This month, in Forging Fromage, we've been making Brousse, a fresh goat (or sheep) cheese, traditionally eaten with honey or fresh herbs. And you know, I think this has been the simplest one yet!It's a very straightforward method - bring your milk up to the boil, add some acid (diluted vinegar, in this instance), let the curds form,
drain them and eat your cheese. Simple. The only downside is that traditionally Brousse is made in Brousse moulds, which are little perforated plastic things, which I do not have. So I had to employ my trusty egg ring, bamboo steamer and cheesecloth contraption.It's also a good cheese for those who like their cheesy gratification to be pretty instant - because
it only takes 6 hours to drain the curd to the right stage, and it is eaten very fresh, I was able to put my milk on at lunch time and eat my cheese for dinner the same night. Or you could do it before bed and have fresh goats cheese for breakfast the next day.1 litre of full-fat goat's milk produced 1 disk of cheese, which was plenty to be getting on with!
Over a couple of days I ate it drizzled with truffle honey, on toast (with more honey), alongside pears poached in red wine with peppercorns and thyme, on wholewheat crackers with fig and fennel paste, and a sprinkling of red-wine infused salt, on crackers with chopped raw garlic and a sprinkling of Maldon salt.
Because the cheese contains no salt, it's very milky and almost sweet tasting. It made a good accompaniment for the poached pears, but I really thought it was better when I added a little pinch. I think if I make Brousse again, I'll mix some salt into the curds before I drain them.
I wonder what the next challenge will be?
10 comments:
This fromage looks delicious! I love how it was served.
Nice job! I have found molds rather expensive: your solution looks great.
I have to say, I am unsure if I would like this one--I think I would have eaten it with flat-bread and honey.
Your goat's cheese looks lovely, with or without the molds. I've been wanting to make this for ages, but I don't know where to find goat's milk in my area. I am planning on trying to make mozzarella this week, though.
Thank you so much for the shout out for the baked oatmeal! I'm glad you liked it.
Your cheese looks perfect--no special molds needed. You are becoming quite the cheese-maker! ;-)
Aimee - thank you!
Simona - yes, I didn't want to outlay any money if it was going to be a one-time thing.
MM - flatbread and honey would have been good. It certainly needed something to round out the flavour.
Laurie - I just get it from the supermarket. My mum followed the link to your oatmeal and made your coffee cake, she said it was lovely!
Deb - I eat a lot of cheese, so I might as well learn to cook it.
That does seem like a very simple cheese, not far off from doing ricotta. Now I just need to find goats milk
Lovely! I love all these fresh cheeses. They are a great delicacy in Greece (esp. Greek islands) during the summer when the goats have loads of milk. Try it with a Greek salad in stead of feta, this is how they it is in Sifnos island!
Kat - it's a good one, you should try it.
Johanna - that's a great idea! The olives in the salad would provide the much-needed saltiness. But nothing can replace feta!
Wow, when did you start making your own cheese? I make ricotta and paneer with cow's milk (same method) so I'm going to give goat's milk a go next time.
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