Month: June 2020

Camblu failure? (update)

Published on by spoon99

To see what happened, see this post: https://tiabr.com/camblu-failure/

I managed to hold off for three months!

Brushing one of them was useless. The strain of Geo I have is so aggressive that, even though they were both in the fridge, I couldn’t tell which was which.

Inside looks pretty much the same:

But, you ask, how did it taste?

Very nice, very edible. Any sourness is gone, and it has a nice, mellow flavor. And even though there doesn’t seem to be much more visible blue, the flavor is now stronger (some where between mild and medium) and consistent throughout.

(On my raggedy homemade crackers!)

-R

Not a Stilton, but . . .

Published on by spoon99

I followed the recipe in Ms. Karlin’s book, but looking back at my notes, there’s this: “Curd too soft, may not be enough crevices.”

If you remember, the mold in blue cheese needs to breathe for it to get really blue. This recipe didn’t call for any skewering, so I didn’t do that.

It got peau de crapaud (toadskin), and certainly didn’t look like a Stilton. Now at seven months old:

And cutting it in half, it certainly didn’t look like a Stilton:

But, you ask, how did it taste?

Surprisingly, this was very good. If I had been served it, and didn’t know what it was, I would have said to myself, “Hmm, this is a very nice Cheddar, but also a blue, weird.”

One thing I’ve learned is that the “blue” in blue cheeses is just the spores of the mold, and they are less responsible for the taste than the mycelium, which is what breaks down the fats and proteins and makes the cheese taste “blue.” And that depends on the aging, so you can have an aged cheese that doesn’t look, but tastes very blue.

(I made the sourdough crackers, so they are a bit raggedy!)

So, not a Stilton, but delicious. . . which just proves that you can screw up completely and still get yummy cheese!

-R

Lazy, but . . .

Published on by spoon99

Ramen Noodles with Chicken and Mushrooms:

Ramen Noodles with Shiso Pesto and Chinese Roasted Pork:

Ramen Noodles with Tamatar Chatni, Kimchi, and Fresh Greens:

Two of those look appetizing! I am out of vegetables, other than some root ones, and the greens are the first harvest from my patio.

Yum!

-R

First mulberries

Published on by spoon99

They are going nuts this year, yay!

It only took a couple of minutes to harvest these:

Some people don’t like them because of the little stems, but that’s just healthy fiber:

Mulberries with Buttermilk, Mint and Brown Sugar:

, , , which now that I’m looking at the pic on my computer monitor and not my phone, doesn’t look terribly appealing, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that this was a . . .

Double Yum!

-R