del formaggio, per favore / some cheese, please

homemade cheese and bread

A slice of Leerdammer, one of Manchego plus some rye bread (pane di segale): that's what's in the spread above. Trust me, it's lovely. (In fact, it was eaten as soon as I finished taking photos.)

I like sweet, nutty Leerdammer a lot, and I am very pleased with the nice holes it has. I wrote about my first attempt in this post and by comparing the results, you can see that my formaggio coi buchi looks much nicer now, thanks to a bit of practice during the past three years. The recipe I follow comes from the book 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes by Debra Amrein-Boyes (I halve it, using two gallons of milk.)

Manchego with saffron threads

I have made Manchego-style cheese many times using different recipes, as described, for example, this post. (I am calling the cheese Manchego-style because true Manchego is made with ewe's milk, while my cheese was made with cow's milk.) The version above was made following the recipe in Mary Karlin's book Artisan Cheese Making at Home and it includes some saffron (zafferano). The photo shows the cheese ready for aging.

What I like about this cheese is that it can be eaten young or aged longer. This time, I cut it after 10 days of aging.

Manchego curds with saffron threads

Above is an image from the process of making the Manchego, where you can see a couple of saffron threads among the white curds. The image was taken shortly before putting the curds in the mold.

The cheese has a lightly elastic texture, a pleasant smell of young cheese and a delicate flavor that makes it perfect for a snack. 

The top photo is my contribution to edition #73 of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Zorra of 1x umrühren bitte aka kochtopf.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to black and white (Lightroom preset Split Tone 1).

This post contains the gallery of images submitted to the event.

And I suspect the cheese lovers participating in the year long Cheesepalooza project, organized by Valerie of A Canadian Foodie will enjoy watching the photos in this post. Manchego is one of the cheeses chosen for the March edition and while Leerdammer is not Jarlsberg, the process for making the two cheeses has similarities and they both have holes. I have also made Jarlsberg, more than once, and this is a post about it.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

del formaggio, per favore

or launch the del formaggio, per favore audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

cheese, Leerdammer, Manchego

Comments

[martissima]

It's 7.55 and I would like to have breakfast with these cheeses O__O sempre più esperta, brava!!

[diary of a tomato]

Oh, how I wish I had the time and space... and your infinite patience to tackle aging cheese! Wonderful results!

[Paz]

I love that you're able to make your own cheese. Delicious! Love the photo.

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Martissima. And it would be an excellent breakfast. Grazie. Davvero questi due mi sono venuti buoni.

Ciao Debra, It takes time and patience, yes, though the time requirement is distributed a bit unusually.

Ciao Paz. I wish I knew more, but when I eat a slice of cheese, I am able to just be grateful for what I know and can do with that knowledge.

[zorra]

I am impressed, you make your own cheese! Great.

Please note I moved my blog, so the new URL is http://www.kochtopf.me.

[One Day At A Time]

My husband bought me a cheese press and small 'cave' for my birthday. I foresee a lot of cheese making in my future. Including this cheese!

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Zorra. I updated the blog's URL.

What a lovely birthday gift you got, Robin. I definitely recommend Manchego: you can consume it early, if you want and so can get early feedback on what you did when you made it.

[tami]

i am so impressed that you make you own manchego. It is my favorite.Young, middle aged or old and pungent it's just a lovely cheese .I've never thought of making it myself. You are a true artisan, simona, and an artist to boot.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Tami. I wish I could get hold of some sheep's milk to make a cheese closer to the original, but I have had no luck so far. The process of making cheese is endlessly fascinating. I wish I had more time to devote to it.

[Lynne]

I love your manchego and the leerdammer cheese(love those holes)- much prettier than the wedges I see in the cheese shop! I'm surprised you weren't tempted to eat your lovely snack before you got your photos. Another perfect black and white image!

[Simona Carini]

It was hard, Lynne: both the cheeses and the bread were tempting. My husband snatched the slice of manchego the moment I put down the camera. The holes are really cute. When they start forming, the cheese gets bigger and breaks the wax in which it was dipped before the aging started. So, when I see the crack, I know the cheese is on the right path.