun.

   

• Fill starter container half full of briquettes (approximately 3 lbs), then light the bottom two sheets of newspaper, which will take about five minutes to ignite and another ten to fifteen minutes to convert into glowing red hot coals.
• Add coals to firebox, leaving them in a mound and add a couple handfuls of unignited briquettes to the heap. On top of this pile or beside it, I place a chunk of hickory or oak firewood roughly the size of your fist and ten to twelve inches long.
•  Good idea to wear cotton gloves when handling starter to prevent burns or irritation.
• Close firebox hood while opening the box vents half way on the stack and the firebox. A reducing flame is better suited for smoking than an oxygen rich oxidizing flame, so be sure to adjust both vents accordingly.

    

• Clean grilling grates. We repurpose all used sheets of aluminum foil for the express purpose of cleaning our grills. Lightly crumple the used aluminum into a wad to rub off any residue from previous use—once the grill heats up. Grill brushes purchased for this purpose are expensive and don’t last very long, quickly becoming clogged with grease from barbeques past.    

Step (3)  Meat Placement

Place your butt on the grating in the upper portion of the meat box, followed by adding tomatoes and peppers for your salsa  (optional) in the back portion of the meat box.

Step (4)   Maintain 170 – 200 *F. 

This is the optimal smoking temperature for me. At the start of my smokin’ experience, I like to heat up the inside of the meat compartment of my smoker, and then adjust the flame by reducing the amount of oxygen through the firebox vent. Shortly after charging the firebox, all the heat given off from the coals will cause the smoker to become very hot…and that’s good. This is a great time to clean the grill because the thermometer is likely pegged—i.e., off the chart on the high side. The stack vent controls the amount of draw or heat flow through the meat box and should be shut to just a crack to lower the cooking temperature to the optimal range. At this lower range one can anticipate an eight hour cooking duration for your six to seven pound butt.

   

• Keep a close eye on your temperature and not your meat and slowly bring down the temperature by adjusting the amount of air in (firebox vent) and the air out (chimney stack vent) which acts as a damper on the furnace. During the first three or four hours the smoker temperature should be around the upper range and its okay to be at or above the upper range (+/-200 degrees). 

• Start fresh coals when the temperature of the smoker approaches the minimum range. Use the procedure given in Step 2. This will normally occur two to three hours into the process. The time in which you charge the fire box will depend mainly on ambient temperature and how many times the hood to the meat box was raised.

—Discussion—

When the time has come to charge the firebox with fresh coals, remove tomatoes and peppers and flip your roast while giving it a few pokes to check its progress...With four to six hours remaining on the roast, one has ample time to throw together the smokin’ salsa and water-bath can the unused portion of the salsa. This is easy, since everything in the salsa is precooked.

Smokin’ Salsa Instructions

   

    Tomatoes and peppers are HOT when they come off the grill. Handle with care! If you cover the dish with a lid or plastic, the steam created by the heat will help to get the skins off.

       

• Remove the dried and withered skin of the tomatoes and peppers after they’re taken from the grill. They should be well-cooked and the skin should rub off easily. In a big mixing bowl, cut up tomatoes.
• Remove pepper seeds once the skin has been removed and finely dice peppers.
• Add chopped garlic and onions to taste, along with salt or any other seasonings you’d like.

• Salt to taste 

Add 1-2 smoked Chipotle (seeds removed and finely diced) peppers

—Discussion—

Nine pints of salsa can be derived from six to eight smoked Roma tomatoes, one medium sized sweet onion, one entire garlic clove and five fifteen or sixteen ounce cans of stewed tomatoes. The smoked tomatoes and peppers are pungent enough to give a nice blend of flavor to the canned tomatoes. But you can make it even more right!

Step  (5)

At six hours into the smoking process your butt should be approaching being done. The last couple hours of your six to eight hour duration, the smoker temperature should be maintained towards the lower end of the range (170-185*F).

• Check roast at thirty minute intervals once the butt has cooked six hours. The roast should have shrunk slightly and the meat surrounding the bone should have pulled back approximately one quarter of a inch. If this has occurred, do a “Fork Pull” test at several locations (top and bottom). If you can easily pull chunks of meat from various locations on the roast it is done. However, if one area of your butt doesn’t pull, then face that portion of roast towards the heat source for an additional thirty minutes.
• Remove butt when done. Wrap in aluminum foil to let roast settle down for thirty minutes or so before breaking down and eating. 

 Enjoy!

White Cheddar -- Farmhouse Style

Cheddar: An American Favorite!

Cheddar cheese is one of those favorites that is used in so much of American cooking that we take it for granted, I think.  It's relatively inexpensive at the grocery store, so making it at home from scratch may not be something most people would want to do. It's not cost effective (about $10.00-12.00 for a 2 lb. wheel) and takes a couple of days to have a cheese wheel ready to put away for ripening. Then there's the wait: 1 month to 30 months.

Even here in Arkansas, I can buy Tillamook cheese for under $9.00 for a 2 lb. loaf. (Tillamook is from my home state of Oregon, on the coast.) I've tried many, many different brands of cheddar cheese and Tillamook is, by far, my absolute favorite. In Oregon, you can purchase several different types of this brand of cheese. From mild, medium, sharp and Special Reserve, to their Jack and Colby. It's wonderful cheese. But...

I wanted to make my own cheddar, shooting for something that would taste similar to Tillamook's medium cheddar cheese.

I know, I know. The question of WHY struck me too, when it's cheaper and no work is required to go to the grocery store and just BUY the stuff. Well...I guess I'm just a curious George and wanted to give it a shot. 
Yesterday, I did.

A few weeks ago I bought a book called Artisan Cheese Making at Home by Mary Karlin (Ten Speed Press) and it has some dynamite recipes with very clear, very well defined directions. But I couldn't find a recipe that was labeled as a plain ol' cheddar! I went to the internet...the great oracle of modern-day wisdom (laughter here). I found a recipe at GRIT Magazine online. GRIT has been around a LONG time. My dad used to read it back in the 1940's, when he was a kid.

I gathered my ingredients: 

• 2 gallons pasteurized cow's milk (not supposed to be homogenized; unfortunately anything else was not available for me at this time--I used slightly more starter to boost its culture)
• 1/2 teaspoon mesophilic starter (I used a Farmhouse Blend: MA4001 with Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis; Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris; Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis; Streptococcus thermophilus.)
• Rennet (GRIT said to use 1 teaspoon--that's a LOT for 2 gallons of milk...I used about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon. Many rennets are super-strength and too much rennet will make your cheese rubbery.) diluted in 1/4 cup DISTILLED or WELL water
• 1/4 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup DISTILLED water (tap water usually has chlorine unless you have well water. Chlorine kills the ripening somewhat. Ripening is what gives each cheese its particular flavor so you don't want to risk that! Also, GRIT's recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon calcium chloride, but I've never used that much for 2 gallons of milk.)
• 1-2 tablespoons NON-IODIZED salt. I use sea salt.

I've been using a 3 gallon, heavy-duty stainless steel pot for my cheese making thus far but we discovered 3 very thick, very old pickle crocks downstairs in the basement. Two of them were 3 gallon size. I'd read that crockery-cheese is ideal because the clay retains heat much longer than anything else and is non-reactive (never use aluminum or copper--they'll ruin your cheese). Because cheese is created at rather low temperatures, I realized that keeping the crock warm enough (most cheese making never gets above 100 degrees F.) by setting it in the kitchen sink filled with hot water just might work. I've had a dickens of a time keeping my stainless pot at the exact correct temperature. I've used a heating pad, water bath, towels...and they work, but I thought it had to be easier...so I did the crock.

Whoa.

Awesome. I stopped up the sink (which I'd scoured thoroughly and completely disinfected--I wouldn't want any secondary bacteria to get into my milk) and set that big crock in it. Then I filled it with hot tap water and let the milk (which I'd put into the crock) begin to slowly rise in temp. When it got to 70°F, I added the starter, stirring slowly. I left the crock in the hot water (the water was about 110°) until it got to the recipe's recommended 85°. Then I took the crock out, set it on a big bath towel on the counter and wrapped another big towel around it to help it maintain temp. I thought it would lose heat--just slower than the stainless steel. To my shock and amazement, it didn't lose so much as 1/10th of a degree (I use a digital thermometer) over the 1 hour I let it ripen! 

I was so excited about that. I've had to really fight to maintain exacting temperature with my fancy-dancy $100.00 stainless pot. I did scrub out this crock thoroughly. I mean THOROUGHLY. And then I used a solution of 1 gallon water to 2 tablespoons of bleach to mist the crock inside and out, letting it completely dry (overnight) before using. I'm a little ridiculous about the disinfecting but I'd rather be safe than sick. These crocks were used maybe once or twice, twenty years ago or so, so I don't think any residual pickle-funk was in existence. The crocks are a good 3/4 of an inch thick and have a heavy, non-lead based glaze (food-grade) inside and out. 

The next step, after the hour of ripening was complete, was to add the diluted calcium chloride, stir well, then add the diluted rennet, also stirring well (30 seconds or so for each). Then I had to keep the crock at 85° for another hour to let the rennet do its work of coagulating the milk into a jello-ish solid. Then I took a long knife and cut the now firm curd into 1/2 inch cubes. Sometimes the curds require that full hour. Some recipes say 30-45 minutes, but if you can't get a clean, sharp break (where your curds are sharply-edged after cutting), just wait another 15 minutes and try again.

After cutting my curds, the temp had to be raised to 100°. I had prepared a large water-bath canner with hot water (over 140°) to use in getting my crock's contents up to that temp, so I put the crock back into the sink and poured hot water into the sink (NOT THE CROCK!) surrounding the crock with hot water. Keeping very careful watch, I began to raise the temp of my cut curds to the requisite 100°, taking the crock out of the hot water and setting it on its big towel on the counter once I hit the correct temp. While it was getting to that correct temp, I stirred the curds once about every 5 minutes to keep them from clumping together. It took about 30 minutes or so to get to 100°.

As per the instructions, I removed the curds from the whey when it got to temp and drained them in a cheesecloth-lined colander. I let it drain for 10 minutes or so. While it was draining into a big bowl, I took the crock with its remaining whey and added enough hot water to fill it 1/2 full. I set the crock back into the hot water and got the temp back up to 100° (it had dropped a couple degrees while I was removing the curds) and then turned the clump of curds out onto a disinfected, dry cutting board. Using a sharp (also disinfected) bread knife, I sliced the clump of curds into 1/2 inch slices, then cut those slices lengthwise (they looked a lot like French fries). 

I placed them back into a heavy stainless colander (of a size that could rest on the rim of the crock and not fall in) and covered it with the big glass lid (which I'd been using to cover the crock during the heating, ripening, etc., stages). I kept the whey water at 100° to 102° for about 90 minutes; the steam from it keeping the curds in the colander above it warm. It kind of melts into a slab. I turned the slab 2 times during the 90 minute wait. Then I removed the slab, carefully crumbled it into about 1/2 to 3/4 inch chunks and placed them in a bowl. I sprinkled the 2 tablespoons of salt over the cheddared curds, using gloved hands to mix it carefully and gently together. 

I had a damp, fine cheesecloth ready and used it to line an 8" tomme mould. Then, working fairly quickly (don't want the curds to get too cold), and still using the protective gloves, I packed the curds snugly into the mould, wrapping the excess cheesecloth over the curds (dressing it, essentially). Then I put it into the press we made and put about 12 lbs of weight on it.

The recipe from GRIT doesn't specify how much weight to use. I did a bunch of searching online and discovered that up to 50 lbs is used for cheddar! Wow, that seemed like a lot...

After 15 minutes, I removed the weight (as per instructed) and tried to flip the cheese but it was semi-loose and not a snugly packed (like so many other cheeses I'd made) wheel yet. So I did more research and found a similar recipe that used 20 lbs weight at the beginning, increasing to 40 lbs for the second part, up to the 50 lbs for the last, 24 hour pressing. I increased my weight to 20 lbs and went another 15 minutes. It was better, much better, but I was beginning to have doubts. Soooo.... I added another 15 lbs  for a total of 35 lbs for the next 30 minutes. Way better, but still kinda not smooched into a tight cheddar-looking loaf. Not knowing quite what to do to find 50 lbs of weight that would fit atop my relatively small press, I started thinking. I needed something very heavy but small. I went down to the basement (our home's repository of interesting and old stuff) and found a box that contained one very heavy hunk of tow-chain, another smaller hunk of slightly smaller chain and a couple of tire chains. I put them into a 1.25-gallon ice cream bucket (and yeah they fit if I heaped them above the rim). I spied an old steel wood-splitting maul and added that for good measure. 

When I weighed it... voila! It was about 48 lbs total, and with the 2 lb top of the press equalled--yes. 50 lbs. Small, heavy, and even weight. I was so excited to have this that I almost screeched. My husband just shook his head and laughed at me but...yay!!

So I put it on the press and waited about 3 hours to check it. Yes...the curds were becoming one fantastic, solid mass. The recipe from GRIT says to leave it pressing for 36 hours, turning once every 12 hours. So, this morning at about 8:30 a.m., 12 hours after applying the 50 lbs weight, I checked it. Yes, yes, yes!! I have an 8 inch wheel of white cheddar! I flaked off a tiny piece of an edge while turning it and redressing it for its next 12 hours and tasted that little piece. Oh my. It tastes like a very fine, mild cheddar already!

I think I'll probably not leave it for the full 36 hours, instead leaving it just 24. I suppose it depends on what I find at 8:30 tonight when I check it. I do think that the time exposed to room temp in the press does help to cure and age it, creating a process in the curd of breaking down to create the "paste" that is cheese with a familiar flavor. 

Updated pictures of the finished product coming soon!

I'm still learning but so far it's been great fun.

Thus far I've made, in order:

1. Irish Cheddar
2.  Crescenza 
3. American Brick Cheddar
4. Alpine Tomme 
5. Havarti
6. White Cheddar

I've also been making yogurt for a couple months and it is absolutely fantastic. I'll never go back to store-bought yogurt. It is very inexpensive to make at home and tastes better than I ever imagined.

Next cheese: undecided!