Cotswold Pub Cheese

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This savory semi-hard cheese is flavored throughout with chopped onions and chives. You'll be hoisting a cold one to wash it down!

Last time (well, last two times) I made this, I put too much onion. This time it's just right.

That yellow on there is a bit of b. linens that grew (from another cheese in the cave I guess).

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Thanks for this recipe. It looks fairly simple. I generally make one pound of cheese at a time (I don't have larger molds but I assume that even reducing the initial volume by a factor of 4 will not create too many problems. (I note that I will have to reduce the weight I use to press the cheese by 25%... ). I think that this is something I am going to try this week - but given the smaller wheel I will be making I may simply use garlic and onion powder with some chives thrown in for good measure.
 
Thanks for this recipe. It looks fairly simple. I generally make one pound of cheese at a time (I don't have larger molds but I assume that even reducing the initial volume by a factor of 4 will not create too many problems. (I note that I will have to reduce the weight I use to press the cheese by 25%... ). I think that this is something I am going to try this week - but given the smaller wheel I will be making I may simply use garlic and onion powder with some chives thrown in for good measure.

I used dried minced onions, and also dried chives. Works great. Good luck with that onion powder and don't overdo it.
 
These days I work from home and given the lengthy ripening and coagulating times and the pressing times I have started a very small wheel of Cotswold cheese this morning. I can fit it into my schedule. Interestingly, I found a recipe for this cheese in my cheese making note book where the times were a little shorter but I am going with the hour of ripening and hour of coagulating.
 
These days I work from home and given the lengthy ripening and coagulating times and the pressing times I have started a very small wheel of Cotswold cheese this morning. I can fit it into my schedule. Interestingly, I found a recipe for this cheese in my cheese making note book where the times were a little shorter but I am going with the hour of ripening and hour of coagulating.

Are you familiar with the flocc test, and how it helps with creating the right type of curd for each cheese type?
 
I have not heard of a flocc test for cheese. What's involved?

First, the rationale behind doing it. After adding rennet, the longer you leave those curds before cutting, the stronger the curds become, and the better they will retain water after they are cut. For hard cheeses, you don't want them to retain much water. For soft cheeses, you do. So,
  • Hard cheese: small curds, cut early
  • Soft cheese: large curds, wait much longer to cut
The idea is to measure the flocculation time, and based on the type of cheese calculate the time to cut the curds. This time can vary due to rennet strength, milk quality, etc.

Flocculation Test
First, you time how long it takes the cheese to set into curd (flocculate). typically, we just use a knife and look for a "clean break". But a better way is to take a little bowl or lid that floats, set it on the milk, and try to spin it. I use a little tupperware lid (see below). When it won't spin, your curds are set. The time between when you added rennet and when the curds set is your flocculation time.

Depending on the type of cheese you are making, determine your flocculation multiplier.

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If you multiply the flocculation time and the flocculation factor, that's the time you should cut the curds after adding rennet. Example: if you're making feta, and the flocc time was 15 minutes, you'd wait 60 minutes to cut (60 minutes after rennet was add).

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Aha... I had heard of this but had forgotten what it was called. I generally, allow the milk to coagulate for as long as the recipe I am using suggests but your post provided me the rationale for the length of time chosen. Most of the cheeses I make have a coagulation time of about 40 minutes but for this Cotswald cheese the time is 60 minutes - so this is a firmer curd with more retention of whey.
 
Aha... I had heard of this but had forgotten what it was called. I generally, allow the milk to coagulate for as long as the recipe I am using suggests but your post provided me the rationale for the length of time chosen. Most of the cheeses I make have a coagulation time of about 40 minutes but for this Cotswald cheese the time is 60 minutes - so this is a firmer curd with more retention of whey.

Just be aware that if your flocc time could change due to quality and volume variances in the milk or rennet. By measuring the time to first flocc, you can adapt.

I don't want to come off as a know-it-all here. I have failures all the time. Just passing on what I currently believe are best practices - might change tomorrow :)
 
No no... Much appreciated. I will in future determine the flocculation time. It does provide me with far more control. Many thanks for this information.
 
Aha... I had heard of this but had forgotten what it was called. I generally, allow the milk to coagulate for as long as the recipe I am using suggests but your post provided me the rationale for the length of time chosen. Most of the cheeses I make have a coagulation time of about 40 minutes but for this Cotswald cheese the time is 60 minutes - so this is a firmer curd with more retention of whey.
it's commonly called gel time or clean break test, but some curd nerds just have to show off...😋
 
it's commonly called gel time or clean break test, but some curd nerds just have to show off...😋

I stated that above. I'm using the terminology that I find in the cheeseforum and also in Gavin Webber's digital book.

Anyway, the thing that's important isn't the clean break, it's the multiplier depending on the type of cheese you're making. I was hoping to introduce that idea to anyone reading this thread (all 4 people). It was an aha moment for me when I learned of it.
 
@ passedpawn - a question about the brine wash for Cotswold cheese: both the recipe you kindly provided and the recipe I had written in my cheese log book suggest that you wash the cheese with brine before air drying but there is no indication about the concentration of the salt in this brine. Presumably , this is not the same strength brine I would use when storing a cheese in brine (with vinegar and Ca Cl added) or is it (about 25% brine solution - I L water to 250 g salt)?
 
Here's a shot of the cheese. Apologies that it's a pdf.

I'd eat that!

For the brine, I think I winged it. Dumped a cup of kosher salt into a pot of water, enough to float the cheese. I think that's considered a "saturated brine" in that you add enough salt that it can't be dissolved anymore. But I'm sure I didn't weigh the salt.
 
I didn't even know that there WAS a cheese forum....so this is pretty inspiring.
 
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