For a successful evening, you have to choose a cheese to raclette of controlled designation of origin (AOC) quality. You can find it in supermarkets but it is by far not recommended. It is best to go to the cheese maker or to the site of Misterraclette to be sure to have a good squeegee cheese made with quality dairy products and matured with love. In my opinion, cheeses made from pasteurized milk.
How to recognize a good squeegee cheese?
The choice of a good Raclette cheese cheese is not always determined by the age of the cheese wheel. In most cases a cheese is mature after 3 months of ripening, but some cheeses require 5 months of ripening. Others, rich in whey, on the other hand, are already ready after 2 months ripening.The color of the cheese is very important
The smear (fungus that covers the surface of the cheese) will give the cheese its flavor. The more the smear (golden-brown color) is present, the more the cheese will have a strong taste. A white cheese will never make an excellent squeegee.
Pay attention to the fact that some cheeses are sold in supermarkets without the smear, because the rind has been washed beforehand, and you will no longer be able to make your choice according to the color.
Touch is the most important gesture
- When you press down on the middle of the cheese with your thumb, a small bubble will form and normally disappear fairly quickly.
- If when you press down it is more of a relatively hard feeling with a dimple that is struggling to form, you will have a squeegee that will most likely be gummy and lacking in creaminess.
- Otherwise, the cell will remain hollow for a long time without returning to its initial shape, your squeegee will lack consistency. It will have a "liquid" effect.
The tasting
Try to favor the traditional squeegee by choosing a real squeegee oveneither gas or electric.
If you still plan to eat your cheese in a raclonnette, here is some advice that you absolutely must follow if you bought cheese made from raw milk.
Take out your raclonnette of cheese a few seconds before it is completely melted. If you wait too long, raw milk cheese (which is alive and therefore more delicate than the vulgar pasteurized and standardized products found in supermarkets) will become "inedible", the oil will separate from the cheese, and the cheese consistency will be hard.
Why is a cheese more or less easy to scrape?
During the phase of cheese making with squeegee, heating lasts 30 minutes and consists of heating the contents of the tank to a temperature of 40°C.
This operation allows you to:
- the sure le grain
- reduce the number of unwanted germs
- promote thermophilic lactic acid bacteria
Thermophilic bacteria influence the breakdown of proteins, which promotes the taste of cheese.
MOST if the start of heating is too rapid, the grain becomes coated, ie a film forms, preventing the whey from coming out of the grain. We will then have a very liquid squeegee with a lack of creaminess.
If the heating temperature is too high, the grains will be too dry and the cheeses will not contain enough water and it will be difficult to scrape off the cheese.
The causes of a raclette cheese that scrapes badly:
- The method of fabrication is unsuitable.
- The grain was overheated during production (more than 40° C).
- The cellars are too dry or too cold.
- The cheeses are not soaked enough.
For the cheese to scrape, the water content must be high enough in the mature cheese.
Must therefore :
- Heat the grain to 39 - 40°C during manufacture,
- Keep the cellars at more than 92% humidity and at a temperature of 11 to 13°C,
- That the cheese is well soaked and ripe (3 to 4 months of age)
