Lancashire cheese (from Keeping a Family Cow)

While we are waiting for our new Jersey cows (the paperwork is taking forever - they have had blood tests and are fine but we need the passport saying that before they can move) I have felt inspired to make cheese again. It has been some time, soft cheeses went well but hard cheeses not so much. They tasted OK, but the texture was all wrong. We may or may not get milk from the cows now. If not we will have to wait until next year when they will hopefully have calves - if we can manage to get them AIed sometime soon - assuming they EVER turn up!

The recipe is here, but I have quartered the volume (my mold is 6cm radius by 9cm high) and changed to metric measurements and temperatures - I have basically written what I did so I can repeat, I would start with the original if you want to try this cheese, but the conversions are here if you need them.

4l raw milk (it seems semi skimmed to me as there is not much cream on it)

200ml cream (I used UHT)

Mesophilic starter (I used 6 ice cubes of cultured butter milk)

Liquid rennet (according to instuctions on the packet I used 1 ml in cold water)

1.5 tblsp preserving salt (or more or less to taste)

Cheese mold and press

I sterilise everything I am going to use by boiling it in the pan the milk will go in before I start. That way the pan is sterilised too.

Put milk and cream in double boiler and heat to 31°C (actually went to 32.5 by mistake)

Add the culture and keep at 31°C for 45 mins

Add the rennet and stir in. Keep at same temperature for 50 mins or until you get a clean break.

Cut the curd in to 1 cm pieces and let sit for 5 mins to solidify a bit. I use a palet knife and slice one way, then at 90 degrees to that, then put the knife over at 45 degrees and reslice the lines I did one way.

Stir the curds for 10 mins, then let sit for a further 5 mins

Strain through a cheese cloth and squeeze to knit the curds together.

Put the curds back in the pan (still in the warm double boiler but don't heat any more) and leave for 15 mins

Turn the curds and leave for a further 15 mins

Cut the curd mat in half and put one piece on the other and leave another 10 mins, turn and leave for further 10 mins

Cut the curd in to 1 cm x 2 cm pieces and put in a bowl with the salt and mix well

Prepare mold with piece of cheese cloth in it and put the curds in to the mold. Put in to press and apply medium pressure for an hour (I put 5kg on my press, not sure what that makes the pressure, it might be x3)

Take the cheese out of the mold and rewrap and turn over

Return to the press at increased pressure (I did 10kg) for 6 hours

Unwrap the cheese and mature at 10-15°C (or as cool as you can). Normal fridge is probably a bit cold. You want the environment to be reasonably humid too. At the moment it is here. I have found in the past if I put in a box and try to keep humidity up the cheese goes off. I waxed the cheese also after a day to let it dry out.

Turn cheese daily for first week and twice weekly thereafter. Ready at 4 weeks and will get better up to about 12 weeks and will go downhill after that apparently.

Cloud cuckoo land

An old lady?

We thought it looked like a rabbit, but maybe the wine speaking

Pretty clouds

Daisy's new job

We have got a harness for Daisy so we can train her to pull logs and then use her to clear fallen and cut trees from the woods - where it is rather steep to get any vehicule in. In our lessons we have done some work with a rather small pony harness and got her used to pulling pallets as well as long reining her.

The new rig is made for pulling things like logs which are low down rather than a cart which has a higher center of gravity. It comes all the way from Canada! Doug is not trying to drag her along as it appears, but swatting a fly (there are some giant bitey ones around)

Eventually she will have long reins too but at the moment we are just leading her as although she is being very good, it is all new with many funny clankings and she is a bit suspicious of the whole thing.

We got an adjustable head collar so we can try it with Owen too. He took a bit less readily to the pulling and long reining than Daisy, but then he is only half bred for it (he is half Arab half Boulonnaise - the Boulonnaise are a French breed which amounst other things, took fish from the coast to Paris - grey horses were favoured as they went at night and were easier too see). Daisy, being an Irish Vanner was bred to pull, her back legs turn out slightly for that reason.

Pigs, chickens and rabbits

You haven't seen a picture of the pigs since they were tiny. They are growing well. Nice looking hams! You can't really get a sense of scale from the picture, but they are doing well, although some way to go yet.

I just noticed Perky had loads of insects on her back, maybe lice, we need to look again tomorrow and maybe treat.

We have just put the little chicks outside (14 of them)' they are six weeks old and far to stinky to stay in the house, it is pretty warm now even at night so they should be ok. We will let them free in a fenced in area of their own after a few days when they are used to being outside.

We have also redone the big chickens enclosure as they were in the run off from the barn roof and they also needed more shade. We have just moved them over a little in to the ruined sheep fold.

Ginger has had another litter, I don't know yet how many. The previous litter are 3 months old, growing a little more slowly than the younger litter we have eaten some of.

Aaargh what is it?

Yes it is HUGE! And look at the size of its sting!

However you will be pleased to hear that that is not a sting, but its ovipositer (for laying eggs).

I looked it up and it is a giant wood wasp, harmless to people and buildings although it does lay its eggs in dead and dying trees it doesn't do it in dried and treated wood. Gave us quite a turn though as it lives up to its giant name.

Snake bit Poppy on the nose!!!!

I try not to use !! exclaimation marks all the time in titles, but feel this warrents a few. Don't worry, she seems fine.

Aidan and I were in the potager harvesting some salad for dinner and Poppy was digging away trying to get under a plastic lid on the ground. I was just ignoring her as she loves a bit of digging. When we were finished I went to lift up the lid just to see what she was after, Aidan jokingly said 'be careful, it's a 10 foot snake', just after which a snake reared up and bit Poppy on the nose - just as I was reaching in. I screamed and ran away. Poppy seemed keen to go in for the kill, but I persuaded her away (by SHOUTING very loud). The western whip isn't venomous, but the fangs are still not very sterile, so we have applied antiseptic spray and are watching carefuly for any swelling or whatever.

Doug has since been up there and 'rehomed' the snake.

I am now having a stiff drink to recover. Poppy seems happily oblivious to the danger she was in.

Scotched Eggs Recipe

Friends have been making scotched eggs from our quails eggs. We have quite a lot now as we are getting between 10 and 15 a day, so I thought it would be a good way to use some up - I was making sausages anyway, so just minced a bit more. These aren't very dainty as I did the mince for the sausages quite course ground so you have to make it reasonably thick around the eggs or it falls apart. You could use less meat if finer ground.

You can make full sized ones with normal eggs and 160g meat per egg.

Did you know scotched eggs were invented by Fortnum and Masons in 17 something? I always thought they had something to do with Scotland!

Some quails eggs

For each egg 60g of sausage meat

Flour

Egg

Bread crumbs

Pan with about 1.5cm of oil in it. Or you can deep fry. Oil should be deeper for full size eggs.

Boil the eggs for 4 mins, cool and peel.

Put the flour, egg and bread crumbs in separate bowls - add salt to the flour if you wish.

Separate the sausage meat in to 60g balls

Put the pan with oil on to heat on a medium heat

Dip each egg in the flour. Then wrap in sausage meat - I do it by taking 2/3rds of the meat and flattening it on the table, then put the egg on to then the flattened remaining 1/3rd on top, I scoop the whole lot in to my cupped hand and squeeze it all together.

Roll the wrapped egg in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. 

Cook as many at once as will fit in the pan without touching. Do each side for 4 or five mins until golden brown. The oil sould not be smoking but should sizzle up when eggs are added.