SC - Re: Making cheese

[Philip & Susan Troy]

ChannonM at aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 8/27/00 9:01:11 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Master A writes:
> 
> > I can certainly understand the desire to learn everything possible about
> >  the overall process from period beginning to period end, but to forego
> >  making cheese because you can't get raw milk straight from the udder is,
> >  if I may coin an original phrase nobody here has _ever_ heard before,
> >  letting the best be the enemy of the good.
> >
> 
> I ahve to say that you are pointing out a very significant issue. I have been
> mulling this around in my head for the last several hours. How much do I want
> the cheese to be period down to the fresh cow's milk vs how much do I want to
> make my own cheese. I have checked out some sites that offer cheese making
> supplies etc, and did read about the chemical needed to turn pasteurized milk
> into cheese. I was hoping not to have to go that route, but it may be
> inevitable if I want to serve my own cheese.

As I say (or have said before on other occasions) it is a Good Thing to
stick to your guns and uphold your standards, and making cheese as close
to period as is humanly possible cannot intrinsically be a bad thing. On
the other hand, if for some reason you can't do that, you might actually
derive a higher Happiness Quotient by lowering your sights a little.
This doesn't mean you're compromising your ideals, especially if you
would have ended up not doing the thing because your standards were
higher than circumstances could support. Hey, how could ending up with
homemade cheese be worse than ending up with nothing but a lofty sense
that you've got reelly reelly high standards? And, of course, none of
this precludes the possibility of doing it differently when the
opportunity arrives. 
 
> The other issue was that I have always wanted to make my own sausage and was
> hoping to do that as well for this feast. As such, these are two new skills
> that I would be attempting. Maybe I would be best served (or the feasters
> rather) to attempt one or the other. Some considerations have to be made for
> time constraints and processing issues. I prefer to have a feast that is a
> success than to "practice" my new skills out on the people partaking in this
> event(even though I will do a trial or two before hand).

Sounds sensible. I haven't seen your cooking or your kitchen, but all
the indications are that you are a talented, ambitious cook. At various
times people have said the same of me, but knowing what I know, I don't
think I'd try to acquire two entirely new professions, i.e. dairymaid
and charcuterer, for the same feast. Yes, it's fun to do stuff like
that, but I suspect it is a better use of stress levels, memory
retention, and feast funds to do them separately. And doing them
separately doesn't mean one of them won't get done, will it? You're not
likely to get tired of all this and dial up for takeout for 400, are you?
 
> I am going to do a batch of cheese in small quantity using the pasteurized
> milk. At that point I can better judge what to do for the feast.

Sounds about right. Have you chosen a particular recipe to work with?

> Thanks Adamantius for pointing out what should be so obvious to me.

My pleasure, and I'm sorry if I came on a bit strong, I just had this
sort of Cassandra/John the Baptist flashback on a morning after not
fully recovering from some dehydration symptoms. 

Adamantius, thinking single-malt would be an ideal thing for thirst
right now... ;  )
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com