(spooky music)
(spooky footsteps)
(key jingles)
(creaky door)
(footsteps)
(breathing)
Salut!
So I'm finally back from Italy
I learned a lot about mozarella making.
Let's put this to good use.
(zipper sounds)
So, welcome back to the mozarella making series.
This episode is about
following the Italian tradition to the closest.
In case you missed it, I strongly suggest you watch the episode 3 of the series,
just because it was shot in Italy.
Uhhhhh
And if you need another reason, well,
ah, it's going to be super helpful to understand everything
that is happening in this episode.
Well, there are plenty of things I need to change
in terms of technique, timing, process...
...but I guess that it all starts with one *key* ingredient
and Benito was super specific about this.
MILK
So I will share with you more details along the way,
but for now we need to get going because the milk I have in mind
is super limited in terms of supplies.
(zipper noises)
Welcome back to FRANCE
(crinkly plastic sounds)
And I'm sure the sound is just *delightful* now, isn't it?
Whatever.
It's raining outside, wh–what would you exp—
(BEEP)
(zooooom)
(various checkout beeps)
Jersey cow's milk is twice as fatty
as regular whole milk, eh,
and because it is raw it has all the bacterial activity,
which I need to curdle the milk properly,
and to add even more flavours.
(upbeat musical interlude)
Honestly, I am not that much concerned with the bacteria situation right here you see, since
raw milk is risky
but the mozarella making process involves
boiling water at the end
which temperature is way higher than the
pasteurization temperature
So, it should be fine.
Well, I know what you're thinking.
He told us not to worry, and yet he's putting gloves on.
Well, you see it has nothing to do with what I just said...
It's just that, ah, somebody in here needs to learn how to
safely handle a hot glue gun...
Hah, thats...
that's a stupid problem.
So in terms of quantities, I'm going to use about a gallon
of milk
Which is you know 3.8L
(milk splooshes)
The colour is different.
It's much more
yellow, or more likely to be cream coloured
La mozarella fata en la casa (?)
But first we need to heat the milk to about
38 degrees celcius
That's about 100 degrees F
But you know we need to do this slowly,
gently, without stopping from stirring.
(musical interlude)
The milk is now ready for me to add the, ah, culture.
Ah, I'm—of coure I'm going to tell you a bit more about
this very specific bacteria culture.
Ah, but first, let's just work a bit more.
(musical interlude)
A good thermometer is probably the only real,
you know, tech piece of equipment you will need
in this cheese-making adventure
Depending on your budget
you can find a super cheap or
super expensive one and I'll post a few links in the
description box down below
Ah, to speed things up, I've started on the stove right there,
but afterwards we're gonna be in here.
I'm setting up a warm water bath
Ah, just because a more gentle,
a more uniform, and also more stable.
(water splooshing)
So just for your information,
the water bath is at 45 degrees celsius,
and that should keep my milk nice and warm
during the ripening process
which lasts around 60 minutes.
(musical interlude)
To make cheese the traditional way,
you need to use bacteria known as a "culture"
Let's see if my Theoretical Blue Fridge behind me has
something to say about this
The first type of lactic acid bacteria
is called "mesophilic"
And those bacteria have I'm sure
loads and loads of qualities,
but I'm not that much interested to them
because basically they can't stand the heat
And that's why we're using the second type
called "Thermophilic"
I'm probably too close...
I'm not "probably too close"...
I'm DEFINITELY too—
(BLEEP)
So those bacteria are more or less performing the same action than these
you know breaking down the lactose
these can stand the heat and
that's super useful when you're making mozarella.
You can buy each of those cultures online
I'll share a few links down below.
Right the milk is now ready and it's time to add renith
I need 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 drops
and they need to be diluted in a bit of water.
(pre-cheese splooshes)
You're supposed to sir in an up and down motion for about 30 seconds
So and this needs to rest for about 60 minutes until the curds actually appear
Oooooooooh oui! This is exciting!
Well you see at the cheese factory
the guy did not use a knife to cut the curd
They used a "spherical knife"
Which is called in italian:
a "spino"
I WANT a spino
Where do I BUY a spino?
You can't buy a spino...
(grumble groan)
(laughs)
Well this is an easy fix, right?
(epic, purposeful music)
And there you go, this is how you make a DIY spino
Ahhhhhhhhhh...
You don't make a DIY spino,
You make a spino... (incoherent French laughs)
This is exactly what you should get...
You should get...
Something that, that looks soft but still like a custard
You should get some whey floating on top
And then you should get the side slightly coming off
You see?
(musical interlude)
Ooooo, oui!
So now, those beautiful curds
need to rest for about 30 minutes
until they settle gently at the bottom of the pot
Uh, by the way if it gets a little less warm
Then you can always top it all up with fresh, hot water.
(musical interlude)
Hmmmmm
Come closer.
So we need to remove the excess whey
with a water pump, a whey pump...
So I've been cleaning and sanitizing this
uh, beautiful clear tubing,
But it's only solving half the problem.
I still need something to suck out all of the liquid...
I—
I mean I could—uhhhhh...
Nah.
Non...
No no nonononono
There is no way in a million years I'm gonna—
(BLEEP)
(sucking noises)
(water spooshing)
And now back in the water bath it goes
And that resting period is called
"The Maturation of the Curd"
We are basically waiting for the curds to be
acidic enough to be stretched into
beautiful mozzarella balls
It could take 2 to 4 hours
(musical interlude)
So performing the test is fairly easy
First off you need to pick up a bit of those curds
Place them in a strainer
And then drop some boiling water on them
It's starting to stretch
But it's not ready yet.
(disproval noises)
(big sigh)
A bit of bad news, a bit of a kickback
In fact, it's 9pm,
I've been doing loads of tests,
an—and I can't seem to stretch this bad boy
I mean I do get some stretch, but
it's not amazing, it's just like a tiny stretch
The worst part of this whole story, is that
It's all my fault.
I was too impatient
again
Should I say,
To order the proper stuff
So I went for a random unbranded whatever,
thermophilic culture
Which did produce nothing satisfying at the end, like—
(sigh of annoyance)
Merde!
So I need to stop, I need to get some rest
And I need to think
Because basically now it's too late
(sad violin solo)
to order something online...so
I guess yes,
f(BLEEP)k me
(cricket noises)
(humming)
(birdsong)
Ok, so yesterday at my place,
I made this
This is active yogurt.
I inoculated the milk yesterday night
with a yogurt starter.
Yogurt bacteria in most cases are
Thermophilic instead of mesophilic—
So I hope this is gonna solve it!
The texture is very different than milk,
it's closer to buttermilk,
but a bit more slimy.
Right, and now I'm starting out
making another batch with this.
You know a quick word,
the more and more I get into this
cheesemaking process
And the more I see the similarities with the
sourdough bread making process
Seriously, you need to have a starter,
you need to take good care of bacteria,
Which are, by the way, lactic acid bacteria
And then you expect them to do something good for the
uh, you know, um, general outcome of the experiment,
Like, for bread it would be using the CO2
they produce just to have nice rise
But in this cheesemaking case,
we're only using the acidifying, uh, properties
of those bacteria.
It's fascinating!
(tense music)
(water splooshing)
Whah!
Now that
Is some proper stretch
(singing victory song)
Ok, right now to the bench, and before we
can actually stretch the mozzarella, we need to drain it
Cut this into small pieces, just so that
When we heat this, we get a quick and even action
Yeah, I'm excited, but I'm also stressed out
Because even if it's ok to fail from time to time
It's not ok to f—
(BEEP)
(stressful piano music)
And so this is my first fully traditional mozzarella
Ahhhhhhhhh
(laughs)
Now I'm gonna brine two of those in salt
And I need to reach the, uh, seawater concentration
Now I'm gonna leave the mozza balls in the soup
for about 30 minutes
I'm gonna keep one for tasting purposes
And the other one
(exciting string music)
"Hello"
"Salut"
"Benito!"
I've just made my first—Can you share
Your opinion?
Ciao! Ciao!
I'm gonna be sending this to Ile Cassolaret (?)
You know, the cheese factory in Italy where I saw the
whole process. So, of course I will keep you guys posted
if I get an answer, and if it's a video,
I will even post it on this channel right here so please
keep your eyes peeled!
(suspenseful music)
Nice!
Look at these juices...
Mmmm!
Not like firm, but it's springy
Now, is the taste better than the one I did with
the citric acid...
Yeahhh, it's more flavourful
I'm not even sure if it's related to the fact I used raw milk
or the fact that I used a culture, but I sense...
You know, that slight freshness and tangy-ness
Obviously, there is a very strong chance that
I'm going to be roasted by Benito
about the quality of my mozzarella, but I
hope at least he will give me some credit for the
good effort, and
the pasta fillata (?) technique which I did perform
So, long story short, if you're really into the cheesemaking process
If you want to become a cheesemaker,
or if you're just passionate about cheese,
then yes, it is absolutely worth it.
But, on the other hand if you're
just an amateur, and you love food
but you, you don't want to neglect your whole life for it
Then I thought about something
I thought about—
hacking the milk.
The whole story is not ready yet so
I will probably tell you about this in the next episode
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Cause I make videos every week
It's always about the food, it's always about—
(laughs)
The madness, I'm afraid,
but at the end it's always about having fun
Take care! Buh-bye! Salut!
(upbeat musical interlude music)