Cheese Diary - part one

29/06/2012

Dear Cheese Diary

Today I made a cheese of my very own using 7 litres of pasteurised cows milk. 

I brought this milk up to 32 degrees centigrade and added 1 heaped teaspoon of 404 Culture.

After stirring in the culture I waited 1hour and 5mins and added approximately 2 dessert spoons of rennet (which had been diluted in double the amount of water) and stirred again.
I left the milk to set or coagulate for 30 minutes and then cut the curd.

Once I'd cut the curd a few times (ensuring enough moisture had escaped the little curd pieces) I turned up the heat gently to about 45 degrees, continually stirring. This is known as "washing the curd".

At this point I found that the curd was ready to be put into my mould.  It actually didn't make as big a cheese as I thought.  I was aiming for a fat "Large Gubbeen" size weighing in at about 1.7kilos.  Sadly it's only about 600g!!



My waxed cheese!

So I'm about to try it and will add some photos when I do - I hope it's a good one.
It did get smoked, which is why it's been waxed, but it didn't dry out properly the first time, so it could be that it doesn't taste quite right... we'll see!!!


1st Sept
Back again Cheese Diary

I know it's been longer than expected, but I've finally tasted my cheese and it tastes great - smooth and creamy and lightly smoked - not overdone.  I'm very pleased with the outcome.

I'm attempting to add some photos below...

The moment of truth... will it be good or won't it???

smells good to me!

sweet satisfaction

A cheesy grin!

The place where I live

When people go travelling and they write about where they've been, I always love to see photos of these places so that it seems real.  Well I'm sure you're all wondering at least about the accommodation on the farm so I'm going to show you.

As far as I know there are 2 flats separate to the house where Tom and Giana live.  I'm in the smaller of the two (which is where I stayed when I first arrived) and I prefer as there's only one of me and I don't need much space.

The kitchen, and behind that shelf is the tiny lounge (with one armchair and a tv :-)

This small flat is basically 2 rooms.  The first is separated by a shelf and has the kitchen and lounge.  The second is the bedroom with a hung partition for the ensuite.
Perfect size for one person, or I guess a very close couple if needs be.

These next are of the larger flat, and there is the bathroom past the bedroom.  All the rooms run after each other, like on a train.  Cute huh?  I love the wall of books in this flat and it gets more light.

On the table is my new wool for a scarf I'm going to knit!!

I will take some photos of the actual farm soon and post them here... xoxoxo

I go to Gubbeen

As some of you know, I have been staying at Gubbeen farmhouse where I've been working and learning about cheese.  This estate in Schull is owned by Tom and Giana Ferguson who were extremely kind in taking me on (without knowing or meeting me!) for the first 2 weeks of experience and now having me back to work for 2 months.  It's one of those magical places where there's always something going on - or someone visiting, or an event coming up... Everyone here is very friendly and has many interests and skills and if I pay attention I may pick up a few more tricks.  Tom and Giana have 3 children - Fingle, Clovisse and Rosie.  Fingle runs the Smokehouse nextdoor and butchers the pigs and makes sausages, salamis, chorizos etc and Clovisse runs the vegie/herb gardens (amazing salads available here!!!) and Rosie runs the packing and distribution of the cheeses and helps out on the farm if needs be.  This is an amazing family.

Getting back to me :-)
My days are made up of:
cleaning cheese moulds, and helping arrange them ready for filling
lifting the curd out of the vat to fill the smaller moulds
turning the cheeses in their moulds
putting them into their brine baths
taking them out
lipping the cheese
cleaning up afterwards
waxing the cheese and sometimes even packing it

The lipping is simply scraping off the 'lip' which forms on some of the cheeses from the moulds - like an edge sticking up when it shouldn't, so we scrape it off.
Waxing is simply waxing the smoked cheeses to keep in that flavour.

I've been following Rose around - Rose is the cheese-maker here and is responsible for actually making sure the cheese is made correctly (ie. the right culture is added and right measure of rennet and the curd is removed to the moulds at the correct time).

Vat 1 filled with milk, culture and rennet and is setting

Cheese in their salty brine baths

This is used to scoop out the curds from the vats and fill the moulds

Rose checking up on the temperature of the milk



The moulds are set up for efficient filling

 Each day's work is slightly different and I've found that Monday and Tuesday are the busiest cheese-making days.  My first few days here were exhausting and I found it very hard to pull myself out of bed!  My head spun from the information overload, I wasn't used to a physical job and then suddenly bam! there I was faced with making over 400 moulds of cheese!  I found that things started to make a lot more sense in my second week - for instance why they counted the moulds and set them up on the tables as they do, why Rose keeps checking the temperature of the cheese and why it was necessary to rinse the curd with hot water (temperature control is a very important aspect of cheese-making as a type of fermentation is used here and with all fermentation temperature is a big factor).

There is also a very scientific side to cheese-making which I have yet to read up on - sorry if you were hoping for a cheese recipe here, maybe next time as Giana's just offered to do an afternoon of cheese-making including ricotta and yoghurt!

If you'd like to check out their website it's http://www.gubbeen.com/ and it has more information about the farm-side of things as well as a bit about the history of Gubbeen.

Ps. I've been out to drinks once in the local pub when there was a local jazz festival - heaps of fun and very busy!  This week there's a film festival in Schull so we'll be heading down to check it out, and a few birthdays so it will be busy.

Road Trip up the West Coast of Ireland

Ever been on a road trip with a campervan?  This was my first time on such an adventure and I found it quite interesting that you can do so much in such a small space.  The Campervan slept 4 so we packed a tent in too in case there were no Bed and Breakfasts nearby.

We started off heading towards Cork and then out to Limerick and on to Ennis where we stopped for dinner at a pub, and then on too Carragholt where Nic and Mike found a BnB and the rest of us slept in the van.  After breakfast (pictured) we drove on to Loophead lighthouse and went for a walk, the sun was out and it was very pleasant despite the wind.

Next was a drive through the Burren - a sort of vast rocky land that seems a little desolate because there aren't any trees growing around, and then on to find some amazing cliffs where we could see out to the Aran Islands...

Loophead lighthouse

The view out to the Aran Islands only seen on a clear day

Gorgeous walk along the Cliffs of Moher

Onward then to Ballyvaughn Bay where we had a lovely salad for dinner and set up the tent for me as Nic, Mike, Robyn and Darren all slept in the campervan.  It was a great arrangement and although I was warm enough I hardly slept due to strange and unfamiliar noises on the bay and the feeling that I was about to be ambushed by a crazy old man living in the abandoned house nearby!!

I was not attacked that night however, and woke to a beautiful sunny morning and a cooked breakfast.  After making it to Galway in time for Mass we walked a little through the city streets of Galway and found a BnB nearby to sleep that night.

Campervan to the right, abandoned house to the left and my tent in the middle!

The spread at breakfast at a Galway cafe/restaurant, and yes we ate here!

Dinner that night was fantastic and we all enjoyed our own meals - a plus when we each ordered a different plate as I usually sit there and wish I'd ordered the plate of the person sitting next to me...  We returned to the restaurant in the morning as they did a good breakfast also and great coffee.

We returned home Monday evening and made the most of Nicky and Michael's last night in Ireland.

The Sweets Kitchen

What a happy place the Sweets Kitchen is at the Ballymaloe House!  This kitchen is where all the desserts and sweets for the restaurant are made and JR runs the show with Anne.  I spent three days there 'helping', and learned a lot about sugar and why Ballymaloe House does things the way they do.

Caramel Fudge
Almond Squares
Chocolate Clusters
Chocolate Truffles
Honeycomb
Nougat (which you'd love mum!!)
Marshmallow
French chocolate cake
Rhubarb Fool
Lemon Tart
Rum Savarin
Gateau Pithiviers
Creme Brulee
Apple Pie
Chocolate mousse souffle
A selection of roulades including:
Lemon meringue
Banana and butterscotch
Chocolate
House-made ice-cream (which uses a gallon of cream) with flavours like:
Vanilla
Honeycomb
Praline (sugary crushed up almonds)
and many more!

I got to make fudge which was very simple but involved a lot of stirring towards the end to get that lovely smooth and creamy texture (if you don't stir you get a more granuley texture), the filling for the Lemon Tart, Chocolate Clusters, finish the Banana Butterscotch Roulades and taste-test things like the Rosewater Marshmallow, Nougat and other mixtures.

Banana Butterscotch Roulade

Chocolate mousse souffle

The Sweets trolley loaded up

Bakewell tart

As we use a lot of the produce from the Ballymaloe gardens JR obviously does seasonal dishes and so a lot of the fruit-flavoured things have had rhubarb in them.  We went to the gardens a few times and picked loads, using the correct technique of course (twist and pull!) and prepared it as pictured, you can see the amazing colour for yourself!

I would love to do a few more days in that kitchen and try my hand at some pastry as JR even makes his own puff pastry and there's quite an art to it.  Perhaps late on in the year when there's more fruit available in the garden and so more flavours to use...

I am a Trolley Dolly

Could I get any cuter?  No?  Hhmmm, so it's not the most flattering uniform but I have indeed been working in the Ballymaloe restaurant as a Trolley Dolly.  My job entails serving delicious desserts and a lovely selection of cheeses to clients eating in-house, as well as the usual cleaning and dishes etc.  It's easy and enjoyable and I've met some great co-workers, everyone seems to get along.

To give you an idea of some of the desserts we serve, I've included a few pictures.

The first is a 'Delice au Cassis', which translates to Blueberry Delicious!  It's a tangy berry mouse dessert with berry jelly.  The second is a classic Bakewell Tart.  Treats like are made all day in the Sweets Kitchen at Ballymaloe and left out to be loaded onto a dessert trolley, which I would then take out to certain tables ready for them.  This is after the cheese course of course.  Most people chose only one or two things, there are always a selection of about 5 different desserts, all using local ingredients (where possible) and during this season rhubarb has featured in many of them.

My next blog will be about my 3 days in the Sweets Kitchen with the master of sweets JR... stay tuned.

The World of Green Saffron

 Last Thursday I worked at a stall in the markets in Cork.  This stall sold all sorts of delicious-smelling spices for making a wide variety of curries, ready made sauces as well as serving 3 types of curry with rice for lunch, and Bombay potatoes. It was a fantastic experience as not only was I able to learn about what spices go into which curry, I was fortunate enough to be able to check out the other stalls at the market and make a few purchases (after our lunch rush of course!).

Last night Robyn came home with several sachets of different curries, having just been to help one of the owners of Green Saffron with her garden, and so we decided to have Murgh Oudhi (aka Buttered Chicken) for dinner.

The produce used in these spice-mixes are so fresh and fragrant that the end product tastes better than anything you've had.  The sachets come with their own little recipe on the back of the packet and they're easy to follow - we had to blend up the mix with ginger, garlic, onion, lemon zest and juice and yogurt and then let the chicken marinate a while.

The key in a good curry is using the freshest ingredients and authentic recipes.  I never would have thought much of curries to be honest, but after smelling and tasting what was on offer I'm completely converted!