Make your own cheese! (prep)

First off, go down to your local bookstore and special-order yourself a copy of Ricki Carroll's Cheese Making. You'll need this book; it's got 40-some recipes for a large variety of cheeses, as well as notes on equipment, milk, technique etc. Pretty much the only thing she doesn't cover is starters, so I'll have some notes on that below.

You're going to need a large container to heat milk in. Depending on the recipe, you either want a single large thick-bottomed pot on the stove, or a large pot inside another pot as a kind of double-boiler. In the latter case, make sure you can lift out the inner pot in case it gets too hot. Cheese recipes generally take between 1 and 2 gallons of milk, so we're talking large pots.  The arrangement above, with a bowl in a pot of hot water, is not ideal and makes it hard to control temperature, as I found out.

You will also need a digital instant-read thermometer. Based on messy personal experience, buy two; they have a tendency to get flat batteries in the middle of a batch of cheese.

You will need some cheese cloth and/or butter muslin. At the high end, this is a hemmed piece of loosely-woven muslin which can be washed and used repeatedly. If you're a lazy cheapskate, like me, you buy 100 meters of surplus gauze at a medical supply house and use it disposably.

You'll also need some slotted spoons and/or strainers with different hole and mesh sizes, depending on the consistency of the cheese and what stage you're on.

Then there's a bunch of equipment which is nice to have, and you'll want if you start making cheese more than once a year. I don't recommend buying any of this for your first batch of cheese, but you'll want it eventually.

You'll be cutting your cheese curds, so a long-bladed icing spatula is very useful. It's also useful for things other than cheese, so why not?

These are ricotta baskets. They're very useful for draining and pressing soft cheeses. There are other molds for pressing harder cheese, but since ageing cheeses in a San Francisco apartment is a little impractical, I don't own any of these. With your first batch, just use a colander.

This is a cheese press. Again, this is for the hard-core home cheesemaker who makes cheese every month.

I use a small plate and various improvised weights.

Of course, you're also going to need milk. Cheese is basically concentrated milk, so you need to pay attention to the quality of the milk you get -- look for the best local brand. Do not use ultra-pasteurized milk, though, because it won't curdle properly.

Take my word for it, though: don't make your first batch of cheese from the most expensive milk you can get! While organic raw milk makes a nice cheese, consider how much you'll be spending if you screw up the batch and have to throw it away.

You also may need some acids. The most common ones used in cheesemaking are citric acid (sold as Sour Salt), white vinegar and lemon juice.

Depending on the cheese you're making, you may need rennet. Rennet is a real or simulated enzyme from a calf's stomach, which curdles milk incredibly rapidly. I bought genetically-engineered rennet, just because I could. All-vegetable rennets don't tend to work quite as well, and some (derived from nettles) cause off-flavors.

Many cheese also require cultures. These are bacterial cultures which give the cheese flavor and tang. Cultures generally come in two temperatures: mesophilic for mid-temperature cheeses, and thermophilic for high-temperature cheeses. Within those two temperatures, you can buy a couple dozen specific culture strains from three or four manufacturers, and everybody has their own opinion on which culture to use for what. A few cheeses do require very specific culture strains, though, such as feta, creme fraiche, and chevre.

Make sure you get the "instant" cultures rather than the mother culture, unless you plan to turn professional. Instant cultures can just be measured in 1/4 teaspoon portions and added to the milk; mother cultures need to be cultivated in milk and stored frozen in ice-cube portions.

The nice thing about rennet and starters is that in the fridge and freezer, they will keep for a year or more. So you don't have to worry about not using them frequently.

Of course, now you're asking, "where do I get all this specialized cheese stuff?"  On the internet, of course!  I've used two mail-order sources for cheesemaking supplies: The New England Cheesmaking Company in Massachusetts, and The Beverage People in Santa Rosa.   For the latter, note that their online catalog isn't very well designed and contains errors; you should rather figure out what you want, then call them on the phone.

Next post, we'll make the cheese.