Noob expat South Korea – Curd Nerd

Noob expat South Korea

user6244 — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 14:21:45 +0000

Hey , well looks like I got the cheese bug….as usual for me I jumped in with both feet…

Just made some mozz,feta,cheddar, and tomorrow making pepper jack,,,,,,

Reply To: Noob expat South Korea

lesley — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 08:43:11 +0000

That is a beautiful looking cheddar – did you do the traditional cheddaring method or go for the farmhouse cheddar? Our first attempt at a traditional cheddar ended in the ugliest cheese I’ve seen – it’s holding together but it’s hard as a brick and you can see every curd in outline.

Reply To: Noob expat South Korea

user6244 — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 14:34:40 +0000

Thanks,,, I was pretty happy at the first time result so far….but time will tell 🙂

As for the type of cheddar,, I am still kinda new at this and am using a recipe from the Mad Millie Artisan Cheese Kit it just calls it cheddar, I looked around the internet and from what I can tell I didn’t do any slabbing and turning over the curds that I have made a farm house cheddar…….

just finished up with the Pepper jack tonight or it is in the press for the next 12hrs at 44lbs.

I followed the directions to the letter on time and temp etc except I deviated on the peppers….

I hope this doesn’t cause a failure,,, as the directions call out taking a teaspoon of hot chili flakes and 1/4 cup of water boiling for 15 minutes straining then adding the peppered water to the milk,,,setting aside the strained chili..

I used crushed red pepper,, I also had a fresh hot green chili pepper I sliced into very very thin slices, and a jalapeno I boiled the green chili and jalapeno separate from the crushed peppers, and dumped the liquid then mixed the strained peppers into the red chili flakes ,I am hoping to have a hotter pepper jack then what can be bought in the stores 🙂

I was just worried about the fact the recipe called out dried chili flakes and boiling and I added fresh green chili pepper and a jalapeno that actually had been pickled ?????

Hope I didn’t just screw up a pepper jack 🙂

I will try and post a picture of the outcome of the pepper jack in the morning 🙂

Reply To: Noob expat South Korea

user6244 — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 01:45:05 +0000

Well at 10PM last night a Pepper Jack was born,,,and released from 33lbs pressure 12hrs later at 10AM, sure looks good I certainly hope I can care for it properly for the next 5 weeks ,,,

Reply To: Noob expat South Korea

lesley — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 06:22:24 +0000

This is such a rewarding obsession, when things go to plan! Your plan, or deviation, looks as if it paid off beautifully. We haven’t had the nerve to vary from the recipes too much having just made about 6 different types of cheeses. We’ve got about five different kinds of homegrown chillis in the freezer so we might give that a go –

Reply To: Noob expat South Korea

user6244 — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 09:18:21 +0000

heheh, sounds like your way ahead of me this is only my fourth type and really 2 if if you discount mozzarella, and feta which is super easy to make…mentioning feta I ended up with too much so I drained the brine and got out three mason jars added olive oil and dried tomatoes,savory,sage,dill,tarragon, and marjoram and cubed feta cheese, (I had one made a few days ago it was great after a day in the herbs and eaten with a slice of Italian bread mmmm mmmm…

I will actually be waiting out the results of these first 2 before I plow ahead , I dont want to make a bunch of cheeses only to not be able to properly age them, I do have the tools just not alot of confidence just yet till I get a taste of the results..

I got a trier set yesterday so I will be able to make checks later

Reply To: Noob expat South Korea

Curd Nerd — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 22:27:35 +0000

It looks to me like you’re doing a fantastic job User6244! Those cheeses look great.

Look forward to you letting us know they’ve worked out perfectly.

Then the cheese bug will really kick in!

Reply To: Noob expat South Korea

user6244 — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 14:21:36 +0000

Hey yeah thanks 🙂 , I am looking forward to taking the trier and testing as soon as the window for testing them gets here I think one of them will be ready near the 22 of Sept at the earliest..
Got it on my calendar to send me a message when it’s ready 🙂

I just waxed all of them yesterday or the last 2 made, should I continue to flip them daily or can I just start doing it weekly since there is no evidence of dripping, moisture problems?

Mentioning moisture, I noticed today after relocating my cheese cave onto a small table custom made for it that the drain pan for the mini fridge was full..probably since the temp is set for 57f and so the condenser cannot heat the water enough to evaporate it.

I just ordered a 50W silicone heat pad to install in the drain pan with a float switch , any thoughts?