INTERMISSION, Part Three: Stirred-Curd Cheddar

Last night I made a second cheddar, inspired by what I hope will be the success of the first. I started when I got home from work and was up until 2:30 a.m. working on it. This is a different type of cheddar, referred to in the book as "Stirred-Curd Cheddar," as opposed to the Farmhouse that I made a few days ago.

The process was a bit different, and lengthier. Most of the difference came in after the curds had been cut, heated to 100 degrees, and drained. In Farmhouse I had to hang them up in cheesecloth at that point for an hour. For this Stirred-Curd cheddar, after having the whey drained off the curds are returned to a pot and maintained at 100 degrees for an hour.

Also, just a physical difference, for this recipe the curd gets cut into 1/4" cubes rather than 1/2" as in the previous batch, so the curds are finer. That first shot above is of the curds being loaded into the press.

There's the cheese starting to take shape, after the first 10 minute press.

Here's after the second ten-minute press, with increased pressure.

Then ... a two hour press at even higher pressure after which I snapped the photo above. Looks pretty darn good.

Currently this cheese is in the press at an even higher pressure, which will be sustained for 24 hours. That means I've got to set an alarm for 2:00 a.m. to get up and unmold the cheese.

Oh, one other noteworthy bit: I intended to use 2 gallons of Mapleline milk again, but the grocery only had two half gallons, one in glass and one in plastic (another $2.00 deposit on that glass bottle! ouch). I bought both of those and then mixed them with two half gallons of Our Family Farms milk purchased from a different store. As a result, the yield seemed slightly smaller than the first cheddar I made. After the two hour press, this new cheese was about an inch and a half tall while the Farmhouse wheel is closer to 2 inches. I also want to try to get a small scale so I can better quantify by weight exactly what the yield of cheese to gallons of milk has been.

I'll check back in with a photo when the cheese comes out of the mold (although I may not post at 2:30 a.m.) and also hopefully a photo or two of the Farmhouse Cheddar and it's progress.

The house smells cheesy, but I like it.