[Sca-cooks] Seeking leaves and crust

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Naturally, Serena's post came in while I was typing it all in ;-)

On Jan 12, 2006, at 10:59 AM, Barbara Benson wrote:

>> and Columella (author of
>> De Re Agricultura, not to be confused with Cato's De Agricultura)
>> giving us a pretty fair amount of information. I vaguely recall
>> something about sage leaves being crushed for their juice, used as a
>> vegetable rennet substitute. Somewhere I have a smudgy little
>> photocopy of some sections from Columella, but at the moment not even
>> a prayer of getting at it.
>>
>> Adamantius
>
> Greetings,
>
> I just so happen to have one of the volumes (I am working on getting
> them all) and it is the one with the cheese section. Keep in mind that
> his discourse on cheese occurs during his discussion on keeping and
> managing Goats - so he is not talking about cow cheese:
>
> excerpt from De Re Rustica by Columella:
> 		VIII. It will be necessary too not to neglect the task of
> cheese-making, especially in distant parts of the country, where it is
> not convenient to take milk to the market in pails. Further, if the
> cheese is made of a think consistency, it must be sold as quickly as
> possible while it is still fresh and retains its moisture if, however,
> it is of a rich and thick consistency, it bears being kept for a
> longer period. Cheese should be made of pure milk which is as fresh as
> possible, for if it is left to stand or mixed with water, it quickly
> turns sour, It should usually be curdled with rennet obtained from a
> lamb or a 			kid, though it can also be coagulated with the flower of
> the wild thistle or the seeds of the safflower, and equally well with
> the liquid which flows from a fig-tree if you make an incision in the
> bark while it is still green (Forster 285).

He goes on to say:

"The best cheese, however, is that which contains only a very small  
quantity of any drug. The least amount of rennet that a pail of milk  
requires weighs a silver denarius; and there is no doubt that cheese  
which has been solidified by means of small shoots from a fig-tree  
has a very pleasant flavor. A pail which has been filled with milk  
should always be kept at some degree of heat; it should not, however,  
be brought into contact with the flames, as some people think it  
proper to do, but should be put to stand not far from the fire, and,  
when the liquid has thickened, it should immediately be transferred  
to wicker vessels or baskets or moulds; for it is of the utmost  
importance that the whey should percolate as quickly as possible and  
become separated from the solid matter. For this reason the country- 
folk do not even allow the whey to drain away slowly of its own  
accord, but, as soon as the cheese has become somewhat more solid,  
they place weights on the top of it, so that the whey may be pressed  
out; then, when the cheese has been taken out of the moulds or  
baskets, it is placed in a cool, shady place, that it may not go bad,  
and, although it is placed on very clean boards, it is sprinkled with  
pounded salt, so that it may exude the acid liquid; and, when it has  
hardened, it is still more violently compressed, so that it may  
become more compact; and then it is again treated with parched salt  
and again compressed by means of weights. When this has been done for  
nine days it is washed with fresh water. Then the cheeses are set in  
rows on wickerwork trays made for the purpose under the shade in such  
a manner that one does not touch another, and that they become  
moderately dry; then, that the cheese may remain the more tender, it  
is closely packed on several shelves in an enclosed place which is  
not exposed to the winds. Under these conditions it does not become  
full of holes or salty or dry, the first of these bad conditions  
being generally due to too little pressure, the second to its being  
over-salted, and the third to its being scorched by the sun. This  
kind of cheese can even be exported beyond the sea. Cheese which is  
to be eaten within a few days while still fresh, is prepared with  
less trouble; for it is taken out of the wicker-baskets and dipped  
into salt and brine and then dried a little in the sun. Some people,  
before they put the shackles on the she-goats, drop green pine-nuts  
into the pail and then milk the she-goats over them and only remove  
them when they have transferred the curdled milk into the moulds.  
Some crush the green pine-kernels by themselves and mix them with the  
milk and curdle it in this way. Others allow thyme which has been  
crushed and pounded through a sieve to coagulate with the milk;  
similarly, you can give the cheese any flavor you like by adding any  
seasoning which you choose. The method of making what we call “hand- 
presses” cheese is the best-known of all: when the milk is slightly  
congealed in the pail and still warm, it is broken up and hot water  
is poured over it, and then it is either shaped by hand or else  
pressed into box-wood molds. Cheese also which is hardened in brine  
and then coloured with the smoke of apple-tree wood or stubble has a  
not unpleasant flavour. But let us now return to the point from which  
we digressed."

I'd say something like a young sheep's milk manchego or one of the  
pecorinos would come pretty close (but not aged romano), and for the  
fresher cheeses, chevre or Bulgarian feta, soaked free of some of its  
salt, would make good libum cheeses.

Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04