20
Ale Cheese Fig.1: Cheese manufacture, 1390-1400, Illustration from "Tacuinum Sanitatis", illuminated medical manual based on texts translated from Arabic into Latin, in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. 1 1 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, http://images.imagestate.com/Watermark/1276116.jpg 1 Cheese rounds air drying & aging in shelf’s, pressing by

Ale cheese

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Ale cheese

Ale Cheese

Fig.1: Cheese manufacture, 1390-1400, Illustration from "Tacuinum Sanitatis", illuminated medical manual based on texts translated from Arabic into Latin, in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. 1

1 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, http://images.imagestate.com/Watermark/1276116.jpg

1

Cheese rounds air drying & aging in shelf’s, pressing by hand, and draining whey.

Page 2: Ale cheese

Making an Ale Cheese in Period

Some types of cheese were named for the area that they were being made such as Gouda (in Holland); or the religious orders that made the cheese. An example of this was documented in 1543 in the ledgers of Saint-Aman Abby of Rouen, where the cheese called Neufchatel2 was recorded in the book “A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye.” Another example would be a variety of cheeses called Trappist after the order of Trappist monks who made them. There are also verities of cheeses that were made in a certain town or region.

This cheese is based on a recipe that called for Ale to be used to set the curd c.1430~1450 A.D. The version I cited was from “Take a Thousand Eggs or More”, but can also be found in “Two Fifteenth Century Cook Books”.

Fig 2: Dairymen and Cheese Sellers (Mid 13th C., San Marco, Venice)3

The milk was collected twice a day (morning & evening) at the milking house to be processed (fig.3 & 5). In period they would have left the skimmed milk to warm over night by the fire near the hearth. A milk starter often cream (see Ref. 3) from the next

2 Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en 3 At the Table of the Monks: Cheese, Of Course (Part   V)

http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/05/22/at-the-table-of-the-monks-cheese-of-course-part-v/

2

Page 3: Ale cheese

mornings milking4 (a bacterial agent some times referred to as a live culture) was added that acted as an agent to help back down the proteins in the milk so that the milk solids out separate out (the curds) . Another method used in period for the source of a starter was to save a small amount of milk from a previous batch of cheese before the rennet (or agent was added to cause the curd to separate from the whey). Then something was added like thistle, safflower juice, or an acid (vinegar or verjuice), ale, or rennet5 to cause the milk to clabbered (the curd to separate from the whey).6

The milk purchased for this project was Raw Whole Cows Milk that I low temperature pasteurized for modern safety reasons (The raw whole milk that I used was low temperature pasteurized by me, then processed into the cheese see details below). The Raw milk came from free range Short Horn Milking Cows, and Belted Galloway which was breeds known in the middle ages.

Medieval Method of making cheese:

Reference 1 :

“Take a gallon of milk from the cow, and seethe it, and when it doth seethe put thereunto a quart or two of morning milk in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall therein. This is for you clotted cream. The next morning take a quart of morning milk, and seethe it, and put in a quart of cream thereunto, and when it doth seethe, take if off the fire. Put it in a fair earthen pan, and let it stand until it be somewhat blood warm. But first over night put a good quantity of ginger, rose water, and stir it together. Let it settle overnight.”

“The next day put it into your said blood warm milk to make your cheese come. Then put the curds in a fair cloth, with a little good rose water, fine powder of ginger, and a little sugar. So lash great soft rolls together with a thread and crush out the whey with your clotted cream. Mix it with fine powder of ginger, and sugar and so sprinkle it with rose water, and put your cheese in a fair dish. And put these clots around about it. Then take a pint of raw milk or cream and put it in a pot, and all to shake it until it be gathered into a froth like snow. And ever as it cometh, take it off with a spoon and put into a colander. There put it upon your fresh cheese, and prick it with wafers, and so serve it.”7

4 Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.1695 Arne Emil Christensen is Professor, Dr. Phil. at the University Museum of National Antiquities in Oslo, author of this article (He specializes on shipbuilding history and craftsmanship in the Iron Age and the Viking period), http://ezinearticles.com/?Dairy-Products-in-Anglo-Saxon-Times-%28Part-of-the-Anglo-Saxon-Survival-Guide%29&id=37543876 Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.1697 Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~18

3

Page 4: Ale cheese

Fig.3 Women had charge of the domestic animals including milking, butter making, and cheese making production. (Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 764, fol. 44)8

Reference 2:

I was reluctant to include this but since there so little in print on how to make cheese that includes the pressing and rubbing the outside with salt I have chosen to do so. Please keep in mind that the process described below has not changed since Columella described this same process in the first century (see reference #4).

(England, 17th century, “A True Gentlewomans Delight”, 1653)To make a slipcoat Cheese

“Take five quarts of new Milk from the Cow, and one quart of Water, and one spoonful of Runnet, and stirre it together, and let it stand till it doth come, then lay your Cheese cloth into the Vate, and let the Whey soak out of it self; when you have taken it all up, lay a cloth on the top of it, and one pound weight for one hour, then lay two pound for one hour more, then turn him when he hath stood two houres, lay three pound on him for an hour more, then take him out of the Vate, and let him lie two or three houres, and then salt him on both sides, when he is salt enough, take a clean cloth and wipe him dry, then let him lie on a day or a night, then put Nettles under and upon him, and change them once a day, if you find any Mouse turd wipe it off, the Cheese will come to his eating in eight or nine dayes.”9

8 Hanawalt, Barbara, A., The Ties That Bound – Peasant Families in Medieval England, Oxford Univ. Press, Chapter 8 “The Husbandman’s Year and Economic Ventures:, pg.1489 Gode Cookery, Matterer, James L. site owner, http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec77.html

4

Page 5: Ale cheese

The reference above about the cheese being ready to eat in 8 or 9 days is very close to the process that I used for one of the versions you will sample.

Reference 3:

“My Lady of Middlesex makes excellent slipp-coat Cheese of good morning milk, putting Cream to it. A quart of Cream is the proportion she useth to as much milk, as both together make a large round Cheese of the bigness of an ordinary Tart-plate, or cheese-plate; as big as an ordinary soft cheese, that eh Market women sell for ten pence…”10

Reference 4 :

Columella on Cheese Making:(Although an early source from 70 A.D. Columella was a contemporary of Pliny & Cato, and at this point in time this was the most complete written source of instructions I have found for making cheese both pressed & soft)

"Cheese should be made of pure milk which is as fresh as possible....It should usually be curdled with rennet obtained from a lamb or kid, though it can also be coagulated with the flower of the wild thistle or the seeds of the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), and equally well with the liquid which flows from a Fig-tree...".  "A pail when it has been filled with milk should always be kept at some degree of heat: it should not however be brought into contact with the flames....but should be put to stand not far from the fire...""...when the liquid had thickened, it should immediately be transferred to wicker vessels or baskets or moulds...""...as soon as the cheese has become somewhat more solid, they place weights on the top of it, so that the whey may be pressed out;....then they are placed into a cool, shady place, that it my not go bad....it is often placed on very clean boards, it is sprinkled with pounded salt so that it may exude the acid liquid,...when it has hardened it is pressed again..." "...the method of making what we call "hand pressed" cheese is the best-known of all: when the milk is slightly congealed in the pail and still warm it is broken up and hot water is poured over it, and then it is either shaped by hand or else pressed into box-wood moulds." (fig. 1)"Others allow thyme which has been crushed and strained through a sieve to coagulate with the milk and curdle it in this way, similarly, you can give the cheese an flavor you like by adding any seasoning which you choose....Cheese also which is hardened in brine and then colored with the smoke of apple tree wood or stubble has a not unpleasant flavor..."11

Period Recipe for Ale Cheese: 10 The Project Gutenberg eBook “The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby”, www.gutenberg.org/files/16441, “To make Silpp-coat cheese”11 E.S. Forster & E. Heffner (Translated by), Columella II de re Rustica V-IX, , Book VII, pg.285~289

5

Page 6: Ale cheese

(I also have this book in hard copy at home)

Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers

COOKERY BOOK. I. HARLEIAN MS. 279. POTAGE DYVERS. 15

.1. A potage on fysshday. — Take an Make a styf Poshote of Milke an

Ale; Jjan take & draw J^e croddys J^orw a straynoure wyth^ whyte Swete

Wyne, or ellys Rochelle Wyne, & make it sum-what rennyng an sum-what

stondyng, & put Sugre a gode quantyte ]7er-to, or hony, but nowt to moche ;

J^an hete it a lytil, & serue it forth al a-brode in Ipe dysshys ; an straw on

Canel, & Gyngere, and jif [l^ou] haue Blank powder, straw on and kepe it

a[s] whyte as yt may be, & jjan serue f [orth]. 12

Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers13

Supplies:

12Two Fifteenth-century cookery books, Haleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), Internet Archive,COOKERY BOOK.I.HARLEIAN MS.279. POTAGE DYVERS.15 http://www.archive.org/stream/twofifteenthcent00aust/twofifteenthcent00aust_djvu.txt 13 Renfrow, Cindy, Take a Thousand Eggs or More, Vol. 1, 1998, United States, pg.40~41

6

Page 7: Ale cheese

2 gallons Raw Whole Cows Milk(Raw Milk or non-homogenized milk will give you a richer cheese)There is an additional step here for me since I used Raw Milk. I needed to heat the milk for 30 min. to a temperature of 145°, then place the pot immediately into a sink filled with cool water and ice if necessary to bring the temp of the milk down quickly, then after cooled place sterile clean container and proceed, with cheese making steps below.)

1 pkg. Mesophilic Culture Direct Set1 tsp. Rennet32 oz. (or two bottles) A good Ale (Ale made by *Brewed by Malcolm the Tall*) For the Hard Cheese Used: For the Soft Cheese Used:*Heather Ale * *Saxon Brown Ale* Peat Smoked Barley Malted Amber Roast Barley MaltHoney Wheat MaltWheat Malt Rye MaltMalted Oats Sweetgale (Myrica gale L.)Flaked Oats Juniper (Juniperus Communis)Sweetgale (Myrica gale L.) Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)Heather Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)8 oz. of mead (or sweet white wine)

For this Cheese Camelot Mead was used 8 oz. of HoneySpices (your choice)

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)Ginger (Zingiber officinale)Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)

¼ cup cool water1 Tablespoon Sea Salt2 Stainless Steel Pots1 Slotted Stainless Steel Spoon1 yard of cheese cloth1 Colander1 Stainless Steel Ladle1 Thermometer 1 Cheese Press1 Cheese Mold & Follower1 timer1 large plastic cake container (Tupperware style)2 Reed Mats to place the cheese on

Ale Cheese

7

Page 8: Ale cheese

(Basic cheese making instructions were in “Cheese Making Made Easy” by Ricki & Robert Carroll, and adopted for this type of cheese)14

Modern Method:

(My version)Modern stainless steel was used to conform to modern health and safety guidelines.

Take raw whole milk (after low temperature pasteurized) and warm it (heat it a little), then add the Ale, starter, and rennet. When the curds have formed cut them. Place the curds into a fine cloth (draw them through a fine strainer), add the sea salt, and hang until the whey has stopped dripping. Take the curds and add Honey, Sweet White Wine (or Mead), and Spices (Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, or what spices you may have). Press lightly and serve it forth.

I have included both pressed and non pressed forms of Ale cheese here. The softer spredable version is similar to that described in the period recipe. I also took the basic recipe above and adopted it into a pressed cheese that would be served at 10 days of age.

2-gallon raw whole milk2 bottles of a good Ale (I used a Heather Ale [see note above])8 oz. of a Sweet White Wine or Mead (I choose to use Mead) 1 package of Mesophilic Culture DS (this is used for temperatures under 105º) ½ tsp. of Rennet for 2 gallons of milk¼ cup of cool water to dilute the rennet into1 Tablespoon Coarse Sea Salt4 tsp. of mixed spices

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)Ginger (Zingiber officinale)Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)

1 cup of Honey

Day 1:Place milk into large pan (fig. 6). Warm milk (after low temperature pasteurized) until it has risen to a temperature of 90 F. (Use the in-direct warming method using a large metal pan in a sink of warm water, or inside of a second larger pot).

Add the Ale, and Mesophilic Starter DS, and allow to sit for 45~60 minutes to ripen. Next add the Rennet (diluted to 1/4 cup of cool water) and stir for several minuets. Let milk sit covered for 1 hour or until a curd has formed and a clean break (which is if a clean knife or finger is put into the curd the curd should separate cleanly). Cut the curds

14 Carroll, Ricki & Robert, “CheeseMaking Made Easy”, Storey Books, 1996, Chapter on “Hard Cheese” pages ( )

8

Page 9: Ale cheese

into ½ inch cubes, and then let sit for 5 minutes. Ladle the warm curds into a cheesecloth-lined colander (fig. 8) while still warm (fig.7) and hang to drain for overnight.

Day 2:

Take the curds and place into a bowl and add honey, wine, a little more ale, and spices cover and refrigerate overnight. Good for about two weeks.

CHEESE #1 is finished at this point.

Day 3: Cheese #2 Place the curds into a cheese cloth lined mold place the follower (fig.1). Place the cheese mold and follower into the cheese press and apply 15 pounds of pressure for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes remove weight & follower and turn the round of cheese, replace the follower and return to cheese press for additional 15 minutes. Turn every 15 minutes for the next 2 hours. After 2 hours increase weight to 30 pounds and turn every ½ hour for the next hour. Then replace into press and leave in press for 12 hours or over night.15

Day 4:

Remove cheese round and place on reed mat. Turn once a day for the next 2~4 days until a nice rind has developed and the surface remains dry. After 2~4 days rub the outside of the cheese all round with a damp cloth of Ale & Honey (making sure not to overly wet the surface of the cheese), and a little salt. Place in your cheese cave at 55ºF degrees turning once a day for the next 10~14 days (repeat the previous step as needed) then once a week there after. After 2 weeks wrap the cheese round in wax paper, sealing the cheese will keep it form drying out and loosing too much moisture, and it also keeps out unwanted molds.

Age Cheese #2 for 10~14 days then serve. Observations:

In reading many period cooking recipe’s there is as much written as unwritten. I believe that the authors of recipes in period assumed that the reader had a certain amount of basic knowledge when it came to cooking or in this case making cheese. With that in mind I have drawn on my experience of cheese making over the last 4 years to fill in the blanks and reproduce this cheese in a period style.

I have been working on this cheese for about the last 1 ½ years. My early attempts resulted in a cheese that was barely eatable due to the fact that I failed to compensate for the salt that was being rubbed on the outside of the cheese. Through the learning process I have found that semi-hard & hard cheeses will continue to absorb salt from the outer layers toward the center. I also adopted other references to using wine or other sprits

15 Carroll, Ricki & Robert, Cheese making made Easy, United States: Capital City Press, 1996, page 36~37

9

Page 10: Ale cheese

cure to outer surface of the cheese and affect the flavor of the final cheese. So I choose to use an honey & mead, and salt to aid in the flavor profile of this cheese.

The next item that I address was the spices used in this cheese of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. From my experience I knew that if a soft cheese is flavored it taste better if you allow the flavors to sit for 1 to 5 days before eating. Again with this in mind I choose to mix the spices into the cheese and allow it to sit for 24 hours before pressing so the flavor would be better and for the soft version for at least 2 days.

The next thing I had to do with the type of wine used in this cheese. I have made this cheese without the wine, with a semi-sweet white wine, a sweet white wine, and mead. I had asked a local Venter in the SCA what type of white wines were period and was told a Riesling would certainly work. Again I was looking at the flavor profile of this cheese and considered that mead was made with honey and I wanted to enhance and complement the honey used in the cheese. I believe the original intention of the sweet wine was to off set the bitterness from old Ale. If you notice in the period recipe they were using the ale to set the curd. Again I talked to local SCA brewers and the best reason could possibly be that ale was made fairly frequently, and as ale ages it could begin to turn (like a wine into a vinegar like base) and it is actually the higher acid content of the Ale that is setting the curd. Also as part of this process and a certain flavor pallet in mind I also choose to use an organic wild honey to complement the ale.

In reading the period recipe for “A Pottage on Fishday” the end product reads like you are getting a soft spread able cheese product. Again I have made this cheese in both forms, and the product you are seeing today is in the soft form (Cheese #1), and of a lightly pressed semi-soft cheese round (Cheese #2) because I wanted to see if I could get a slicing style cheese with a similar flavor profile.

Conclusion:

I have also learned that time is much more critical for making semi-hard & hard cheeses, and the process of making these types of cheeses is not nearly as forgiving as making soft cheeses.

Some of the things I learned were if my house is too cold the curd will not set. I can warm the milk and add more Rennet, and that if using a raw milk product that is produced near the end of the cows or goat’s lactation cycle the milk does not contain enough milk fat to set a curd (you get a weak or soft curd that does not hold up during the cheese making process for hard cheese). On adding rennet I learned early on that a little goes a long way and adding two much of something in the case of making cheese can be a bad thing. Adding not enough rennet and your curd will not set, but I have found that you can add a little more if necessary. Adding to much rennet will give it a rubbery texture and a bitter under taste. This also will happen if your rennet is too old.

This last statement is important because it explains a couple of written statements I found in period sources that talked about the time of year and the quality of the cheese products

10

Page 11: Ale cheese

produced. For example in the spring and early summer the milk is rich and contains a large of amount of protein and milk fat due to new pastures and lactation for their young, so the cheese is going to be very rich in body and flavor. If the milk is in the fall then it is not as rich due to the decline of pasture feeding and that they are no longer lactating, so the cheese produced in the fall will take more milk to produce a pound of cheese due to a lower amount of protein and fat making the milk thinner (the cream that comes to the top is not as thick as in the spring/ summer milk). What the animals eat also effect the flavor of the cheese as well.

Part of the preservation of any cheese comes in how moisture can I get the curds to give up without taking out too much and making a very dry cheese (i.e. how much whey can I get out of the curd). This is done in several ways thru the process, by hanging, pressing, and salting. Cheeses pressed and aged in this manner can and do last years.

Another lesson that applies as much now as then is keeping things clean, “morning milk in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall therein”16. There are times when no matter what you can do the milk will not set and all you can do is start over and feed the previous batch to the pig.

This is a process I have been learning about for the last 4 years, I started Medieval Cheese Forum a year ago (www.medievalcheese.blogspot.com) so I could keep track of mistakes and successes, share information I have learned about cheese making also.

Enjoy sampling the cheese.

Please reference Illumination in Fig.1, look on the left hand side, and notice the wooden form that the bundle of cheese is being pressed in and the container below to catch the whey. Above are two images taken from a modern video showing traditional cheese making. The form and methods have not changed since the 14th century.

16 Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~1817 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4LNS7F_-DM&feature=related587 Gyimesközéplok Traditional cheese-making, Sajtkészítés

11

Page 12: Ale cheese

The cheese on the far left is one of the early Ale cheeses

The cheese on the far right is another Ale cheese without the spices

12

Page 13: Ale cheese

18 fig. 5

18 Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en

13

Page 14: Ale cheese

19 fig. 6 Warming the milk

20 Fig. 7 Draining Whey

19 From Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644), c. 1370-1400) http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/foods/foods.html

20 Take 1000 Eggs or More, pg. 45, from Schweizer Chronik, c. 1548

14

Warming milk

Slotted ladle & strainer

Page 15: Ale cheese

21 Fig. 8 Roman Cheese Press in form and function very

similar to those found from 600 – 1600A.D.

All other photos unless otherwise noted were taken by me.

21 Roman Cheese Press, Greyware circular straight-sided bowl, used for training the Whey from cheese, c. 450 A.D., http://www.museumoflondonprints.com

15