The other day when I was flipping a cheese (or maybe I was getting it out of the press? brining it? whatever), I suddenly blurted, “I’m good at making cheese.”
black pepper parmesan
My husband mm-hmmed me politely, and everyone else ignored me, but as I puttered about the kitchen I kept thinking about what I’d just said.
camembert
Three years ago I didn’t know what clabber was, or the differences between mesophilic and thermophilic cultures, or how to do the squeeze test to see if the curds were done cooking or make a saturated salt brine, and now I’m consistently turning out fat wheels of delicious cheese.
baby swiss
I really am good at making cheese!
Here are a few of the stages I’ve gone through thus far.
- Hope Springs Eternal: where I have zero confidence but truckloads of ambition.
- The Granny Fantasy: where I obsess over finding a cheesemaking granny to teach me how.
- Death By Information: where I read everything I can get my hands on and watch hours of YouTube videos.
- Finding My People: where I get together with other cheesemakers to discuss process, troubleshoot, and eat cheese.
- Make All The Cheese: where I do exactly that, because how else will I learn what’s good and what’s not?
- Crash and Burn: where I culture a whole bunch of cheeses with kefir and then throw most of them out because kefir is from the devil.
- Share The Journey: where I start a YouTube channel, because simply making the cheese isn’t complicated enough.
- Clabber Me Silly: where I learn the power and glory of clabber and use it to make all my cheeses.
- Moi Terroir: where I’m finally coming into my own. I know which cheeses we like best and how fast we’ll eat them up. I understand how little tweaks will impact the final product. I know which tools are necessary and which ones are aren’t. I have my own cheesemaking style, complete with techniques and handy little tricks.
pepper jack
All along I’ve been getting good at making cheese and now I am good at making it. Now I can confidently knock out a 7-pound wheel of cheese in several hours, zero stress, zero drama. It’s just cheese.
cotswold
Which is a marvel, really, considering how much I didn’t know.
***
What are you good at? Whistling? Parallel parking? Growing tomatoes? Typing? Writing books? Telling jokes? Giving IVs? Splitting wood? Apologizing? (Three other things I’m good at: making lists, delegating, and trying new things.)
This same time, years previous: happy pork, milk central, margarita mix, energy boost, the family reunion of 2017, the quotidian (6.8.15), delivery, thorns, Jeni’s chocolate ice cream, how we beat the heat.
12 Comments
Iwona Charleson
I’m getting good at making cheese too – have been busy with it for a few years now, I’ve been posting a few makes on fb and consequently have been asked to give a talk on cheese making in a couple of weeks time at the local Food and Drink Festival – gawd!!!
However, now I’m really going to sound big headed – I keep sheep and dye, spin, weave you name it their fleece and luckily sell a fair amount of finished stuff, so I can keep making more.
I would love to be in your cheese group, don’t think there is anyone around here that would be interested – I love talking cheese and I love watching you make yours :))
Jonathan NM
I’m pretty good at Facebook Marketplace finds ;).
Rose Shenk
What do you do with all that cheese?
TJ
Sourdough baking (which is how I found your blog a million years ago), remembering people, packing efficiently.
DB Stewart
Impressive! Unfortunately, I’m good at eating. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Katherine
Also, note that many people don’t believe teaching is a skill. They believe that anyone who’s an expert in a subject will be good at teaching it, which is not true at all.
Katherine
I am good at teaching. I can figure out how a student is thinking about a problem/concept, I can figure out to ask the right question or give the right explanation to move their thinking forward. I’m also good at organizing things, both physical objects & ideas.
Hattie
Your cheesemaking prowess is indeed impressive. My thing is making soup. Every weekend year round I make soup for my family and friends/neighbors who are sick, recovering from medical procedures, having a tough time, new to the neighborhood. Often I’ll add homemade cheddar chive biscuits or Cashel Blue Cheese scones to the deliveries. I wish you could be my go-to for your delicious cheeses!
Jennifer Jo
Wow — this is inspiring!
Elva
You ARE good at making cheese, and I think that is an amazing and extremely useful skill, as who doesn’t like cheese? I like to think and hope I am good at practicing regenerative farming on my land.
ccr in MA
Your cheeses look so delicious! My thing would probably be knitting; I’ve reached a comfort level with trying things and figuring out details that I wasn’t sure I ever would, 10 or more years ago.
melodiemillerdavis
You are good and leaving the rest of us amazed at it all. Congrats.