Queso Fresco Take II

For me, the prospect of delving deeper into cheesemaking, with all the equipment needs and techniques to learn, has seemed enticing but also a bit scary.  It is sort of like diving into a cold swimming pool on a hot day - you know you'll ultimately be happy you've done it but it will not be without a bit of discomfort initially.  To carry the analogy further, I've been content to wade around in the knee deep water so far (making basic cheeses meant to be consumed fresh) but there comes a time where you have to go all in if you want to progress.

My lovely wife, like she did with Beer Making initially, has given me the friendly push I needed by  purchasing me a cheese press and a Mini-Fridge to convert into a Cheese Cave.  The door has now opened to progress further into the world of cheesemaking!

Last year I attempted to make a cheese that required some pressing (Queso Fresco).  I used water bottles balanced on a wood box to apply the pressure.  This made for a pretty unstable pressing method and the whole thing toppled a few times before I decided to give up the task.  It was rather disheartening and I dared not attempt it again.  I'm going to go for some redemption today and, hopefully, do a Queso Fresco properly.

 Last time I mixed in some dried Chipotle peppers.  Will just do plain this time. 

I've been watching a lot of cheese making YouTube videos by Gavin Webber which I've found to be inspiring and informative.  Still pictures can't really do the process justice.  Here is his Queso Fresco video.  I have attempted to follow it as well as his blog post about the cheese.

Ingredients:

• 1 gal Lucerne Whole Milk
• 1/8 tsp CaCl diluted in ~2 Tbs of spring water
• 1/8 tsp Mesophilic Culture
• 1/2 tsp Liquid Rennet in ~2 Tbs of spring water
• 1 Tbs Kosher Salt

Process/Notes:

• Diluted CaCl in a bit of spring water and then mixed into the milk
• Heated 1 gal of milk in a water bath to 90 F

• Sprinkled Culture on the surface.  Let it hydrate for 5 min and then stirred in.
• Added Rennet and stirred in for 60 s
• Let set for 1 hr at 90 F
• After an hr I verified that there was a clean break (phew)
• Cut the surface into quarter inch grid with the knife held at a 45 degree angle

• Let set for 5 min
• Raised the temperature of the water bath up to 105 F to raise the temperature and stirred for the next 20 min.  It had gotten close to 95 F in that period

• Let it sit for 5 more min
• Drained off the whey into a cheesecloth lined colander.  Let it drain for 5 min

• Moved the curds back to the pot in the water bath - there was still quite a bit of whey left in the curds
• Mixed in the salt.  Turned over the curds by hand to accomplish this.
• Let sit for 30 min at 95 F (lowered the water bath temperature back to 95 F for this as well)
• Poured the contents into a cheese cloth lined colander to drain off the whey.  Left it to drain for a few minutes
• Poured it back into the pot.  There was still quite a bit of whey left in the cheese at this point.
• Added salt and mixed by hand
• Let rest for 30 min in the 95 F water bath
• Moved to a cheese cloth lined form and then to a cheese press.  Pressed at full spring strength.

• Left pressed for 5 hours
• The cheese was well formed by the end of this period

• Moved it to a Tupperware and stored in the fridge

Impressions:

• It is a very soft and moist cheese.  The texture has gotten creamer over time.
• The flavor is very much like the milk used.  There is only a light saltiness to the cheese.
• Initially, there wasn't much in the way of flavor contribution from the culture.  After 5 days or so the culture has started to have an impact.  It has a flavor and aroma similar to sour cream now.

Lessons Learned:

1. The water bath approach for maintaining temperatures made for a much less stressful event.  It felt like a much more controlled way to heat the milk/cheese.  I think I'll use this approach going forward.  I'm thinking of getting a Suse Vide heater to use for this purpose.
2. Really happy with the new cheese press.
3. Learned some things about the exposure levels in my camera which helped me get some better pictures this time - low light and bright white cheese aren't that great a combo for default camera settings it turns out.
4. 1 gal of milk seems like a good amount for a fresh cheese like this - don't know that I could eat twice this much in a timely manner