I made cheese at home, and I've been upgrading the aging setting from just my cool damp basement (where bugs and mice have sometimes found my cheeses) to an electric beverage cooler where the cheeses can be held at a more steady slightly cooler temperature. In preparing some of the cheeses which had suffered from the inadequate aging setting, I had to remove some of the exterior bits in order to get rid of molds and then I took off some perfectly good bits as I smoothed off the cheeses to make them nicer to rewax. I did many cheeses, and ended up with over two pounds of nice shavings. Tonight I used the recipe from Modernist Cuisine sited above (it uses sodium citrate instead of gelatin and powdered milk) and I made a porter cheddar cheese spread (which I suspect will turn into melty slices as it cools and solidifies. I melted one pound of cheese shavings in 1/2 a cup of Porter (dark beer) with a heaping tablespoon (14 grams) of sodium citrate, stirring continually. It came out very nice. I made a panini with a mild sourdough bread, mayo, romaine lettuce, sliced chicken and the porter cheese spread. It was quite nice. We are having an open house to celebrate the opening of our newest vacation rental space on Thursday, and I think I'll try making little fried polenta squares with a dollop of this porter cheddar and maybe with a bit of minced pancetta . . . it's fun to have so many good foods to experiment with. Thanks for the little nudges that get us thinking, and the good ideas you have to share!

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