Making Monterey Jack - Pepper Jack Cheese

Oh you you you you you you you hello everybody I'm making a new geez whenever I make a G's for the first time I bravely make a video this time it's Monterey Jack it's a cheddar style cheese although it doesn't really cheddar there's a process when you're making cheddar cheese called chattering if this is easier to do than that it's an American cheese originated in California in Monterey I presume in California is where he gets his name Monterey Jack and the one that I'm going to make is probably more a pepper jack I'm going to put black pepper and some of my own grown Thai chilies in it anyway I thoroughly sterilized all the equipment I use a dairy sterilizer rather than heat and that is four gallons of whole milk store bought whole milk which is roughly 16 litres and has been brought up to 89 degrees Fahrenheit 32 degrees Celsius and sort of a Van Looy a double boiler I have uh sold see I guess you can see a bit of it there this old enamel canner with water in it and I put my stainless steel pot down inside the canner and there's a gasp flame down below which has been shut off now it's reached its target temperature of 89 Fahrenheit 32 celsius 1/2 teaspoon I was mesophilic culture gets added at this point spreading it as evenly as I can over the surface of the milk and it is allowed to rest on the surface for five minutes hydrating before you mix it in and I use see they're not one of these I guess it meant for bakers I use it a lot when I'm baking to take your time or with you and it goes off no matter where you're at you know it's time to do something else but I've set that for five minutes at the end of five minutes it gets mixed in I have my label here hanging on the side and you mix it in with an up-and-down motion without breaking the surface of the of the milk and that will draw it down further into the milk and once that has happened it gets covered and it rests for 45 minutes while the culture develops in it and I won't bother you know bringing you back for each of those stages we'll come back after the 45 minutes but I'm going to prepare the chili and pepper now to be put into the end of the mix it doesn't go in and until much later in the process but it has to cool back down after it's sort of cooked so I'll show you what I'm doing in that regard right now well the milk is now doing it's 45 minutes of ripening so I'm going to get started on preparing the the chilies for it the instructions that I'm following were for jalapenos and it tells you how many tablespoons to use of jalapeno these things leave halep in you behind in the dust so I'm I'm going to use two of them let's round up I don't think will make much more than a teaspoon just boon not for something I'm not going to grind them into a powder I just got them in this more than Festival to break them off the seeds will all come over easily but I would like to help thee but the red part in there too for the Sun heat in it but lets people know that there's chilies in it I guess I'm also going to ground add some coarsely ground black pepper it goes into two cups of water brought to a boil and then turn down so that does a slow boil or a simmer for 10 minutes and then before you use it it has to completely cool which is why I'm doing it so early I think price of reason for bringing it to a boil well that will draw some of the heat out into the liquid and you'll see how it's added later but I think also that would kill any contaminants that might be on the chillies it will be basically sterile when it's added to the to the cheese contaminate your cheese I buy that at Costco and there's no way of getting inside of it to get the whole peppercorns and I don't seem to have any I used to keep them in the house I use different kinds of pepper in males but seem to have any pepper afford so I'm going to use horse the ground put that on the stove bring it to a boil boil it for ten minutes and then let it completely cool so once the milk has set for 45 minutes and fully the culture has had a chance to reach its peak I'll bring you back well it's had 45 minutes to ripen and now you add calcium chloride three-quarters of a teaspoon of calcium chloride and a quarter of a cup of cold water with me it's tap water if you're using city water that's been chlorinated or whatever you probably be better to use a little bit of bottom bottled water areas and this gets thoroughly mixed in I just checked and had to bring the temperature up by about half a degree but it's back to 89 degrees now if you were using raw milk you wouldn't need to add the calcium chloride calcium chloride is added because this milk has been pasteurized don't really have a local source of raw milk I know a place over in Maine I guess it is possible to buy raw milk I've never never bought Annie and tried making a cheese with it yet anyway and now three quarters of a teaspoon of rennet once again mixed into a quarter cup of cold tap water and that gets thoroughly incorporated here for a minute or so I have to remember to take this label out I have left it in there before doesn't do any great harm or anything but you have to wait until you've got the curd in order to release the ladle and get it back maintaining the 89 degrees Fahrenheit 32 degrees Celsius this now gets covered and rests for 40 minutes so I will bring you back in 40 minutes time oh its head it's 40 minutes and I just checked the temperature has remained at the target temperature of 89 filth Fahrenheit and 32 celsius and I would call that the clean break stage that's what you're looking for now it gets cut into half-inch roughly half inch cubes watching my video is there anybodys cheese making videos seen this done many times before I bought this called AG's knife from cheese-making supply company that I use for a lot of my elements that go into making the cheese and they called it a cheese knife it's a very large cake frosting spatula I can't imagine the size of the cake picture would be frosting with it but it does this job very nicely it's long and goes all the way to the bottom of the pot I'm going to finish going across in this direction and I'll turn and go across it in this direction when I finished that I'll bring you back to show you the last step that I do and cutting the curd I finished doing my crosscut and what I use is a whisk to cup the curds below the surface you can do it with that ladle I used a while ago when I was mixing lis various items into the milk but some recipe that I did a while back was using this and I really like it it's faster and it works really well I just keep going a little deeper of every every circle of the thought here till I reach the bottom once I have done this you then allow it to settle for ten minutes before we move into the next phase so I will bring you back after it has had a chance to settle for ten minutes I'll show you what happens after that let's head ten minutes to settle and I have turned the flame back on under it at the lowest possible setting over the next 40 minutes I stir gently and continuously let's start the timer Angus and slowly raise the temperature to a hundred degrees Fahrenheit there eight degrees Celsius and I have my digital thermometer here to keep jacking that with down any or not while it was waiting there it's important that you do it slowly over 40 minutes so if it starts to heat up too quickly shut the heat off again under it I guess it looks like it went down about one degree well about half a degree I guess well it was resting there for ten minutes I'll bring you back in 40 minutes time and I hopefully have this up to a hundred degrees Fahrenheit 38 degrees Celsius well that worked out very well it took exactly the 40 minutes to gradually raise the temperature up to a hundred Fahrenheit r38 Celsius most of the Kurds are now much smaller and have cooked obviously a part of the partially cooked it is clumping some which is why kept stirring it to make sure it wouldn't turn into one mass clump now though for the next 30 minutes it you maintain the 100 degree temperature and let it settle and only stirring it occasionally so I'm going to try to come back every 10 minutes and stir it so I'll bring you back at the end of the 30 minute period well its head its 30 minutes ice this is my third stirring has been stirred two other times maintained the 100 degree Fahrenheit temperature and now for 30 more minutes you just let it settle and also maintaining the 100 degree fahrenheit 38 is Celsius temperatures I'll bring you back and a half hours done it's just about halfway through its 30 minute rest here and maintaining the target temperature but I finally have getting around to mentioning that unfortunately I can't put a link down below this particular video because it's coming out of this book 200 easy homemade cheese recipes which is an excellent book I've made a few cheese's out of it only problem that I have with it is they are very vague when it comes to the amount of weight to use for pressure when you put the cheese into the cheese mold into the cheese press for example on this one gets pressed twice once for only an hour and then the next time for 12 hours and instead of giving you a weight it tells you to you either use a weight or put it in a cheese press and press any firm pressure for 12 hours and I have checked everywhere glossaries whatever in the book and no place did they tell you what they mean by a firm pressure when I made the failed tome cheese if you saw that video I really think part of the problem was that it wasn't pressed strong enough should have had more of the way removed so my cheese press will go up to 80 pounds of pressure this wants a firm bond so I'm gonna go forty to fifty anyway I want to make sure that I expel as much of the way as possible you don't want it to be too wet so that will be next I'll be putting it in the mold and putting it in the press just as soon as it finished as this resting period finishes 30 minute rest and how to try to floor it into the colander which is lined with a sterile piece of cheesecloth once again I'm using this synthetic these laws very inexpensive and I've lost track of how many different cheeses I've used the same piece of cheesecloth on the way they marketed they almost call it a disposable if you'd use it once and throw it away this is probably the fourth maybe fifth cheese that I've made you get a large piece several yards of it without very much money I cut this one section off I just keep sterilizing it and using his amazing [Music] I know I'm in the way here and just trying to get the last of the last of the curd colander and this is the point at which you add if you're using Chili Peppers you add the jelly barrels totally optional I just wanted to try it I made a Gouda with these hot chilies in it and I loved it so I want to try it again this is hot chilies and some coarse ground black pepper now I'm not trying to smash things up with you gently mix that in as well this possible occurred to cool down very much either I'll do now get this into the mold and into the press just a second I'll show putting it into the mold I'm using the term mold to your mme tom which is what's recommended for the cheese I have it on a draining back there so the way will drain down into the sink I need to avoid as many wrinkles as possible one section of it has to be folded over the top follower goes in and back in a second McCready didn't leave cheese press this first pressing is for one hour as I said I've got to try to keep it at 40 pounds pressure in the first hour you can see the way running out there or not but you have to continually adjust it because as it squeezes out more of the way of course it's the springs are losing part of their tension in it well it's gone down now to almost 35 pounds pressure so I will I'll keep an eye on it for an hour and try to keep it around 40 pounds and I'll bring you back when it's trying to redress it and put it back for its 12 hour oppressor Jesus had its first hour in the press and I kept it at 40 pounds pressures much as possible and now it comes out of the mold it's turned over wrapped up again and put back in the mold of the press you can certainly see the Chili Peppers on that side anyway I have just washed my hands you want very clean hands for doing this sort of thing looks like the Chili Peppers might all be on one side of it evenly distributed on that side how swagath any slice of the cheese will have some chili in it hope most of that was on camera I wasn't looking back at the screen getting involved in something I forget what I'm doing a little flake of curd there I thought I'd taste it not particularly I know I don't feel that there was very much chili in it I'll see what that's like and three months from now I guess too late to worry about it now now this goes back in the cheese press as I said for 12 hours I just ripped that cheese cloth for the first time so perhaps this is the last time I'll use that particular piece there enough left make three or four more pieces that says back in the cheese fest I'm going to try to keep it closer to 50 pounds for the next 12 hours and after that it is brined for 12 hours in a saturated 18 percent brined I save mine from one cheese to the next I do several cheese's with it anyway before I discard it and all I do is I bring it out I have it's been in a sealed container in my basement I don't even refrigerate it I bring it to a boil and keep adding salt until the salt won't dissolve that way you know that you have replaced the salt that was depleted from it and then I strain it through cheesecloth to remove any of the milk solids that might have been in it cool it down and it'll be ready to brine the cheese in 12 hours time which would be 2 a.m. so I will see you at 2 a.m. when this comes out of the press for the last time and goes into the brine good morning everybody it's 2 a.m. and the cheese has had it's 12 hours pressing me get out of there [Music] there finally and you're not pressing it at almost 60 pounds of pressure I thought if I went that high and then if it went you know as it went down it probably would stay at at least at least 50 pounds however it didn't decrease it all that much it's nice and firm anyway and it is floating and it's in brine now it gets brine for 12 hours but at the end of 6 hours you flip it over so that it brines evenly on both sides the part that is floating up there is now above the the brine it gets flipped at 8 a.m. at 2 p.m. it will come out of the brine so I won't bring you back to watch me flip the cheese or bring you back at 2 p.m. to show you the cheese ready for its drying its head its full 12 hours in the brine 6 hours into it I turned it over I must say it's a nice solid cheese which I hope is a good thing now for the next 2 or 3 days it will be on a cheese mat air drawing until it is dry enough really a dry surface to wax I'm just using some paper towel to blot off some of the extra moisture to start with but very strange how all of the pepper stuff seems to be on one side I hope this some mixed in through it somewhere - I will cover that with cheesecloth just to keep dust or a fly or anything from lighting on it and 2 to 3 days whenever I think it's dry enough I will resume the video and show you putting on the well it's not actually wax that I use they use a synthetic cheese covering which I've only used once before I can bring that out and show it to you too I guess it's the Swiss cheese Emmentaler type cheese that are making and I'm impressed with it it has something in it that inhibits the growth of any bacteria on the surface of the cheese like mold or whatever and it's worked out very well my it's been almost the three months you've only can use it for up to three months if you're going to use it longer than that you should you know vacuum pack it or whatever but it's this particular covering says it's only good for three month period and I don't usually age anything much longer than three months anyway so I'll bring you back in a couple of days time and we put the wax coating on this well it's been 48 hours I think the cheese is dry enough now I've turned it a couple of times as I said what I use is this synthetic that I have just started using this is a new top of it larger top the last month I had was basically a sample size [Music] and it goes on in two layers and it does take it a while to dry in between and obviously I can't flip this over to do the back until the top has dried so it does take a bit of time but I'm liking the result I always have trouble when I wax I don't know cracks coming and wax or it wasn't a complete cover something happens and it get mold and things growing under the wax so far I haven't had that happen with this product and it has something in it that inhibits the growth mold anyway so I will continue with one coat flip it and do the other side bring you back when I'm starting to put on the second coat so you're gonna see how it [Music] starts to change its appearance seeing a bristle already I just these are just these cheap pastry brushes this stuff is water-soluble by the way you can clean the pastry pressure quite easily after having done it but I just pulled all the bristles on this and Masuka sure that none of the bristles were illusion I just see ya just the bristle of there already bring you back shortly while that side is drying I brought out the swiss Bibi Swiss Emmentaler type of cheese that I put that coating on almost three months ago I think I've got another two weeks to go and then I'm going to try the cheese the dark areas that you see were there when I when I painted on the the covering but nothing developed any further interesting thing has happened though I see this was perfectly smooth but I see there now indentations I presume that means that some of the eyes and holes inside have collapsed however I'm looking forward to trying it whether it has eyes or holes or not it's one of my favorite cheese's only the second time that I made it but the other time it was I was so impressed because it tasted just like a good Swiss cheese that nutty flavor that they have you often get some cheese's that are very tasty but the commercially made variety seem to have a superior flavor when you're doing your own thing at home least that's the way I find it sometimes but this was true to form I really like the cheese I'm just curious to see what's happened inside well it's had one coat on both sides I'm now starting in the second coat seems to be taking even longer to dry then the last time that I used it I'm not quite sure why other than the the other cheese the Swiss cheese had been out of the press for like several weeks before you put the coating on it part of the aging process is to let it develop the holes the eyes or whatever and that takes time the last thing you do is is coat it with the wax so it was thoroughly dry and maybe that's why this is taking a longer today but it is drying it's just a slow process and I also meant to mention that the reason the other cheese looks like it does with the you know the darker areas is what I just just stated there it is uncoated and and you just keep wiping it with I guess it was salt and water and on a cloth to remove as much of the mold that's forming mold just naturally forms on the surface but you down in any little creases like here you get mold down in them and there's no way you can wiped it out of there but as I said this has some sort of an inhibitor in it even though there was some mold on the surface it didn't develop any further and once you put this on and I will bring you back and show you the final appearance of this once both sides have been coated in this it has dried which I think will be two or three hours from now the way this is going to put on to havea layer that's taking even longer to to draw it but I want to cover all the surfaces so I'll see you in a little bit of time well at last it has had its two coats and it's they're really dry I let it finish drying overnight actually I hope I like the flavor of this cheese for a hard cheese and I don't mean a hard cheese to make I mean a cheese that's been pressed like cheddar or whatever it's about the easiest one that I think I've ever made it doesn't have very many steps and it seems to have turned to hook quite well it weighs 3 pounds 13 ounces I think I just waited no sure a little less than 4 pounds anyway out of 4 gallons of milk and now it will go in the cheese fridge and the cheese cave whatever you want to call it and I'm going to age it for 3 months so that was this is now mid maybe mid August I guess when this when it's ready to be tried I think I said at some point in this video that the this cheese coating is called a cream coating you know they also use wax and I don't thinks any wax involved they use wax in the name it's some kind of a synthetic I do like it this type this this time it took a lot longer to dry than the other time that I used it for some reason I think I said that you could only use it for three months that recommend not not using it for longer than 3 months if you're going to use aged cheese longer than that you should either use wax or vacuum seal it I reread that and that is actually four months I'm going to be doing this for three so is it's quite all right it doesn't say why it must it must start to break down or some after that period of time but four months is the recommended maximum well I'll get this put together and end up on YouTube thank you very much for watching

Channel: Dale Calder

Views: 13,351

Keywords: dale calder, campobello island, monterey jack cheese

Id: Y-UQBQ4mUQw

Length: 33min 48sec (2028 seconds)

Published: Fri May 18 2018