· James Torr · Personal · 1 min read
So this is how to make butter. Double cream. Beat the shit out of it for 5 mins or so, it’ll whip, then it’ll curdle, then you’re close, another 30 seconds or so and the fat just falls out of solution. Squeeze out the buttermilk with your hand (great for scones) and press it into a container before refrigeration. If you want, mix in 1% salt for longer shelf life, if not it should be ok for 2 weeks.
This is the follow up to the Caerphilly cheese. Looks and tastes pretty delicious: rich, a little funky, creamy. Super happy with it!
My recent foray into cheesemaking. From top left in the cover photo: Bel Paese, Caerphilly, Marcellin. There's a nice book called The Art of Natural Cheesemaking that I started with. His approach is very much avoiding the sterile modern approach, also found in modern beer making, and using diverse microbial cultures found in raw milk and kefir to produce interesting and characterful cheese. I used my "house" amasi culture which I've had for 18 months or so now, a South African lacto ferment that has seemed to have survived better than any other I've used.
Salmon on offer as is often the case in the winter, so I picked up a couple, cured and smoked them. Beech, cherry and hickory smoke for 12hrs. We ate one for NYE and the rest will go in the freezer. I made cream cheese and some crackers (not pictured) to go with them. Once I'd stripped the rest of the flesh after filleting them, the head and bones were roasted (12 mins air fryer max) and made into stock with a slice of konbu for some extra umami.
Picked up some discount milk during the holiday insanity and have been at it for a few days, reading and learning about cheese. On the left here are quite a few mozz balls, which I've frozen for pizza. On the right is an Italian Ligurian cheese called bel paese. The curds are pretty firm and they're not pressed. This will age in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.