Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Experiment 1 [serious eats]
Experiment number one. It seemed too easy. I gathered my two ingredients and equipment. Our guest was due to arrive in half an hour. D was in the kitchen with me--he was prepping a mix-in for the ice cream he would make later. He had a sheet pan with foil and a single layer of rolled oats and a sauce pan of white sugar. I poured the goat into the pan and set it to medium, juiced some lemons, and clipped the candy thermometer in place. The magic temperature of 180 degrees was a little tricky. I kept having to stir the pot as a skin kept developing atop the goat and every time I did the temperature would spike. So it was stir and spike, stir and spike for about a half hour. By the time I hit 180, D had a toasted oatmeal brittle cooling and I had a hot goat off the heat. I poured the lemon juice in and instantly it curdled. 
It looked pretty gross. And, I wasn't sure if I should wait for it to cool at all or what. The recipe didn't say anything about waiting so after a couple minutes I started ladling it into the cheese cloth, tied it up, and hung it up. I had to improvise to get it high enough.
An hour and a half later, this is what I had:
I daresay it looks like a cherub's dirty diaper. I have to say, I was very disappointed that the volume went from a full quart of goat milk to like 2/3 cup of cheese. And that's a generous estimate. It tasted good, delicate and modest but certainly not twangy like the goat cheese I was expecting. The texture was more like a dry ricotta than chèvre, for sure. But I figured maybe it needed to chill, maybe it needed to rest--something.
So I dumped it in a rubbermaid and stuck it in the fridge. White gazpacho was finished ahead of schedule, so on some french bread it went with a grape, almond garnish. It complimented the soup well and was a tasty flash of texture. But how would it end up?
The next day the texture was drier and crumbly, like the feta sprinkles you buy once and never again. I added some herbs, lemon zest, and olive oil--all of which overpowered any twang that might have presented itself, although it did wonders for the texture.
The end result was delicious but I have to wonder if it was the crusty, toasted LaBrea Bakery bread that made the day.
Conclusion, this is a great recipe for a young, tame, subtle cheese that can be turned around in under two hours. Would I pay a premium price for this cheese? Nooooo. Is this the recipe upon which to base a business investment? Puh-shaw. I want twang. I want unequivocal goat. I want goat funk. I want bachelor goat, out all night, drank Ouzo til dawn funk. This was amateur hour. The recipe search continues.Saturday, August 18, 2012
Recipe #1 [serious eats]
Ok. This seems all too easy. Really? One day? I make goat cheese in one day? What the crap man! All I need is lemon juice and cheese cloth? If it is really this easy I may have to punch myself in the face for not making goat cheese sooner. D and I are having a friend over today for pool time and I may just make some damn goat cheese too. Cross your fingers cyber people and it may just happen.
There seems to be some debate in the comments section of this piece about whether this is chevre or goat's milk ricotta. Also I am going to assume the medium sauce pan is meant for one quart of milk. Experiment, go.
SERIOUS EATS: RECIPES
How to Make Goat Cheese
"It's almost as easy as making a pot of tea. Except you also need cheesecloth."
[Photographs: Erin Zimmer]
This super-easy recipe for goat cheese seemed too good to be true. No backyard goats required? No rennet? (The animal enzymes usually required for cheese production.) No help from an older, wiser dairy farmer?
Nope. It's almost as easy as making a pot of tea. Except you also need cheesecloth and one other maybe-you-don't-have-this-lying-around-thing: a candy thermometer. But that's really it. In less than two hours, you'll have a little pouch of soft, fresh goat cheese.
Goat Cheese
Adapted from Kiss My Spatula
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 clove freshly grated garlic
- A few pinches coarse salt
- Herbs (up to you) but recommended: Rosemary, chives, parsley, herbs de Provence, fennel fronds, dill, and other non-herbs like dried apricots.
Procedures
- Fill a medium saucepan with goat's milk. Heat gradually until it reaches 180°F. Watch closely. You can run in and out of the kitchen, but don't get too distracted. It shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes.
- Once it hits the magical temperature, remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Let stand until milk starts to curdle, about 20 seconds. Don't expect curdles, like cottage cheese curdles. As you can see in this photo, slight clumping will occur, but nothing too drastic. Don't go pouring in a bucket of lemon juice, thinking nothing has happened. But you can add a few extra droplets if nothing is actually happening. Also: blood orange isn't as effective as lemon in creating the right curd texture, just sayin'.
- Line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth—really, several. Otherwise you'll lose precious goat cheese through the soggy cloth. Place over a large bowl to catch the whey drips.
- Ladle milk into colander. Pull up and tie the four corners of the cheesecloth together and hang on the handle of a wooden spoon. (This was my favorite part, second to eating it of course.) Set over a very deep bowl.
- Allow whey to drain (drip, drip, drip) until a soft, ricotta-like consistency is reached inside the cloth, about 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Transfer to a bowl and fold in salt, garlic, and flavors of your choice. Serve on fresh bread, salads, with fruit, or just straight-up. Can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge, but after a few days, the consistency isn't as lusciously smooth and spreadable.
- Eat it on everything.
- Repeat. Make as much as possible.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
I'm an Artist and a Businesswoman
Hi everyone, Alicia here, I am excited to embark on this adventure with you. My motivation for participating in this experiment can best be described in a Three Things post.
1. Health aspect - I have struggled with my weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle pretty much all my life. I am constantly trying to find a balance that works for me and that I am at my happiest. In all my research and progress I have realized how important diet is, and I firmly believe the over-processed, nutrient-stripped food that is prevalent and quick contributed to my childhood obesity. We need to get back to basics overall and this is one great way to start, with a food that is delicious and nutritious. From Farm to Table.
2. Possibility of profession fulfillment - I am very grateful for my career and have worked hard for my education, however, I often lack a sense of fulfillment, I think this could turn into a hobby that would provide me with that accomplishment, producing a good product that I can feel passionate about. I have already begun to run away with business plans and profitable ideas (I blame all those marketing classes) but even is this ends up just being something that I become really great at and can share with my friends and family as gifts I will be grateful for the additional project and think having it as an outlet could even make me better at my current career. (Or we could become world renowned Goat Milk connoisseurs! Oprah says to visualize people!)
3. Fun and Creativity – What could be better than dreaming up new flavors with some great friends and learning a new skill in the kitchen?
So far Lance, Doug and I have sourced a place to get fresh goat milk and have been looking up basic recipes to get our feet wet. We’re hoping to report soon about our first goat cheese making day.
So for now, NEEAAAHHH! That’s goat for goodnight.
1. Health aspect - I have struggled with my weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle pretty much all my life. I am constantly trying to find a balance that works for me and that I am at my happiest. In all my research and progress I have realized how important diet is, and I firmly believe the over-processed, nutrient-stripped food that is prevalent and quick contributed to my childhood obesity. We need to get back to basics overall and this is one great way to start, with a food that is delicious and nutritious. From Farm to Table.
2. Possibility of profession fulfillment - I am very grateful for my career and have worked hard for my education, however, I often lack a sense of fulfillment, I think this could turn into a hobby that would provide me with that accomplishment, producing a good product that I can feel passionate about. I have already begun to run away with business plans and profitable ideas (I blame all those marketing classes) but even is this ends up just being something that I become really great at and can share with my friends and family as gifts I will be grateful for the additional project and think having it as an outlet could even make me better at my current career. (Or we could become world renowned Goat Milk connoisseurs! Oprah says to visualize people!)
3. Fun and Creativity – What could be better than dreaming up new flavors with some great friends and learning a new skill in the kitchen?
So far Lance, Doug and I have sourced a place to get fresh goat milk and have been looking up basic recipes to get our feet wet. We’re hoping to report soon about our first goat cheese making day.
So for now, NEEAAAHHH! That’s goat for goodnight.
Why make my own goat cheese?
As Lance as kindly taken care of the "how" I thought I should round things out with the "why" - or at least my version of it.
It is kind of a complicated question to answer. Only because clearly the only response is "why not?" I have long held a fascination with making foods from scratch. Not just foods like pizza or lasagna that have only (relatively) recently appeared in grocery store freezers, but foods that you don't even think twice about buying ready-made: marshmellows, tofu, doughnuts, butter - the list goes on. In fact, the list is in my kitchen. I have made a point over the years of finding, copying, and saving recipes of things can be made from scratch that normally I would just buy pre-made. And friends, cheese is on that list. (Interesting side note: goat cheese is not. I have recipes for paneer and cow's milk ricotta, but no goat cheese.)
But why make it from scratch? Isn't that a lot of work? Won't it take way longer? Well...yes. It is a lot of work. And yes, in my experience making things from scratch does take a few extra moments than just picking it up off a shelf. But for me, those reasons are the why- because it takes more work and because it takes more time.
I find it interesting, and to be honest, kind of sad that our collective set of culinary skills is declining in North America. It wasn't that long ago that making your own bread was normal, that most meals were homemade and that people - everyday people - knew how to do these things. I started making my list of Foods to Make From Scratch based on a fairly basic realization that we have all these pre-made foods because at some point in time people made them at home enough for them to become popular. We have just collectively forgotten how that was done.So my wanting to make from scratch is an expression of my desire to remember and learn culinary traditions that I feel are slowly fading.
I also am a complete sentimentalist. I like the idea of spending time with something - a book, a recipe, an object - and then sharing it with someone else. Some of my most prized possessions are ones that are old - my grandmother's quilt, a book given to me by a friend, on of my mother's dresses - and it is because someone I love has already spent their time with those objects that I adore them so much. I think the same can hold true for food. Baking bread for a friend becomes more than just giving them food, it becomes sharing a recipe that I love, giving them three hours of my time, working and kneading and really doing something for them. And it is yummy to boot!
So there ya go. Making my own goat cheese will take more time. And it will be messy and a lot of work. But I want it to be. I want to know what it is like to make something that I like so much. I'm not going to pretend that I will ALWAYS make my own goat cheese or that I will ever want to do it again after that first potentially disastrous attempt. But at the very least, through doing and trying I will gain an appreciation for how a food that I love is made, and I will think of that experience every time I buy a package at the store. Which will often, because let's get real - I eat a lot of the stuff.
It is kind of a complicated question to answer. Only because clearly the only response is "why not?" I have long held a fascination with making foods from scratch. Not just foods like pizza or lasagna that have only (relatively) recently appeared in grocery store freezers, but foods that you don't even think twice about buying ready-made: marshmellows, tofu, doughnuts, butter - the list goes on. In fact, the list is in my kitchen. I have made a point over the years of finding, copying, and saving recipes of things can be made from scratch that normally I would just buy pre-made. And friends, cheese is on that list. (Interesting side note: goat cheese is not. I have recipes for paneer and cow's milk ricotta, but no goat cheese.)
But why make it from scratch? Isn't that a lot of work? Won't it take way longer? Well...yes. It is a lot of work. And yes, in my experience making things from scratch does take a few extra moments than just picking it up off a shelf. But for me, those reasons are the why- because it takes more work and because it takes more time.
I find it interesting, and to be honest, kind of sad that our collective set of culinary skills is declining in North America. It wasn't that long ago that making your own bread was normal, that most meals were homemade and that people - everyday people - knew how to do these things. I started making my list of Foods to Make From Scratch based on a fairly basic realization that we have all these pre-made foods because at some point in time people made them at home enough for them to become popular. We have just collectively forgotten how that was done.So my wanting to make from scratch is an expression of my desire to remember and learn culinary traditions that I feel are slowly fading.
I also am a complete sentimentalist. I like the idea of spending time with something - a book, a recipe, an object - and then sharing it with someone else. Some of my most prized possessions are ones that are old - my grandmother's quilt, a book given to me by a friend, on of my mother's dresses - and it is because someone I love has already spent their time with those objects that I adore them so much. I think the same can hold true for food. Baking bread for a friend becomes more than just giving them food, it becomes sharing a recipe that I love, giving them three hours of my time, working and kneading and really doing something for them. And it is yummy to boot!
So there ya go. Making my own goat cheese will take more time. And it will be messy and a lot of work. But I want it to be. I want to know what it is like to make something that I like so much. I'm not going to pretend that I will ALWAYS make my own goat cheese or that I will ever want to do it again after that first potentially disastrous attempt. But at the very least, through doing and trying I will gain an appreciation for how a food that I love is made, and I will think of that experience every time I buy a package at the store. Which will often, because let's get real - I eat a lot of the stuff.
Monday, August 13, 2012
How It Began.
It was a bit like the Bermuda Triangle, events intersecting in a dire way. Dire because there is not enough goat cheese in my life.
Then my friend Carrie facebooked a little ditty about how she eviscerated her refrigerator of all goat cheese provisions and then--oh so cavalierly--mentioned that she needed to acquire a goat of her own. I could not let a flippant comment like that go. Especially after seeing the price for goat in Arizona. I mean if a goat is going to be cheap, it's going to be cheap in Arizona. Arizona or New Mexico. Or Mexico. But I would have no patience for the minutemen, if I tried to make that trek. I am sure they have a beef with goats. No pun intended. But these Arizona goats were no bargain. So I said to her, "You know a goat has to pop out a billy before they'll produce milk?" And she replied that she'd have to get two or a very modern, able-to-fend-for-herself-in-the-social-scene goat. Which I of course thought was very witty. We started messaging and she joked some more about buying a goat, so I called her on it and propositioned her with a goat cheese making gauntlet, and she didn't flinch.
Alicia came up with this halfbaked idea of buying goats to make cheese and my husband said hey--why not buy milk to make cheese and see if you like that. He's so wise. So I agreed and did nothing. Alicia even sourced goats locally to purchase to start a farm. She scouted land. She offered her parents up as indentured servants. And still, I did nothing.
Then my friend Carrie facebooked a little ditty about how she eviscerated her refrigerator of all goat cheese provisions and then--oh so cavalierly--mentioned that she needed to acquire a goat of her own. I could not let a flippant comment like that go. Especially after seeing the price for goat in Arizona. I mean if a goat is going to be cheap, it's going to be cheap in Arizona. Arizona or New Mexico. Or Mexico. But I would have no patience for the minutemen, if I tried to make that trek. I am sure they have a beef with goats. No pun intended. But these Arizona goats were no bargain. So I said to her, "You know a goat has to pop out a billy before they'll produce milk?" And she replied that she'd have to get two or a very modern, able-to-fend-for-herself-in-the-social-scene goat. Which I of course thought was very witty. We started messaging and she joked some more about buying a goat, so I called her on it and propositioned her with a goat cheese making gauntlet, and she didn't flinch.
So my lukewarm proposition was accepted and, who am I kidding, yes I really do want to make cheese but mostly for reasons that are fodder for another post. Long story short, I roped Alicia back into the cheese wheel and here we are.
Goat milk candidate #1 [PHX]
Here is a potential goat milk supplier found by the lovely Alicia (uh-LEE-see-uh). I like the goats and love the mason jars.
Date: 2012-08-05, 5:44PM MST
Reply to: p97qn-3186402581@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
First concern: pasteurization. Is there a danger to use raw milk? Does the cheese making process involve pasteurization or is the a potential to coagulate a killer bacteria goat cheese log the could sterilize me or damage my DNA or worse: not work with my chilled baby beets. We shall see. Research and see. All I can say is I'm having flashes in my mind from the film Contagion.
please flag with care: [?]
Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any deal involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, cashier check, money order, shipping, escrow, or any promise of transaction protection/certification/guarantee. More info
Fresh goatmilk - $5 (Higley/Pecos)
Date: 2012-08-05, 5:44PM MST
Reply to: p97qn-3186402581@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Farm fresh goat milk daily. Call 480-620-6879. 5 dollars per 1/2 gallon and 8 dollars per gallon.
PostingID: 3186402581
- Location: Higley/Pecos
- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
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