Derby Cheese

[Tammy]

I made this cheese last winter and we enjoyed it but it wasn't spectacular. In fact, most of my cheese was good, but not spectacular. This year, I started using my clabber/buttermilk in place of mesophilic starter culture. This cheese went from mediocre to great. In fact, since I am terrible at letting cheese age, I tested it at two weeks and it was really good. I can't wait to see what it tastes like with a little age on it. Well, that's assuming I can actually get some age on wheel before eating it all!


The recipe comes from the book CHEESE MAKING AT HOME.

DERBY

Preparation time: 4 Hours
Pressing Time: 26 Hours
Aging Time: 1-2 Months
Makes 4 pounds

This cheese, pronounced "Darby" originated in the country of Derbyshire, England. It is similar to cheddar but has a higher moisture content and ages more quickly.

4 gallons of whole milk
2 cubes or 1/4 c mesophilic starter culture (I use buttermilk/clabber)
1/2 tablet rennet, dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water
1/4 cup salt

1. Heat milk to 84 degrees F. Add starter culture, mising well. cover and let ripen 30 minutes.

2. Add dissolved rennet, stirring well. cover and let sit 45 minutes.

3. Cut the curd into 1/2" cubes.

4. Heat slowly to 94 degrees, stirring the curds by hand. This should take 30 minutes.

5. Let the curds settle for 30 minutes.

6. Drain the whye and allow curds to sit in colander for 30 minutes.

7. Cut into four slabs. Stack slabs on top of each other, reversing their order every 20 minutes for one hour.

8. Tear slabs into pea sized pieces. Sprinkle 1/4 cup salt over curds. Mix well.

9. Pack curds into a cheesecloth lined mold.

10. Apply 10 pounds pressure for one hour. Flip and repack. Apply 10 pounds pressure for one hour. Flip and repack. Apply 50 pounds pressure for 24 hours.

11. Air dry cheese on a mat for several days until dry to the touch. Turn twice a day.

12. Wax cheese and age it for 1-2 months at 50-55 degrees turning it twice a week.

[darbyfamily]

how do you make 'clabber' do I need a culture to start it?

I tried cottage cheese on the counter thing but we keep our house fairly cold not my choice!

so it didnt work well.

I'd love to try this recipe with clabber instead of the mesophilic, though I have probably 50 ice cubes of starter culture in the freezer

[darbyfamily]

Oh and let me add... I think mine has fairly good flavor because instead of adding 4 cubes of starter to 2 gallons of milk, I usually add 5 and to three gallons I add 6, sometimes 7.

I was amazed.. yesterday I used 2 3/4 gallons of milk and about 1 1/2 quarts of cream... and when I took that cheese out of the press today it weighed 5 lbs!!!! I normally average just over a pound per gallon, but I got a lot more out of the 'more cream' batch... so I did that again today!

here is a picture of it with a stick of butter for size comparison I was thrilled beyond words.. and it taste great too! I ate the trimmings, who can resist?

[Tammy]

Here's a link to where some of us have recently been discussing clabber. You can also make your own buttermilk by buying buttermilk at the store and using it to start some at home. I am not sure how much you need of store bought cultured buttermilk to start a gallon, but I can probably find out if you are interested. Once you have your cultured buttermilk started, you can just keep it going by adding a little starter to each new batch.

I just prefer to use the clabber myself because I don't have to buy anything from the store!

You can use buttermilk (clabber) for anything that calls for mesophilic starter and you can use yogurt for anthing that calls for thermophilic starter.

However, if you have the starter and your cheese tastes great, I would just keep doing what you are doing!!!!


familycow.proboards32.com/index.cgi?board=Food&action=display&thread=18256&page=2

[Tammy]

Awesome! Looks delicious! How long do you let yours age?

[Tammy]

Jan 25, 2009 17:24:48 GMT -5 Lannie said:

I haven't eaten an aged one yet that I've made this way, but I've had two (or was it three?) fresh. I knew I was on to something when I trimmed the first one, which is now aging in the fridge, and ate the trimmings. I was like WOW! It was SO much more flavorful than the other ones I'd made previously. That killer sharp cheddar I was bragging about a few weeks ago was actually Homestead2's No-Rinse Cheese, and it had been aging for 19 months. My first one done "Derby" style was the first of January and I'm going to try to leave it for at least a month. I have two in there now, so if I can, I'm going to try to leave the other one two months and see if there's much difference. In the meantime, when I want cheese, I just make another and eat it fresh. ;D

~Lannie

That was sort of my plan too! Did you wax yours? I just coated mine with lard and wrapped them in muslin. We will see how that works.

[Liz]

Great job!!
What mold did you use?
Can you pist a pic of it?
Thanks!

[Lannie]

Tammy, mine are waxed. No pigs, so no lard, although I'll have to try that sometime when we finally get around to raising pigs.

To make buttermilk from storebought, the ratio is 1 to 3. To make a gallon of buttermilk, add 3 quarts of skimmed milk to 1 quart of storebought buttermilk. Or 3 cups of skim to 1 cup of storebought buttermilk to make a quart.

I have to run, but I want to know what kind of cheese that is in the picture! It looks FABULOUS! I want to make some! But it looks like it has dye in it? I don't have any of that....

~Lannie

[Tammy]

Here is a picture of some of the cheese I made. The two wheels on the table are Derby, as is that in the press. Also pictured are Feta and Mozzarella. I don't use any color in mine. I'm too cheap to buy color or wax! LOL

[]

[darbyfamily]

I used the annatto coloring from cheesemaking.com and a press my dad built... in the 'across the fence' board.

I havent tried any of my waxed stuff yet but we've used three or four wheels fresh already... they're wonderful even without aging, so why bother waiting

[Liz]

Tammy--do you like that press?
I have had it saved in favorites for ages!
I think I will have to upgrade--I like having 2 molds in one!
Your cheeses look wonderful too!
I'm hungry now.

[Tammy]

Jan 26, 2009 8:55:27 GMT -5 Liz said:

Tammy--do you like that press?
I have had it saved in favorites for ages!
I think I will have to upgrade--I like having 2 molds in one!
Your cheeses look wonderful too!
I'm hungry now.

Liz, I do like my cheese press. I honestly don't have anything to compair it to, since it's the only one I have ever used. I was going to order the stainless press from Hoegger supply and the lady told me that they had a lot of trouble with them and suggested I buy this one, which was cheaper. I have not had any problems with it.

[Liz]

About the clabber: I have some buttermilk that has been in the fridge for a week, can I use this to make the clabber?
Also, in the recipe do you sub 1/4 C clabber for the 1/4 C meso?
thanks!

[clifftrina]

Lannie - I want to make your cheddar so are you saying it's Tammy's recipe (same measurements) but using clabber and heating until 100 degrees?

[Tammy]

Jan 26, 2009 19:15:09 GMT -5 Liz said:

About the clabber: I have some buttermilk that has been in the fridge for a week, can I use this to make the clabber?
Also, in the recipe do you sub 1/4 C clabber for the 1/4 C meso?
thanks!

I use clabber/buttermilk interchangeably. Does that make sense? So, if I were you and had Buttermilk in the frig, I would substitute 1/4 cup of buttermilk for the 1/4 cup meso in the Derby cheese recipe.

[Lannie]

Tammy, I think what Liz meant was could she start a batch of clabber with the buttermilk in her fridge that's left over from making butter. I would say no. I don't really know for sure that it wouldn't work, but the instructions I have specifically state that you should use fresh-from-the-cow milk when you set it out the first time to clabber. After that first bit curdles, then you can use part of it to start another batch, to which you can add older, refrigerated milk. But I wouldn't try to start a batch of clabber with old refrigerated milk, buttermilk or otherwise.

Clifftrina, yes, basically I use the same recipe (I use two gallons of milk), with clabber as the starter and heating the curds slowly to 100 degrees before draining and cheddaring (cheddaring is the part where you cut the slabs and stack them and let them sit for a while, I usually let them sit about an hour). I've found the flavor in the finished cheese is better if I use half clabber and half yogurt. When I make a cheddar now, I use 5 mounded soupspoons each of yogurt and clabber, and whisk them together until they're smooth. Then I stir it into my 2 gallons of warmed (to 70 degrees) milk in my cheesepot. Let that ripen for an hour, then add the liquid rennet, stir well and cover for 20 minutes (or longer), then cut the curd and gradually, with constant stirring because the curds will want to mat together, heat to 100 degrees. It's pretty simple, and it's SO good!

~Lannie

[Tammy]

Jan 27, 2009 13:30:19 GMT -5 Lannie said:

Tammy, I think what Liz meant was could she start a batch of clabber with the buttermilk in her fridge that's left over from making butter. I would say no. I don't really know for sure that it wouldn't work, but the instructions I have specifically state that you should use fresh-from-the-cow milk when you set it out the first time to clabber. After that first bit curdles, then you can use part of it to start another batch, to which you can add older, refrigerated milk. But I wouldn't try to start a batch of clabber with old refrigerated milk, buttermilk or otherwise.


~Lannie

Thanks for clarifying that, Lannie! I should never answer questions in the evening! LOL

Tammy

[Liz]

I didn't check back here soon enough--I used the cultured buttermilk to culture. I made the clabber with it, it looked like it was doing its thing after a couple of days and I used it to culture.
It set the curds without any rennet!
Then I totally screwed up and heated it too high, it was almost moz consistency.
I ended up draining the whey and crumbling/salting/pressing as the recipe said to.
It seems more springy than normal, I'll wait and see what it is like after it dries. It may just be a slicer instead of an ager.
I'll keep trying!