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August 13, 2008 8:37 PM

What's a good cheese-making book for me?

A fairly recent question actually got me into making cheese, and I'm no fromagier, but after scouring Mr. Fankhauser's excellent information (and name) along with some other web resources I've dug up, I'm sort of at a loss as to how to learn more about all of this.

Looking at different recipes for different cheeses, I see that there's very little difference in the basic steps and all of the difference lies in the details, but at the same time there can be a wide variation among recipes for the "same" cheese.

So, I don't really want a cookbook with rote recipes, I want a cheese-making book (or website for that matter) that talks about the difference it makes to inoculate at 90 degrees versus 120 or to cut the curd versus stirring and breaking it. I'm looking for a book about the mechanics of making cheese, not just the recipes. A little chemistry wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

posted by cmoj to food & drink (4 comments total)

Not that I've looked at it myself, but The Cheesemaker's Manual seems to be well-respected as covering both science and recipes. Rick and Lynne's home cheesemaking tutorial bases their material on this book; check that site first, I'd say, and see if it's what you're looking for.
posted by Upton O'Good at 10:08 PM on August 13, 2008

Recommend anything from New England Cheesemaking Supply
Like this book site.
posted by nougat at 5:21 AM on August 14, 2008

nougat's got it. The first one on the list, "Home Cheese Making, really is the bible for home cheesemakers. It's an excellent place to start.
posted by ewagoner at 6:49 AM on August 14, 2008

Yep, Ricki Carroll's book is the way to get started. There are lots of explanations of various techniques throughout the book. However, it is lacking in a few things. We're still trying to get our head around what various cultures do and how they work. However, simply making the cheese and watching it happens creates a lot of "eureka" moments.

Is there a rule against self-link in ask.mefi? Myself and some friends are attempting to blog our cheesemaking efforts at fucheese.com -- hopefully this will continue to grow and evolve and someday be an excellent homemaking cheese resource.
posted by amanda at 8:03 AM on August 14, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]