I made a special Manchego for Xmas- it included walnuts which had been simmered in red wine, and then the cheese was washed in red wine a couple of times to give it a festive look (I know- a bit girly- but it had a nice purple colour). I served it up Xmas day and my prospective son-in-law pronounced it the best cheese he had ever tasted, couldn’t believe it was home made, and then proceeded to eat the lot over the next half hour!

Well I know he might be insuring his future in our family, but I took the compliment and loved it!

Seriously the walnuts added a very nice crunch- good contrast to the cheese texture. This is going to become a family staple.

Sounds great, and congrats - both on the cheese and the new prospective son-in-law.  Manchego is one of my regulars.  I really like that its such a good cheese and so amenable to flavor additives.  I’m working on another hickory smoke Manchego right now.  It, too, is a hit.

Bezza - 12 January 2010 03:22 AM

I made a special Manchego for Xmas- it included walnuts which had been simmered in red wine, and then the cheese was washed in red wine a couple of times to give it a festive look (I know- a bit girly- but it had a nice purple colour). I served it up Xmas day and my prospective son-in-law pronounced it the best cheese he had ever tasted, couldn’t believe it was home made, and then proceeded to eat the lot over the next half hour!

Well I know he might be insuring his future in our family, but I took the compliment and loved it!

Seriously the walnuts added a very nice crunch- good contrast to the cheese texture. This is going to become a family staple.

I am really happy for you making such a successful and tasty cheese.

Ignoring the fact that you can not get the specific milk (sheep’s milk from LaMancha) that gives the right to call it Manchego, this cheese does not contain nuts and isn’t soaked in red wine. If you follow the procedure of this cheese, to my humble opinion you may call it “Manchego Style Cheese”.

Back to your cheese, why not to call it “Bezza Cheese”, you deserve it, it’s your invention.

Good luck and enjoy your future experimentations

Great to hear, always satisfying hear success in our taste experiments

Alex:

Why not just let her enjoy her success and call it Manchego as the rest of us non-LaMancha dwellers who are so unfortunate as to not be able to buy LaMancha sheep’s milk do.  Jeez!

Congrats, Bezza, on the success!  I, too, make Manchego regularly, and I have the gall to call it Manchego, and not Jeanne-Chego, or some other such silliness.

Keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing this great idea.

Don’t worry- I’m not offended by the suggestion of calling it Bezza cheese. I do agree that it is a Manchego style cheese and not strictly speaking a Manchego. But I do like the process of trying a particular style of cheese and then experimenting with it. I’m sure that with the temperatures I have here in tropical Australia to work with that any cheese I make will not be true to its type anyway.

JRing - 13 January 2010 01:19 AM

Alex:

Why not just let her enjoy her success and call it Manchego as the rest of us non-LaMancha dwellers who are so unfortunate as to not be able to buy LaMancha sheep’s milk do.  Jeez!

JRing, it looks that you extremly misunderstood my intentions. I can not get LaMancha goat’s milk neither. May be I am too strict with this hobby, I just try do be precise.
You know, there is a cheese Bezza made, very simillar to Pistachio Crosta Rosa, what do you think?

Alex:

Perhaps I was being a little sensitive.  Back in December you posted a reply to one of mine which also appeared to be critical.  I’ve pasted it below.

“It’s pitty to add flavors to Manchego and Muenster, cheeses with such distinctive flavor and characteristics, rather than addind flavor to more neutral cheeses like the Edam you made or Havarty.”

That’s from a thread entitled “Whew”.  It appeared critical to me, but maybe I misunderstood.  I come to this forum for support and camaraderie, and was a little taken aback by your responses, both to me and to Bezza. 

However, I applaud your attempt at precision.  I admire anyone who is good at their endeavors, be it hobbies or careers.  I will try to not be so sensitive in the future.  It is, perchance, a cultural difference.

I have not heard of Pistachio Crosta Rosa.  Could you share your recipe with us?  I make very simple cheeses such as Manchego, Mozzarella, Edam, and Muenster, which complement my family’s tastes, but may branch out in the future.

Thank you for your reply.

Jeanne,

I don’t think cultural difference is the reason I might be misunderstood sometimes. I make my best to express myself as good as I can, even though English is not my native language. I do mean to be critical in a constructive and positive way. I never intend to offend and if it sounds like that, I apologize deeply.
As for the recipe, it’s DJDebi’s from the other forum:

Crosta Rossa Pistacchi Cheese - Cheese to red crust

From Tuscany a soft and buttery paste in the winter, but crumbly in the spring. It has a strong taste of milk and aromas

Ingredients:
7 gallons milk
1/2 teasppon Mesophilic Aromatic Type B
1 cup chopped pistachios
3/4 teaspoon Rennet
Salt

Procedure:
heat milk to 86°F
Add a mesophilic culture ripen for 45 minutes.
Add rennet
Cut curd into 1/2 inch pieces and rest 5-10 minutes.
Now cut curd with a whisk into grain like pieces.
While stirring, the temp may be increased to 95-96°F slowly.
Continue stirring taking about 30-45 minutes to firm up curds.
“Drain the whey down to the curd level keeping the whey at 90° for later pressing.
“
Prepare molds with warmed cheese cloth dip in the whey.
Fill your molds with cheese and return them to the pot of whey.
“Once all of the molds have been filled,  turned them over in the molds rewrap and stack 2 high to help draining and develop a nice smooth surface.
“
“After 20-30 minutes flip the formed cheeses nicely and returned to molds.
“
While keeping temperature about 90°F place the followers on the molds and place a small weight about2-3 pounds on the molds for about 3-4 hours.
“Remove from the molds and let sit overnight to will allow the pH to fall to 5.2-5.4.
“
Next morning they are dry salted with 1.5-2%  of their weight.
“Age at 52-58°F and 95-97% humidity in covered boxes for about 60 days

Good luck with it, I didn’t make it yet.

I know this post is a year old, but I would like to remark YEAH for the BEST CHEESE I EVER TASTED! That is an accomplishment, to have created a wonderful cheese that the family loves. I’ve done a lot of family research and food is one of the things that people remember. When I asked a man what he remembered about his mother he told me that she made the best blue berry cobbler in the world. I asked a woman what she remembered about her grandmother and she described her biscuits and fried chicken. There may be a lot of things that your family will remember about you, but “that cheese that Momma used to make” will be on the list for years to come. Hopefully you can pass it down to your daughter and she will make it also.

Oh yeah, I don’t care what you call your cheese. Calling it by a familiar name does help us relate to what style of cheese that you made though.

I like mine to be more spicy, like this one http://dofinousa.com/gouda-with-chipotle/