Moldy (but delicious!) Cheese

Well, it looks like I didn't do the best job at waxing my cheese. There were three little pin-holes that look like tiny little micro-bubbles. How do I know this? Well I ended up with mold under the wax, and above the mold if I look really closely I can see holes. Mold needs air to grow, and I guess this is all it takes.

I did some reading and debated on whether I should let it ride, especially since it only happened on one of my wheels, or if I should fix it. The consensus was it wasn't going to make the cheese unsafe to eat, but the black mold can negatively impact the flavor of the cheese. So, I decided to fix it.

It's not so hard to fix. I threw my cheese wax in the double boiler to get it melting and then went to task on getting rid of the mold. I simply cut the mold out of the cheese right through the wax, making three small divots in the cheese. I think I caught it pretty early and the visible portion of the mold only penetrated about 2mm into the cheese. It was fairly easy to cut out.

I also decided that this would be a good point to sample the cheese. It had been aging for a month to the day. I was nervous, but after cutting off a chunk and smelling it I was quite optimistic. The sour smell was completely gone and replaced by a very mild cream smell. I took the wax off (throwing it into the double boiler to join the rest of the wax) and sampled.

It was amazing! Honestly, definitely not the best cheese I've ever had, but definitely good and made all the more special knowing that I had made it. It tasted very mild and somewhere between a cheddar and a provolone. It's harder than a normal cheddar, which I can only assume is due to the acidification that caused the sour smell, but not at all crumbly. It was also probably hard because the way I cut it I probably got mostly rind. I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far.

I then cleaned the cheese surfaces with some white vinegar and cheese salt and let it dry. Once the wax melted I re-sealed the holes, first by dripping melted wax off a toothpick to fill the holes, then dipping the entire face of the cheese back in the wax a few times. I'm pretty certain I got a good seal this time. Then I sealed the end I cut off by dipping it in the wax directly. To be prudent I used six coats.

Now I'll let it sit another two months and see what kind of flavor develops. The other wheel I plan on aging for six months.

Happy cheesing!

Home Made Pasta

This recipe will make six 80-90g servings of pasta. Including the resting time it will probably take about two hours, give or take. You can scale it up to whatever you can handle. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I'm sure you can probably do it alone, but it definitely helps to have an extra set of hands. Especially since you're dealing with raw eggs.

Ingredients:

• 2c Flour (you'll need some more to sprinkle on the cutting board)
• 4 Large eggs
• 1T Extra virgin olive oil (you'll need some more oil for the "sitting" process)
• 1T Water

Utensils:

• Large cutting board
• Butcher's knife
• 1c Measuring cup
• 1T Measuring spoon
• Rolling pin
• 2 Bowls
• Plastic wrap

You start by making a "flour volcano."

Then you add the liquid ingredients as the "lava." We cracked the eggs into the measuring cup to make sure we didn't get any shell in there.

Then you start mixing! This is the fun part. Start by breaking up the yolks and mixing all the liquid ingredients together. Then start working the flour into the mix. Being sure to not break the edges of the volcano pull the lava away from the walls pulling a little bit of flour in with it.

Once it's viscous enough that it's not going to run all over the place you can collapse the walls of the volcano into the lava. Then use both hands to mix it well. It's going to be a sticky mess, for sure. Once the dough is homogeneous get as much of it off your hands as you can. Then, sprinkle flour on your hands a little bit at a time, rubbing your palms together, until the dough on your hands dries off and starts to fall off.

Once you've got all the dough off your hands it's time to get it all into one ball and knead it, adding a little flour until it feels "soft as a baby's bottom." Be careful not to knead it too long, as it will make the dough tough. Really you're trying to knead it and add flour to the point where it's not sticking to your hands. Once it stops sticking you should be all set.

Then cut the ball in half (you do this because trying to roll out more dough than this is quite difficult. if you double the recipe you'll need to quarter the dough, etc).

Next coat each half with olive oil and put in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. Leave it in the fridge for an hour. Honestly, I don't know what this does, but it's how I was taught so it's how I do it.

After the hour take one of the halves out and simply roll it out on the cutting board coated with some flour.

You'll want it as thin as you can manage it, but be careful as if you roll it too much it will get tough and you risk breaking it. Ours is probably as thin as 4-5 sheets of paper stacked, or a little less than 1mm.

Next you fold it over itself short wise to make a flat roll. Then you start cutting the roll. I make our cuts about 7mm for a traditional fettuccine type noodle, but you can make your noodles as wide or thin as you like.

Once the pasta is cut unravel it and divide into the portions you want to store. We divided each half of the dough into three portions making six portions all together.

Here's where you have options. You can either air dry the pasta and after a few hours it will be ready for consumption. Or, and this is what we did, you can simply freeze it. To freeze it I put it into a birds nest type formation on wax paper, then simply over-lapped each portion with more wax paper and put it in a freezer bag. Takes about thirty seconds and if you're not going to eat the pasta same-day I highly recommend it.

Finally, to cook the pasta you boil water, put the pasta in the boiling water, and stir to avoid sticking until the pasta floats. It should only take a minute or two once you put the pasta in.

Enjoy!