A big British cheese in France

A few days ago I received these two clippings about Patrick Rance in the mail. They were sent by my father-in-law, Michael, in London who has been going through his papers. My wife has been pressuring him to sort them out. Michael has never thrown away much as is evident in these two clippings. The first clipping is from the Observer, dated Sunday 3 September 1989. It is a review of Patrick Rance's "The French Cheese Book" by Jane Grigson. The second clipping, from The Independent of Wednesday 25 April 1990, is an announcement of the Glenfiddich Tropy awarded to major Rance.
I suppose the reason he kept these clippings is that his cousin Janet was married to Patrick Rance. Janet was my wife's godmother and when I got interested in cheese three years ago, my wife told me about Patrick and how he was a cheese maven. She told me about Janet and Pat and how she spent time in their home and cheese shop in Streatley. She told me how one could enter the house through the shop and see mounds of cheese, but--a teenager then--my wife was otherwise preoccupied.
When she first told me about Patrick Rance, it didn't really register. I thought he was just another cheese seller. Not until I got hold of his books, in particular "The French Cheese Book", did I realize the height of his stature. I have read this book several times and we have used it as a travel guide through France. When my wife was spending time in Streatley, she had no idea what legacy was being built in that little cheese shop, neither had she any idea what part cheese was to play in her life.

An Article

This article about me appeared recently in a cheesemaking publication. The publication is part of the popular kitchen series from the editors of Hobby Farms magazine. To read the article, click on the images to enlarge them.

Alpine Cheese

For a while I have been fascinated by the traditional Alpine style hoop. For the longest time I had no idea how they work and I am still unclear about the proper procedure. I watched several videos online and looked at many images but couldn't really figure it out. Recently I saw some clearer images of the actual hoop in a cheese making supply catalog from Switzerland. This inspired me to try to make a hoop myself and try to figure out how it works. Ad here is the first result. I put one to the test while making an Alpine style cheese. I had also built a small screw type press for it.

It worked alright, I just have to get the hang of it. It would probably be easier if the hoop was much larger like the real ones, 20 to 30 inch in diameter I think. But as a press it did everything it had to do. It pressed the curd and released all the whey.

The cheesecloth I used was perhaps a little too rough. I had bought some linen hoping to create a rind similar to large comtes. But for such a small cheese, the rind ended up being a bit too coarse.

Stainless Steel Lever Cheese Press

Usually, when I go upstate at this time of year, there are a lot of outside chores which don't allow for making cheese. This year it has been raining a lot. Rain all day was again in the forecast for last Saturday so I decided to make some cheese. An opportunity to test the new cheese press which I had built the previous week. 

I got some milk from my Jersey farmer in the morning and decided to make some simple tomme cheese. I didn't take pictures of the process, neither did I photograph the wheels fresh from the press. But I can assure you that the press worked wonderfully. It produced constant pressure and was easily adjusted. As you can see, I can press multiple cheeses in this system. The press is great addition to my supply of equipment. 

Stainless Steel Lever Cheese Press

I made a stainless steel cheese press from some scrap material I had lying around. I got fed up with the pressing system I have been using. It doesn't press evenly and it is hard to adjust. I have a two wooden lever presses but they are both too small to press the cheese I make but to large for my kitchen. 

The stainless press is fully adjustable. I can raise or lower the pressing stamp. The pressing force is adjustable by adding or removing weights or by moving the weight to another notch. I can also easily transport the press. I'll report back after its first use.

Dutch cheese press

I built two Dutch cheese presses in anticipation of making some Goudas.