Cheesemaking: what a difference a month makes!

We made these tommes this week, the last of the season; they are called "white cheeses" which indicate the stage of development.


These are the same type of cheese, but are from a batch 30 days old.


These two photos are from a batch that is almost 60 days old. Note that the one below has fully formed a rind, and those in the top photo have splotchy complexions. All are stored in the same room, under the same care.  Did you notice the color change?


Affinage is the art of maturing cheeses. You've just seen it. It is mysterious, time consuming, and "the rules" are subject to individual interpretation - each style of cheese requires different care, each size of the same cheese needs a slightly different treatment. I don't even want to get in to what must be done if it all starts to go wrong, that's cultivated through experience  - after years and years, you just know what to do to fix things before you are left with a $200 wheel of chicken feed.

For tommes, affinage means periodic brushing and keeping a certain humidity in the curing rooms. Too humid, and bad molds form which break down the surface of the cheese, making it slimy and ultimately spoiling it; the protective hard rind does not form. (Sorry, no pics of this - not that it never happened, it was just pre-camera).

If it is not humid enough, the surface of the cheese will crack, allowing spoilage molds to cultivate the interior. The right balance of humidity and care - knowing when each cheese  is ready for consumption - IS the art of affinage.

OPEC has my January profits

Dan stopped by O. C. McCuin's store this morning and asked for a tank fill up at the cheese plant - emphasizing that in no way this was an "emergency" or "off-week" fuel oil delivery, which would have garnered a surcharge.  I guess he hit it right because when he pulled in to the driveway, the McCuin truck was just leaving.

They are still giving discounts for early payment - if I can get them a check by tomorrow, I'll save $22.

Snow Days

Here are some views of the farm this morning. It is -8f. 

The heat coming out from behind these canvas curtains creates giant icicles.  That's the old cattle trailer we use to transport chickens and turkeys from one building to another; it doesn't go on the road anymore.


These days, if I can get out of my driveway without going in to 4-wd, it's a good day. 

Cheesemaking: impeccable cleaning

Lots of people think they might want to someday quit their day jobs and make cheese on a little farm in Vermont.  Is that you?  Here's something you may not realize: 98% of cheesemaking isn't actually making cheese at all, it's unsexy cleaning up with industrial chemicals: chlorine, soaps, acids, sanitizers. We scrub surfaces, walls, floors, tanks, equipment, moulds, and of course, our hands every few minutes. It never ends!

(note the blue blur, that's a nitrile glove on my fingers covering the lens, just like surgeons wear)

These 20-lb cheese moulds are being put into storage until we need them again next winter. It's very important that they are 'impeccably clean' in order to prohibit the growth of bad molds and pathogens that might start up on the odd smear of butterfat.


They must be so very clean that if a mouse gets into the storage area (heaven forbid) it won't be tempted to chew on these expensive moulds for something to eat.

I won't miss cleaning these at all!  

Weekend cook: sardines

Emboldened by the success of the smelt cook a few weeks ago, Dan headed to the fish counter at Healthy Living after a product delivery to the Burlington area to choose something for supper. Thin-cut swordfish? (me) No, 'swordfish is so '80's'. Tuna? No. Halibut? Sole? Trout? Scallops? Sardines? Yes, sardines!

I've never had this fish before, and found out they could be stuffed, grilled or fried. Read more about sardines here. I briefly thought about stuffing, but instead decided to fry, in order to find out what the fish was supposed to taste like before gussying them up with other flavors. With a cold advisory every night this week, I wasn't going to stand out by the grill, either.

There are only 4 in a package, so we didn't go wild or anything.

(They ARE looking at me.)

***Here's where I realized that they weren't completely scaled or even gutted. I've never cleaned fish before, and I have a thing about getting scales stuck all over myself. If I can kill a crustacean, I can tackle this - how difficult could it be?

It's not hard to clean small fish, but it's not any fun, either. I boned one out just for the exercise. There are many, many tiny, tiny hair bones in this fish - think: anchovies. Here's the link that showed me how to do it.


Salt, green pepper, then coated in rice flour.


It takes no time at all to pan fry these.


Finished! I think this is a solid appetizer for two, and our resolution to consume more fish and less beef this year has once again been observed. You eat them just like smelt, opening the cooked underside and pulling out the spine and long bones in one piece. The smaller bones are soft and edible, no choking. If you want to see sardines served up, as well as a close-up of the deboning before eating, check out the Venice episode of "No Reservations".


This is an oily fish with a fairly pronounced flavor; there was no difference in moisture level between the boneless fillet and the whole fishes, which makes it very forgiving to cook. I thought it had a pleasant mineral finish, like grey sea salt, but Dan just declared it "delicious".

Smokey cat was curious, but decided it was not for her.


And no, she does not get to eat off "people plates".

Monday Menu: Veal flank

From the depths of the freezer: veal flank steak. This is one of my favorite meats to cook because even if it hits well-done, it's still tender and moist.


As you can see, this cut is very thin, lean, and a pink/rose color. The color of the meat indicates how it was raised. "Pink veal" have milk and dry hay to eat with plenty of room to lie down and move about. This is different from commercial "white veal" which is raised under restricted confinement and drinks only milk, and from "red veal" which is raised on pasture. Veal calves are typically 5 - 6 months of age at processing, and are intact bulls (with pointy horns) weighing around 600 - 700 lbs., not "baby animals" by any stretch of the imagination.


Dusted with a dry commercial rub from Dizzy Pig called Swamp Venom, which is actually too strong in heat for such a delicate cut.


It's a good thing it doesn't take long to grill, because I don't want to be out there for very long.


The downside about the 3 minutes per side it takes to grill this is that it doesn't have a chance of developing a char.


I let this rest under foil and a towel for 20 minutes, then cut it on the bias, which makes the slices look bigger. As you can see, there are both medium, medium-rare and well-done pieces, which speaks to the unevenness of the grill heat, more than anything else.

The next time, I will use a less spicy rub, maybe Tsunami Spin.

Green Mountain Blue Cheese, supplier of spare parts to Boucher Farm, since 1999

Early this morning, just after 4:00 a.m. Dan was milking cows in the parlor and noticed that water was not coming out of the hoses used to clean the floor. He identified the problem as a broken pump. We don't keep a spare on hand because they are expensive, and well - highly susceptible to loss. So he took the pump out of the cheeseplant basement to finish chores; after the local supply shop was open, he brought this back to the farm.

The last one on hand at O. C. McCuin's store in Highgate.


It took all of ten minutes to install this new pump and put the "spare" back in the cheeseplant.

In 10 years, this is the 3rd such emergency substitution.