We have 16 fresh gallons of tasty cider after a long day's work as the final results from apple pressing today. Matias, Matthew, and Brett picked up 800 lbs of apples from a farm near Mt. Hood and turned it into about 50 gallons of juice to split between the workers, and keep a few kids who visited a little happier. What a great fall activity for a beautiful day!
Here are some photos, and a short video of us processing apples:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/CiderPressing2010#
This post is for the bakers out there. The following is what I was able to
observe when I joined Stefano at 3:45am last Saturday morning for some bread
baking. Keep in mind that he made at least a dozen loafs of white bread and
another 8-10 of Kamut flour bread. So you will probably want to use a
partial recipe.
One other note is that they do not use cups and tablespoons to measure at
all there. Everything is by weight, requiring a scale of some sort in the
kitchen.
BIGA (STARTER)
One full day before you plan to make the bread, mix the "biga" or starter.
This was more than enough starter for the following three recipes, which is
equivalent to about 40 loaves of bread. So if you are going to make just a
loaf or two, make about 1/40th of this).
6kg flour, (He used Manitoba type 0, which is a high gluten flour, also
known as "grano tenero" which means soft wheat. The important part is high
gluten. If I don't find this I plan to replace about 10% of the flour with
wheat gluten.)
60g yeast cake
2800g water (46% of the flour+yeast)
Mix the above just until thoroughly combined - only about 5 minutes. You do
not want to build gluten chains at this point.
Cover well in a large container (do not try to fit into a small bowl - it
needs to rise out and up).
RUSTIC BREAD
This recipe made 20 loaves, so you might want to make 1/20th of the recipe.
5800g biga (starter, 24 hours old)
4kg flour (this time used type 2, which is stone ground)
60g ascorbic acid to help bread rise (he said this was optional)
120g yeast cake (if you use less or if it is cold, it will take longer to
rise; if you use more or it is warm out, it will take less time to rise)
2500g ice water (if using flour that is more finely ground, will need less
flour. Water amount will vary with each type of flour used, so you will
need to experiment. Having some ice cubes in the water is important if it
is summer or the kitchen is very warm to keep the dough cool while
mixing/kneading.)
120g salt, or to taste (very important not to add salt until very end
because it affects the yeast - see instructions below)
Mix the yeast, flour, acid and biga. Continue mixing/kneading with dough
hook for 20 minutes to develop long gluten chains. Add salt and mix for 5
more minutes. If the dough feels hot at any point, stop immediately and
place on a cold surface to cool. The final temperature of the dough should
be 26C (79 degrees F - neutral temp to the touch). Dough should be quite
soft yet elastic and only a tiny bit sticky. It should not clog up in one
big blob on dough hook - add a little water if you see this. Like a true
Italian man, Stefano likened the final consistency to silicone breasts.
Prepare bowl or other not-too-small container by coating it with a very,
very think layer of oil. Turn dough into bowl. Cover well with a damp
towel and keep in a draft-free area. It helps to wet hands with a little
water so that dough does not stick to hands as you tranfer it from the mixer
to the bowl.
Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Cut off 600 g chunks (this will result in a 500g loaf of bread after some
water evaporates during baking).
Roll each chunk of dough into a ball. Roll by keeping edge of both hands on
work surface while pressing the dough into a circle shape with hands and
making a 1.5ft circle with hands. So you will be rolling the dough around
on the surface while keeping pressure on it with both hands. I have a video
of this that I can post on YouTube by request.
Cover well with a cloth in a draft-free area. Let sit for 10 minutes. (If
dough is particularly soft, as it was on the morning we made the bread,
Stefano begins next step a little before it doubles so that it doesn't
collapse when baking.)
After the dough ball doubles in size, roll into loaf. Keep sides of hands
on table on the far size of the dough ball. Use thumbs to pull up a small
amount of dough from the table on the far side of the dough ball and pull it
toward yourself. Then use some pressure to press the dough back into the
bread, making a sort of breaking wave shape. Keep doing this until 1-ft by
5-inch loaf is formed (approximately).
Roll the loaf in flour. Set seam-side-up on a floured surface.
Cover well and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Heat oven and baking stone to 220C (425 degrees F). Ideally Stefano wanted
a 230C oven and 210C stone, but I don't know how to achieve that trick so he
said just to get everything to 220C.
After loaf doubles in size, flip over the loaf (so that seam side is down).
Sprinkle with a dusting of flour and make a slice along the length of the
loaf about 1/2" deep (or multiple slices to achieve whatever design you
like).
Transfer loaf to baking stone in oven (if you don't already have it on the
baking stone).
Bake for about 50 minutes. Loaf should sound hollow when tapped.
KAMUT FLOUR RUSTIC BREAD
Use same instructions as above, but use the following ingredients. In this
case, this recipe makes about 10 loaves, so you may want to do 1/10 of the
recipe.
2900g biga (starter)
60g yeast cake
1400 - 1500g water (kamut needs more water)
30g ascorbic acid powder (optional)
2kg kamut flour
60g salt
PIZZA DOUGH
208g biga/starter
10g malt powder
24g yeast cake
800g type 0 flour (typical bread flour)
425g ice water
66g lard (I'm going to try shortening instead)
16g olive oil
28g salt
Mix everything except the oil, lard/shortening and salt. Continue to
mix/knead with the dough hook for 15 minutes. Add oil and mix for another
4-5 minutes. Add salt and mix for another 5 minutes. Knead briefly to form
a ball of dough.
Transfer to a very lightly oiled container to double in size (keep well
covered). This is where I left off with him, but I believe the next step
would be to form the dough to the pan, cover and let rise again for a little
while (though maybe not so long that it doubles in size?). Then top and
bake.
Stefano was planning to make onion pizza. 24 hrs in advance of baking the
pizza he chopped the onions and tossed them with oil and salt. He
refrigerated them on top of a draining board in a basin. He said that this
made the onions extra soft and flavorful on the pizza. He wound up making
an olive oil, onion, potato, garlic and rosemary topping for the pizza.
Debbie gave me some more pictures from the last half of her trip, here they are for you to enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/MoreOfDebbieSItalyTrip#
That was a fast post with lots of errors that I sent off from the Zurich
airport! One thing I forgot to mention was the flight from Rome to Zurich
over the Alps. The valleys between the mountains were filled with fog and
the sun was just rising over the Alps, resulting in a phenomenal scene from
the air. The Alps covered my entire field of view, all the way to the
horizon. Rather than one big mountain like Mt. Hood, there were probably
1000 craggy, steep mountains in my field of view.
As you might expect, everything was fairly punctual with Swiss Air. I
arrived into Albany about 18 hrs after taking off from Rome, and was greeted
by my parents and my Aunt Mary Kay, who was visiting from Florida. By some
miracle, the cheese I shipped from Tuscany arrived that afternoon. So we
had a dinner of cheese and more cheese, along with Stefano's bread, which
weathered the journey from Jesi to Rome to NY in decent condition. We also
enjoyed a few chocolate truffles from Zurich. Mmmmmm....
The leaves here are perfect - yellows and oranges and a few reds. Today we
rode over to Chatham, a very picturesque town about an hour away where NYC
folks buy their weekend homes. In Old Chatham we visited the Old Chatham
Sheepherding Company, the largest sheep milk cheese producer in the US. It
was as exciting as a day in Tuscany - we saw a lamb that had been born
minutes before, I met the owner of the company, and we saw sheep being
shorn. It must be nearly impossible to catch a lamb being born - just as in
Tuscany I turned around and there it was. I had been standing right there
the whole time and didn't see it!
The yogurt was particularly good - not sheepy at all, just rich and creamy.
We refrained from purchasing any cheese because I brought about 50 lbs of
cheese home with me (not exaggerating).
Back in town we stopped for lunch at a vegetarian cafe where the highlight
was the carmelized onion and swiss quiche - a very good combination. Now
we're all still full from lunch so we are planning to skip dinner and head
straight for dessert - the leftover chocolate chocolate cake from my Dad's
birthday last week. They saved it for my return!
Today's recipe is for the very tasty carrot ginger sweet (but not too sweet)
bread my mom served with cream cheese for breakfast. She found the recipe
in a Betty Crocker Fall Baking booklet.
Ginger-Carrot-Nut Bread
2 eggs
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1/3 C vegetable oil
1/2 C milk
1 t vanilla
2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1 t ground ginger (it would be even tastier with about a tablespoon of
freshly ground ginger)
1/2 t salt
1 C shredded carrots
1/2 C chopped walnuts
Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour bottom only of 8x4" loaf pan.
Beat eggs and sugar until creamy. Beat in oil, milk and vanilla. On low
speed, beat in flour, baking powder, ginger and salt until smooth.
Transfer to pan an bake for 50-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in
center comes out clean.
Next post will be Stefano's bread, I promise!!
I am in the Zurich airport now, abou to board my flight to DC. In the
airport they have a great set of displays right now on how various
swiss products are made - leather shoes, chocolate, cookoo clocks,
spirits, colored pencils. My favorite was the Sigg booth because the
had a series of about 20 bottles that illustrated each part of the
production process in detail.
Yesterday in Rome I walked all day long. Unfortunately it rained so I
was a bit damp in the morning. But I still got great views of the
colliseum and other ancient Roman ruins, ate "the best" pizza though I
decided it didn't deserve the title), Roman sweets purchased from the
80 year old lady who helps make them, and sample cheeses and wines
from the Rome area. Most impressive was my visit to St. Peters. I
don't know how much the building has to do with prayer, but it is a
truly grand place.
For dinner I intented my visit to the enoteca (wine bar) specializing
in products from the Lazio region, in which Rome is located, to be a
dinner starter. Half way through my cheese plate I realized I
wouldn't be able to fit dinner on top of the cheese. So I ordered
another glass of wine that would pair perfectly with the buffalo
ricotta drizzled with honey that I saved for last. The buffalo milk
has a slightly richer and sweeter taste compared with cow milk. What
a perfect way to end my eating adventures in Italy. I can't get it in
the US and it was one of the most delicious moments of my trip, which
is saying something!
Well, I konked out on the train, so the bakers out there will have to
wait a little longer for the bread recipes.
I have managed to fit what feels like two days into one. This morning
I joined Chris from 5 - 11am before catching the train to Rome, where
I walked the city for much of the afternoon and evening.
In the morning with Chris I made stracchina for a second time, ribiola
for a second time, assisted with mozzarella and stracchiatella, and
led the making of a pressed cheese called casteldelmedico that starts
the same way as mozzarella, but is then pressed instead of melted and
stretched.
I also got to observe the ricotta making and sample it for a second
time. It blows my mind that we have so much whey in Oregon and that
we don't make every ounce of it into fresh ricotta. I don't know of a
single place in the US that makes it - most creameries throw their
whey down the drain. Having tasted fresh ricotta and honey, wasting
whey is criminal!
Just before leaving to catch the train I went to buy a few of their
cheeses. Giulia wound up giving me everything I picked out, which was
very generous.
Antonio, Giulia's brother took me to the train station and I hopped on
the fast train to Rome - even second class in the fast train was way
classier than the slow train I took to Jesi.
In Rome I called several hotels, all booked, and then wound up walking
a block from the station and found a perfectly fine though minimal
place with my own room and a shared bath. It is half the price of the
other places I called. So I'm enjoying a very nice meal at an all
vegetarian restaurant that was highly recommended in a foodie guide to
Rome that I found at the Kindle online store today (the Rick Steves
guide I have is way into churches and not so good with food).
(Foodie alert - read this paragraph if you want the course by course
description of my meal.) After an aperitif of prosecco, my first
course was fresh porcini mushrooms grilled perfectly (I am pretty sure
I am not allergic to porcini - let's hope so). They are in season
just now so I couldn't resist. I had this with a medium body Italian
red wine. My second course was risotto made with taleggio and
blueberries. Taleggio is an Italian washed rind cheese - the same
process as is used for limburger - so it was a little stinky, but the
flavor was excellent. The blueberries worked well with it. The third
course was eggplant prepared in three ways. The most impressive of
the three by far was a saute of chunks of eggplant in a tomato sauce,
served in a thin, crisp cup made of parmesan and topped with
mozzarella that was melted and browned. The eggplant/tomato mixture
was not watery and the eggplant held its shape. The breaded,
mozzarella-stuffed eggplant and the eggplant pate and fresh tomato on
grilled crostini were not great. Ironically, I didn't have room for
the cheese course, though I managed to finish a serving of tiramisu.
It was made with caramelized pears topped with ladyfingers only very
lightly soaked in rum and vanilla custard. It was served in a tartini
glass with shaved chocolate and a blueberry. I wasn't sure I had the
energy to make it back to the hotel so I went for the espresso - their
standard 2 tablespoon-size cup of very strong coffee. This one had
good flavor but was too bitter for me - thank goodness for the anise
cookie that came with it. After I paid the bill the host brought me a
glass of red dessert wine that was strong enough to make my lips
tingle, then go numb. It was Mirto, a liquer from Sardegna made of
berries.
On my 4 hour walk before dinner I covered most of the major sights in
Rome on my walking tour today. I only saw the coliseum from a
distance so maybe I will go there and to the Vatican tomorrow, along
with some of the more interesting sounding neighborhoods.
Well, today was the trifecta - I learned how to make two kinds of
bread and pizza dough from the chef, I made two types of cheese mostly
on my own and learned how to make two more, and I went on a 50km bike
ride that ended with gelato. It only took me from 3:30am until 7pm to
complete all this. Now after my shower and dinner (prepared by an
Englishman and nothing to write home about, literally) it is 10pm and
I am exhausted.
Tomorrow I get to lead the mozzarella making, though I am sure I won't
do the exciting melting/stretching bit at the end because I would
almost definitely screw up a whole batch. Then they will take me to
the train station for my return trip to Rome. I will have lots of
time on the train to post a few more details of today.
In very un-Debbie-like fashion, I have no hotel reservation for Rome.
So tomorrow will be another adventure! Not to worry though, Mom, I
have a guide book with many comfortable and safe recommendations.
I got to press grapes in a huge bucket today WITH MY FEET! I feel
like a diRiscolli now. He chef mentioned that he needed to press
grapes with his feet and I immediately signed myself up fo the
activit. I wish I could post photos from here. It was as fun as it
sounds.
I am now buddies with the chef, Stefano, because I measure out all the
ingredients for him and help clean. He also enjoys practicing his
English, which I appreciate. Before grape pressing today I helped
with tart dough and orange-almond cookies. He is letting me copy any
recipes I want from his massive collection so I have photos of several
of them now. I think I will need to get a better kitchen scale
because everything is in grams here.
Starting at 5am this morning I made cheese with Chris, who is a good
instructor and is really taking the time to tell me exactly how he
does the cheese, down to the brand and type of starters he uses for
each. This morning we started the mozzarella with Sandro, their
mozzarella maker from the Italian mozzarella capital, Napoli (I can't
understand a word he says and when I ask him to repeat he uses even
more words and says them just as fast as before). Before today I had
only seen the mozzarella after the curd had reached the right acidity
for melting/forming, which is practically the last step.
Chris also showed me step by step how to make stracchina and ribiola -
both are soft cheeses. The stracchina was done by 11 and the ribiola
will be done tomorrow.
I also got to help make a blue cheese of buffalo milk called Blue
Dadone - the first hard, aged cheese they have made while I've been
here. I wrote down all the details.
I got to try the buffalo yogurt today. Buffalo milk is especially
sweet so it makes amazing, barely tart, very thick yogurt. Delicious.
Tomorrow I arranged to meet Chris at 7 to start the mozzarella and
make another soft cheese called primosale. We'll also finish the
ribiola. The 7am start time gave me just enough time to meet Stefano
for the making of the bread in the morning. So I'll get up at 3:30 to
do bread. Yeah, I am getting a little overambitious. But as they
say, When is Rome... or Jesi...
Even though I am making bread tomorrow I decided to stay through
Sunday morning because Chris is going to let me lead the mozzarella
making. Molto bene!
Should I stay here on Sinday night and get up at 3:30am to learn how
to make bread from the chef and then go to Rome on Sunday later in the
morning, or should I go straight to Rome on Saturday afternoon? My
flight out is on Tuesday morning.
Email me by noon with your recommendation - debbied@gmail.com
I think I enabled commenting on all the recent cheese and some of the Cycle Oregon posts, it wasn't previously working. Give it a whirl! (..and watch out for spammers who may also make comments? I'll be watching for that.)
After helping at the cheese factory with yogurt, stracciatella (their
favorite job to give me is hand shredding the mozzarella strands for
this), mozzarella (I got to form a 1'x1' sheet for making a rolled
sandwich), and of course cleaning, I was able to catch a ride into
Jesi for the afternoon. It turns out that not all of Jesi lacks
antiquity - the city center dates back to the 12th century. The old
town is nestled in a hillside and has a maze of narrow streets cutting
their way between 2-4 story buildings, all of which is surrounded by a
very well preserved and quite tall wall. At the center of the old
city is a very nice cathedral and a very old, large church that was
the first building in Jesi and is now used for exhibitions.
Leading up to the old town is a half mile long street lined with
fashionable shops that closes to most traffic in the evening and is
taken over by strolling pedestrians. I purchased a gelato and
strolled along with them.
Tomorrow I am getting picked up by Chris (Giulia's husband) at 4:55am
to join him for the fresh cheese making - stracchinella, ribiola and
primosale. Later in the morning I will get to help make a batch of a
buffalo milk blue cheese called Blue Dadone that is one of their
specialties. Sounds like fun!
Today 's recipe is for a drinkable yogurt from raw cow milk (or
buffalo if you have one around):
They pasturize it at 72C for just 10 minutes (optional), then bring
the temperature down to 40C and add the starter culture as well as any
flavorings they want. They use fruit syrup to flavor the yogurt.
Place in serving/storage containers and keep at 40 degrees C for 7
hours (a little more for flavored varieties). Keep at 40 for slightly
longer if a more solid yogurt is desired. Refrigerate immediately.
To make from store bought milk just be sure to avoid ultrapasturized
milk and skip the pasturization step.
I will try to see tomorrow what brand and type of starter culture they
use for their yogurt. You can also use a few tablespoons of a good
plain yogurt instead of a packet of starter culture, though the
setting time may vary with this method. Straub Family Creamery yogurt
is supposed be especially good as a starter.
If you can make it to this tasting of outstanding Alpine cheeses at
The Cheese Bar from 5-7 pm at 6031 SE Belmont Street, please
please please get the email address of the representative. If it
is the same rep as last time, he actually helps to make the cheese
and I think his name is Michael. He doesn't speak English particularly
well but is very nice.
This is the guy who told me how to make that cheese from milk while
it is still warm from the cow and I have a couple questions for him,
like what starter he uses and how long and at what temp he ages
the cheese. Thank you!
I arrived at the cheese factory in time to see several batches of
mozzarella curd artfully turned into mozzarella. It was then formed
by machine into large and small balls, or hand formed into a braid or
into burrata (fresh mozzarella stuffed with salted whipped cream).
Primosale (a fresh cow milk cheese much like chevre but without the
goat) was draining as was stracciatella di bufala (a cheese made of cream and
milk with long strands of mozzarella - I pulled the strands for
tomorrow's batch). I was in charge of turning over many of the aging
cheeses and also helped to transfer several wheels of cheese to a bed
of fermenting cherries. They will remain there until December when
they will be sold for Christmas. I also got to assist in butter
making. This was all before noon!
The family and most of the 8 person staff work for 12+ hours per day,
7 days a week (staff get a day off). I think they run on a finely
tuned balance of vodka tonics, espresso and cigarettes - they seem to
have at least one of these in hand whenever they are not working with
the cheese.
For lunch today the chef prepared a pasta called passatelli, which was
a thick noodle like pici, but a little dryer. He served this with a
truffle cream sauce that was delicious. Lunch was accompanied by vodka
tonics, of course. In the afternoon worked with the chef making
cookies and cleaning. He is fun to work with because he likes to
practice his English and he is really into biking. He is going to
show me how he makes the wood fired bread one morning when I manage to
get up at 3am.
Passatelli
30g eggs
1kg flour
1kg bread crumbs
1kg grated parmesan
salt, pepper and olive oil to taste
5 tablespoons brandy (his secret ingredient)
juice of 1 lemon
Mix, then form by hand like pici or pit through a meat grinder or
other machin that can make just shy of 1/4 inch noodles from the
dough. Boil in salted water for just 30 seconds.
Time to rest up for another big day of cheese!
11 hours later and I have made it to the other side of Italy! Not 15
minutes after I arrived on the farm just outside of Jesi a buffalo
started to give birth. Her calf was born less than an hour later.
What a sight! Definitely not your typical Italian tourist experience.
Rick Steves skips this entire province in his guidebook, though I
don't know why because the Le Marche mountains are spectacular. They
are huge and incredibly steep and crammed all together. The train
snaked through the sharp V made by the mountains before emerging into
the rolling hills of Jesi, just 20km from the Eastern coast of Italy.
At least I should be safe from the heightened security alert for areas
with throngs of American tourists.
Jesi's city center is very different from the classic rustic look of
Tuscany. It is a much more modern city - by Italian standards. To me
it looks like a cross between an old western town and New Orleans.
The farm is a few minutes outside the city. They have around 150 cows
and 150 buffalo, they grow pretty much all their own feed in the
cornfields surrounding the stables, and they have a cheese factory in
which they make and sell their 35 kinds of cheese. They also have a
baker and chef on staff so they sell fresh bread and cookies as well
as marmalades made by the owners' mother.
The family is quite different from the Porcus. The owners, Giulia and
Antonio, are brother and sister. They are a little older than I am
and are more urban, modern types. They are casual and irreverent and
more lively.
Dinner tonight consisted of a seasoned flatbread that is traditional
for this region, grilled and topped with their fresh cheese and served
with green beans, olives, pepper jam and vodka tonics. Giulia
prepared it all in about 5 minutes and we ate standing up in the
kitchen. They thought to give me a fork about half way through
dinner. Very different from the Porcus, but still tasty and it is
quite fun!
Over dinner I got to sample three of their cheeses: fresh mozzarella
made with buffalo milk (more flavorful than in the US in that it
tastes both sweeter and more acidic at the same time - it is also
creamier and has a little bit of a skin), stracciatella di bufala from cow
milk (very creamy with a texture half way between fresh mozzarella
and cream cheese) and ribiola from cow milk (a fresh cheese that
was a little drier and saltier than cream cheese - this was my favorite).
Tomorrow should be a fun day - I'll be making cheese with them in the
factory and will also try to catch a glimpse of the new calf.
A domani...
My dad had a good question a couple days ago - why would Giovanna add
pecorino as well as parmesan to her cooking since they taste so
similar to each other? In the US, both are aged grating cheeses with
a fairly sharp flavor, the main difference being that one is from
sheep milk and the other from cow milk.
Pecorino is the name for any cheese made from sheep milk - pecora
means sheep in Italian. The pecorino that they produce at Podere
Pugnano, the Porcu family's creamery, is hugely different from
parmesan and the grating pecorino. They age hardly any of their
cheese a full year, which is as long as it would take to become a good
grating cheese.
Their fresco (fresh) cheeses are aged from 1 week to 2 months at 8
degrees C. These cheeses are only a slightly firmer than havarti in
consistency to and have hardly any rind. They have a mild flavor and
taste of sheep milk. The Porcus make three types of pecorino fresco:
- Pecorino Fresco Bianco. Aged only about 10 days. This cheese has
no rind, which is why it is called fresh white pecorino.
- Pecorino Fresco Abbucciato. Exactly the same recipe as bianco, but
it develops a rind. Aged 2 weeks to 2 months, though the ideal age is
1 month.
- Pecorino Erborinato. Uses a slightly different recipe compared with
the first two - the curds are a little smaller and the curd is pressed
more, though still only pressed by hand. This cheese tends to develop
a little blue mold between its curds. Aged 1-4 months.
Their aged cheeses have the biggest range of flavors. All of these
cheeses age at 14-16 degrees C at around 80 percent humidity, which
results in a generous amount of mold growth on the rind.
- Pecorino Semistaggionato (semi-aged). Uses the exact same recipe as
fresco, but the curd is cut a little smaller (1/8" on average) and
after 10 days it is washed with water and then either oil or tomato
juice is applied to the rind. It is then aged in the higher
temperature room for 1 to 3 months. Due to aging it develops more of
a rind, is more dense (similar to gouda) and has a slightly sharper
flavor than fresco.
- Pecorino Staggionato. This is identical to a semistaggionato cheese
except that it ages for 3 to 6 months and it does best if it is molded
and drained at 40 degrees C instead of 30 like all the others. This
gives the cheese an even sharper flavor, the "sheepy-ness" subsides,
and it becomes firmer (similar to cheddar).
- Pecorino Staggionato Vecchio. Vecchio means old, so this is simply
a staggionato that is 6 to 12 months old, resulting in even firmer and
sharper and flavorful cheese. After 12 months it is grating cheese.
- Pecorino Fascere. The cooking and aging process for this
traditional Sardenian type of pecorino is the same as semistaggionato,
but then it is formed in a wooden hoop (giving it a teardrop shape)
and hand pressed a little more than semi. As the curd compresses as
the whey is expelled, they tighten the hoop rather than allowing the
cheese to become thinner in the mold. Small wheels are aged up to 3
months and large wheels are aged 5 to 6 months.
- Pecorino Marzolino. This is their most beautiful cheese because it
is formed in a linen sack and takes on a sort of egg shape. It is
prepared in the same way as semistaggionato, other than being formed
in the sack, pressing hard to expel more whey, and only salting
lightly. Only milk from March through July is used for this cheese.
During the first month of aging the cheese is covered with a cloth to
increase the humidity.
- Pecorino Rugoso (wrinkled). This one is produced quite
differently. The curds are around 1/2 inch and there is very little
agitation during cooking. During aging it is covered with a cloth to
increase the humidity. The result is a cheese that has a wrinked skin
and a very sheepy flavor.
For all of their cheeses (unless otherwise noted) the following is
their general process:
Heat milk to 38 degrees C. Add rennet but no starter culture (they
only cultivate the bacteria already existing in the milk and
environment to enhance flavor). Let the milk set for 20 minutes. Cut
curd,up to 1/2 inch for softer cheeses and a little less than 1/8 inch
for hard aged cheeses. Stir for 15 to 20 minutes. Distribute into
molds. Expel whey with hands. Let sit in molds for 20 to 30 minutes
at 30 deg C. Flip in the molds. Let rest at 30 for another 30 to 45
minutes. Flip again. Let sit for 20 to 30 min at 30 deg. Then leave
at room temp for 1 day. Apply salt and let salt sit on cheese for 5
hrs per km of cheese in the wheel. If it is especially large,flip and
reapply salt a little more than half way through salting time. Use
water to wash off salt. Put in desired aging temp. After 10 days
apply olive oil (or tomato juice) to the surface of the cheese.
Continue aging.
I am now on the bus to Rome - I successfully navigated the first two
buses with Natalie's (the youngest daughter) help since she takes the
bus to school every da in Siena. From Rome I take the train to Jesi
and the cheese factory. There is an English version of the website if
you want to see where I am heading - hopefully it will be a top hit if
you Google Trionfi formaggio and/or mozzarella.
Yesterday was highly educational! As I purchased cheese I asked tons
of questions about each while we could look at all the types of
cheese. I prepared a little form in Italian (when is salt added? how
large are the curds? etc.) so that I could understand the process for
each type. I will make a separate post with cheese my notes.
Over dinner I asked Giovanna about one more unique type of cheese she
makes and she explained the whole process in Italian - the size of
curds, cooking temp, duration, forming process and temp - and I
understood it all! I was so proud of myself. I still speak Italian
like a caveman, but I have the cheese vocabulary of an Italian. It is
nice that I am able to have conversations now (not only about cheese)
as long as my conversation partner is fairly patient and good at
charades. Living with a family is definitely the way to learn a
language.
After lunch Giovanna picked the most beautiful basket full of
vegetables from her garden. She spent much of the afternoon (when I
wasn't interrogating her about cheese) transforming the produce into
the most delicious vegetable and bean soup, the traditional Tuscan
dish called ribollita. She served this with endive sauteed in olive
oil (I think with garlic as well) and a green salad with an olive oil
and balsamic reduction dressing. She keeps a bottle full of a
balsamic reduction in the pantry. For dessert I ad made oatmeal
cookies, which were a huge hit, definitely more than the chocolate
chip cookies to my surprise. Giovanna was very interested in the
details of this recipe.
Now for Giovanna's preparation of ribollita and her green tomato marmelade.
Ribollita
Giovanna added what she had in the garden and stressed that the exact
mix of vegetables, other than the cabbage, tomato, onion and beans,
were not important. For those allergic to beans, the white beans
taste quite a bit like garbanzos and I think they could be used as a
substitute.
Prepare about 1 pound of white beans, using several cups more water
than is necessary. At the end of cooking you should have about half
beans and half water. Use a pressure cooker to speed cooking.
As beans are in their last half hour of cooking, sautee in a very large pot:
1 C olive oil
1 large leek, in 1/4 inch slices
3 C chard or spinach, coursely chopped
4 medium carrots, 1/4 inch slices
2 medium red onions, chopped finely
1/2 C parsley, chopped
2 big stalks celery, chopped
Sautee for 5 or 10 minutes until ingredients are soft. Add each of
the following, chopping and then adding to the cooking pot in
sequence:
2 C green beans, chopped
3 T chopped basil
8 to 10 medium tomatoes, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 huge head of cabbage, chopped in approx. 1 inch pieces
2 T salt
Just as cabbage begins to lose its shape, add half of the beans and
bean cooking water through a strainer (pureeing or mashing the beans
would also be fine). Stir to incorporate, then add the remaining
whole beans and water.
Cook for 5 minutes and then add 1 gallon of water. Boil for 1 hour,
until the soup begins to thicken.
Serve in a large bowl lined with slices of dry European bread.
This dish is worth this much work.
.....
While the ribollita cooked this afternoon she canned the pepperocini
jam and a fig and mustard jam (a surprisingly good combination). As
she did this I asked about her green tomato jam, since it sounds like
Portland has turned cold and everyone probably has green tomatoes out
the whazoo.
Green Tomato Marmelade
1 kg peeled and coursely chopped green tomatoes (must peel by hand
because boiling water trick won't work on green tomatoes she said)
500 to 600g sugar
Let sugar sit on top of tomatoes overnight or up to a day. Then stir
sugar into tomatoes and let sit for another 8 hrs or up to a day.
Cook tomatoes and sugar over high heat (a strong simmer) for 2 hrs to
remove much of the water from the tomatoes. Cook on high until the
tomatoes start to thicken considerably. The exact cooking time
depends on the water content of the tomatoes. If doubling the recipe
you will need to double the cooking time.
Cook for another 1 hour at low heat to achieve a spreadable
consistency. Once again, you will need to double the cooking time for
a double recipe.
Can or place in storage container immediately.
This sounds like a ton of work, but it only needs to be stirred
occasionally. So really you just need to be around the house and can
be doing other things.
This time I put the photos up at Picasa, having finally had some time to organize all the photos Debbie has been sending. So this collection of photos has everything to date that I have!
Enjoy:
Well, I have to say that today was a bit on the dull side, but still with a
nice view and good food. The height of boring was when Tamara asked me to
help her by holding one end of the tablecloths so they wouldn't drag on the
ground while she ironed them. Ugh.
Tonight's dinner was simple, but tasty as usual. The pasta course was
something that I think those of you with kids are going to love especially
because it's like a gourmet version of mac and cheese and it takes no time
at all. Giovanna sauteed garlic and whole peppercorns in olive oil
for several minutes, then, with the heat still on the burner, added the
pasta immediately after draining it (so it was still warm), a little of the
pasta water, and small chunks of pecorino cheese (she put slices left over
from lunch into the cuisinart for a few seconds). She tossed all of it over
heat for just a minute or two, turned it into a serving dish and topped with
grated parmesan. Yum.
She made the cabbage and tomato dish along with broiled pork ribs for the
main course. And then her apple crips. I have finally come across a
recipe that I think Americans do better than Italians! Giovanna made an
apple crisp tonight - exactly the same process that I use, but she used only
flour (no oats) and raw sugar instead of brown sugar because they don't have
brown sugar here. Brown sugar is such a key ingredient! If they only knew
what they were missing. Of course hers was still very delicious and the
variety of freshly picked apples she used was wonderful in it. But I have a
newfound appreciation for brown sugar.
For lunch the salad was the highlight for me. She slices tart apples with a
mandolin and tossed together the apples, bitter greens, tomato, fresh walnut
pieces, and pine nuts with a balsamic reduction and olive oil. It was
lovely and very tasty.
Tomorrow is my last full day here. I have a feeling that there will be lots
of cleaning, and they requested that I make the other recipe that I brought
with me - oatmeal cookies. I hope they turn out well with only sugar in the
raw and no brown sugar.
Ciao for now!
Score! Luigi and his wife Bianca helped me set up a volunteer position
at her sister's cheese factory in Jesi, just outside of Ancora. It is on
the other coast of Italy, which is quite different I'm told. Not only do I
get to help with the cheese, I also have a place to stay in the house where
their two employees stay. And the family speaks English very well (the
husband is English actually). Perfect. I will head there on Tuesday I
think.
Today I walked from the family's house in the opposite direction of
Radicondoli and went to Belforte, which I learned is about a kilometer
closer than Radicondoli. It's also a lovely small town with narrow streets
and buildings that looked even older than Radicondoli's. The church dates
to before 1300, though they don't know the exact date. I hear that the view
is spendid from Belforte, but I can't say for sure because the town was
surrounded in fog.
On the walk home I could hear a horn player practicing in Radicondoli, which
made the walk especially enjoyable. It's surprising that the sound carries
all the way across the valley.
More drama in the family this afternoon! Giovanni was particularly annoyed
with Tamara today for not doing any work - for smoking all the time and not
working - when she didn't want to do something he asked for because she was
going to take a shower. After blew up at her we were in the garden picking
beans and she explained the situation and how hard she works from morning
until night - she doesn't even have time for a shower. This is super
interesting to me because she often stands there and stares at me while
telling me how much she hates to do this type of work (whatever it is) for a
half hour at a time while I work in the kitchen, then goes out to smoke.
Dinner was a big deal tonight because there were three groups of Italian
guests tonight - a total of 15 of us all together. I prepped the tomatoes
for the sauce while Giovanna started the tart and prepared the chicken,
starting with whole, plucked chickens, heads and all. We used the same dough
as for the pici to make tonight's pasta, called bucatini It was the easiest
pasta to form yet. We took teaspoon-sized chunks of the dough, wrapped them
around a 1/8" (approximately) dowel and then rolled it to 4-8" long.
Giovanna explained today that the pici/bucatini type dough is best when meat
is going to be served as the main course. It is not as filling and goes well
with vegetarian sauces. The pasta dough made with egg for finer pastas is
best with meat sauces and is a little more filling.
The tart tonight was art - I believe it was a semolina and butter crust with
a fig compote filling (the fresh figs had been cooking in sugar for a good 3
hrs today), topped with a custard and baked until the custard set. I'm not
even going to ask for the recipe because it woul d be like asking a painter
for instructions on how to recreate a painting. She just did it based on an
idea in her head. My favorite kind of cooking.
Giovanna rolled out the refrigerated dough in a plastic bag - it could be done just as well between two pieces of waxed paper I think. She then pressed the dough onto the underside and up the sides of the tart pan (in other words, she flipped the pan upsidedown and put the rolled dough onto the bottom side of the pan). She finished forming the shell to the exact size of the pan.
She refrigerated the pan and dough. When it had hardened slightly, she removed the outer layer of plastic from the dough and turned the pan right side up. At this point she could easily separate the pan from the dough (because of the layer of plastic). She quickly lined the pan with parchment and then placed the perfectly-shaped dough into the correct side of the pan, pressing with her fingers to nest it properly into the corners. She then removed the plastic and was ready to fill the tart.
Ciao everybody!
I'm uploading the latest of Debbie's photos now to the gallery that the other photos are in, although it won't be done for a little while now. Check back in an hour or so and they should all be up.
http://www.brettanddebbie.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Formaggio
Today was a big cheese day - I got to stir the cheese, squish the
cheese with my fingers, press the cheese, flip the cheese and, of
couse, clean up after the cheese. Key lessons:
- They don't use starter cultures in their cheeses. They are
cultivating naturally occuring bacteria in the milk. If they were
using pasturized milk they would need to add a starter culture.
- They do not press the cheese other than with their hands during the
15 or 20 minutes after the cheese is first put into molds.
- The properties of the milk change throughout the year - not just the
flavor changes. End of season milk has difficulty coagulating. The
curd did not give a clean break today when using the same amount of
rennet as usual (though it was still usable) and the ricotta did not
form well, resulting in a low yeild of only 8 baskets.
I was able to document the cheese making process in photos and video
today. I will probably wait until I return to the US to post those
because of the quantity combined with the file size - it will be woth
a page unto itself.
A man named Luigi who speaks English quite well has been staying here
for the past couple days. He comes for a few days each month to
supervise the construction of his villa nearby. He seems very well
traved so I have been asking him what I should do next. His first
recommendation was Naples, which does sound like a vibrant place with
a lot of good food, but I don't think I would get to see how things
are made. When I explained my intense interest in cheese he said that
his sister in law makes buffalo and cow's milk cheeses along the
Eastern coast. He is going to see if he can arrange a stay there. As
I read the guide books the old stuff is just not holding much interest
for me. What I really want is to live, eat and cook like an Italian
so I think I should stay with Italians if I can.
We will see tomorrow if we can pull this second cheese-stay off...
Lentil Soup
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, she started with a sautee of vegetables
and then didn't need to use broth to make it flavorful. It had a great
flavor.
Sautee for about 10 minutes (until soft):
2C chopped cabbage
1C chopped carrots
2C chopped tomatoes
1C chopped celery
add 750g (a little more than 3C I think) of the following lentil mix (or
similar)
40% orzo pearls
30% red lentils
20% wheat pearls (wheat berries)
10% adzuki beans
Add twice that volume of water.
She simmered for 20 minutes and then transferred to a pressure cooker
because she was running out of time. She cooked in the pressure cooker for
another 15 minutes, until the lentils and beans were cooked through.
Bruschetta with Eggplant
Delicious!!!!
2 medium Italian eggplan, chopped into small (1/2") cubes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2-3 cups loosely packed celery leaves, coursely chopped
1/4C olive oil
1/2 of a peperocini, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 - 2 t salt
About a cup of water
Heat over high heat in a pressure cooker, first sautee for about 5 minutes
without lid, then put lid on and cook for 20 minutes, until eggplant looses
its shape and is very flavorful (she kept sniffing the steam to determine
when it was done). She put it on bread that she had toasted until dry in
the oven (about 10 minutes in the oven, until golden).
Top each bruschetta with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Now for a fish dish. I didn't taste it, but everyone else seemed quite
happy eating it. I know it sounds like a vegetarian's dream so far, and it
is! However, in a typical Tuscan meal there would be some meat served for
the main course, along with a vegetable and/or beans. At family meals
Giovanna has been making them mostly vegetarian for me, but for meals for
guests she will often make some sort of meat as part of the main course.
Often at family meals the family will have some thinly sliced cured meat as
a side dish.
Fish:
In a small sauce pan, cook:
1/4 C olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium to large red onion, finely chopped (Giovanna used a cuisinart to
chop)
Cook for about 5-10 minutes and then add:
1/2 C loosely packed Italian parsley
2 T (about - I didn't see this step) lemon juice
Continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
While onion mix is cooking, line baking sheet with parchment paper and put
down a small coating of olive oil on the parchment.
Arrange 9-10 thin filets of sole (she used Pleuronectes Platessa - that is
what the package said) in a single layer on the parchment.
Top each filet with a couple tablespoons of the onion mixture, spreading the
mixture to cover the filet. Then sprinkle all with salt and pepper.
Bake at 190 degrees C just until cooked through.
Cabbage and Tomato Main Course
Sautee about 8 to 10 medium tomatoes and almost a head of chopped
garlic in 1 cup olive oil.
As tomatoes begin to lose their shape add 1.5t of salt and 5 to 6 cups
coursely chopped cabbage.
Continue to sautee, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or
until cabbage is softened and cooked all the way through.
Serve in a large bowl with a perimeter of one to two inch chunks of
dense European bread (theirs is of couse the salt free kind) that has
been toasted to golden brown and nearly completely dry.
