Camembert Cooking Recipes

If you like cheeses, you probably know the name Camembert. This exquisite French cheese has won the love of many gourmets.Soft inside, it is covered with a white mold crust. The product is made on the basis of cow's milk, has a delicate taste with hints of champignons.

Camembert cheese is from the northwest coast of France. The special properties and taste of cheese are known to residents of the region since the end of the 18th century. According to legend, the peasant who sheltered the monk from his pursuers received from him the secret of making this amazing product. At the beginning of the 19th century, a doctor appeared in the same region who used this cheese to treat his patients. The grateful residents he cured erected a monument to the doctor near the village of Camembert, from which the name of the cheese came.

Emperor Napoleon the third, once having tried this dairy product, highly appreciated its taste. Since that time, Camembert has always been served at the imperial table.

The progenitor of this cheese is no less famous Brie. There is a version that it was the Brie cheese recipe that was given to a peasant monk by a peasant woman, but due to the special climate of the Norman coast, the product acquired special qualities, becoming Camembert.

Camembert belongs to soft cheeses, self-pressing, as well as Brie. At first glance, these cheeses are very similar. But there are still some differences. Camembert crust gives out mushroom notes, is spicy in taste, it is tasteless and smells like ammonia in Brie. Camembert is more bold, its color can vary from white to creamy, Brie has a grayish tint.

The smell of brie is described as nutty, the aroma of camembert is like mushroom. Brie is made in circles of various diameters (on average from 30 to 60 cm), can have a height of 3 to 5 cm. Camembert has a strictly fixed diameter of 11 cm and a height of 3 cm. Camembert is always packed in wooden boxes that allow you to transport it to long distances, which is not done with brie cheese.

Many cheese lovers have probably wondered whether it is possible to cook an exquisite and unusual Camembert with your own hands. Its production is quite time-consuming, but after trying it once, you will want more. Therefore it is worth exploring the details of the manufacture of this product.

For cooking you will need a large pot of more than 4 liters. The pot should be chosen from stainless steel, aluminum is not suitable for making cheese. For ease of pumping whey, it is better to use special forms for making cheese. They are cylinders with many holes on the sides. It is imperative to prepare a milk thermometer and an ordinary food container in which the product will mature after cooking.

There are several main ingredients needed to make Camembert.

1. Milk (4 liters). It is better to take pasteurized milk, since in the process of cooking it will not be brought to a boil, and Camembert will be a rather “capricious” cheese.
2. Mesophilic starter. Flora Danica is ideal because it is aromatic. For 4 liters of milk you need 1/8 teaspoon of leaven. You can also use Danisco Choozit MM101. In the case of its application, you must add 1/16 tsp.
3. Rennet (quarter teaspoon).
4. Mold 2 strains (penecillium candidum and geotrichum candidum) at the tip of the knife.
5. Calcium chloride (10 ml of 10% aqueous solution). With the use of calcium chloride, it is necessary to be extremely careful, since overdosing it can lead to bitter cheese.
6. Salt (1-2 teaspoons).

The milk is heated in a saucepan in a water bath to a temperature of 30 degrees with constant stirring. At this time it is necessary to prepare a mesophilic starter. If dry variation is used, it should be dissolved in 75 ml of warm water.When using liquid yeast, you just need to add water to the same volume.

When the milk reaches the desired temperature, it is removed from the stove. The prepared starter is added. Everything is gently mixed and sprinkled with two types of mold. With the mixing of mold powder, wait a little so that it is well soaked with liquid. Stir the mixture should be only a couple of minutes.

The next step is the addition of calcium chloride. 10 minutes after adding the starter culture (it is better to note the time) a milk-clotting enzyme, dissolved in 50 ml of water, is added to the milk (you can use vegan chymosin together with veal rennet). After that, the pan is covered with a lid and wrapped in a warm towel, leaving in this state for an hour and a half.

After this time, the pot is checked for clot formation - it should be completely separated from the whey. Then chop the clot into cubes and stir the mixture well for 10 minutes. Thanks to this procedure, the cheese clots become denser and release the whey.

Then it is worth distributing clots in forms for making cheese. You can put them on drainage mats, if any. After a couple of hours, the cheese mass is compacted under its own weight. It is necessary to turn it over. Then turn the cheese every 30 minutes for the next 4 hours.

After that, the cheese heads are set to ripen in the refrigerator in a plastic container. Under the cheese circle, paper napkins are laid out, which need to be changed in the aging process, as whey will continue to stand out from the cheese. Also regularly need to turn the cheese to evenly cover the mold. This process lasts about 2 weeks.

Then, for the full ripening of cheese, it is wrapped in special paper (if not, use simple foil) and sent to the refrigerator. In a month the cheese will be ready. Its shelf life is 2 weeks.

Eating cheese Camembert is pleasant not only in its original form. There are a large number of recipes in which this cheese is used as an ingredient.

For example, a Camembert baked in the oven with honey and nuts can surprise the pickiest gourmet.

To create this dish you will need:

• 1 round Camembert cheese;
• 1-2 teaspoons of honey;
• olive oil;
• 20 grams of chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work well);
• fresh rosemary.

First of all, you need to prepare the cheese, sending it into a baking dish and making shallow cuts on the top of the circle in the form of a net. Then you need to sprinkle the cheese with olive oil and sprinkle it with rosemary leaves, then send it to the oven for baking at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.

No less a good and simpler recipe with camembert. This dish can be easily fried at home, getting an excellent savory snack.

Ingredients:

• 1 Camembert head;
• breadcrumbs;
• 1 egg.

Remove Camembert from the refrigerator beforehand (at least half an hour before cooking). Dip a circle of cheese in the egg, and then in the bread crumbs. In order to create the most dense breading, this procedure can be performed several times. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep frying pan. When it is baked, you can immerse the cheese in the pan. Fry it on each side for 30 seconds.

The video presents a recipe for cooking more dense Camembert.