Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses Author: Visit Amazon's Ricki Carroll Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1580174647 | Format: PDF
Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses Description
Review
“[Ricki Carroll] has inspired artisans from Lorie to Las Vagas. She’s the Billy Graham of Cheese.” – Barbara Kingsolver, from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
“This book covers everything the novice cheesemaker needs to know about making delicious cheese on the first try” – San Francisco Examiner
“A thorough and practical guide.” – Bon Appetit
“A must-read for anyone interested in cheese making!…offering abled cheese makers knowledge to excel at their craft and novices a world of information…” – Jodi Wische, Old Chatham Sheepherding Co.
About the Author
The co-founder and owner of New England Cheesemaking Supply in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Ricki Carroll learned cheesemaking in England. Her company has been supplying home cheese makers since 1978, with the goal of providing people with all the equipment and information needed to enjoy this most delicious of hobbies. Ricki teaches cheese making workshops around the country for beginners and advanced hobbyists alike, leads cheese making tours to Europe, and is a member of the American Cheese Society. Her book has become a classic reference.
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- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; 3 edition (October 14, 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1580174647
- ISBN-13: 978-1580174640
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
`Home Cheese Making', 3rd Edition, formerly `Cheesemaking Made Easy' by cheesemaking equipment supplier, Ricki Carroll is one of those books like Sandor Ellix Katz's book `Wild Fermentation' and Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions' which a dedicated foodie should read, if only to appreciate exactly how cheese is made and to thereby appreciate the differences between hard and soft cheeses as well as cheeses made from cow, goat, buffalo, and sheep milk. The procedures for cheesemaking can give us a much closer connection between everyday cooking and the transformations which turn milk into cheese than can be achieved by even a close reading of Harold McGee's chapter on milk in `On Food and Cooking'.
Aside from dedicated foodies and the armchair foodies whose experience is largely from Food Network travelogues, there is the hard core cheese hobbyist and unregenerated counterculture `Whole Earth Catalogue Hippie' who grows a lot of their own food and makes their own wine or beer to foster an independence from commercial products. This book is really for you.
The first thing which both pleased and surprised me about the book is that it does not limit itself to soft, fresh cheeses such as queso blanco, mozzarella, cream cheese, mascarpone and mozzarella. It doesn't even stop at cured mozzarella, giving provolone. It goes all the way to the hard grana cheeses such as Romano and Parmesan, plus cheddar, blue cheeses, and the soft cured cheeses (Brie, Camembert, Limburger) along the way.
As a beginner cheese-maker, I bought this book to learn how to make cheese. Also bought Ricki's 30-min mozzarella kit. Figured I'd start with a basic mozzarella cheese, and it might be tasty with all the tomatoes in my garden. Well, things got a bit complicated.
While there was a lot of useful and interesting info in the book, the directions on how to make this 30-min mozz did not jive with her kit directions, nor did they even jive with the directions offered on her website (and there are two sets of slightly diffeent directions on the site!!). So, four sets of directions, each a little different (including target temperatures!!!), this beginner was frustrated from moment 1.
First batch failed entirely, probably due to the milk used. Bought another brand, dug around in the bin for the freshest one...this time things went better, BUT the curds did NOT form in the time she tells you....nor a half-hr later. Nearly an hour later, got soft curds and was never sure if they were "right"....they seemed too soft. Did manage to make 2 balls of cheese, but they tasted a little cooked.
I wrote to her website asking for help understanding what happened and for process clarification. No response a week later. I also wrote to this guy Steve who has his own cheese making website. He promptly answered, explaining that when he sells the Ricki kit he actually includes HIS OWN DIRECTIONS. Apparently the curd will often take up to an hour to set and tablet rennet (in the kit) can take a bit longer than liquid rennet. He offered a few other notes that very effectively explained what I was experiencing.
I am hesitant to make other cheeses from this book.
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