March 31, 2010

Mistakenly Melty Mozarella

So here's a question for my cheesemaking friends:

At my urging, a family member recently made a mozzarella using Ricki Carroll's starter kit.  She and her husband used whole milk, but used a different process for heating than the microwave shortcut (not exactly sure what they did...but they were trying to be "more traditional" about it). 

She served the cheese last night at a dinner party, and after it came to room temperature, it was almost melted.  It had the consistency of the inside of a brie or camembert... It was a gooey blob!

She made the cheese about ten days earlier, and had kept it in the fridge, sealed in plastic wrap.

Upon tasting, it was obvious to me that they didn't add enough salt.  I'm thinking that since salt helps expel moisture from the curds, without enough salt it had too much moisture remaining.  But would that be enough to cause it to melt at room temperature?  What else might cause this cheesy conundrum?

March 5, 2010

Please don't try this at home

See, the irony here is that it's probably the only place you could try it.  Are you (and your baby's momma!) hardcore cheesemakers enough to do it?

Then again, I'm not sure why many of us are first repulsed, then intrigued.  Shouldn't it be the perfect food?  Nevertheless, I feel compelled to say it:  Ugh!  (Counterpoint: the pics on his blog look terrific!).

Chef Daniel Angerer makes cheese from two gallons of his wife's breast milk.