Vacchino Romano cheese, in the cave

[passedpawn]

Made this a few weeks ago. The curds are cooked until they are squeeky tight, the cheese is pressed under a lot of weight, then the wheel is brined to dry the rind. This one's been in the cave for a week. I added an enzyme (sharp lipase) to this to give it a stronger flavor, since romano is usually made from sheep milk. I'll probably make a parma this weekend for comparison. Parmigiano reggiano uses skimmed (2%) milk.

My intent is to leave it in the cave for at least a year and let it get really hard.

 

[AkTom]

You cheesey cheese makers are killing me. I need to sell my house and move before I can get started making cheese. You are an inspiration though.

 

[passedpawn]

This romano is hard as a brick (which, I think, is exactly what it should be now). I just put it in a vacuum bag to keep it from getting too dry and cracking. Traditional cheesers would coat it with olive oil (and replace that oil monthly), but the bags are far easier.

I'm still storing it at 50F. Up until today, this was in my cheese cave at 50F and about 75% RH. I had been wiping down every week or two with a piece of cheesecloth soaked in a brine/vinegar solution I keep in a jar in the cave.

 

[jcav]

I love Romano, Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Italian cheese of all kinds! My wife cooks with these cheeses all the time and we fresh grate Romano or Parmesan over the Italian food she makes! Excellent job Andrew, I really have to try my hand at making cheese. My wife makes mozzarella but I need to take a wack at this. Might be pm'ing you with questions along the way!

John

 

[shelly_belly]

Had to look it up..!

Vacchino (cow's milk)
Pecorino (sheep's milk)
Caprino (goat's milk)

Looking good pp, as always.

 

[passedpawn]

I made another one of these a few months ago. It's in the cave hardening. I might bag it early - before it gets hard as a brick. Not really sure when these things need to get bagged, but I figure since I already have one that you could use to pound a nail into a piece of locust, it might be good to have a softer one. More to report later.

 

[shelly_belly]

Mine is 1 day out of the brine and is pretty firm. Is this from the thermophilic culture? It's the first time I've used it.

 

[passedpawn]

Mine is 1 day out of the brine and is pretty firm. Is this from the thermophilic culture? It's the first time I've used it.
View attachment 593220

How tall is that cheese? Looks monstrous. Looks great How many gallons?

Hard grating cheeses like this are cut (or whisked!) into small curds (1/4" or smaller) then heated up to 120F. These two things remove a lot of the whey and result in a cheese that gets hard quickly. Mesothermic cultures won't ripen (lower the pH) at those elevated temperatures, so that's why the thermophilic are used.

 

[Daniele96]

In Roma they usually make pecorino with sheep milk. Do you make vacchino with the process for pecorino but with cow milk?

 

[shelly_belly]

It's from 2 gallons of cow's milk. I used this recipe https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/romano-cheese-making-recipe
I used the thermophilic culture and didn't add lipase as I have none. The cheese is about 4in x 6in. I have the "cheesy press" from Jack Schmidling, maker of the Maltmill.

 

[passedpawn]

8 months! Shaved some of this romano off the wheel. Man it's good. Actually I made pasta carbonara a week ago and used a bunch of it. So glad I have a second wheel aging.

 

[Staestc]

8 months! Shaved some of this romano off the wheel. Man it's good. Actually I made pasta corbonara a week ago and used a bunch of it. So glad I have a second wheel aging.

Awesome Andrew!! Very nice indeed!

 

[bernardsmith]

That looks fantastic. I take my hat off to you, passedpawn

 

[Daniele96]

8 months! Shaved some of this romano off the wheel. Man it's good. Actually I made pasta carbonara a week ago and used a bunch of it. So glad I have a second wheel aging.

It looks fantastic but in Roma they use sheep milk for cheese and traditional recipe for Carbonara needs pecorino (sheep cheese). If you use a cow milk cheese (like a parmigiano) the name is not carbonara but Papalina

 

[passedpawn]

It looks fantastic but in Roma they use sheep milk for cheese and traditional recipe for Carbonara needs pecorino (sheep cheese). If you use a cow milk cheese (like a parmigiano) the name is not carbonara but Papalina

Sadly, I have no flock of sheep, nor access to their milk. I use what I have available.
It was my interpretation - I should have called it pasta alla florida

Thanks for the education. I really appreciate it - I looked up the papalina and see what you mean.

 

[Daniele96]

Sadly, I have no flock of sheep, nor access to their milk. I use what I have available.
It was my interpretation - I should have called it pasta alla florida

Thanks for the education. I really appreciate it - I looked up the papalina and see what you mean.

Papalina simply is a carbonara without pecorino, it is prepared with cow milk cheese in the same way you prepare carbonara (in Italy we use parmigiano for this recipe). The reason of this change is a problem of health of Pope Pio XII: he followed a low-salt diet because of high blood pressure. The only problem was he loved carbonara and his personal chef changed two ingredients of carbonara: pecorino was changed with parmigiano (which contains less salt) and, in some version of the recipe, prosciutto replaced guanciale. The rest of the recipe is an eggs cream like carbonara.

 

[Daniele96]

Sadly, I have no flock of sheep, nor access to their milk. I use what I have available.
It was my interpretation - I should have called it pasta alla florida

Thanks for the education. I really appreciate it - I looked up the papalina and see what you mean.

You have no sheep milk but I would like to know an information. Did you use the process for italian pecorino but using cow milk or your vacchino is another cheese?

 

[passedpawn]

You have no sheep milk but I would like to know an information. Did you use the process for italian pecorino but using cow milk or your vacchino is another cheese?

I made this cheese (twice) based on the process below. Many of my cheeses aren't any good, so when one comes anywhere close, I declare success, even it isn't "perfect". This romano was a success for me. Twice

https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/romano-cheese-making-recipe

 

[Daniele96]

I made this cheese (twice) based on the process below. Many of my cheeses aren't any good, so when one comes anywhere close, I declare success, even it isn't "perfect". This romano was a success for me. Twice

https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/romano-cheese-making-recipe

Ok. I don't know how exactly is the process used to make pecorino Romano but it is plausible it is not completely different from the one described here. In future if you have possibilities you should try to make a cheese with this process using sheep milk if you find it.

 

[passedpawn]

I've still got 1.5 wheels of this romano. Hard as rock. Turned brown at some point (my cheese cave thermostat died and the cheese got warm for a few weeks - I think that did it. Still tastes great though.

I used it last night with some ricotta to make gnudi (fried cheese balls). Delicious. You can see what's left of one of the romano wheels on that cutting board.