Transcript Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15
Kitchen-Made Cheeses
And Creams
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A Brief History of Cheese
• Archeologists suggest that people began
domesticating goats and sheep in the region of the
Mediterranean somewhere between 6,000 and
10,000 years BC
• The Bible contains numerous references to cheese
• Toussaint-Samat documents the existence of cheese
20 centuries before Abraham
• The Iraq Museum in Baghdad has a Sumerian fresco
of 2500 BC that depicts a peasant milking a cow
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A Brief History of Cheese
• Dairymen of the Lake Constance Stone Age
community developed a pottery colander for
draining whey in about 2000 BC
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Early Varieties
• 7000 BC: Ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamian
cultures of the Tigris-Euphrates basin raised cows
and sheep and engaged in dairy production
• 3000 BC: First historical reference to cheese, found
in a Sumerian frieze
• 800 BC: Homer mentions cheese in his Iliad
• 329 BC: Greek historian Xenophon wrote about a
goat cheese that had already been made for
centuries
• 54 BC: Julius Caesar invades Britain and finds the
Britons making Cheshire cheese
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Early Varieties
• 50 AD: The Roman food writer, Columella,
outlines the basic steps for cheese making
• 702 AD: Japan develops first written law codes and
establishes regulations for making dairy products,
including cheese
• 800 AD: Gorgonzola is first made in Italy.
• 1070 AD: Roquefort cheese is discovered in France
• 1200 AD: Parmesan cheese and Pont l’Évèque are
made
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Early Varieties
• 1400 AD: Ementhaler Swiss cheese is first
produced in the canton of Bern’s Ementhal Valley
• 1680 AD: A French document refers to
Camembert as “a very good cheese, well suited to
aid digestion washed down with good wines”
• 1722 AD: Gruyère cheese is introduced in France.
• 1740 AD: The London cheese shop Paxton &
Whitfield opens, selling Cheddars, Gloucesters,
Cheshires, Stiltons, and other English cheeses
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Early Varieties
• 1815 AD: The first factory for the mass production
of Swiss cheese opens in Bern
• 1824 AD: Colby cheese developed in Vermont,
USA
• 1851 AD: The first American cheese factory is
established in Rome, New York
• 1865 AD: Marin French Cheese Company opens in
Petaluma, California
• 1876 AD: McCadam Creamery opens in Heuvelton,
New York (moved to Chateaugay, New York, in
1934)
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Value to Cheese Makers and Consumers
• Highly nutritious
• A means of preservation
– Use of excessive production of milk
• Ease of storage
• Food for carriage
– Very portable and a staple for those who worked
in the fields
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Cheese Today
• Categories of production recognized in France,
Italy, Switzerland, and other cheese-producing
countries
– Fermier: cheese made in a farmhouse
– Artisanal: an individual producer uses milk from animals
raised on his farm
– Cooperatives: cheese made in a single dairy from milk
provided by members of the cooperatives
– Industrial: milk is bought from a number of producers,
sometimes from distant regions
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Classification of Cheese
• By ripening agent:
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Unripened
Using mold as the agent, ripened from outside
Using mold as the agent, ripened from inside
Using bacteria as the agent, ripened from outside
Using bacteria as the agent, ripened from inside
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Classification of Cheese
• By texture and method of ripening:
– Soft fresh (unripened)
• soft cheeses, uncooked and unripened; generally have
a fresh, mild, creamy flavor and texture
• Have a slight tinge of tartness, but not very acidic
• High moisture that will keep under refrigeration for
only a few weeks
• Examples: Feta, cottage cheese, ricotta, cream cheese,
Neufchâtel, Queso, Blanco
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Classification of Cheese
• By texture and method of ripening:
– Soft Ripened
• Soft, velvety surfaces, often referred to as the
“blooming rind”
• Penicillium condidum is sprayed or dusted on the surface
of the cheese, allowing it to ripen from the outside
toward the center
• Ripen quickly; are at their peak for a few days
• Examples: Bel Paese, Brie, Camembert
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Classification of Cheese
• By texture and method of ripening:
– Blue Cheeses
• Blue-veined cheeses
• Prized for their pungent tastes and creamy textures
• Examples: Danish Blue, English Stilton, French
Roquefort, Italian Gorgonzola, and American Maytag
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Classification of Cheese
• By texture and method of ripening:
– Pasta Filata
• String curd cheeses
• Made by pulling and stretching until they are firm.
• Examples: string cheese, mozzarella, provolone
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Classification of Cheese
• By texture and method of ripening:
– Firm Cheeses
• Firm, solid texture suitable for slicing
• Very mild, like Colby, to very sharp, such as aged
Cheddar
• Examples: Monterey Jack, Swiss Ementhaler,
Gruyère, Jarlsburg
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Classification of Cheese
• By texture and method of ripening:
– Hard Cheeses
• Very hard grating cheeses
• Dry, grainy texture, often sold already grated
• Examples: Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Queso
Enchilada, Mimolette, aged Asiago, Grana Padano,
Parmigiano-Reggiano
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Classification of Cheese
• By texture and method of ripening:
– Processed Cheeses
• Made in an artificial manner—by grinding one or
more natural cheeses; then blending with flavorings,
colors, and emulsifiers; then heated for pasteurization
and hardened in molds
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Varied Uses of Kitchen-Made
Cheeses and Creams
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Cooking ingredient
Stuffing and binding agent
Accompaniments
Functional garniture
Appetizers
Sandwiches and rollups
Soups
As a course
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Commercially Made Cheeses
• Steps
– Incoming milk is tested for purity and quality
– The milk is weighed and heat-treated or pasteurized
– A starter culture and/or enzymes are added to help
curdle the milk
– The rennet (a milk-clotting enzyme) is added to coagulate
the milk and to form a gel-like mass
– The coagulated mass is cut into small pieces to begin the
separation of the curds (solids) from the whey (liquid)
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Commercially Made Cheeses
• Steps
– The curds and whey are cooked and stirred until the
desired temperature and firmness of curd is achieved
– The whey is drained for further treatment and other uses
– The curds are salted and manipulated according to their
particular cheese variety
– The curds are pressed into a cheese mold to form their
characteristic shape; the curds knit and release any
additional whey
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Commercially Made Cheeses
• Steps
– For cheeses that are aged, they are stored in
humidity and temperature-controlled rooms to
allow full development of flavor and texture,
known as ripening.
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Kitchen-Made Cheeses
• Basic Equipment
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Measuring cups and spoons
Dairy thermometer
Double-boiler pots
Stainless-steel slotted spoon
Curd knife (with stainless-steel blade)
Commercial cheesecloth
Butter muslin
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Kitchen-Made Cheeses
• Basic Equipment
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Cheese molds
Cheese press
Cheese boards
Cheese mats
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Kitchen-Made Cheeses
• Care and Sanitation of Equipment
– All equipment must be of a certain material:
glass, stainless steel, copper, or enamel-lined
vessels
– Most failures are caused by unsanitary equipment
– “Friendly bacteria” are used; introducing
harmful bacteria will create an unwanted variable
that could produce disastrous results
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Kitchen-Made Cheeses
• Cleaning and Sanitizing Equipment
– The chef may choose one from a list of
alternatives
• Immerse nonporous equipment and utensils, for 5
minutes, in boiling water
• Steam nonporous equipment and utensils for 5
minutes in a tightly covered container
• Boil or steam porous equipment, such as wood,
cheese boards, and mats, for at least 20 minutes
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Kitchen-Made Cheeses
• Cleaning and Sanitizing Equipment
– The chef may choose one from a list of
alternatives
• Plastic equipment, including food-grade materials,
should not be boiled or steamed; these items should
be sterilized with a solution of bleach and water (2
tablespoons bleach to 1 gallon water)
• Clean and sterilize all counters and work surfaces
using a cleaning towel that has been rinsed in a bleach
solution
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Basic Ingredient Identification
• Cow’s Milk
– 87% water
– Less than 3.7% butterfat
• Goat’s Milk
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87% water
Nearly 3.8% butterfat
Has 13% less lactose than cow’s milk
Milk fat particles are small, making it superior to cow’s
milk for digestibility
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Basic Ingredient Identification
• Buttermilk
– Cultured by the addition of bacteria
• Cream
– Half-and-half: mixture of milk and cream containing
10.5% to 18% milk fat
– Light cream contains between 18% to 30% milk fat
– Light whipping cream contains between 30% to 36%
milk fat
– Heavy cream contains no less than 36% milk fat
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Basic Ingredient Identification
• Yogurt
– Culturing a mixture of milk and cream with lactic
acid–producing bacteria, Lactobacillus Bularicus and
Streptococcus thermophilus—sweeteners, flavorings
and other ingredients may be added
– Contains 3.25% milk fat, unless it is the low-fat
variety
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Basic Ingredient Identification
• Fresh Starters
– Aid in the the coagulation of the milk
– Aid in the flavor development of the cheese
• Types
– Mesophilic: thrives at about room temperature and cannot
survive at higher temperatures
– Thermophilic: used when the curd is cooked to as high as
132ºF (55ºC)
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Basic Ingredient Identification
• Rennet
– Active ingredient in rennet is the enzyme chymosin,
also known as rennin
– Obtained from the stomach of newly born
slaughtered calves
– Vegetarian cheeses are made using rennet from
either fungal or bacterial sources such as fig
leaves, melon, and safflower
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Basic Ingredient Identification
• Vinegar
– Contains acetic acid that will coagulate milk
• Lemon Juice
– Contains citric acid that can “denature” the proteins in the
milk globules
• Tartaric Acid
– Promotes graceful aging and crispness of flavor
• Salt
– Adds flavor and inhibits growth of undesirable microbes
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Basic Steps in Cheese Making
• Milk Preparation
– Pasteurization
• Acidification and Coagulation
– Lowering the pH (increasing acid content) of the milk to
make it more acidic
– After acidification coagulation begins—separating milk
into curds and whey
• Methods
– Acidifying the milk by bacterial action producing lactic acid
– Coagulating the milk with rennet or a similar coagulant
– Direct addition of an organic acid such as acetic, citric, lactic, or
tartaric acid
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Basic Steps in Cheese Making
• Cutting and Pressing the Curd
– Curd is cut to release whey
– Heating increases the rate at which the curd
contracts and squeezes out the whey
– Small curds are pressed to form large curds
• Whey Separation
– Scooping and draining
– Kneading or squeezing
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Basic Steps in Cheese Making
• Finishing and Forming
– Curd is cut into small pieces with a cheese harp,
and salt is added
– Some cheeses are immersed in a brine solution.
– Salted-curd pieces are then put into forms or
molds to allow remaining whey to escape
– May be pressed to expel more whey
– Cheese is then removed from molds and
wrapped or waxed
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Basic Steps in Cheese Making
• Ripening
– Bacteria continues to grow to change chemical
composition, resulting in flavor and texture change
– Surface-ripened cheeses such as Camembert and Brie
have outside coatings treated with a different type of
Penicillium spore, which creates a feathery white mold,
referred to as “blooming” or “flowery” rind
– Other surface-ripened cheeses have their surfaces
smeared with a bacterial broth—these cheeses are called
“washed” rind and must be washed regularly
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Basic Steps in Cheese Making
• Forming Rinds
– Formed during the ripening process
– Many are naturally formed
– May be brushed, washed, oiled, treated with a
covering of paraffin wax or simply left
untouched
– Function is to protect the interior of the cheese
to allow it to ripen harmoniously
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Adding Flavoring Agents
• Most common method is to blend the
flavoring agent with the freshly cut curd
• Salt is added after the curd is cut
• Other ingredients are added when salt is
added
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Adding Coatings
• Can be coated with fresh herbs, chopped
nuts, cracked peppercorns, seeds, or spices, or
merely wrapped in a shroud of pickled grape
leaves
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Caring for Cheese
• Methods:
– It holds well when wrapped in waxed paper, butcher’s
paper, dampened cheesecloth, or aluminum foil; young
cheeses, as well as goat’s cheese, favor being stored in
tightly covered plastic containers
– The use of refrigerators is better than storing at room
temperature; however, a cold, damp fruit cellar is
preferred
– Light is damaging to cheese, and too much will cause it to
oxidize rapidly and spoil
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Serving Cheese
• Tasting progressions:
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Milder to stronger
Lighter to heavier
Younger to older
Simpler to more complex
Local to regional
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