Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Amy,

OK, I should be able to look it up tommorrow. It only needs to be aged for one day, so it's an easy one.

Amy,

The recipe I actually used is for something called Gervais, which as it turns out is actually 2/3 milk, and not mostly cream. So I'll give you another recipe which is similar, from the same book (Home Cheese-Making), but is all cream.

swiss-style cream cheese

1 qt heavy cream
1 packet direct-set mesophilic starter or 2oz prepared meso starter.
1 drop liquid rennet diluted in 2 tbs cool non-chlorinated water
2 teaspoons fine salt
Herbs to taste (I suggest 1-2 tbs minced fresh thyme)

1. warm the cream to 65F. Add the starter and mix well.

2. add the diluted rennet, and stir gently up-and-down.

3. Cover and let the cream set at 65F for 24 hours

4. Pour half the curded cream into a collander lined with muslin or several layers of cheesecloth. Sprinkle with 1tbs salt and half the herbs. Pour the remaining curds into the collander and sprinkle with the remaining salt and the rest of the herbs.

5. Tie the muslin/cheesecloth into a bag and hang to drain for 12 hours

6. Place back in the mold or collander and put a 10lbs flat weight on top. Leave for 4-6 hours.

7. Remove from the mold, cut into pieces and wrap tightly. Consume within 1 week.

Unfortunately, Ricki does not have a recipe for Triple Cream Brie. Besides, you'd need some of the while mold culture as well as starter.

It's that time of year again, and I've got another gallon of heavy cream. I just bought some cheese starters and it's going to fun making a huge whack of cream cheese. We're going to NY in a couple of weeks, and I plan on presenting a couple of pounds to my nephew. He was here to visit last week and I taught him how to make bagels and cure salmon. The cream cheese will be gilding the lily, but he's SO worth it!

Amy

I would love to know how to cure salmon. I've got enough of it. Would you care to share?

Cook's Illustrated

Gravlax

Makes 1 side of cured salmon. Published January 1, 1996.
Why this recipe works:

We wanted an easy gravlax recipe for evenly moist and tender salmon that was consistently salted throughout. A wet brine in red onion juice ensured that the salt and other curing ingredients were evenly distributed throughout the salmon fillet, producing a moist gravlax recipe with great texture. The procedure was simple enough: We skinned the salmon and placed the fillet and curing ingredients in a zipper-lock bag, thereby maximizing brine penetration and eliminating the need to flip the fillet. All the fish needed was to be weighted down and refrigerated for 12 to 18 hours (depending on thickness).

If you have a juicer, you may use it to make the onion juice. Although a little more time-consuming, onion juice can also be made by grinding onions in a food processor until liquefied, about four minutes. Strain the onions through a double thickness of cheesecloth, squeezing to extract the juice. Serve sliced gravlax with lightly toasted rye bread and the related recipes (Onion Relish and Cilantro Cream).


Ingredients

3 medium red onions , peeled, quartered, juiced, and foam skimmed to yield 2 about 2 cups juice (see note above)
1cup kosher salt
3/4cup granulated sugar
1teaspoon ground white pepper
2cups chopped fresh dill leaves (both stems and leaves)
1 whole salmon fillet (3 to 4 pounds), skinned, excess fat and brown flesh removed, and bones removed with tweezers (see illustrations 1 through 5)
1cup minced fresh dill

Instructions

1. Pour onion juice into 4-cup glass measure. Add salt and sugar; stir to dissolve. Stir in pepper and the coarsely chopped dill.

2. Place salmon in 2-gallon zipper-lock bag. Pour in marinade, seal bag, and place on jelly roll pan (illustration 6). Marinade should barely cover fish. Place second jelly roll pan over fish and set about 7 pounds of weight (heavy cans or bricks work well) on top pan (illustration 7). Refrigerate weighted fish until very firm, 12 to 18 hours, depending on thickness of fish.

3. Remove salmon fillet from bag and dry with paper towels. Evenly distribute the minced dill over belly side of the fillet, then press dill into flesh (illustration 8). (Gravlax can be wrapped in parchment paper then plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 1 week.)

4. Just before serving, place fillet, belly side up, on work surface. Following illustrations 9 and 10, slice desired amount of gravlax. Rewrap and refrigerate unsliced gravlax for later use.

Step-by-Step

Gravlax

1. With the tail of the salmon pointing perpendicularly to your body, make a small cut just above the tail end. Cut down through the meat but stop just before you get to the skin.

2. Holding onto the tail end by the skin, run a long, flexible slicing knife between the flesh and the skin. Keeping the skin taut and checking the edges of the fillet to make sure the knife is just above the skin, slide the blade toward the head end until the skin is completely removed.

3. Use the slicing knife to trim any excess white fat from the fillet. Fat is most concentrated along the edges of the fillet.

4. Turn the fillet over and trim off any brownish flesh or white fat. Fillets should be uniformly orange.

5. Pin bones run from the head end about halfway back along the fillet. Feel for these bones and pull them toward the head end with small tweezers to remove.

6. Place the salmon in a 2-gallon zipper-lock bag, add the marinade, seal the bag, and place it on a jelly roll pan.

7. Place a second jelly roll pan over the fish and set about 7 pounds of weight (heavy cans or bricks work well) on the top pan.

8. Evenly distribute minced dill over the belly side of the fish, then press the dill into the flesh.

9. Starting at the tail end, make a cut on the bias back toward the tail. Hold the knife at about a 20-degree angle and make a slice about 1/8 inch thick.

10. Continue making cuts, moving 1/8 inch up toward the head end each time, slicing desired amount.

Cream freezes well. I buy quarts at Costco for the same price as half pints at the local supermarket, pour it into cupcake trays, and store in gallon baggies. When making cream sauces, I just toss a round or two in the saucepan,.