A-Z Recipes

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Cheese (Read 499 times)

Trent


Good Bad & The Monkey


skinnycaponesugar

    I like blue cheese, but haven't tried that one. I must keep an eye open for it. How do you eat it? I like it on those very thin water crackers. mmm. I had a pizza the other day with gorgonzola and prosciuto, it was divine...my SIL didn't think so, though. Big grin

    Love, Run, Sleep

    Trent


    Good Bad & The Monkey

      You are meant to eat it as is, perhaps with a simple bread chaser and maybe a sip of wine or beer.


      skinnycaponesugar

        mmmm wine...shame it's only breakfast time....

        Love, Run, Sleep


        dork.major dork.

          I'm having sweatshirts made for my house (roommates/co-op) that say "More cheese, less sin" a tongue in cheek motto around here...

          Reaching 1,243 in 2008 -- one day, one week, one mile at a time.


          A Saucy Wench

            mmmmmmm.....cheeeeeeeeese

            I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

             

            "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

              Speaking of cheese...anyone have any ideas on how to get the cheesy flavor/texture without all the fat? Aside from just using lowfat cheese I mean. DH is a cheese freak, we eat a lot of cheese (OK, I love cheese almost as much as he does...what can I say, I'm from Vermont, land of cows and such). I have tried to cut back in general but I am amazed whenever I total up the calories in one of our favorite foods and realize that the cheese is adding a TON of calories and fat. For example, last night we made broccoli and cheese casserole, which consists of the following: 32 oz broccoli florets 2 onions 1 pkg cream cheese 1 C milk + flour, salt and pepper to make the roux 1.5 C shredded cheddar .5 C bread crumbs So you make the roux, add cream cheese til melted, toss with veggies, top with cheese and breadcrumbs and bake for 40 minutes. It's YUMMY btw, but ~2000 calories for the whole recipe. We'll get probably 6 servings out of it, but that's still a lot of calories each. I've used neufchatel cheese and lowfat shredded cheese before but it's still pretty high in calories.
              2009 Goals:
              PR 5K (Ha, current 43:10)
              Run a 10K
              Meet Seasonal Weight Loss Challenges
              Complete my first Sprint Tri


              A Saucy Wench

                To some extent you just cant. The light cream cheese is pretty good, but lowfat hard cheeses - meh. 2% milk is about the lowest you can go and have it still work without a ton of fake food stuff. You can use less of a stronger flavored cheese - ie use sharp cheddar instead of regular cheddar. In a recipe like the one above I would probably just overall reduce the amount of cheese sauce by at least 1/3-1/2, use sharp reduced fat cheddar and neufchatel. Also I would cut the recipe way back....make enough that it is a small side dish instead of a main dish (?) If cheese is the featured performer in your dish, it is just going to be a high calorie, high fat dish. The only way to really compensate is to make it a smaller portion and serve it with other lighter fare. - I also think a dish like that...Well I think brocolli tastes better if it isnt overcooked, so instead of making a casserole with a large amount of cheese sauce, I would steam the brocolli gently and then drizzle a bit of cheese sauce on top.

                I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

                 

                "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

                  Good ideas Ennay. I wonder if I could make a white sauce (with 2% milk) for the creamy part instead of using melted cream cheese, then use a stronger flavored cheese (and less of it) on top. Hmmm, I think I may need to make this again next week to try! Smile
                  2009 Goals:
                  PR 5K (Ha, current 43:10)
                  Run a 10K
                  Meet Seasonal Weight Loss Challenges
                  Complete my first Sprint Tri


                  Former runner

                    Thought I'd tack on a few pics to this thread. I sampled my first homemade cheese today. My friend and I made a 2 lb batch of Caerphilly 4 weeks ago and it turned out great.

                    This all started when I figured out how to make yogurt a couple years ago. I bought a cheese kit at the local homebrew store last year to make some fresh mozzarella. It came with the basics, cheese cloth, rennet and salt. I've made a few batches since then that turned out fine. A couple months ago a friend and I built a dutch press based on plans we found online. We decided on making the caerphilly for the first cheese since it only took 3 weeks to age. We ended up waiting 4 weeks to cut it open and it turned out pretty tasty. My friend converted the freezer of his beer fridge into an aging cave for the cheeses which works pretty good. The second cheese is a 4 lb Colby. Instead of using the traditional wax to age it we decided to vacuum seal this wheel. Today we made our first cheddar. It took a bit longer since the cheddaring process takes a full 2 hours. It's currently in the press for another 10 hours at 75 lbs.

                     

                    The Caerphilly - 2 lb

                     

                    Caerphilly

                     

                    The dutch press

                     

                    Dutch Press

                     

                    The Colby - 4 lb

                     

                    Colby

                     

                    Caerphilly cut

                     

                    Cut

                     

                    Vacuum sealed Colby

                     

                    More Colby

                    Ross

                    RunsForCake


                      That is damn impressive!  Nice job Cameraready!

                       

                      How long are you going to age the cheddar? 


                      Former runner

                        We're planning on aging the cheddar for 3-6 months. I think I might have cut the curds too large for the cheddar so I'll have to see if it comes out of the mold as a good wheel. For these first few batches we used regular store bought milk. Once we get our methods perfected we'll probably start using some fresh local milk.

                         

                        I think I forgot to mention the other cheese we get out of each batch. Once you're done collecting the curds you can heat the whey to 200 F and add some vinegar to make fresh ricotta. This last batch used 4 gal of milk which resulted in 3 gal of whey.  The final result was 13 oz of ricotta. I enjoyed some of that with my dinner tonight. Big grin

                        Ross

                          very impressive!

                          Trent


                          Good Bad & The Monkey

                            Tell us about the cheddaring process, I have never found many details about it.


                            Former runner

                              We used the instructions from the Making Artisan Cheese book. After you collect the curds you cut them into 1/2" strips. Then you place them in a pot or pan stacking them in a criss-cross pattern. The pan gets placed in the sink with hot water to keep the temp around 100 F. Every 15 minutes you pull the strips out of the pan, drain the whey and re-stack the strips back in the pan. This gets repeated every 15 minutes for 2 hours. I guess the point is that the curds expel the whey during this stage and shrink slightly. It did seem to make a difference after it was done. Although the whole time I was doing it I was wondering how a commercial cheese maker would do this process since it was very labor intensive.

                               

                              Here's a pic of what they looked like in the pot.

                               

                              Cheddaring

                              Ross

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