Cheese Dreaming

Yarra Valley Feta - My Marinated Addiction!

2011-06-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed that Haagen Daz ice cream is no longer being sold in pints? Yup, it is now a 14 ounce package, not 16 ounces - the officially approved measurement for a pint of ice cream. I noticed this last night when I was at the store picking up some vanilla to use as a base for some tasty rhubarb/orange/thyme sauce I had whipped up (Check out my other blog for updates on my new preserving fetish, if you haven't already!). I didn't notice until I got home, and boy was I peeved! Everywhere you look these days, people are cutting corners to save a few bucks. I'm usually ok with that except when it comes to my gastronomic addictions.

The good news is that I have a new addiction, and it somehow feels less dirty and corporate than Haagen Daz - though just as creamy and delicious - just think savory, not sweet. Yarra Valley Dairy in Australia produces the most addictive marinated Persian style Feta cheese I have ever tasted. And at just $12 a pound, I can get my cheese on for cheap. A little goes a long way stuffed into baby peppers and spread on morning (and afternoon snack) toast. With a couple of baby tomatoes, it's a perfect fix. I have been pondering blending some of it up with a little more olive oil to make a tasty vinaigrette for an arugula salad, or as a topping for a nice skirt steak. Pasta primavera could be nicely tarted up with the addition of some of this dreamy feta too.

The good farmers at the Yarra Valley Dairy make a delicious, creamy, tangy-sweet cow's milk feta and then they go and gild the lily by marinating it in Extra Virgin Olive oil, garlic and thyme. The feta itself is so much better than anything you can get at your local megamart, and then after steeping in the bath of the gods (Can't you imagine Athena and Zeus getting comfy in a tub of olive oil? Just saying...), it is just to die for.

If you can find this marinated beauty, buy it, take it home and use and abuse it in as many ways as you can think of. After coming back from the cheese shop, I hit the grocery store for a few staples, and found Yarra Valley Feta in the fancy cheese section. Hooray! A little more pricey at $6.99/6 oz, but not bad in a pinch. If you can't find it, you can perk up a little grocery store feta with olive oil, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, or what have you and be almost as happy. David Lebovitz has some helpful instructions here.

So now I have two dairy addictions - Haagen Daz and Yarra Valley Feta. (Well, and basically any cheese you put in front of me) Sweet and savoury. New and exciting cheese dreams, here I come!

Old Fashioned Cheese Sandwiches

2011-05-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

The grilled cheese sandwich has been having quite a renaissance lately, hasn't it? I've been quiet on the topic, as I think that it is being quite well covered. There is a grilled cheese truck delivering cheesy goodness to office workers and foodies all over Los Angeles, and the Grilled Cheese Invitational recently brought together over 200 cheese sandwich experts to compete for glory. One of my favorite cheese writers, Laura Werlin, has just put out her second book of grilled cheese goodness! Now, I love a grilled cheese sandwich as much as the next person, but I'm having trouble with all the hype. It's gotten to the point where I ignore any cheese stories about grilled cheese...what can I say, I'm a contrarian!

Recently, I found an amazing little book in my mother-in-law's library: Hints to Young Housekeepers by Mrs. Black. Written in Scotland in the 1880s, some of the recipes are kind of gross, and include boiling cabbage for hours. Others sound very practical and tasty. (I have started a separate blog, if you're interested. Check it out here.) Just this morning, I found the following recipe for cheese sandwiches, and found it a refreshing alternative to grilled cheese. Just in time for summer! I quote her recipe in it's entirety below.

"This is to my mind one of the most delightful things for a sandwich possible, and the season is approaching when sandwiches will be required. Have 1 egg boiled hard, which is for ten minutes, 1/4 lb. common cheese grated, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful of mustard, 1/2 teaspoonful of sugar, 1 table-spoonful of butter, 1 table-spoonful of vinegar or cold water. Take the yolk of the egg and put it in a small bowl and crumble it down, put among it the butter and mix it smooth with a spoon, then add the salt, pepper, sugar, mustard, and the cheese, mixing each well. Then put in the table-spoonful of vinegar, which will make it the proper thickness. If vinegar is not relished, then put cold water instead - give it a good mixing. Spread this between two biscuits or pieces of oatcake, and you could not desire a better sandwich."

Delightful, no? Mrs. Black was writing her helpful hints in the 1880s, from an office in Glasgow, Scotland. I can only imagine that "common cheese" at that time was incredibly delicious, made from local, organic milk, from cows munching on highland moor grasses. The cheese "mush" created from the blending 1/4 pound of cheese with egg yolk, butter, mustard and vinegar, mellowed with a little sugar sounds pretty tasty to me! You could add a little thyme or tarragon if you were looking to tart it up a little, but otherwise, this cheese spread sounds perfect for a picnic lunch!

Peaceful Appalachian Spring (Cheese)

2011-03-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Little did I know that last Friday was going to be the last peaceful day that I was to have for a long time (more on that perhaps at a later date). It is something to celebrate, therefore, that it was a fabulous day. I managed a good hair day, just in time for picture day at the DMV, managed to be in and out of that bureaucratic maze in less than half an hour (Helpful hint - always make an appointment. Always.), and had managed to walk away from a specialty cheese counter with many tasty packages for just $22. I was enjoying a moment of bliss in my cheese wedge lunch. It was indeed such a tasty cheese that I was loathe to sully it with crackers, eating it with just a knife and my oh so dainty fingers. Plus, it's totally Atkins approved this way, right?

I was noshing away on Meadow Creek Dairy's Appalachian cheese. It is a semi-hard cow's milk cheese made from milk produced by a heard of delightful Jersey's in the mountains of south west Virginia. It sports a thin and lovely Pennicillum mold coat and melts oh so well on the tongue. Like sweet butter. Only with great undertones of earthiness and just enough funk on a rind that could have doubled for a delicate lichen growing on a stone wall. This cheese is delicious and sweet with a nifty peppery hint at the end, and definite citrus notes. When you eat it with the rind, you get the feeling that you are eating a cheese with an old soul that has seen the pristine forests and mineral rich pastures 2800 feet up in the mountains.

Not only do the folks at Meadow Creek have happy cows making milk so high in beta carotene that the cheese is naturally the color of butter, but they have happy pastures too. They rotate where the cows graze allowing the grass to re-grow before it becomes another tasty luncheon location for their talented herd. Very cool.

This was the first cheese that I had really savored in this way in a very long time, and what a treat it was. In fact, it was so delicious, I forgot to take a picture before it was mostly gobbled up. I hope you'll forgive. While the mountains of Virginia aren't necessarily the first place I would think of when it comes to cheese making, I have definitely been schooled! Check out this amazing cheese if you can find it. According to their website, their cheese is available in 29 states, including plenty of Whole Foods locations.

Cheese for Complicated Times

2011-03-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

Arches Natl Park
Not quite desert, but you get the idea!

It’s been a while. I’ve been wandering the desert, in self-imposed cheese exile for months now. It’s a dark, unhappy place, let me tell you. And I’m full of excuses. First, I got a job that put me into rush hour traffic after the cheese shops had closed their doors for the night, and all of a sudden, it had been months since I’d smelled the inside of a cheese shop! And then, I wasn’t working. Finances took top priority and I stayed away, thinking I couldn’t afford the cheese I had grown to love. I convinced myself that I was being frugal, helping the family budget, etc. by eliminating cheesy goodness from our menu. Life was sad and blue – and not Roaring 40s Blue, but just an all around bummer! I tried to convince myself I didn’t miss it, but boy was that hard work!

But then, this morning, I was in town getting my driver’s license renewed and found myself near one of my favorite gourmet food and supply stores. Too tempting to resist, I went in with a budget in mind, and set to exploring the cheese case! The cheese monger was helping a mom and her kids pick out some Cesar’s Oaxaca Style String Cheese (made in Parma, WI) – yummy and very stringy! Watching 4 year olds excited about cheese just made me happier as I spied some old friends in the case and started calculating my budget in preparation for my number to be called. Ugh. Budgets.

But here’s the thing CheeseDreamers, just because an amazing cheese is made by a herd of happy Jersey cows eating spring grass in sunny, mineral rich pastures high in the mountains of SW Virginia (next post, I promise!), and carefully tended by a family that has been making prize winning cheese since the 1980s, it doesn’t mean that you need to blow your budget for your lunch! Yes, it may be $23 per pound, but for $3.50, you can get 2 ½ ounces of cheese – more than enough to satisfy your lunch time cheese cravings. And if the cheese is really good (trust me, this one is!), you don’t even need crackers with it – saving even more money and unnecessary calories! Don’t feel awkward about asking for smaller slices of cheese. Unless you are buying it for macaroni and cheese or for a dinner party, there is no need to get huge amounts of any one cheese. Get a few ounces of 4 or 5 cheeses, and enjoy a new and different tasty lunch or dinner cheese course each night for a week. I walked out with a spring in my step, lots of tasty samples in my tummy, and 4 cheeses (1.3 pounds) for $22! Just slightly over my budget.

And when I sat down at the table, the laundry machine going in the background, coupons waiting to be clipped at my side, and list of potential career goals waiting for updating on my computer desktop, for a moment I was in another world - enjoying the funk and sunshine of a fabulous cheese, and feeling like a million bucks.

Seal Cove Farm Cheve - bringing the family together.

2010-06-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

The past few days have felt like a week and a half, they have been so full of family events. I met my brother at the Portland, Maine airport in the middle of the night, and we drove up to Belfast to celebrate the life and remember the love my grandmother had for all of us and we for her at a lovely memorial service. It was the first time the whole family has been together in longer than any of us could figure out, so it served as a family reunion as well.

My brother and I rented a cottage at the same complex where we stayed as kids, skipping rocks down by the shore and chasing lightening bugs. A little sentimentality is appropriate at times like this. Unlike when we were kids, however, we were able to stop at the grocery store to pick up a six pack of beer, a bottle of decent Pinot Grigot and, of course, some cheese and crackers! As you know, I'm always a little leery of grocery store cheese, but with a little snooping, I found something fun. Seal Cove Farm herbed chevre from Lamoine, Maine. Local and tasty! Good thing too, because our cottage turned into the afterparty spot after dinner on Thursday night for the cousins and a few aunts and uncles. Serious props to my brother for getting the fire going in the stove. You warded off the chill and made things just a little more cozy.

It was a little tough to open the package with the giant ginsu knife that we found in the drawer at the cabin, but once it was open, almost everyone was nibbling. This cheese, from Seal Cove Farm near Bar Harbor, which comes from the 125 goats that happily grazing on the rocky coast was perfect for the party. It is flavored with herbes de provence, and while it tastes like there is garlic in the mix, there isn't. The little bit of tang from the goat's milk combined with the herbs just bring out this great blend of flavors. It's not a really complicated cheese, but since most of the relatives aren't really aware of my serious obsession with the curd, it's probably better that I didn't have a cheese soapbox to lecture from during the party. What a drag that would have been. Instead, we just had some laughs, and shared some great stories, and got to know each other again with a little cheese and wine to lubricate the love.

By the time everyone left and my brother and I were alone with our jet lag and a serious game of Crazy Eights, almost all the cheese was gone. We took care of that pretty well.

The next day we gathered at the hillside cemetery to say goodbye to Gram, with the sun shining down and the wildflowers blooming across the way. It was a beautiful service, and we all came together with love for her and for each other. I think she would have approved.

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt. 31 Camillia, a Farmer's Market Find

2010-06-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

As the weather changes and the sun stays out longer, my tastes spin toward Sauvignon Blanc, Stainless Steel Charddonay and goat cheese. It's kind of a cliche, but it's how my palate and brain work. Crisp, clean flavors help keep summer from getting too funky (though some might argue that goat cheese is funky enough...). Another thing I love about summer is the Farmer's Market. Around here, it's open all year round, but there is something much more festive about buying apricots and fava beans than rutabega and turnips.

So, the last time I went to the Farmer's Market with my re-usable bag and steel toed boots to protect myself from the profusion of strollers, I stopped by the Redwood Hill Farm stall and picked up a hockey puck sized Camembert style goat cheese named Camellia. The dairy is up in Sebastopol (far from Los Angeles), but I got a chance to talk with a few people who had just been up at the farm to see the new kids. I really got a sense that they really care for their herd, who all have names.

Camellia is one of their favorite goats, and the cheese certainly looks like a Camembert (other than the goat on the label). The bloomy rind has the appropriate ammonia-lite scent, and there is a milky-ness to the nose of the paste. What's different is the bone white color of the paste - normal for goat cheese but weird if you are expecting the butter yellow paste of a traditional Camembert. The flavor has a wee bit of goat-y funk, but really it just tastes sweet and creamy with just a touch of salty. Pretty fantastic! We tasted ours when the cheese was still young, but it still had a nice richness to it, though it didn't ever get really gooey even when we let it set at room temp for over an hour, but it did get nicely soft. This cheese has won several gold medals at competitions, so other people think it's good too!

I saw this for sale up in Santa Barbara wine country at the local market, and I'll be enjoying it again the next time I head to the Farmer's Market during my continued celebration of longer days and warmer nights!

Science Project Update!

2010-06-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Science Monday has become Science Tuesday this week due to a last-ish minute trip to the beautiful Santa Barbara wine country. If you'll remember, last Monday, I began a quest to reproduce the bacteria found in the fabulous Vendeen Bichonne. I swiped a precious piece of this cheese across a petri dish and waited. And waited, and waited. And then...attack of the killer mold!!! I must say I was impressed with the miniature world I had created. I had the Professor look at my civilization, and he helped me realize that I've actually created two separate worlds - one of bacteria and one of mold. The big blue-ish and white fuzzy circles are the mold and the smaller dots are bacteria. The Professor recommended that while mold is an important part of the cheesemaking process, it might be a little more volatile than I am scientifically prepared to manage. He did suggest that I try and grow the bacteria a little more, by transferring it to a clean petri dish with a (scrupulously clean - ha!) toothpick and waiting (again!) to get a little more bacterial growth.

Hopefully, in another week, my bacteria universe will be teaming with life!

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt. 30 Carre de Pitou

2010-05-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

I love goat cheese. Not only is their cheese delicious, smooth, tangy and complex, goats are just darn cute! And if I can find a goat cheese that also falls into the category of "spreadable" as defined by Darling Husband as something gooey that won't break your cracker when you try to spread it, I buy a lot of it. A few weeks ago, my friend Andrew - cheese monger extraordinare - gave me a taste of Carre de Poitou a soft, spreadable Loire Valley goat cheese that some might consider part of the second coming. I try to have a little restraint when tasting cheeses at Andrew's, but in this case, I found myself licking the paste right off the paper so as to get every last little bit! This rare square (carre is French for square) is the perfect cheese to get any party started. It is both sweet and tangy, and it's bloomy rind makes it a great brie substitute for anyone with cow's milk allergies. But don't tell your guests that it's a brie. This cheese doesn't have the unctuous creaminess of brie nor the ivory paste. This is a bright white goat's milk cheese with a soft, edible rind and an almost milky interior. See how it's starting to run after 10 minutes? Andrew actually sent it home with an ice pack. That's how sensitive this lovely is.

I'd love to have a picture of it at full "run," but DH had gobbled most of it before it was fully ready even though I told him he would be able to taste even more of the fresh grassy flavor if he waited. There were (miraculously) a few leftovers, which he enjoyed as part of a very upscale grilled cheese a few days later. Look how sad the dog is that he won't be getting any of that cheesy goodness literally sliding off the bread in it's melty quest for greatness. I didn't get any of these cheesy canapes either, though DH was kind enough to let me take a photo before he snuck out to the "man cave" to inhale his snack while muttering like Golem about his precious cheese.

If you are lucky enough to find this cheese at your local shop, buy enough to share and enjoy with a nice crisp bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and good friends.

Science Monday and Vendeen Bichoone

2010-05-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

A while ago, the great state of Wisconsin voted to name Lactococcus Lactis that official state microbe in honor of all that it does in the production of cheese (according to the New York Times, Wisconsin leads the nation in cheese production). How great is that? A little weird, but pretty cool.

This got me thinking - there must be microscopic differences in the microbes that help various cheeses around the world make the transition from milk to fromage. Cheeses are all so unique - based on the type of milk used, what the animal was eating before being milked, what processes were used in making the cheese, what molds are introduces, how and where the cheese is aged. What if I could do my own research to discover the molds and microbes in my favorite cheeses? Ultimately, could I re-create famous cheeses in my kitchen? (Well, no, probably not, but still...maybe we could create something new from something old - a hybrid as it were) All I was lacking was a little equipment and know-how.

And then, I started talking with my friend the Professor, who has a PhD in biochemistry and a lab at CalTech. He didn't see how it could be that difficult, and encouraged me to start my little science experiment. So, last Friday, I visited his lab and returned home energized and with a bag full of petri dishes prepared with agar substrate to encourage bacterial growth. All I needed was the right test subject. Mwa ha ha ha!

I found it in an amazing Loire Valley cow's milk cheese - Vendeen Bichonne. This semi-soft cheese ( it will totally gum up your grater - so just eat giant hunks of it) is aged in an abandoned tunnel, which explains the mealy grey rind and industrial basement smell coming off of it. Don't let the outside fool you though. The paste inside is sweet, rich and creamy with just a hint of the green pastures where the cows graze. There is also an earthiness present in the cheese, but it doesn't taste anything like the rind smells. Maybe a little bit of slate - if you were to lick a wet slate paving stone it might taste a little like this, but only if the paving stone was covered in rich, creamy, sweet cheese. I can't say enough about how much I love this cheese. I want to melt it onto a nice piece of home made wheat bread and enjoy it with a glass of a Spanish Tempranillo. Bliss.

Anyway, in my attempt to harness to magic of this cheese, it became the first subject in my science experiment. As you can see, under completely sterile conditions, a small slice of cheese was rubbed onto the plate, which was then labeled and placed in a temperate, dry location in the kitchen (on top of the tortillas and next to the coffee maker). I can't wait to see what grows! Hopefully, there should be some results soon. The Professor has said that he might be able to help me take up close and personal pictures of my biological blooms. Looking forward to having something fun to share with you!

Milk in the Raw - Miracle Cure and Tasty Treat or Bio-Hazard?

2010-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

The raw milk controversy has been raging on the internet for a while now and the politicians are involved, so I'm sure there won't be a definitive answer for a while. Each state has its own regulations surrounding raw milk. Massachusetts allows people to buy raw milk only from the diary farm directly. Wisconsin just yesterday vetoed a bill that would permit similar farmer to consumer sales. In California, you can get raw milk in health food stores but it has to have a warning label. Alaska has banned raw milk for human consumption - unless you are getting it from your very own cow. You can see a list of state regulations here.

Why all the controversy? Certainly the locovore movement has had a lot to do with it, along with people wanting fewer preservatives, pesticides, etc. in their food. Small dairies are hoping for more leniency in order to improve their market share and promote their high quality products, while "big dairy" wants to keep the raw milk trend in check for more than medical reasons, and the government wants to keep people alive. Raw milk - milk that hasn't been through the pasturization process - is full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and pro-biotics that are believed by many to help "cure" people with medical problems from asthma to acne. When milk is pasturized, or heated to 161 degrees F for at least 15 seconds, any bad microorganisims and bacteria present in the milk are killed, along with many of the healthy probiotics and enzymes. In large scale milk production, milk from many farms is dumped together into vats, and it is always possible that nasties like sallmonella or listeria can get into the milk when a worker forgets to wash his hands, or something dirty falls into the vat, and it would be passed along to consumers if it wasn't pasteurized. Salmonella has been in the press a lot lately thanks to spinach, etc., and pregnant women in particular need to be aware of listeria which has been known to cause stillbirth. All of the bacteria affiliated with raw milk cause severe intestinal distress, some can cause paralysis, and they can all be particularly dangerous to kids, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. It can be really bad. Luckily (and a main part of the raw milk argument), this isn't the case with small dairies where farmers name their cows, let them eat delicious, nutritious grass and flowers and a whole lot of love goes into each milking.

Many of the world's great cheeses are made with raw milk. Some say that cheese made with pasteurized milk lacks essential flavor, or oomph. If you taste a grocery store cheddar and compare it with a Isle of Mull cheddar, for example, you will probably agree. The grocery store stuff starts tasting a little bit like orange rubber. Yum. In fact, if you visit the Isle of Mull Cheese website, you will find the following quote: "We believe pasteurisation to be unnecessarily brutal way of treating milk to be used in making Isle of Mull Cheese. Far too many of those organisms, which have the potential to create individualism and maturity of flavour are indiscriminately sacrificed in the process."

All raw milk cheeses imported to the US are all over 60 days old, which gives the any listeria (not likely) present the opportunity to die. It is an anarobic bacteria, and thus can't survive beyond 45-ish days outside the milk pail. In addition, raw milk cheeses (both in the US and abroad) are almost always made by small producers who name and love their small dairy herds and keep scrupulously clean facilities and detailed records, so chances of bacteria in the milk are limited. Take, for example, the beautiful Avonlea Cheddar below - raw milk, aged and delicious. If you are still worried, cheese makers and dairy farmers have been making great strides in a lower heat, longer cooking time pasteurization technique that retains more flavor in much safer milk.

The argument is that if you want to buy and drink raw milk for its medicinal properties, and are smart enough to buy it from a reputable, clean-as-a-whistle dairy that produces on a small scale, you should be able to do what you want, so long as you don't sue if you knowingly choose raw milk and something bad happens. I'm not sure where I fall in this debate. Kind of like a Oiji board, I don't really believe the drama, but I don't know if I really want to mess with it either. I do know that I am not one to turn down a cheese regardless of it's pasteurized status. At the end, it's all about personal choice (and your state's desire to protect your gullet).

So there's your cheese politics for the day. I'd love to see (polite) thoughts and dialogue to follow!

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt. 29 Washington State's Seastack

2010-05-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

My birthday was a while back. As crazy as life was that month, I still needed to celebrate, and I wanted cheese! Getting to Andrew's for my weekly fix had been elusive and what better excuse than a birthday! I was going to need to share my cheese "cake" with others that afternoon, so I thought it might be a little dangerous to bring out the stinky blue cheeses or some muenster. One needs to gently help people toward a love of the more "black diamond" cheeses.

I didn't have to think about it very long before realizing that Mt. Townshend Creamery's Seastack was the perfect cheese "cake" to share. With a circumference a bit bigger than a hockey puck and about twice as thick (if my early memories of what the shape of a hockey puck is are correct), Seastack is the perfect size to share (or horde to yourself...).

Because of it's rind, it looks a lot like brie, which makes it accessible to those without a lot of cheese experience, but the similarity ends with the visual. This edible rind is a result of rolling the cheese in vegetable ash and salt before the aging process as opposed to the bloomy bacterial rind on brie. The folks at Mt. Townshend say the rind bears a "subtle resemblance to the picturesque islands sprinkled along Washington's northwest coast." Reason enough to visit, I say. The paste is rich and creamy, with a hint of sweet pasture and just enough saltiness to encourage you to grab a glass of crisp glass of Pinot Grigio. Just look at the fantastic goo seeping out of the rind! It spreads beautifully on a cracker, and would probably go well with apples or pears if you had them cut in advance. Wait until after people have had a taste, and there won't be any left by the time the wedges are ready!

This is my new go-to cheese. Not only did I have it for my birthday, I've taken it to a baby shower with great success. Ask for it by name.

Italian Cheese and Wine Pairings - with a nod to the martini!

2010-05-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

Last night Darling Husband and I went to our first wine club meeting since December, and as luck would have it, the focus was on Italy. Fantastico! There are probably as many delicious Italian cheeses as there are delicious Italian wines. Since we have both red and white wine drinkers in the club, I wanted to bring a little something for everyone to enjoy that would elevate the wine tasting to another level. Plus, a cheese board isn't really a cheese board with just one cheese, right?

First up (on the right), was a delicious, mild, 4 week old goat cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy called Tumin Rutulin. The edible ash rind is from the juniper plant. The one that makes gin, yes. But it turns out juniper also imparts it's sweet deliciousness to goat cheese. The sweetness from the juniper was immediately obvious to me, but maybe because I knew about the juniper ash in advance, my mind was playing palate tricks on me.It can't hurt that the goats helping to make this cheese probably munch on nothing but sweet mountain grasses and flowers. Perfect on a little slice of bread, and absolutely spread-able while retaining a soft crumble. It would also be amazing in a salad with some spring greens and some blueberries. In fact, I'm eating it right now with my fingers! It also helped mellow out an angry little Pinot Grigio, giving it a nice smoothness. Man Who Sneers at Goats (Cheese) will sadly never give this one a try, but my slightly cheese-phobic friend really liked this one last night (even before a few glasses of vino)!

On the left, cut into cunning little triangles, was the Pecorino Ginepro. Pecorino identifies this as an Italian sheep's milk cheese, while Ginepro lets you know that the rind is washed with balsamic vinegar and juniper berries during the aging process. I wasn't planning on having a juniper theme for the party, but there you go. I must be craving a martini... Anyway, the sheep's milk here is nice and rich, with just a touch of oiliness on the lips after, and the juniper and balsamic lend a woodsy, salty, sweetness to the cheese. Sometimes, I find that rind coatings don't make a huge difference in the flavor of the cheese, but this combination of acid and fruit really come through here. This cheese was perfect with the red wine from Calabria that I brought. The gaglioppo grapes in this wine had just enough tannin without being too overwhelming, and the richness of the cheese gave extra body to an already delicious wine. I'll be snaking on those cheese leftovers after dinner.

I am thrilled to be turning the last few months of Cheese Dreams into cheese realities! What have you been tasting?

The Cheese Dreams are Back!

2010-05-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

And we're back! Classes are done, the vile dental work that prevented me from adequately using my palate has healed and (fingers crossed) won't have to be repeated EVER! I have missed writing about cheese almost as much as I have missed eating it. But I digress. Enough about me. It's all about the cheese here folks.

Now that I'm able to once again focus on my (non-sentient) true love, expect lots of mouth watering cheese reviews, a little political dialog (as pertains to cheese and dairy products), and if all goes well, some really cool in-depth education about how cheese comes into being. Sound good? Good. I'm excited! On with the show.

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 28 Cheese for an Insane Student

2010-03-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Dear CheeseDreaming Fans,
I miss you! I miss gorging on cheese and telling you about how fun it was! I miss talking about artisinal cheeses in depth, using poetic turns of phrase to make you hungry even if you've just had a 12 course meal! I miss starting conversations about organic and raw milk and cheese production!

But until April 17, I am just swamped! Swamped I say, with homework, papers, case studies, Excel spread sheets and other things that are sooooo not as much fun as cheese. After that, I'll have a piece of paper that says that I did a lot of work and learned the difference between a Balance Sheet and an Income Statement and how to calculate Net Present Value. That said, whilst attempting to finish all of this, I'm still procrastinating on the World Wide Webs, and have been finding lots of wacky fun facts about cheese that aren't necessarily worthy of a full post, but make for a great Facebook update.

So, please join me on Facebook if you are missing me as much as I'm missing you! Look for me at CheeseDreaming and join the fun! I promise to be back to long form entertainment as soon as possible

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 27 Fol Epi and the Return of the Cheese Ghost!

2010-03-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

Another long week. Lots going on at work and at school. I am in need of a little comfort food! And I need cheese. Like, really NEED cheese. And then I realize that there is a beautiful wedge of Fol Epi in the fridge, waiting patiently for me to make grilled cheese sandwiches! It's been waiting patiently for over two weeks, which I realize is a bit blasphemous, but it was carefully wrapped by the cheesemonger, so I'm not too worried. So I go to the grocery store on my way home and pick up some bread from the deli counter, and select the reddest tomato available in early March at the grocery store, and head home to unwrap my Loire Valley cow's milk "swiss" cheese. Much to my surprise, my wedge of cheese has turned into a, well, a wedge with the end cut off! (Geometry buffs, please help me out here.) The Cheese Ghost is back!

Thankfully, the ghost had the forethought that if he ate all the cheese, he might get a severe lecture around dinnertime! There was plenty of cheese left to grate up to make some pretty yummy grilled cheese. Thick bottomed skillet on medium high heat, plenty of butter on the bread, a good 1/3 cup of shredded cheese, a few thin slices of tomato, and melt. I like to shred my cheese for grilled cheese because I think it melts more evenly. Everyone has their own method. Deelicious any way you melt it, and perfect with tomato soup, but I don't have to tell you that.

And Fol Epi is a great cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches. This is a high protein cow's milk cheese is aged for three months, and has a very creamy, rich, nutty flavor. It tastes a lot like a good Emmenthaler (swiss) cheese, but sweeter and with a little something special that I didn't figure out until I went searching for info on the web. The rind of this cheese is really grainy, which really threw me as I started grating it. It turns out that the rind is dusted with toasted wheat flour, adding "that something special" to the flavor of the cheese, and helps it stand out from the crowd. In fact, "Fol Epi" can be translated in French as "wild wheat stalk." I'm not sure how much extra flavor comes from this coating, but I think it definitely has some effect.

As an aside, I always check out Wikipedia for basic info on all my tasty finds, but I didn't find a single entry for Fol Epi in English, though the Europeans are all over it in French and German! Hmm. Anyone up for the challenge?

I sure hope the Cheese Ghost hasn't eaten up all the leftovers before I get home tonight! Sweet cheese dreams!

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 26 Happy California Sheep!

2010-03-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Oh my has it been a week. And it won't be getting any better until mid-April. Apologies in advance for the lack of posts, but I'm almost done with my MBA, and after that's done, I'll be extra cheesy!

In the meantime, it is a Wednesday, and so I owe you a new cheese! La Panza Gold is a sheep's milk cheese from Rinconada Dairy north of Los Angeles in San Louis Obispo County. It is one of the few dairies that I've found in Southern California (the SoCal:NorCal ratio is heavily weighted in favor of Northern California). They have 200 sheep and a small herd of goats happily munching away on the grasses of the chaperral overlooking the Pacific. They also have a farm-stay program, where you can go for the weekend, milk goats and work on the farm. It sounds like a lot of fun to me - I just have to convince the DH to come with me!

So - La Panza Gold is a hard sheep's milk cheese, with some crystalization, kind of like pecorino romano. The rind of this cheese is washed with sheep milk whey as it ages, which gives is a really beautiful golden color. The cheese is shaped in a basket mold, which gives it a really cool look.

You could easily serve this nutty, earthy, sweet cheese by just breaking it up into free-form chunks, and serving it on a cheese plate with some grapes to help bring out the sweetness in the cheese. It also lends itself very easily to the same kinds of uses a pecorino romano or pamigiano-reggiano - grating onto pasta or what ever you grate hard salty/sweet cheese on. The other night, I had made some mushroom barley soup that turned into a kind of pilaf when all the moisture was absorbed. It still tasted great, so I steamed up some brussels sprouts (I just love how cute they are!), and used the carrot peeler to shave curls of this beautiful cheese on top, which really added to the dish. See the little holes in the peels?

Sweet cheese dreams friends!

Cheesy Oscar Party Ideas!

2010-03-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

OK Cheesedreamers, I just got back from Andrew's Cheese Shop (thanks Andrew for appreciating my humor!), and am all set for the Oscars. Pictures to follow, but I wanted to take a moment to inspire you to cook with humor and creativity for the Oscars. If not now, when? Oscars are about creative artists and talented technicians coming together to make something that is so much more than than the sum of its individual parts.

So, in honor of a few of the films up for Best Film, might I suggest the following snacks. I apologize for the fact that I am not yet even remotely versed in real recipe writing, but I'm sure you can muddle through. Just remember to take your French Bread loaf and slice it into 1/2" pieces, drizzle with a little olive oil and toast in the oven on 350 until a toasty, about 5-10 minutes. Then, put enough cheese on each slice, and pop back in the oven to melt.

Avatar
Bruschetta with Blue Cheese, caramelized onion and a fringe of scallion. Neyteri and Jake Scully they're not, but they are blue, and they do have funny little fringe to connect with the earth (or your taste buds)

Saute sliced onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat and stir until soft, golden brown and translucent. Once the cheese is melted, layer on the caramelized onion and top with a little fringe of green onion.

Inglorious Basterds
Bruschetta with melted muenster (the real stinky stuff!) and garlic with a bit of chopped tomato to represent the aggressive strength of Brad Pitt's team of merry men.

After the bread is toasted the first time, rub each slice with a piece of sliced garlic and then top with the muenster. Once that's all melted, top with a little fresh tomato

Precious
OK, this is a bit of a cheat, but there is a brand of Mozzarella at my grocery store called Precious, so how about a Tomato/Precious Mozzarella/Basil Caprese Salad. Just slice and layer and drizzle with a little olive oil and dust with cracked pepper.

I'm kind of stumped with the others. What cheese represents The Blind Side? District 9? An Education? Up in the Air? Up? A Serious Man? Hurt Locker? I figure 3 out of 10 is pretty good for a small party. Any one else doing something cheesy for their Oscar party? Help me out with some more fun ideas!

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 25 The Mysterious Disappearing Cheese

2010-03-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

There is a ghost in our house. A cheese eating ghost. We're not calling in Ghostbusters (though Fanboy Wife could probably hook us up...). We're just going to have to get a more realistic about portion control. See, Darling Husband fell in love with the La Florette cheese at the tasting we went to a while back, and under the influence of lots of Loire Valley wine we ended up with a quarter pound of this goat's milk "brie style" cheese (Easily identified by the cute goat on the label.)

Now, this tasting was kind of belated birthday present for DH, and as such, he decided that he was going to buy some cheese, and not let me eat any of it. Rude, yes, but you've got to appreciate his passion. I, being a good wife, let him be the boss of this cheese. Plus, I was at the tasting, so I wasn't completely denied. DH is a big fan of sandwiches, and as a High School teacher, he enjoys freaking out his students with exotic cheese sandwiches, some with incredible "nose." I love the fact that he doesn't treat his cheese with kid gloves. It isn't precious to him. It's food. Food that is amazingly tasty, rich, and joy providing, but just food. So, he made himself a LaFlorette cheese sandwich with some sliced ham. I'm assuming that he slathered on the cheese pretty thick. (It has a very soft, spreadable paste.) He said it was an excellent sandwich, and effectively freaked out his students. Mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, two days later, when he went to make another sandwich with the La Florette, he accused me of eating some! (I hadn't. Sometimes, a promise is a promise) His proof? It was almost all gone! Had it shrunk? Impossible! Had he simply forgotten how much he used on his uber-sandwich? Ridiculous! I protested my innocence, blamed it on the dog, and we finally decided that it would just remain a mystery. So, if you pick up some La Florette, be forewarned! It has a tendency to disappear.

It is quite a spectacular cheese, so I don't blame it for having a tendency to vanish. See the sample at twelve o'clock? With the waterfall of butterfat oozing out of the middle? That's our cheese! It's called a brie-style cheese because of it's gently flavored bloomy rind and soft, creamy paste. It is a goat cheese, so it does have a little more tang - my tasting notes say "barnyard lite." I would never try this cheese out on Man Who Sneers at Goats (Cheese), but it had a really lovely, delicate, complex grassy flavor that reminded me that spring was coming (eventually).

We may have to get more La Florette soon. Not only is a perfect, spreadable cheese for DH's lunchtime sandwiches, but it is great with a nice Chenin Blanc and good conversation too (when it isn't sneaking out of the fridge and disappearing all on its own!)

Cheese Curds in California?

2010-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

I always thought the only place for cheese curds was Wisconsin. Probably people in Wisconsin would say that anything calling itself a cheese curd that doesn't hail from Wisconsin is a total imposter. But that isn't to say that they aren't available elsewhere. In fact, when I braved my local Farmer's Market this morning - dodging triplet strollers and huge stalks of lilies, focusing instead on the rainbow of beautiful fruits and vegetables - I stopped at the Spring Hill Cheese Company stall. The creamery is in Petaluma (ie - Sonoma County and pretty far from LA!), so I'm not sure if the cheese drove down that morning, or was shipped to a local distributor. Must check. I'm assuming it took longer than a few hours for them to get to my Farmers Market. Next to the quark (a kind of German yoghurt cheese. I may need to try that next week), I spotted lumpy vacuum bags of cheese curds nestled in some ice. White, not the traditional orange, but none-the-less, what a find!

I'll mention here that I am from Michigan, but have never been to Wisconsin, and have never eaten world famous Wisconsin cheese curds. But I've always felt a little deficient because of this. To understand some of the hype surrounding those bright orange Great Lakes curds, check out this awesome website. This site comes complete with cheese curd etiquette including "Never yell out that you have fresh Cheese Curds in a crowded Wisconsin theater." The site also features info on how curds are made, and curd poetry. It's a very extensive.

Cheese curds are simply fresh curds (generally cheddar curds) that haven't been put into a shaped mold and let to sit and become aged cheddar cheese. They have a characteristic squeak because there is still a lot of air trapped inside them. There is a great quote from the New York Times that equates the squeaky sound to "balloons trying to neck." How fun is that!

The squeak is elusive, however. Curds must be fresh, fresh, fresh! That is one of the reasons you can't find them in many places. They tend to start loosing their squeak within 24 hours, and extreme cold doesn't do them any favors. They must be eaten at room temperature for full harmonic convergence. Sadly, even after I got my curds home, broke them up into individual curds and brought them to room temperature, I couldn't detect the slightest bit of squeak. And they needed salt. I suppose they were already a little too old to squeak in the traditional way, though they still tasted very milky and fresh. They might be tastier if I do another Mid-Western thing - dip them in beer batter and deep fry them! What's not to love there! If the DH doesn't consume all of them the minute he gets home tonight, I will give that a try and post the results.

Any cheese curd lovers out there? Apparently, you never forget your first one.

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 24 Breakfast Cheese!

2010-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a week. As nice as my dentist and periodontist are, I'm still terrified of the dentist's chair. Lucky for you, this blog is about cheese and not about excruciating dental work that includes extractions and implants. Sadly, however, my tender gums haven't been up for anything other than soup and soft, soft, soft food that can be easily chewed on one side of the mouth only. I haven't really been eating cheese since last Tuesday's Loire Valley cheese orgy. That has probably been more torturous than the healing process!

Anyway, I finally got bored enough to dive back in to the wonderful world of cheese, and decided to start with breakfast. Why not? It's the most important meal of the day!

That adorable little white hockey puck (above) is actually an incredibly soft, delicious French goat cheese from the Midi Pyrennes called Cabecou. I know that Man Who Sneers at Goats (Cheese) won't like it no matter what I say, but this little cheese is so mild, sweet and spreadable that I knew it would be perfect for a woman sporting a bit more exposed gum than usual. The goats who help make this cheese nibble on hawthorne, mulberry and juniper leaves, making delicious, complex milk and a cheese perfect on english muffin with a little honey and an espresso. The flavor is subtle, and there isn't any of the "tang" that MWSAG(C) hates so much in goat cheese.

I tend to only think about cheese after dark, or in an elaborate omlette at Sunday brunch. The closest to a simple cheese breakfast I usually get is a tub of cream cheese and a bagel. If I could afford to have a refrigerator full of Cabecou, every morning would be as delightful as this one was!

How/when do you eat cheese for breakfast? Let's start a revolution!

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 23 Celebrate Goat Cheese!

2010-02-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

With all due respect to my dear friend, Man Who Sneers at Goats (Cheese), I just had a fabulous evening with my Darling Husband (who does not sneer at goat cheese) tasting many different goat cheeses from the Loire Valley at the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. Just look at that bounty! In the coming week or so, I'll be highlighting a few, thanks to the 10% discount you get for shopping for cheese after the equivalent of three-four glasses of wine. (Never underestimate the power of the drunken shopping spree at the cheese store!)

While MWSAG(C) may sneer at goat cheese, it is remarkable how many different flavors can come from lowly goat milk. I also love the many shapes goat cheese comes in. In front here (and obviously a goat cheese b/c of the cute goat on the label) is the grassy, and only slightly barnyardy La Florette, which is a perfect goat equavalent of Brie. The big log is Bucheron, which has a dry, delicately sour flavor that would go wonderfully in a pasta with sauteed rapini or other "bitter green" and some sun dried tomato. The four leaf clover is the Chevre Feuille, a true goat cheese with a tangy, almost ammonia scent that is made much more palatable by a slightly acidic Cabernet Franc. The cute little nugget is a "La Bonde d'Antan" from the Poitou region (as are the others I've pointed out). This one is quited well aged, hard and flakey. you could probably paint it black and use it as a hockey puck for a few minutes! I would much rather enjoy it with a little apple/vanilla jam.

Goat cheese is just so versatile. It can be sweet, it can be tangy. It can be mild and accessible, but it can also be complex and difficult to appreciate without careful pairing. It is also great to serve to your friends who can't process cow's milk. There are so many varieties out there - both from the Loire Valley and much closer to home. Last week's Wabash Cannonball comes to mind!

Do you have a favorite goat cheese? Let me know!

Alternative Valentine's Day Cheese - go stinky!

2010-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, Valentine's Day. A day of panic for men everywhere. A day of hopeless expectations for everyone, in a relationship or not! Might I recommend cheese as an alternative to chocolates (or perhaps as a first course to chocolates)?

I was going to introduce you to an herb crusted Corsican cheese called Brin d'Amour. I mean - it's the obvious choice, right? French love cheese. But really, isn't that a bit tooo obvious? Maybe I'll save that one for a time of year that needs a little extra love. Instead, I'd like to suggest that in the same way that two lovers can share a plate of garlic pasta and share the bad breath, they can share some incredibly rich and pungent blue cheese with the appropriate accessories for an alternative, and creative cheese course. Darling Husband and I tested this out tonight with a powerful Spanish Cabrales.

Look at the incredible blue marbling! The amount of penicillium mold in this paste makes it very tangy and sharp, but with a dark sweetness hiding underneath. This is a very rich cheese, and a bit challenging on its own. When I did the initial nibble, I was almost overpowered, as was DH. The goal for tonight was to remember to do pairings and not just gobble the cheese off the board, and so when a bit of honey was drizzled on the cheese which was softly spread on the bread everything just popped! The underlying sweetness of the cheese came back to the surface, and was so much more accessible to the palate. Dried apricots and a little port rounded out this perfect little dessert.

Enjoy your weekend with those you love. Share a laugh, create a memory, and if you do it with cheese, all's the better!

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 22.5 Johnny Cash edition

2010-02-10T23:09:00.000-08:00

As promised - video!!! I believe that even people who don't like country music can't help but start tapping their feet when they hear Johnny Cash and the Carter sisters. Feel free to disagree. Did you know that the Carter Family were the first to sing Wabash Cannonball back in 1929? Did you know that Capriole Dairy's Wabash Cannonball goat cheese was one of the first prize winning American cheeses back in 1995 - practically the dark ages in American cheese years?

Anyway, I've been waiting to share the Wabash Cannonball with you ever since New Year's eve when this was the "sympathy cheese" for my lactose intolerant friend who couldn't partake of the orgy of Emmenthaler, but whose delicate system is fine with goat cheese. I was immediately chagrined by the fact I had promised to let him eat the whole thing and took back my promise - helping myself to two crackers worth for myself.

This little cheese is a perfect single serving cheese. I would absolutely serve one per person (or perhaps one per couple) at an elegant dinner party. At approximately 3 ounces, it's a little bigger than a golf ball. If you are familiar with antique firearms, you might also see the similarity to a Civil War era small cannon ball due to its coating of vegetable ash. But far from being a sad reminder of the War Between the States, this Wabash Cannonball is rich, tangy and crumbly, with just a hint of lemon. The cheese makers at Capriole Dairy in Southern Indiana suggest it for dessert, served with figs or a simple syrup infused with lavender and vanilla bean. It sounds like an elegant juxtaposition of tangy and sweet - a complex explosion of flavor. I think a nice espresso or mint tea might really complete a final course. Unfortunately, I read that suggestion well after having scarfed it down dry with crackers. I always seem to forget the accompaniments. Next time!

The legend behind Capriole Dairy is wonderful as well. In an attempt to get back to the land and live a more sustainable life, the cheesemakers ended up buying property in S. Indiana that had belonged to the husband's great great grandfather many years before. They built their home on the same spot where the original log cabin had been. A really lovely story, I think. A fine pairing for a lovely cheese.

Sweet cheese dreams all! (and for those sticklers out there - please note that I'm posting at 11:06 PST on Wednesday, so I still haven't officially missed a Wednesday cheese! Wish me luck on Friday for another exciting dentist encounter....

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt 22 It might be a Thursday cheese

2010-02-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

For the first time since Wednesday cheese began, I've run into massive time constraints and might not be sharing my Wednesday cheese till Thursday. So sorry! Between the Darling Husband's birthday, fun with accountants (not!), and a broken tooth requiring me to go to the dentist for the first time in 7 years (I know, I know. Sorry Mom!), I just don't think it's going to happen today. Nobody is more distraught about this than I am, so rest assured that it is coming, probably tomorrow. There might even be video!

Much love and many cheeses!

Super Bowl Snacking!

2010-02-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

Who dat? Oh yeah baby. I speak football. I don't watch a lot of football, but when I do, I get kind of involved. And, I tend to eat a lot of crap while I watch the game - chips, spinach dip (my favorite!!), nuts, more chips - nothing fancy. I used to eat chili until the chili-maker retired from the business. Since I'm now the cheese lady, I figured I could make this Super Bowl even more exciting with some great cheese. The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills was actually a Super Bowl sale - 10% off if you said "Who Dat" when ordering cheese. They were also closing early so they could get home, put their feed up, and root on the Saints while munching on some tasty cheese. One of the owners is from New Orleans, so you can appreciate their enthusiasm. I just love having another opportunity to bring cheese to a party and look like a rock star.

So, off I went to the game, cheese board cheese knives and cheeses in tow ready to share the cheese love and possibly to distract people from the game for a few minutes. I think I succeeded, thanks in no small part to the good people at Andrew's Cheese Shop and Noord Hollander four-year old Gouda (top left with a rich orange color). This Gouda tastes so sweet, I could chunk it up and put it in a candy bowl. It has the crunchy texture of Parmesean thanks to the crystalization that happens during aging, and has a distinctive butterscotch flavor.

This Super Bowl is also brought to you by Marisa (top right). This award winning sheep's milk cheese comes from Wisconsin and has a perfect sweet/salty balance. The high butterfat content gives it a beautiful creaminess. It is the perfect snacking cheese.

Finally, this Super Bowl is brought to you by La Serena (bottom left). This was the "challenging" cheese, but even the 11 year-olds liked it! This semi-soft sheep's milk cheese from Spain spreads great on a cracker when properly warmed up to room temperature. It has a sharpness and an earthiness that makes it really interesting - one of those cheeses that make you stop and go "Huh. What was that?" I will need to spend more time on this one, as its backstory deserves its own post. If you can't wait, please check out Angela's Food Love blog here for a great description. I don't think it was as stinky as she thought, but we agree on the exciting flavor.

I think the only one disappointed by the cheese was my sweet friend Tessa (right). Look how well she begs! But none for her! Sorry Tessa! After the trophy was presented, all the La Serena was gone, and there was just enough Gouda and Marisa left for some good snacks this week. Hooray!

No matter which team you rooted for on Sunday (or if you just don't care), I hope you had a happy, cheesy weekend!

Biotech Friday - not for the faint of heart

2010-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've been fascinated by the idea of self-sufficient farms, perhaps in part because I've come to grips with the fact that it is highly unlikely that I will ever run a farm of my own. That's not to say that I don't want to hang out with sheep and cows and the people who care for them. And I'm enough of a tech geek to be fascinated with the juxtaposition between ancient animal husbandry techniques and high tech responses to current environmental challenges.

I've been a little obsessed with the idea of "anaerobic digestion" lately and how it can help a farm become self-sufficient. All the non-scientific writing on the subject is a bit preoccupied with poo. I have to admit that it is kind of fascinating that the back end of a cow can ultimately provide enough power to service all of a farm's electrical needs. The problem is, it is a pretty complicated process, and the methane gas that is produced is highly flammable. Luckily, the good people at Penn State's Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering have a great website to help those of us so interested to learn more about how to turn poo into power. Using words like biogas, slurry and influent and mesophilic, they explain (and remind us) that the poo doesn't tend to go in solid, but is mixed with water to a maximum of 15% solids. Eeew! With a little heat, microbes in the air-tight tank break down the "slurry" or "influent" into biogas (methane and carbon dioxide) and nutrient rich "efflluent" that can ultimately be used in fertilizer. The biogas can then be sent to run generators, and the heat energy can be used to heat the "digester" or the farmhouse. For a great case study, check out the Hillcrest Dairy Farm. It is a really well written piece with some great photos to help you understand what's going on.

There are a variety of "digesters," but they are all sealed to keep gases in and have a way to move "slurry" through the system. None of them can be built or run in a standard suburban backyard. Of course, most suburban backyards don't have enough cows, sheep, goats or pigs to provide enough "influent" to make it work!

Even if you can't build one yourself, I hope that you can be just a little impressed with the ingenuity of some very modern farmers!

Cheese for a Wednesday - pt. 21 Appeasement Cheese

2010-02-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know how it works around your house, but if I bring treats (cheese, cupcakes, cookies, etc) into the house with the intent of serving them at a party or taking them to a friend's house, there will be some loss due to the Husband Tax. Instead of 24 cookies, there will mysteriously be 23. Instead of 1/4 pound of cheese, there will be 1/5 of a pound (very cleanly cut and put back into the wrapper...). I don't mind really. In fact, I've stopped worrying about it all together. I just bring home a little extra something for us to enjoy together right away (I have impulse control issues too...)

So, last Friday, when I went shopping for cheese to take to meet our friends' new baby, I knew I needed something to take home and eat immediately. When I explained my dilemma to Andrew, he laughed and called it the "appeasement cheese." And that's just what it was. In fact, the Brie from the Ferme de Jouvence in France could appease the most cranky troll. A hungry husband wasn't even a challenge!

One rule about Brie: make sure that it has warmed up to room temperature before serving, or you won't be able to taste all the complex flavors inside the bloomy rind. (Actually, this is true for all cheese.) The other problem with a cold Brie is that it doesn't have the requisite "gooey-ness" that my husband, and I'm sure legions of others, loves so much about cheese. I know it's hard to wait (impulse control issues...), but it's really worth it. In fact, do a little taste test. Since you won't be able to wait, have a little bit right after you take it from the fridge. See? Meh. Now, wait 30 minutes and try again...fireworks, right? Told you.

This cheese is so delicious! It is sweet and mushroomy, with just a little tang from the rind (Please eat the rind of Brie! Have you ever seen a Brie where all the paste has been scooped out leaving the sad little rind? Give it a try. Just once. It really adds to the flavor of the cheese - transforming it from just rich and buttery to rich and buttery and a little sassy!) This particular Brie also features the amazing flavor of spring garlic - fresh and light and not enough to make you need to brush your teeth. So much so, in fact, that I thought for a moment that our baguette was a loaf of garlic bread. So creamy and yummy. And when at room temperature, so gooey and spreadable. The perfect cheese.

One more thing - as I've been kind of obsessed with self-sufficient farming of late, I'd like to briefly add that according to Andrew, this farm is completely self sufficient in energy, including the use of anaerobic digestion (from the cow patties!!). I've promised a post on how this works, but haven't yet gotten around to doing the research. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, keep your eyes out for artisinal Brie, full of flavor and ready to appease anyone!

What is Organic Milk, and Why Should You Care?

2010-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

I've been following Ruth Reichel on Twitter for a while since I heard her speak about the demise of Gourmet Magazine, the incredible work done there during her tenure as Editor in Chief, and her thoughts on the future of food, food writing and food politics. Today, her feed led me to a great blog, Politics Of The Plate. Food politics is definitely something that I have been thinking about for a while. Where does our food come from? Who makes it? How is it made? Is it safe? Is it ethically produced, and what does that mean? As the world's population grows and resources remain finate (or until we figure out how to make that Star Trek Food Replicator), I believe that these issues will remain with us, and become more and more important.

Anyway, the January 27 post on Politics of the Plate is about how big Agribusiness has taken control of the word organic. In theory, organic milk comes from cows who have "room to roam, clean air to breathe [and] fresh grass to eat." Makes sense. Unfortunately, the same way that most "free range" chickens probably don't have the opportunity to visit the small outdoor pen attached to the side of their giant, packed, indoor jail instead of roaming freely, pecking at grubs and enjoying sunshine on their feathers, many "organic" milk cows don't really have access to pasture in the traditional sense. They might be outdoors, but they are probably walking around in dirt, not pasture land. They might be eating grass, if you consider dried fodder as grass-like. (There is one dairy that claims pastureland by laying hay on the dirt on a strip of land outside their giant barn) They might be organic in the sense that they aren't pumped through with chemicals, but there is no way that they are the happy cows taking time to chew their cud while enjoying a little clover, alfalfa and dandelion as part of their nutritious grass lunch we all dream of when we bite into a delicious piece of Avonlea Cheddar.

There are a few problems here that I can see (beyond the fact that it just isn't very nice to the animals!). When big dairies are allowed to blur the lines regarding what constitutes "pastureland," dedicated family farms that have invested in their "staff" of cows and really believe and follow the tenants of organic farming just can't compete. The cost of raising a truly happy organic cow on green pastures is astronomical compared with the cost of cows that might or might not get to go outside, and might or might not actually get to eat real grass every day. Plus, the little guy might have 80 cows and the big guy has 2,000. Economies of scale just don't tip in favor of the little guy. I'm like you. I'd love to buy the organic milk at the farmer's market, but man-o-man is it expensive. I feel like I'm still being healthy if I'm buying Horizon brand organic milk on sale. Problem is, buying like that is making the problem worse. (And depending on why you are buying organic milk, you might be getting ripped off!) (dairy image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Problem number two is an issue of taste! I'm always writing about how I can taste the spring grass freshness in a cheese. You can't get that if the cows don't actually eat fresh spring grass on a hillside somewhere. If big agribusiness manages to shut down more and more small truly organic dairies, there will be less and less delicious milk lightly scented with daisies to make amazing cheese. And that would really be a crying shame.

Anyway, there is a bill before the federal Office of Management and Budget to make the rules more specific regarding what is considered organic. Needless to say, the big guys want to kill the bill to make a buck. Politics being what they are, who knows what will happen. If you have time, definitely visit Politics of the Plate to learn more about what is going on, and get links to more great information.

And thanks for listening.

Pt. Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company - The Blues are going Green!

2010-01-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

I picked up some Pt. Reyes blue at the grocery store last summer, and it created a creamy, salty, pungent base for a delicious steak salad. It was one of the first blues I sampled as an official cheese head, and it definitely created the impetus for me to go out and boldly try all kinds of blue cheese. Since then, I've introduced y'all to many of the stars in a world where the moon is, in fact made of blue cheese.

With my new Friday series highlighting some of my favorite cheesemakers (and my incredibly dull Wednesday night class allowing me time to do the internet research that I need...), I've started cruising the state cheesemaker organization websites. Since I'm a Cali girl (omigod! fer sher!), I've started at the California Artisan Cheese Guild. They have a great list of California dairies, and a map of where all of these good people live, work, and care for the beasties that provide the raw materials for our favorite food. Sadly for me, almost all of these guys live in Northern California, while I alternately bake and drown in Los Angeles.

So anyway - Pt. Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company. The Giacomini family has owned and operated this dairy, milking cows since 1959 and started making cheese in 2000. The ranch is located on the hills overlooking Tomales Bay in Marin County. These are the epitome of happy California cows! They've got a beautiful view. It never gets too hot. Their tasty grass is nicely salted by the morning dew coming off the bay. You can taste all this joy in every crumble.

The Giacomini's have always been focused on their all natural production, but according to the "fun facts" section of the Artisan Cheese Guild, they have taken it to a whole new level. And I quote, "Original Blue Cheese is now Green! (Oh no, I thought for a split second!) The production facility is fuled entirely by the methane gas that rises from the farm's collected cow's manure - delivering on the Giacomini's commitment to sustainability." I'm not sure if they are totally off the grid yet like the Lazy Lady, but what a great start.

I'd love to see that facility! I'm imagining a giant pile of poo in a storage room with some pipes in the ceiling and a bunch of fans directing the stinky air into a processing room where the lights shine bright, and the workers are always smiling (because of their awesome personal ventilators!). Must do more research. Especially with the concerns about greenhouse gasses and global warming, the fact that these guys are helping protect their little corner of paradise.

Here's to the happy cows at Pt. Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company and their very clever keepers! Way to go Bessie! Keep it up!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 20 - Pirate Edition

2010-01-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

Yarg! A basic of pirate vocabulary is also the name of a great cheese from Cornwall. A really beautiful, special cheese, this cow's milk beauty is an updated version of a 13th century recipe. A cross between Welsh Caerphilly and English Wensleydale, Yarg is actually named for Mr. Alan Gray, the cheesemaker responsible for developing the modern recipe in 1984. (Get it? Yarg/Gray...those Brits are soooo clever!)

When I went into Andrew's Cheese Shop last week to announce my desire to bring back Welsh Rabbit, Andrew offered up Cornish Yarg, made in Cornwall, just south of Wales. While we ultimately decided it wouldn't necessarily be good melted with beer, even if it was practically Welsh, it is a great English cheese. At first sniff, you really smell the milky freshness of this cheese. Then you realize how sweet and "green" it smells. The green comes from a unique ingredient in this cheese - the Stinging Nettles it is wrapped in! The good news is that the leaves are frozen to get rid of the "stinging," but there is definitely a tangy flavor that can be attributed to this natural rind. I did eat the nettle rind, and it really did add extra depth to the cheese. And it's so pretty! Whole wheels make an amazing bottom layer of a cheese "cake."

The texture is both crumbly and a bit sticky. Oxymoronic, perhaps, but it's true. The flavor is very smooth, with a bit of tart on the middle of your tongue. The milk that you smell is the dominant flavor of this cheeseThere is a bit of moldiness, and a little (tiny bit of) mushroomy flavor, but that just adds to the old fashioned flavor of this cheese. And when you realize the original recipe is 700+ years old, that makes sense!

Cornish Yarg is only made at one dairy in Cornwall, but it's made its way around the world. It's also a great thing to put on the "bucket list" if getting to Cornwall is on your list.

Or if you want to be a pirate...Yarg!

And Now for Something Completely Different...

2010-01-26T11:43:00.000-08:00

*Apologies for no photos, but please, please, please click the links. They are hilarious!

Saturday night, I found myself in a dark basement sitting on an uncomfortable chair, laughing my a@% off. Darling Husband and I had gone out to meet some friends and enjoy an evening of twisted drag queen frivolity. We knew it was going to be a great night when Dina Martina's first song was the most ridiculous version of Duran Duran's Rio that I had ever heard. At one point, she sang something about Rio being one of the longest songs ever (which it is, really...), after which she proceeded to eat a plate of spaghetti with Ragu and some Kraft Parmesean cheese (the kind in the cardboard tube). A girl after my own heart - while waiting for Simon LeBon to finish singing something about the dusty land, Ms. Dina dumped a good 1/4 cup of powdered cheese right in her mouth, not needing spaghetti or sauce to sully the flavor of, well, whatever it is that that "cheese" tastes like.

I wasn't expecting cheese references in my evening of surreal, gender bending humor, but was certainly delighted! There were several others throughout the night. I think I'll save her story of her grandmother surviving the depression by milking the family pug and making delicious pug's milk cheese for another time - I want to look into the feasibility of this in the real world (I doubt that dog's milk has quite the level of butterfat necessary to make quality cheese, but...hey - it was the Great Depression! Never mind the fact that the idea of milking a dog just seems a bit odd to me. You?)

No, neither the spaghetti interlude at nor the story of how Pugsley saved the family compare to what happened during gift time. An unsuspecting audience member bravely stepped onstage. "Do you like cheese?" Ms. Dina asked. Of course, the answer was "Yes." "Do you have chapped lips?" was the odd follow-up question. The answer there was also "Yes." Can you guess what product contains cheese and is good for your lips?

My answer would be a nice, oily Manchego or Zamorano sheep's milk cheese. But I would be wrong.

What Ms. Dina pulled out of the bag for this nice audience member was...

CHEETO LIP BALM!!!!!

Discuss.

Welsh Rabbit - Friday update

2010-01-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

It kept raining today. Then it started to hail. HAIL! In Los Angeles. Armageddon is right around the corner.

Since yesterday's post about the legends of Welsh Rabbit, I got a hankering. Plus, I felt guilty writing about something that I hadn't recently eaten or made. So, off I headed to Andrew's Cheese Shop when the bell rang at the office for a high quality cheddar and a little inspiration. He was a bit surprised that I was making Welsh Rabbit. Why? I said. Turns out, in his opinion people don't make it any more. I suggested that he re-introduce it during one of his Grilled Cheese nights, where he pairs all sorts of grilled cheese with all sorts of beers. It's perfect - cheese and beer in one bite. He said he'd think about it. We'll see...

So, updates to the recipie posted last night...
#1 - Be careful when grating your cheese! I cannot emphasize enough how much you do not want grated fingernail and thumb in your dinner! I managed to avoid any thumb, but there might have been some fingernail. Patience people! It will all get done, and in less than 20 minutes start to finish.
#2 - I don't actually have anything bad to say about 2 Tablespoons of butter. I just wanted to show you my cute cow butter holder. It's one of the few things I've managed to hang onto since my early bachelorette days. Moo.
#3 - Flavoring and texture. You might be better off with just 2 Tablespoons of flour. Three Tablespoons make for a really, really thick sauce (and probably precipitated the need for more beer. See #4) Also, I tasted a little more mustard than I would have liked in the final product. Maybe reduce dried mustard to 1/4 teaspoon and increase the Worcestershire sauce to 2 1/2 tablespoons. But, perhaps that's just me.
#4 - I found that there was no way that 1/2 cup of beer was going to be enough to give the cheese sauce enough fluidity to spread over our extra thick sliced toast. I added another 1/4 cup, and then another 1/4 cup. So, in the end, about one cup of beer seemed to do the trick. We used a great British dark ale, courtesy of Andrew's newly instated liquor sales license. Yay Andrew! Even with the cup in the sauce, there was enough left over for us to each enjoy a small glass of this rich, hoppy, brew with just a hint of sweetness. I wish I had a better taste vocabulary for beer. In any case, it was really good.
#5 - Try to find a nice loaf of bread, and slice it yourself. Darling Husband was in charge of slicing, and he went with one inch slices. Toasted to crispy but not too dark it served as the perfect platform.

At the end of the day, Darling Husband and I enjoyed a great dinner of cheese, bread and beer. A perfect food. And - to add to the success, DH remembered the smell and taste of our concoction from his childhood when his dad (the Scot) would whip up a batch of this easy, cheap (well, not so cheap with fancy imported beer and cheese, but you get the idea) snack. When you can tap into someone's olfactory memory, I'd say that's a job well done. Look at that gooey goodness! What's weird is that the flavors of Worcestershire, beer and mustard blend so well with the cheese that what you have at the end is an all new flavor. I'm still working on what the profile is, but it is rich. The mustard is crucial to keeping it from tasting flabby, and the Worcestershire adds it's magical blend of herbs and spices to make this cheese sauce so much more. Who needs rabbit (or filet mignon for that matter) when you have cheese and bread?

I had bought some broccoli, but somehow it never made the steamer...

Welsh Rabbit - all the cheese, none of the bunny fur!

2010-01-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

The rain is still coming down in Los Angeles, and my poor dog is terrified of thunder and wind - both of which we seem to have an endless supply of at the moment. Did you hear we've had tornados? Time for comfort food.

To mix things up a little, how about Welsh Rabbit? Also known as Welsh Rarebit, it's basically cheese sauce on toast, but it's so much more! There are many legends associated with this simple fare. 1) When my mom used to make it when I was a kid, I just thought that we were eating the vegetarian version, and that the glamorous Welsh used to have chunks of rabbit in their cheese sauce. 2) According to Mick, the British proprietor of our favorite local cafe, the name is a total slur on the Welsh, who the English perceive as inferior due to their coal mines and propensity for words with too many w's, and y's (see Aberystwyth). His version contends that the Welsh were so poor, that they couldn't even afford rabbit - which used to be one of the cheapest proteins available. They were so poor, they could only afford cheese and bread. 3) Another version says that Welsh rabbit hunters, after a successful rabbit hunt, would eat this fortified cheese toast upon returning home - thereby negating Mick's version of the legend. 4) Of course, there is another version where unsuccessful Welsh rabbit hunters have to eat cheese toast because they aren't very good hunters. 5) A really twisted version claims that a Welsh chef tried to pass off cheese toast as rabbit to unsophisticated Welsh diners. While I have actually never eaten rabbit, I might argue that melty cheese toast is easier to prepare and perhaps tastier than rabbit. Also, since Darling Husband is 50% Welsh, I'm not allowed to be to antagonistic toward this noble people.

Legend aside, it is a perfect meal for a cold winter night. Here's a recipe for Welsh Rabbit from Laura Werlin's fantastic book The New American Cheese:

Melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat in a medium size saucepan.

Add 3 Tbsp flour and stir for 1 minute

Add 1/2 cup beer and stir until the bubbles start to cook out, about 30 seconds

(I would suggest a more flavorful, darker beer. Alternately, my mom used milk. Less body, but better for kids...)

Add 6-7 ounces of grated cheddar cheese, 2 tsp Worcestershire, 1/2 tsp dry mustard and a dash of cayenne.

Stir constantly until the cheese melts.

Toast up 4 thick slices of substantial bread (Wonderbread will not work!)

Toast on plate, cheese sauce on toast. If you're trying to eat veggies with all your meals, add a tomato.

*You can always try other cheeses - whatever you have. Try Gouda or Emmenthaler for some happy melting. A little fortified Sherry could be tasty too. If you use white cheese, a little Paprika would add color. a tablespoon of Dijon mustard could be a nice alternate if you don't have any dry mustard in the house.

That's it! Easy enough for a Welshman to do it.

Sweet dreams! May your dreams be full of cheese and sweet bouncing bunnies!

National Cheese Lover's Day!

2010-01-20T16:56:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the late notice, but I was just informed of this most joyous of occassions! I can't believe we don't get the day off for this...it is officially National Cheese Lover's Day!

Not sure why, not sure how, not sure if in fact it has been ratified by congress or just a marketing ploy, but I don't care! Here's to you cheese lovers!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 19 - A new sheep in the 'hood

2010-01-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

Last week at Andrew's Cheese Shop, I spotted this ancient looking cheese sitting in the case. "What is this," I wondered out loud. Samples were proffered, and as per usual, stories were told and comparisons - both ridiculous and relevant were made.

While this cheese, Brebis du Lavort, may look like it's shape was designed by druids back in the 2nd century BC it was actually created in the 1990s by cheese maker Patrick Beaumont in the Auvergne region of France. I thought it was pretty clever of Mr. Beaumont to design a cheese that looked like it had been dug out of the ground, or stored in an ancient log but was created during the Clinton adminstration, about the time that Shabby Chic was really hitting it's stride. Andrew wasn't so sure that the good folk of the Auvergne are capable of that kind of marketing ploy. It seems that this area of France is less modern than other areas. Anyway...far be it from me to judge. Especially when the cheese is good!

The design is modern, but the mold is borrowed from a Spanish cheese called Tronchon (which Andrew also has - must get that one for a comparison.). This mold is caked on thick. The bark-like texture keeps the cheese nice and moist during the aging process, but I didn't even give it a taste. Did I mention it's bark-like texture? This cheese is aged in a in an old water tower, which is unique, I think. Unfortunately, I learned about this before I tasted the cheese and so, in the back of my mind I was thinking "moldy water tower." It was interesting how the shape of the cheese seemed to make a difference in each bite. A bite taken from the top of the "volcano" reminded me of a nice sharp cheddar, while a bite taken from the bulge just made me think of a (tasty) old water pipe. Very odd. Andrew claims a definite flavor of hazelnuts. Maybe I need to eat more hazlenuts.

I think this is one of those cheeses that tasted better in a sample at the store than in chunks. The complexity of this cheese requires more than chunks and crackers. Now that I'm full, and all the cheese is gone, I'm thinking that it would have been perfect on a baked potato. The old water pipe flavor might have mellowed to an "earthy" flavor that would have rocked with some parsley and butter. Next time.

Sweet dreams!

Lazy Cheesemakers? Perish the Thought!

2010-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today is the first in a semi-regular series showcasing cheesemakers across America and beyond. I'll share them as I learn about them, so no promises on a regular Friday series, though I may tend to share these stories on Fridays...

This Friday, we celebrate laziness! Not that there is one cheese maker alive that could even remotely be considered lazy. What with the waking up at 4:00 am; herding goats, sheep or cows to the tastiest foraging; milking all these beasties twice a day when they're full; not to mention the processing of the milk, turning it into curds, shaping the curds, and watching over the infant cheeses as they age into politically correct cheese ready to take their place in society - there is absolutely no time to be lazy!

Enter, Lazy Lady Farm in Vermont where Laini Fondiller makes cheese with her herd of 40 darling goats, working 14+ hour days to bring the world cheeses like Tomme Delay and Barik Obama. Hee hee! Apparently, she listens to National Public Radio while she milks the herd, makes and tends to her cheeses, and generally goes about her day. Why does she call her farm the Lazy Lady given that in addition to her goat and the many, many, MANY tasks involved in exquisite cheesemaking, she and her husband (along with a cheese apprentice) are responsible for cows, pigs, chickens and a vegetable garden? And did I mention that they are totally off the grid - their milking machine is solar powered?! (For more info on how to run an "off the grid" goat farm and cheesery, check out this fun little paper from University of Vermont)Well, it turns out that goats have a definite "season," and they just don't produce cheese-quality milk when it's been too long since they've given birth. As the availability of goat milk declilnes, she begins to add cow's milk to the mix. Totally lazy, right? That's it. That is how lazy Ms. Fondiller is. But keeping with her political cheesiness, she calls this cheese "Bipartisan." I love this totally un-lazy lady! She works her butt off and still has time for a sense of humor!

Ms. Fondiller started her cheese making career in Corsica, and has been creating high quality cheeses for 22 years. Her advice to people wanting to leave it all behind for the romantic notion of living off the land with a herd of friendly goats? "Don't. It's a lot of work." I think I'll stick to eating it, and keep that cheese dream for another day!

For more info, there is this great New York Times article about the Lazy Lady Farm from last weekend. I think it is a testament to the "cheese revolution" that I am convinced is sweeping the nation! This slide show is fun too!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 18 - Hilarious name edition

2010-01-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

From the Basque region of France comes a cheese with the best name ever. Etorki. From what I've been able to determine, it is, in fact, pronounced the way it is spelled. Ee-tork-ee. Ha! I love it because it sooo doesn't sound like a French word. When I was at Andrew's Cheese Store on Tuesday night, another cheese caught my eye (You'll be hearing about that one later. I promise.). That one was all wrapped up, and I was almost out the door when I noticed the tag for Etorki. Again. I've been bypassing this cheese for six months! Shame on me.

Anyway, this sheep's milk cheese was described by Andrew as "the Sarah Lee of cheese." As in, "nobody doesn't like" Etorki. I have to say, it's probably true. This is definitely a sheep's milk cheese. There is a certain salty, oiliness to sheep's milk cheese that is present in Etorki. What is missing is a kind mealiness - like dry mashed potato (not sure of that analogy, but it will do for now) - that I've had in other sheep's milk cheese. This cheese is almost unctuous. Creamy, melt in your mouth goodness that does leave your lips with that sticky, "I just ate something really rich" feeling. This cheese is mild, and you have to really pay attention to find the nuance, but it's there. I tasted some mellow black olive, a little bit of grass on a sunny hillside, and a some sweet caramel. In fact, I was just inspired to make some buttery salted caramels. Yea. That's it.

So, besides being a real crowd pleaser, this cheese is special because it is made exclusively from milk created by cute little black-faced Manech sheep. After the curds are shaped, the cheeses are soaked in brine for 3-6 months, making a for a rind that is capable of protecting the cheese during the rest of the aging process. We tasted the rind, and while the texture wasn't great, it wasn't shoe leather, and it had that extra bite of salt that I was missing (I'm only starting to appreciate mild tasting cheeses) in the rest of the cheese.

I don't think Etorki is going to be something that I dream about every night, but if I'm taking cheese for a party where I don't really know people's palates, this might be the sheep's milk cheese on my cheese tray. It is unusual enough to be a conversation starter (not to mention the fun name as a conversation of it's own), but the complexity of these cheese is subtle enough to please the fussiest taste buds.

Even if you never get to try this cheese, you've got a new alternate cuss word. Someone cut you off in traffic? Etorki! Someone use up all the hot water? Etorki! Need some cheese for sandwiches? Oh yea, etorki!

Ricotta - a kitchen's secret agent!

2010-01-09T21:59:00.000-08:00

There is a secret ingredient in your grocery store. Liquid smoke, you ask? Nope, though I've always been fascinated and repelled by that magical concoction. I am referring to ricotta cheese. It provides body and richness to lasagne. Blended with a little vanilla, cinnamon, lemon zest, and maple syrup, it makes a sweet, creamy fruit topping. And, when blended with some sauteed veggies, a little milk and a little pasta water, you have a great pasta sauce that even kids (maybe) will like. Like a cream sauce, but without the heart stopping after effects. A perfect meal - protein, carbs, veggies, low-fat (which is necessary when most of the rest of your meals include lots of bread, butter and triple creme cheese)

Tonight, as the pasta water was coming to a boil, I sauteed some bacon (if you're not into bacon, a sliced onion will do at this point). When cooked through, I added about two cups of sliced brussels sprouts, tossed with some salt and pepper and a splash of white wine(which you can switch for some chicken or veggie broth if you're cooking for kids). I then covered the pan for a few minutes to cook the sprouts through. If, at this point you haven't added bacon, might I suggest about a tablespoon of anchovy paste? It adds some great saltiness, and rather than tasting fishy, I promise that it just creates a sort of smoky richness. I promise.

By this time, the pasta was bubbling away. With just four minutes left on the penne, I added about a cup of low fat ricotta to the pan, along with about a quarter cup of milk and a quarter cup of pasta water to help thin out the sauce. Taste check. I added some red pepper flakes for fun. When the pasta is done, drain and toss with the creamy veggie goodness. Add some additional parmesean, and voila!

BTW - if you have a gallon of milk, some citric acid or lemon juice, some cheese cloth and a strainer you can make your own ricotta! Here's the recipe cut and pasted from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. If you don't have citric acid lying around, you can use lemon juice as suggested here.

Ricotta from Whole Milk

Use whole milk .. The fresher the better
Add 2 tsp of citric acid per gallon of liquid (dissolved in 1 cup cool water). Add 1/2 of this Citric Acid solution to the milk (save the rest of the citric acid). Stir briskly for 5-10 seconds.
Add 1 tsp salt
Heat the milk slowly on low to med stirring well to prevent scorching
At 165-170F watch for small flakes forming in the milk and the separation of small curds.
If after a few minutes you do not see the flakes forming, add more of the Citric acid until they form (do this in small 1 Tbsp increments to avoid over acid milk).
Continue heating to 190-195F then turn the heat off
As the curds rise, use a perforated ladle to gently move them from the sides to the center of the pot. These clumps of curd will begin to consolidate floating on top of the liquid.
Let the curds rest for 10-15 min.
*** This is very important because this is the point where the final Ricotta quality is assured
Ladle the curds gently into draining forms (No cheese cloth should be needed if you were patient in the previous step). Let the curds drain for 15 min up to several hours.
For a fresh light ricotta, drain it for a short while (until the free whey drainage slows) and chill to below 50F. For a rich, dense and buttery texture allow it to drain for an extended period of time (several hours). before chilling overnight
Move to a refrigerator or cold room. Consume within 10 days

Let me know how it works if you give it a try!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 17 - Pyreneese Cheese

2010-01-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

Imagine - you are walking along through the Pyrenees mountains on a beautiful late summer day. It is cool enough to wear a light sweater. The sky is bluer than you have ever seen, the air is crisp and smells of fresh grass and wild flowers. The hills are alive with the sound of music....You stumble upon a darling little cave that seems to welcome you in. There is even grass growing into the front of the cave. A shaft of sunlight beckons you in. A butterfly flits past.

Got it? If you aren't completely nauseated by the pastoral vision I've created for you, keep reading because this is how Tome de Couserans smells. And it is how I imagine the Ariege region of France smells. Well, perhaps with a slight whiff of cow poop.

Tonight being the first Wednesday in 2010, I thought we should celebrate with a little something special. Cheesemonger Andrew didn't disappoint! Couserans is a very special cheese. It is quite rare, coming from a very small region in France, where I'm sure the livestock out number the people three to one. It is also a cow's milk cheese in a very sheepy region. Beyond that, it is just an incredible cheese that melts onto the tongue, leaving it's musty sweetness behind to savor (as I did with a glass of red and a bowl of brussels sprouts).

The natural rind looks like a perfectly baked whole-wheat dinner roll, textured but not wrinkly. I did try eating this. Not a great idea. Better for smelling in this case. The paste inside is an almost buttermilk cream color, with delicate little holes throughout which add to the tender tooth. And the taste! Summer butter, fresh green grass (from that cute butterfly ridden cave), just enough tang in the middle and end to hold your attention, and get you reaching for the cheese knife for another bite! If I could find that cave, and eat this cheese in that cave, perhaps life would be complete.

Or maybe it's just another Wednesday night cheese dream!

Cheese Straws!

2010-01-04T23:40:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas, I discovered a cookbook, The New Best Recipe Book from the editors of Cooks Illustrated, that had been sitting on my shelf forever with no attention being given to the amazing recipes inside. Lesson learned. I made the best gingerbread cookies over the holiday, and thought to myself, "What else is in there?". So, being the cheese head I am, I looked in the index under "cheese" and found "cheese straws." "Hooray!" I thought. I'd just made some pretty decent collard greens for New Years, and was pretty sure I was successfully channeling my inner southern belle. Cheese straws being a very traditional southern food would be a perfect next project, right y'all? Well, being from Michigan with New England parents and living in California, you could safely assume that southern belle is a bit of a stretch for me. Good thing the recipe was a super easy, non-Southern version, or I would have had to de-camp to Savannah (a bit of a fantasy of mine, but that's for another time...).

Anyway, the version I made was super easy - anyone can do it, even people who don't know where the Mason Dixon Line is. Ready?
-One sheet of puff pastry, partially thawed. Place it, unfolded, on a sheet of parchment paper.
-1/2 cup of shredded cheese (the recipe calls for Parmigiano Reggiano, but you could absolutely use Aged Gouda, Sharp Cheddar, or any drier/more aged cheese) sprinkled on top of the sheet of puff pastry with a little salt and pepper. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top and use a rolling pin to press the cheese into the pastry.
-Flip the whole thing over and repeat with another 1/2 cup of cheese and roll to press in.
-Slice into even strips with a pizza cutter or whatever
-Make into twists and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, rotating halfway through for beautiful, puffed "straws."

So, as I was researching this post, I found this amazing web site. Hoppin' John has spent A LOT of time researching the history of cheese straws. Turns out, the recipe I just shared with you is not officially a cheese "straw," but more of a cheese "finger." And Hoppin' John, while complimentary about the fingers, refuses to admit them to the lexicon of Southern cheese straws. I will not even begin to share with you the knowledge on his site, but I will tell you that real cheese straws are basically flour, fat, cheese, and a bit of spice - cayannne, etc. More like a savory shortbread cookie than a cracker. Think about it - it is HOT in the South, and until recently, cheese wasn't really something that was made there. A great way to preserve cheese there was to bake it! Puff pastry just won't hold up in humid, hot weather. The first Southern cheese straw recipe seems to have surfaced in 1861, and they haven't gone away since. And did I mention that they're delicious? Crunchy and flaky, with a rich cheese flavor that comes from a cup+ of cheese, and the intensifying magic of the oven. The addition of spice, either plenty of black pepper or cayanne, adds great depth of flavor. Tastes great with Cabernet. Give it a try!

I Fondue, Can You?

2010-01-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

Fondue, born in the kitchens of 18th Century Swiss villagers trying to use stale bread and cheese while conveniently huddled together around a flame to keep warm with the family, has come a long way. It has now effectively moved past the fondue of the 70s (complete with kitchy fondue bibs and key partys - (the link isn't really worthy of the age restrictions, it's just that The Ice Storm was an R-rated movie)). The lowly fondue has now helped ring in 2010! I hereby declare this year the year of melted cheese!

Our New Year's fondue party rocked! And it was so easy!

Step 1 - grate a combination of cheeses (Cuisinart makes it easy, and saves your knuckles). We used a combination of Emmentaler, Gruyere and Comte, which is basically a French Gruyere. These cheeses make for a nice, nutty flavor in the fondue, and melt really well. Emmentaler is your traditional Swiss cheese, complete with holes. Gruyere and Comte are a little smoother, with fewer, smaller holes. They all melt well, and taste great together. While Emmentaler and Gruyere is the "traditional" combination, this is your chance to be creative. Add some cheddar for some sharpness, some muenster for earthiness or some blue cheese - hey, why not?

Step 1a - toss the grated cheese with a bit of flour or Arrowroot powder if you have it. Just enough to coat the cheese. This helps with the thickening. This is really easy to do if you have a big Ziploc bag.

Step 2 - rub fondue pot with garlic. DO NOT SKIP!!

Step 3 - add white wine to the pot; one cup for each pound of cheese you'll be adding. Heat pot over medium. Note - if you want to make an alcohol free fondue, you can use milk here instead. Add a few teaspoons of lemon juice for acidity, and make sure to use nice fatty cheeses - like Gruyere - to make sure the melting process doesn't lead to a burning cheese process. A little paprika could add a little flavor.

Step 4 - add the cheese a few handfuls at a time, stirring constantly. As it melts, add more.

Step 5 - at some point in the melting process, add a few tablespoons of Kirsch, a Swiss cherry liqueur. Danger - this stuff is potent! Note - if you're really going for broke, give your guests each a little bowl of kirsch to dip their bread into before they put it in the cheese. Yowza!

Step 6 - when it's all melted, gather round the pot! The first person to loose their bread cube in the pot

We had lots of day old bread cubes on hand (they hold better on your fork, and love to soak up cheese sauce. We also had some steamed brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli for dipping to make it "healthy." OMG. What a treat. I had a bit of a cheese hangover this morning - between the wine and kirsch in the sauce and the wine and champagne in my glass it was quite an evening. But so much fun!

They sell fondue sets pretty much everywhere at this point, so what's stopping you?

BTW - if you ever get tired of cheese (the horror!) don't forget about chocolate fondue!

Check out this website for all sorts of great fondue tips. Brie with Mushrooms fondue anyone? Yum!

Best CheeseDreams of 2009

2009-12-31T11:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone seems to be making a "best of 2009" list for this and that. To see what local LA cheesemonger professionals think, check out this list. Very excited to see my friend and personal cheesemonger Andrew at the top of that list. Way to go Andrew's Cheese Shop!

I had so much fun going back though the blog this afternoon to see how far I've come since my first post on July 27, 2009. While my memory is pretty great, I also wanted to remind myself of all the cheeses I've tasted since then! Back then, I was pretty convinced that I would own my own goat farm by the end of the year, successfully husbanding my herd, and milking them for their tasty milk which I would make into delicious artisinal cheeses all by myself. That brings out the LOLs now! I certainly have learned a lot since then, haven't I?

Anyway, since then, I've tasted cheese with wine, cheese with beer, cheese with tea. I've made amazing cheese toasts and fallen in love with sheep cheese in a way I wasn't expecting. I've learned about cheese from Australia, Canada, Africa and Portugal not to mention California, Washington, Vermont and Massachusetts. I've fed friends and family and gained a few pounds. I've had lots of dreams about cheese! How about you?

So, in a nutshell, here is a list of some of my favorites of 2009. If you are highly motivated, go back and revisit the posts related to these amazing cheeses. If you aren't, don't worry - there won't be a quiz!

Dalle Charentaise - 8/23/09 - A beautiful, delicate goat cheese. Like an old French cathedral, but in a good way.
Roaring 40s Blue - Many times since 8/27/09. Sweet, delicious blue from Australia
Hooligan - 10/5/09 - An incredibly complex washed rind cheese that really makes you work for it's love. STANKY on the outside, sweet and delicious on the inside.
Avonlea - 10/8/09 - Cheddar from Prince Edward Island. Beautiful "sunshiny" flavor. One of Andrew's faves as well BTW.
Marisa - 11/28/09 - Fantastic sheep's milk cheese from Wisconsin

This list is in no way exhaustive. Rogue River Blue, Birkshire Blue, Brillat Savarin, aged Gouda, Camembert, Muenster, Zamarano, Sao Jorge, LambChopper, Mt. Tam, etc. etc. etc. also hold special places in my heart. And let's not forget the cheese mites! What's so exciting is that for every cheese that I have learned about and celebrated this year, there are so many more out there to explore and discover. Hooray!!

Here's to a cheesy 2010!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 16 - Majorero

2009-12-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

As we hurtle toward 2010, I look forward to many more Wednesday night cheese discoveries! I think it only fitting that the last Wednesday night cheese of 2009 be something festive, spicy, creamy, exotic and dee-licious. From the Canary Island of Fuertaventura comes Majorero. This rich, creamy, smooth goat cheese is a beautiful white on the inside - par for the goat course, I think - with a beautiful red rind, courtesy of spicy pimemton pepper. The pepper was originally used to keep the bad bacteria out during the aging process. The fabulous side effect was a delicious spicyness that permeates at least 1/4" into the cheese. The rich paste keeps it from being too overpowering, and don't think it's anything like Pepperjack (though I actually love a good Pepperack cube from time to time!).

This cheese is named for a word for special shoes made from goat leather (um - ew?). Majorero is also the name given to the current residents of this Canary Island. (Many thanks to Wikipedia for this amazing photo of the island - another place to put on the dream travel list!) I think that I'm definitely becoming a fan of the cheese of the Canary Islands.

The happy goats on this island are protected/herded by local dogs of the same name (you must click this link for a picture of the cutest puppy ever!), and something about the grass on the island and the (perhaps inbred) goats themselves, the milk produced on this island is especially high in butter fat, which makes the cheese all the more tasty.

We enjoyed this cheese first with a tasty hard cider, and then with a delicious Tempranillo red (made from traditionally Spanish grapes. Go figure.). We finished up the ends by melting them onto a piece of toast for a tasty, spicy snack. A great cheese for the last Wednesday of the year!

Cheese Makes Everything Even Better!

2009-12-29T14:14:00.000-08:00

It has been a whirlwind week. My parents are in town for the holidays, and well, there were the holidays! So much fun was had by all. The highlight so far has been an overnight in Santa Barbara wine country. We visited Firestone vinyard for a tour and tasting - a nice intro to the area for the parentals. Turns out they were having a MASSIVE sale, and so Darling Dad will have a case of wine waiting for him upon his return home. The next day, we went to the little tasting room for Coquelicot, and enjoyed many tastes in their lovely garden area (don't hate on the Cali girl for her lovely Xmas weather...).
**Please note - the pic here is of Darling Husband at a wine tasting over the summer -the weather here isn't THAT great. Neither Darling Mom or Dad would consent to having their pics on the web.

Because I am the cheese head that I am, I packed a Camembert and a bit of Birkshire Blue into a bag for the trip with a ice pack and some crackers. As we sat down at the table for the first of three Chardonnay tastings, a Sauvignon Blanc tasting, I cracked out the Camembert. Perfect! Rich creamy cheese with rich oaky whites. We got distracted by the multitude of tastings, and were well into the reds, when Dad commented that he didn't really like a particular Cabernet. Remembering that everyone's taste buds are different, I didn't get defensive, but realized that it might be time to break out the Birkshire Blue! Nothing like a bit of tangy cheese to help you focus on the fruity flavors of a perhaps slightly tannic red (tannic wine is the stuff that makes your mouth feel like all the moisture has just been sucked out by a high speed hair drier - not particularly appetizing). It worked! Upon further reflection, Dad decided that he didn't mind the wine as much with the cheese. It is possible that he was just being nice, or that we were on tasting #7, but I think that there is definitely something to be said for the magic that happens to your tastebuds when you mix a little wine and cheese together.

Be it a cube of grocery store cheddar at a cheap art opening or a wedge of Camembert at a winery, or a left-over nugget of whatever cheese for a night at home with the hubby, it all tastes good! Celebrate the holidays or any day with a bit of wine and cheese! Two great tastes that taste great together. (I'll let your brain puzzle out which old marketing campaign that phrase comes from...)

Christmas Eve Cheese Miracle - Brillat-Savarin

2009-12-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

"Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are." If you are a fanatic Iron Chef fan (Japanese version), you will know that this quote is by the famous French gastronome and politician Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. He is also quoted as saying "A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye." No disrespect to all the beautiful one-eyed ladies out there, but I have to agree with M. Brillat-Savarin.

M. Brillat-Savarin was also one of the first fans of what we now know as the Atkins diet. It makes sense, therefore, that the cheese created in his honor would be a triple creme (75% fat) bloomy rind with a sinfully delicious core that is sweet and delicious with a hint of mushroom in the nicest way - kind of like a super creamy cream of mushroom soup that has been thinned out with A LOT of heavy cream. But it still has an incredible lightness to it. Soooooo good! Keep in mind that Andrew the cheesemonger doesn't really consider triple creme cheese to be cheese in the strictest sense due to the additional cream added prior to fermentation to make it a "triple" creme. That said, I'll repeat it's sooooooooooooo good! I can't believe I've never eaten this one before. It is now on my "crowd pleaser" list.

This was the cheese I took tonight to celebrate Christmas Eve with my family at my Mother-in-Law's assisted living facility. It was a huge success with all, though the MIL did mention that she had been hoping for blue cheese. Sigh. She still had four crackers worth! (our image today is courtesy of Wikipedia - the entire cheese plate was practically licked clean!) We also experienced a small Christmas miracle when she voiced supreme pleasure in the mince pies we brought. Hooray!

Merry Christmas to all celebrating, and may visions of cheese balls (and sugar plums) dance in your heads!

Holiday Cheese Planning!

2009-12-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

Between work and being sick, my cheese life has been severely compromised. It's been a hard few weeks! But in my mind, I was planning what cheeses to share with my darling parents and slightly fussy mother-in-law over Christmas.

What to do? I sort of feel like all the learning and tasting I've done over the last six months boils down to what and how I present to others. I think that one of the most important things to be able to do as a cheese head is to figure out what works for others, as much as knowing what you love for you and your personal taste buds. Perhaps Groundhog Day is a day to experiment with new, exotic, "weird" cheese, but I don't think that Christmas is necessarily the time or place to present challenging cheese to friends and family unless they are as cheesy as I am. I know my parents both support me in my cheesy-ness, and even the mother-in-law likes talking about cheese with me from time to time. That said, did I think they would really want to try that really tangy goat Bleu de Bocage? Probably not. This was the time for KISS cheese. Keep it simple.

So, bring out the Camembert! The challenge will be the Birkshire Blue (my current favorite blue - and I can tell a good story about it...). And the cheese for the afternoon with the mother-in-law? Brillat Savarin with Champagne! I know, I know - we haven't yet discussed this triple creme, but stay tuned.

And if they are bored - which they won't be because all of these cheese are awesome - I'll just take them to Andrew's Cheese to pick out something new.

Happy happy everyone! Enjoy family, good food and some tasty cheese! Let me know how it goes!

All Cows Need is Love...

2009-12-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone needs to have a place where everyone knows their name. I always like it when people use my name when saying hello. Don’t you? It makes me feel like they care enough to remember. I wish I was better at remembering names. I remember faces, and I will probably remember when we met, and what we talked about, but chances are, I don’t remember your name. It doesn’t mean I don’t care, but it does make me feel a little lame.

Anyway, it turns out that cows also feel better when they are given names on the farm and aren’t just another number. I just heard about a study released last January by Newcastle University in the UK that showed a correlation between cows being treated as individuals (having names, getting a little positive one-on-one time with the farmer, etc) and milk production. According to the study, over the 10 month “lactation cycle” for the average dairy cow, those with names produced an average of 454 more pints of milk than those only referred to by the numbered tag in their ear. Pretty amazing! I'm a little concerned about this cow I saw at the LA County Fair. She seems to be the numbered kind. Let's name her Priscilla!

In an article in the Telegraph from January of 2009 60% of British dairy farmers claim to know all the cows in their herd, and 48% of them already kind of knew that happy, emotionally confident cows produce more milk. Dr Catherine Douglas, one of the researchers on the project, pointed out an additional benefit of the study: "Maybe people can be less self conscious and not worry about chatting to their cows." Ha! That’s right – talking to your animals doesn’t make you crazy, it makes you efficient!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 15 - Phlegm edition

2009-12-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

This is the first Wednesday in 15 weeks that I am not eating cheese. Mostly because I've been cooped up in the house all day dealing with sinus pressure. Boo! Even if I'd made it to the store, I couldn't taste anything anyway. I don't really believe the old wives tale that dairy produces more phlegm, so if I had cheese, and I could taste it, I'd be eating it...

I knew there wasn't necessarily anything to the argument that cheese and dairy were bad for you when you were sick. Of course, like everything else, every body is different, and everyone reacts differently when sick so there's my disclaimer. Most of the internet searches come up with people talking about how dairy produces histamines in the system. I don't have dairy allergies (thank goodness!), but I suppose that if I had a cold and then had a dairy allergy I would be doubly uncomfortable. Then, I checked with the Curd Nerd (an amazing cheese resource BTW) who had found a 1990 study from the Royal Adelaide Hospital in S. Australia that that says that there is no statistical relationship between dairy intake and mucus production. There was a statistically insignificant reaction between drinking milk and a loose cough.

So, there you go. I just always go for spicy Asian and Latin flavors over creamy dairy flavors when I'm sick in an attempt to taste something. Hopefully, I'll be back in cheese tasting form soon with some great more cheeses to share with you. Be well!

Get that 70s Feeling - Cream Cheese Spinach Dip!

2009-12-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's not about where the cheese is from, or how it's made, but what you do with it. Cheese, however, is always about how it makes you feel. I've been enjoying so many fabulous, exotic cheeses that my palate has had a little bit of overload lately. So, when I was supposed to bring cheese to a party recently, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But my love of creamy dairy products got the better of me, and so I hit the grocery store for a package of original Philadelphia cream cheese and some sour cream. I was going back to the 70s with the always lovely spinach dip! Travel back in time without the polyester stretch pants with me, wont you?

Courtesy of the very last issue of Gourmet to ever be published, I bring you the following moderately adapted recipe:

- 4 shallots/spring onions sliced, 1-2 cloves garlic minced and sauted in 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

- add to the pot a ten-twelve ounce bag of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry along with an 8 oz package of cream cheese cubed. Stir to combine

- when the cheese has melted in, add either 1-2 tablespoons of anchovy paste or 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce and 3/4 cup of sour cream

- when everything is heated through, add 1-2 tablespoons of fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon + of dried tarragon, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste

Eat with pita chips, crostini or for that really retro vibe, some Triscuits. Yum! All we need now are some Swedish meatballs and a sauna to complete the 70s experience. Here's a party that could have used a little dip...

Grilled Cheese Night II - Chaumes

2009-12-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

You know you are in for it when the texts from Darling Husband begin at 4 pm and follow this basic trend: "Cheese" "I want cheese." "Grilled cheese" "Grilled cheese and us." Awww! Perhaps I've created a monster, but a sweet one, none the less!

OK, sorry for the nauseating digression. Anyway, when I got home, Darling Husband had the Italian bread sliced and the cheese was warming up on the counter. I threw together a little tomato lentil soup while he broiled the bread, buttered it and layered it thick with Chaumes. Stupendous! I would have taken pictures of the finished product, but it went straight from the broiler to the stomach in about 60 seconds.

Steve Jenkin's Cheese Primer kind of talks some smack about Chaumes (shohm). While he does point out that it is a very popular cheese, he focuses on it's mass-produced-ness, and complains that it doesn't have the "power nor the rusticity of the true Munster." While that is true, the slightly less agressive nature of Chaumes is what makes is great for a Tuesday night grilled cheese. It also makes it a great intro to washed rind cheese for those afraid of the stank! There isn't any barnyard here, which I didn't miss. There is a nice garlic/spicy thing going on with this cheese. Sticky goodness!

Because it is mass produced, it is a pasturized cheese, which is great for anyone worried about little critters in their cheese (but really, you shouldn't be that worried unless you are buying cheese on the side of the road ...). It takes four gallons of milk to make a single 4.5 pound cheese, which ages for two to three weeks before being sent to the store. Peel off the thin plastic coating before eating, but be sure to taste the actual rind. It really makes this cheese special.

We probably could have eaten the entire wedge straight, but heaven forbid we put it together with some tasty carbs for a fabulous feast. I'll be dreaming about this one tonight!

A Lot Can Happen in 15 Years!

2009-12-07T23:18:00.000-08:00

What were you doing in 1994? It was a pretty exciting year for me. Tony and Julie Hook had a pretty great year too. That year, these two Wisconsin cheesemakers made a thousand+ pounds of cheddar that has been aging ever since. Much like wine, all cheese ages differently. Some taste great at 6 months or 18 months or even 5 years (delightful aged Gouda anyone?). It is rare, though, for a cheese to age this long. Not only is it hard to resist temptation to sell and/or eat it, if there are any weird flavors buried in the cheese, they will become obvious and ruin the cheese. If everything is perfect, however, it could probably age indefinitely, only getting better with time.

Anyway, while Hook's Cheese Company has a regular 10 year and 12 year cheddar, this 15 year stuff is very rare, on the market for a VERY limited time and is selling for $50 a pound. If you put money into an investment and waited for 15 years, you'd want a pretty good return too, right? This cheese sat patiently on a shelf, aging peacefully, getting tested periodically, and not paying attention to much other than making itself tasty. It aged itself through the dot com bubble, grunge music, a Presidential impeachment, two Iraq wars, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Harry Potter and the iPhone, not to mention the million much more important things that have happened in the last 15 years that I'm not thinking of at the moment. I can't think of a better collectible to remind me of the rich variety of things that have happened in my life. A rich, crystallized structure holding the memory of green pastures in a field when the ozone layer was just a little thicker.

While watching cheese age is a bit slower than watching paint dry, with a little help from time lapse photography, you can see how it really does change over time. Check this out! Even over a year, a lot can happen. The little core samples are the periodic taste tests. I love how they fill in the plug after!

Quicke's Cheddar - Hurry Up!

2009-12-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

Saturday was my quarterly food bonanza in Beverly Hills with my dear friends Man Who Sneers at Goats (Cheese) and the Shopping Queen. So of course, we went to the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills (and the cupcake store, and the chocolate store...). That place is crazy! So many people, and so much cheese all crammed into a little space. A little claustrophobic, but the cheesy smells kept me from loosing my mind while waiting for our number to be called! It gave me a little time to snoop around and figure out what I wanted samples of. Remember - even when it's busy, you are a customer too. Take your time, ask your questions, get your samples, leave happy.

I decided that Darling Husband needed a little reminder of home, and asked for a nice English Cheddar. Tony the Cheesemonger brought out this giant half wheel of butter colored goodness. I could see from the crystalization that it was well aged (turns out it this one is 18 months old). Look at the crumble! Made by Mary Quicke and her Devon herd of grass fed cows, this cheese gets wrapped and rubbed with lard to keep it moist while it ages. And, with many things, this just gets better the longer it sits! You can still taste the grassy milk, and can almost picture Mary and her team of rosy cheeked cheese makers stirring the milk as it heats, slicing the curd, packing the molds...but the time aging on the shelf give it a nice crunch from the crystals, a great salt, and a hint of caramel.

There is something about a really dry cheddar that is just so satisfying. Seriously, if this cheese wasn't named for it's creator, I'd think it was because it gets gobbled us right quick! In desperate need of a snack this afternoon before going to the grocery store, I grabbed Mrs. Quicke's Cheddar from the fridge, chunked it up, munched on a Granny Smith, and was confident in my ability to stick to the list. Which is important as my cheese budget grows!

Vacherin Nont d'Or - the Holy Grail of Cheese? Perhaps.

2009-12-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

To every season there is a cheese, and winter belongs to Vacherin Mont d'Or (vash-er-ANN moan-DOOR). This incredible cheese is only available during the winter months, and once it's gone, you have to wait till the next December! When I got to Andrew's this afternoon, there were so many people there! I didn't know what to do, and then I saw the guy in front of me getting this a Vacherin Mont d'Or it's darling wood box, and I knew that would be the perfect cheese to celebrate the end of a looooong week. And lucky me - I got the last one! Ha! Collector's victory!

Every book I've read calls this part of the Holy Grail of cheese. Andrew claims that it is "one of the finest achievements of human civilization." I'd probably put it behind fire and the wheel, but it might come shortly after that on the list. What else can I add? Well, I can agree that it is pretty amazing, and it comes with some cool bells and whistles. Even though it looks like a scary orange washed rind stinker, it isn't. It's soft, fuzzy coral rind has beautiful ripples. It comes wrapped in Spruce bark from the mountain trees of Switzerland to keep it from falling apart in it's lovely softness, and is wedged into a safe little box for shipping. I tried to bang it out of the packaging, but it was stuck. Which is good because once I dug into the top of this cheese, it was so soft I could probably have used a spoon, and I would never have gotten it back in!

The spruce bark definitely gives this cheese a piny nose. I also got a little pepper, and when I closed my eyes, I was almost transported to a Swiss mountain top covered in snow. Unlike the milk in some of the cheese that I've talked about that tastes like grass, or flowers or whatever, this one has a purity to it that comes from cows eating nothing but fresh hay and grain. It does have a bit of "barnyard tang" but really what you taste is beautiful milky, buttery goodness, a crazy pine tree flavor and a tiny bit of pepper. Some people say it tastes like scrambled eggs. I didn't get that, but who knows. I like my eggs poached.

This is not a cheap cheese - you can't get less than a whole cheese (you'd probably have to pack it in a bag it would be so goopy!). I spend $32 on it, but it we'll snack off it for a while. It won't be an every day purchase, but it isn't an every day cheese. It's a celebratory cheese - for a week survived, for an exam passed, for good times with friends. Hey - if you're in the neighborhood, drop in, and I'll scoop you out a little on a piece of bread! We'll share a glass of wine, maybe some figs...mmmm. Better hurry! The dog looks hungry!

Lancashire - Three Milkings and Some Butter!

2009-12-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

When is a blue cheese not a blue cheese? When it's Lancashire. Duh. Or not.

I was looking for something fun from England - I didn't really want Cheddar, and I've had plenty of Blues for a while. What to do? So I went to Andrew's Cheese (again) and got the hook up with this Lancashire. It's a creamy white cheese with a cool blue streak through it. I guess that some people think that streak is a bad thing, because the cheesemonger was very quick to let me know that it wasn't really a "flaw," but something that comes with the territory for artisinal cheese. I think it makes it kind of cool.

Anyway, I love surprises, and this was a good one! Lancashire has a nice tangy flavor with maybe a hint of lemon and a nice creamy crumble. The flavor really hits in the back of your mouth if you break off a chunk. "They" call it a butter crumble, and that's a pretty good description. Each little bit that crumbles off is so soft and creamy. What an interesting texture! I think it may also be called a butter crumble because the cheese is rubbed in butter to protect it during the aging process.

Additionally, this cheese is made from milk collected over three days - an homage to the old days when a farmer might only have one cow, and it might take three days to get together enough milk to make a cheese. This might be where some of the tang comes from. There's a great website devoted to Lancashire cheese, if' you're looking for something else to kill a few minutes on the internets.

While this was great on a cheese plate, it did cause a little confusion (Friend - Can you make me up a cracker with some of the blue cheese? Me - Oh, this great Berkshire Blue? Friend - No, the other one. Me - That's not blue cheese, but it's tasty! Friend - Really? Ok. I'll try that! Oooooh Yum!). I think it might actually make amazing cheese toast. Mmmmm. I've got a little hunk of this left. That may be tomorrow nights dinner. Darling Husband if you're reading - don't take this one in to school tomorrow!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 14 - Just for Fun!

2009-12-02T14:04:00.000-08:00

Dare you to give this a go!

Great Gouda!

2009-12-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

I love gouda. It's so good! Remember - it isn't actually pronounced "goo-da" but "how-da." Whatever. It tastes great! When its been aging for five years, it gets crystals in it that give it a crunch kind of like parmesean and it has this incredible sweet butterscotch, nutty-ness. I love it aged so much, that I have yet to really try some of the younger versions. While the older cheese has a crunchy crystalline texture, the younger cheeses have a nice creamy, buttery texture that I can't wait to get to know. I've got some guidance now. The latest issue of Culture (an amazing magazine for cheese heads), has a sexy gouda centerfold! Oh yes it does. Want some statistics?

1) All gouda has to be at least 48% fat. Yum!
2) Worried about little holes in your gouda? Perfectly normal. If fact, some cheese makers add enzymes to intentionally make the curd "burp."
3) Think flavored gouda is weird? Actually, since the Netherlands was an early spice trade hub, putting cumin seeds in the cheese has a great, old history.
4) Wondering where the incredible sweetness comes from? After the curd has been cut, and the whey is being released, some of it is drained off and the curd is rinsed with warm water to remove some of the lactose. Less lactose minimizes lactic acid development, and creates a sweeter cheese. Again yum! This sounds like a pretty complex process. In fact, if you change the temperature of the washing water by just one degree, you get a different flavor/texture profile.
5) Wax on, wax off? A real gouda isn't covered in red wax like the ones at the grocery store, but it is covered with a thin layer of plastic to keep the rind clean during the aging process.

As with all cheeses, the food the cows eat really impacts the flavor of the cheese. While cows make more milk when they're eating "silage" (dry feed), grass makes for tastier cheese. When you can close your eyes and feel like you're in the pasture with the beasties, that's a good cheese! Don't take it from me - check out these happy Dutch cows on the first day of spring! Just remember this as the sun sets earlier, and the skies fill with clouds and snow!

Camembert - it isn't just a small Brie

2009-11-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

I love Camembert. You should too. There is so much flavor wrapped up in this little bloomy rind. Not when you get it from the grocery store when it's just Brie with a different name, but when it comes in a little wooden box and arrives straight from France it is just amazing. (If you can't find it locally, you can always order online from Amazon.com or a cheese shop that ships like Murray's Cheese or the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. It'll be fine - it comes in it's own cute little box!) You must, must, must take it out of the fridge at least a half hour in advance to let it warm up and get gooey. If you take that step, you will be rewarded with cheese that almost needs a spoon for serving. Incredible on a bit of baguette. *If your cheese has gone from gooey to runny, your cheese may be a little too over ripe,

Real Camembert only comes in an 8 oz disk. If you're friends with your cheesemonger, you might be able to get a half round, but I'm telling you from experience that I got in trouble for only having a half at Thanksgiving! It goes great with Pinot Noir, and has a great sort of sweet mushroom flavor with a bit of nuttiness in the background. Apparently, if you eat Brie and Camembert in France blind folded, you might not be able to tell the difference. I can't wait for that "Pepsi Challenge." Keep in mind - while this isn't a "smelly" cheese, it does have a great cheesy smell, which you might not be prepared for if you are used to the stuff from the grocery store. You should definitely eat the rind - for two reasons. First, the rind in this case is really part of the flavor profile of the cheese. Do your own taste test if you don't believe me. Without the rind, the flavor is almost too mild. Additionally, if you do do this test, you'll find that there isn't a lot of cheese left (especially if you let the cheese warm up as directed). This little guy is really only a half inch thick, so if you cut the rind off, you'll be left with a sad little sliver of cheese.

Fun fact? According to Steve Jenkin's Cheese Primer, the "Vimoutier parish archives [in] 1680 Camembert was already highly regarded: 'A very good cheese, well-suited to aid digestion after a meal washed down with good wines.'" There you have it. You can eat it (as I just did) at the end of a huge eating day like Thanksgiving. Burp.

Beautiful Berkshire Blue

2009-11-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

As part of my Thanksgiving "Pilgrim's Progress" cheese spread, I needed a cheese from Massachusetts. Trouble was, Andrew's Cheese Shop only had one cheese from MA in the case on Wednesday when I went in to procure my dairy delights. It always makes me nervous when I don't have choices, but the one cheese they had sounded kind of interesting. I took Berkshire Blue home untasted. What choice did I have? It was all about location, location, location for this tasting.

I wasn't disappointed! This blue cheese (on the right - duh) is a great find for anyone who loves blues. It might not be a great cheese for introducing your blue cheese phobic cheeses to your obsession with blue mold. It is a bit on the tangy side. That said, it also has a great earthy sweetness, with a great creamy texture. It was great on a bit of cracker (I tried to eat it without carbs, but it stuck to my fingers! Not a terrible problem to have, but it was slowing me down.) with a glass of port.

The website for this great artisinal cheese betrays their love for their Jersey cows. I can't say I blame them. Not only are they adorable, with their big brown eyes, but their milk has a higher butterfat content, and they are apparently smarter than your average cow. Kind of fun. And really, if you devote your life to turning someone's milk into cheese, wouldn't you prefer if they weren't just a bunch of great udders? I digress.

If you can find this one, buy it! You won't be sorry. It's only available in a few shops around the country, but they'll ship it to you for special occasions if you ask nicely (and give them your credit card number).

Have I Mentioned Marisa?

2009-11-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to share this sheep's milk cheese with you for a while, but I've been too happy munching on it! This amazing cheese (named for the cheesemaker's daughter) from Carr Valley Cheese Company in Wisconsin is aged for six months and has an incredible earthy, nutty-ness. Plus, as a sheep's milk cheese, it has a naturaly high butterfat content, which gives it a great richness. I could snack on this all day (and I have been)!

I've now shared this cheese at two parties - a Pinot Noir tasting and at Thanksgiving. (In the picture, it's the one in back.) It went great with the Pinot, and at Thanksgiving, even though it was competing with a lot of stunners (more on that later), it really held it's own. The Professor appreciated it's mid-western roots, and I love the fact that it almost has the texture of a cheddar, but it is clearly something else all together.

I read a restaurant review lately that described one dish as "the nice sister that holds your hand after [another really strong flavored dish] has verbally assaulted you." Perhaps out of context it doesn't make any sense, but Marisa really is the nice, interesting sister who might not be the one you notice first when you walk into the room, but once you meet her, you keep wanting to go back and spend more time with her.

If you can find this one, buy it! Keep it around for snacking on and sharing with friends!

Happy Post-Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T15:48:00.000-08:00

Happy post-Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your day was full of friends and family, lacking in drama, and sporting a great cheese plate! Even though all of my genetic family was hundreds of miles away, I enjoyed a beautiful day with friends, starting with turkey in the park under sunny skies, followed by a movie and a cheese course curated by yours truly. The good part was that I didn't have to cook, the bad part was that now that I'm considered the "cheese expert" of the group, the pressure was on!

I couldn't just bring any old cheese. The good news is, I am definitely feeling more confident about my cheese choices after six months of experimentation. The only problem - there are too many great cheeses to pick from! What to do?

Why, track the "Pilgrim's Progress" of course! "Huh?" you say? Well, those poor persecuted Pilgrims started their journey in England (amazing cheese choices from there!), spent a while in the Netherlands (can anyone say 5-year Gouda?), and finally ended up on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts! I am so clever! Well, at least when I went into Andrew's Cheese Shop on that mission, they said they hadn't heard of that theme before... Anyway, the RSVP list started out at 5 (including Darling Husband and myself). I had picked up a Lancashire from England, a 5-year Gouda from the Netherlands, and the amazing Birkshire Blue from the Birkshire Mountains of Massachusetts (ok, the Pilgrims probably didn't get that far inland, but whatever!). I had about a pound of cheese, which would have been fine, but then the list grew to 8 and then to 10. Yikes! Man Who Sneers at Goats (Cheese) jumped in with a few additional cheeses, including a Petit Basque from Spain. I also brought along a Camembert from France. We rationalized that the Catholic Pilgrims who traveled across Spain and France to the beautiful cathedrals during the Middle Ages were also Pilgrims (albeit not the kind that ate turkey and corn pudding with the Native Americans who hadn't yet realized that they were a threat to their very existance).

I'll be posting about a few of the cheeses over the next few days as you recover from turkey overload and start planning your holiday parties. Are you planning cheese boards? Let me know!

Is that a cheese knife in your pocket?

2009-11-19T22:09:00.000-08:00

When you have a cheese blog, and you are eating lots of cheese, you tend to have some left overs. Left overs are great! You can keep them in the fridge a few days to be a little memory of your new cheese discovery (allowing their delightful cheesy smell to permeate the corners of the deli drawer). You can enjoy them again on a cracker, or you can get a little more adventurous the second time around (blue cheese with brussels sprouts anyone?). Alternately, while you are getting around to figuring out what to do, your Darling Husband might squirrel it away and take it off to school to share at an English Department meeting. Doh!

Usually this is ok, when it is actually a left over, but as you might remember from his guest post a while back, Darling Husband sometimes takes cheese that isn't actually a left over at all, but a $13 uncut Le Gariotin goat cheese from Soutwest France. To be fair, I had gotten two of these cuties for a wine and cheese event (tastes great with Pinot Noir!), and there was an extra one left in the fridge. But this was a whole cheese! It may have been left over, but it hadn't been compromised, for crying out loud!

What's kind of charming is that this cheese ended up at a English Department meeting, where, as it turns out many English teachers fantasize about dropping out and raising goats and making cheese. Who knew? As such, sharing a delightful, wrinkly, sweet, savory nugget of goat cheese (cut with the cheese knife that has been missing from my kitchen for about a month) with some incredibly hard working folks who regularly eat "shepherd's pie" of ground beef and mashed potato flake from the school cafeteria seems a small price to pay.

Sweet dreams teachers! I hope you enjoyed that cheese! It was my pleasure to share with you.

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 13 I've got the Blues!

2009-11-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

Unlucky #13! Sigh. It has been quite a week. I have been eating cheese, and taking notes, but between team meetings for class, late nights at the office, and a Basset Hound puppy visiting for the weekend drooling on everything and amping up the energy, I just haven't been able to share. I've missed you guys! Hope the feeling has been mutual.

Anyway, I have been meaning to share with you the joys of Blue Cheese (again!). I picked up my favorite Roaring 40s from Australia, and decided to compare it with Bleu de Bocage from France. This was a crazy "Pepsi Challenge!" The Roaring 40s, as you know, is a sweet blue that comes in a pretty blue wax shell. I don't have to go on about that one again, other than to bore you with my undying love for it. Blah, blah, blah.

Bleu de Bocage, on the other hand, was not an immediate love. In fact, if you are a fan of CheeseDreaming on FaceBook, you might have seen me comment on how I had finally found a cheese I didn't like. Egads! This cheese is really unique. It is one of the few goat cheese blues out there. Obviously Man Who Sneers at Goat (Cheese) wouldn't be a fan. I didn't even ask him to try this one. My first taste made me tear up. It is really "assertive." I put it down and ran! Embarassed, I went back to try again. And again. And again. It really grew on me. There was a really interesting crunch to it from the salt crystals (I think that was the source). There was a complex minerally sweetness underneath that tang that made me cry. This one is not for the faint of heart, but give it a try!

So, in the "practical application" department, I put some crumbled Roaring 40s on my steamed Brussels Sprouts last night with some fresh ground pepper. Yum! The Bleu de Bocage on a cracker went really well with a Cosmo made by Darling Husband this evening.

Don't be afraid! Get the blues. Sometimes its ok.

Sao Jorge - Like a Trip to the Azores

2009-11-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

I seem to have lost my notes on the Sao Jorge, which is unfortunate since it was an incredibly amazing cheese. The good news is that it was so memorable that I think we'll be ok. Hailing from the island of Sao Jorge in the Azores and belonging to Portugal, this cow's milk cheese (according to our cheesemongeress) tends to get PMS. Rather than having spikes in hormone levels, this cheese simply changes a lot during the aging process, going from sweet to tangy and peppery over time. Our chunk was peppery, and so dry and crumbly that it broke in half on the way home from the store. (It's at 2:00 on the cheese board here. See how it crumbles! Yum!

This is something that will really perk up your cheese board and make your friends think that you are ultra cool. Just put some chunks out, and serve with a big red wine, and presto - people intrigued by what they're eating. You might take a first bite and not really like it, but it will linger on your tongue, and you'll start thinking about it. And you'll go back for another taste. And then another one while you are trying to figure it out. I've never tasted anything like it. Maybe it's because the cows are eating in the Azores, and the grass there just tastes different. There has been cheese making on this 95 square mile island of Sao Jorge since the 1400s, so they know what they're doing. I've never been, but these pictures definitely make me want to go hang out with a good book and some hiking shoes for a month.

The Joe Matos Cheese Factory in Santa Rosa, CA makes a cheese called St. George in homage to this Portugese one. I may need to go check it out. It's a lot closer than the Azores, and sounds like a fun, hard working place. Plus, I'm almost out of cheese. Time for more!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 12

2009-11-11T22:17:00.000-08:00

How insane is this cheese plate? Perhaps a larger plate was necessary, but as previously discussed, our eyes were bigger than our plans. This plate is actually backwards. Traditional cheese plates go from mild to strong in a clockwise pattern. I'm just contrary like that, and so (accidentally) this plate goes counter clockwise.

Anyway, please see the last post for discussion of the Brebirousse d'Argental and Lamb Chopper (12:00 and 10:00). Both interesting and delicious. Tonight, Berkswell and Zamorano (7:00 and 5:00). The Sao Jorge (3:00) deserves its own post. Seriously, this cheese orgy was out of control. Anyway, once Man Who Sneers at Goat (Cheese) got past the Brebirousse, he was a happy camper, as were Darling Husband and myself.

The Berkswell is from Neals Yard Dairy, and has the greatest shape. It looks like a big grey flying saucer. It is a bit gritty, but there aren't the crystals that you find in Parmesean. This sheep's cheese has a great nutty sweetness, and a tannic quality that dries out your tongue like a dry red wine. And the flavor just stays in your mouth in an amazingly delicious way.

The Zamorano is from Spain has been here before, but only in a little taste. This time, we managed to finish off the whole wedge with no trouble. This sheep's milk cheese has a beautiful basket weave rind (not really edible). This buttery, rich, nutty cheese made for a lot of conversation (we were also a bit further into our bottle of wine). Quote #1 - "This cheese has that greasy lip sheep cheese thing going on, and I love it!" Quote #2 - "Ze Spanish cheeze zat startz witz a Z."

Zat's it for tonight! We're ztill detoxinzg from the butterfat! Sao Jorge tomorrow, and then on to make new memories! Cheese dreamz all!

Brebirousse D'Argental and Lamb Chopper: Sheep Cheese Party - Part 1

2009-11-09T22:25:00.000-08:00

Cheese #1 from this past weekend's sheep's cheese orgy. Brebirousse D'Argental is a double creame washed rind sheep's milk cheese with a beautiful orange rind with a nice bloom on it. It has a very fresh taste and a very white paste. Man Who Sneers at Goat (Cheese) could have sworn that it was goat's cheese until I looked up and proved to him that it was 100% ewe's milk cheese from Lyon. To his credit, there was a teeny bit of back end barnyardy-ness that crawled up into your sinus cavity (which is what MWSAG(C) objects too). I felt that it was a bit too mild, even with the "stealth goat" which was fun, if not a little underwhelming.

As this cheese warmed up, it got nice and spreadable, with a great creamline. It was a tad gummy for my taste, but Darling Husband enjoyed it (he likes to squish his cheese around on the bread), and a quarter pound was gone in two hours. Not bad, but definitely not my favorite.

Cheese #2 was a much bigger personal success. We went with Lamb Chopper, which was actually recommended to me in a comment here a while ago. It had a great mouth feel - semi soft and mild, but sweet, and really lovely. This cheese is made in Holland for Cypress Grove (the makers of Humboldt Fog and other great goat cheeses), so it has an international pedigree, and a California address. While we enjoyed it alone with cornichon pickles and Zinfandel, we thought it would be amazing on a baguette with ham and arugula.

In fact, Sunday night Darling Husband made grilled cheese sandwiches with the leftovers (yes, there were leftovers - we're not complete gluttons!). A-maz-ing. This is a great melting cheese. Perfect with grilled bread and butter. Even better than most things that are perfect with grilled bread and butter. I wouldn't mind having a pound of this around on a regular basis. Dee-licious!

Sheep Cheese Party

2009-11-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

I was going to name this post "Sheep Orgy," but that just sounds naughty. After the Friday cheese purchasing spree at Andrew's Cheese Shop, I wend out with my friend who shall from here on in be known as "Man Who Sneers at Goat (Cheese)" and ended up at the Silverlake Cheese Store where I continued withe the cheese buying orgy. I've spent the last few days coming down from a serious butterfat overdose. What can I say - some people buy too many purses, I buy too much cheese!

Anyway, I decided that since I was with Man Who Sneers at Goat (Cheese), I decided to go on a Sheep Cheese buying spree. We ended up with FIVE varieties - four sheep cheeses and a cow's milk cheese. I swear we were only going to get one or two. OMG. Don't fear - you will be learning about all of them in the coming days. In the way squirrels save up acorns for winter, I eat cheese and save up the memories for the days I can't get out early enough to get to the cheese store.

With five cheeses in the bag, we threw an impromptu cheese tasting party, and Darling Husband, MWSAG(C) and I thoughtfully ate our way through close to a pound of sheep's milk cheese, washed down with a nice Zinfandel. There are many ways to have a cheese tasting party. You can focus on cheeses from a single country, cheeses from a single style (bloomy, washed, etc), you can have a cheese from each style, etc. We decided to focus on cheeses from a single milk. Hooray for sheep! We started with a really mild soft sheep's cheese, and worked our way up to incredibly sharp aged pecorino (that's Italian for sheep). It was pretty amazing to see who different aging and preparation methods create completely different cheeses. They all had a great richness, and a great sweetness that made the tasting a lot of fun.

Afterward, Darling Husband was overcome by butterfat shock and had to go home to nap. MWSAG(C) and I went out for healthy, detoxing salads.

So, a few mass tasting rules - taste from mild to strong, take a good sniff before you eat each one, pick a theme (optional, but fun), and stop eating before you start sweating butterfat!

I Heart Hartwell!

2009-11-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't gotten a chance to buy cheese in over a week. It's been rough, I tell ya! You know you're a cheese addict when the reason you are cranky about working late is because you won't make it to the cheese store before they close! I got out of work in time to make it to Andrew's Cheese before they closed today. Happy Friday to me! I kind of went on a buying binge. (I have a Blue Cheese challenge planned for tomorrow night - stay tuned.)

To celebrate surviving till Friday, I picked up a cute little cheese from Vermont's Ploughgate Creamery called Hartwell. I had read this cheese somewhere, and was excited to see it at the shop, but didn't realize that I would have to buy the whole cheese (about 8 oz for $13- not that much, but still...). It's ok though. Money well spent. What an delightful little cheese. Darling Husband and I managed to work our way through half of it with no trouble at all.

When I first unwrapped it and took a whiff, there was a definite ammonia smell coming off this bloomy rind cheese. Not too surprising, considering the spots of grey mold amongst the soft white bloom. It was a little overpowering, but as it came up to room temperature, the smell seemed to dissipate. It just needed to breathe a little (as all cheese does).

Ultimately, the smell is one of the most amazing things about this cheese. When I took a little piece (including the rind) and stuck it right under my nose, I swear that it smelled like fresh raked leaves. You remember that slightly damp, earthy, crispy leaf smell that would surround you when you jumped in a pile of leaves as a kid after you worked all afternoon to make the pile? Maybe you raked leaves yourself recently Sadly, there aren't that many delicious piles of leaves being raked up and jumped into in Southern California, but I still remember that smell, and the memory of those leaf piles came right back to me when I smelled Hartwell. An amazing gift to get from a cheese.

This cheese is delicious spread on a little baguette with a glass of Merlot. The paste is rich and buttery, with just enough tang. Smooth and delicious, with enough complexity to be interesting without being difficult. Eat it with the rind. Without it, it is almost too rich (not necessarily a bad thing, but I personally need the contrast).

Hartwell is made in Vermont at Ploughgate Creamery by two cheese artists who after years of making cheese for others, decided to start making it themselves. They started in May of 2008, and their cheeses are made in small batches from milk they buy from neighboring Vermont farmers. It's that kind of amazing story of knowledge, gumption and guts that I just love. They are working so hard, and it's really paying off!

I now heart Hartwell, and I am pretty sure that if you can find it, you will heart it too.

Cheese for a Wednesday, Nomad Edition (pt. 11)

2009-11-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

Things got really interesting at the office around 5:00 tonight, and I didn't get out till after 8:00, so wasn't able to go to Andrew's Cheese Shop for my mid-week munchies. Grr. I haven't been to a cheese store in over a week! Maybe tomorrow.

But in between spread sheet updates and manic printing jags, I was able to do a little research...and I found an awesome tidbit to share with you, my faithful cheeseheads. Yes, on the edge of the Sahara in Mauritania lies Tiviski, a dairy that drives a milk collection truck around to find the nomadic herdsmen and bring their CAMEL MILK in to the dairy to be pasteurized and made in to CAMEL CHEESE. OMG. (Insert joke here if you are so inclined. I am, but far be it from me to offend...)

Apparently, camel milk is low in lactose, so it's great for those of us with digestive issues. The low protein content also makes it challenging to turn camel milk into camel cheese because it doesn't curd up in the way as other millks do. It took a French cheese expert to go to Africa to figure out how to make it work (enzymes!). Of course, it is also challenging to make cheese in Africa because of the lack of nice cool caves for aging ....

The cheese has a bloomy rind, and a brie-like consistency, and owing to the desert diet (a few grasses, little dry shrubs, etc) it has a definite earthiness! Probably one of the best things about this dairy is how it has improved the lives of the nomads by giving them the opportunity to sell their milk, allowing them to provide more for their families in a way that totally fits in with their way of life.

There were 100 pounds of this cheese in New York in March of 2008. I don't know if anyone has anymore, or if there is some for sale somewhere other than New York City, but I' going to keep looking!

(camel photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Wine and Cheese. Duh.

2009-11-03T23:06:00.000-08:00

I love cheese. I love wine. I love to eat cheese and drink wine at the same time. I know there are official/suggested combinations of cheese and wine that bring out the best in both, but I always forget the rules when faced with the decision. Kind of like when I'm in the video store and totally forget what movie it was that I wanted to rent (it even happens now with Netflix...sigh). If I'm planning a party, and know what the wine is, I can do a little research before getting the cheese. There are some good websites, and a fun "cheese clock" that comes in kind of handy.

The good news is that in my world, if things aren't exactly according to the rules, knowing that there are some rules, and knowing what you like go a really long way. I went to a wine tasting at Pourtal in Santa Monica, highlighting wine from Close Pepe Vinyard. Amazing wine BTW. If this was a wine blog, I'd have a lot of very complimentary things to say. Point is, my friends bought my tasting, and I was in charge of picking out cheese (supplied for the restaurant by Andrews Cheese Shop!). I knew there were Pinot Noirs on the tasting, but was sure there were other wines too. I ended up with an Ossau Iraty sheep's milk cheese from the French Pyrenees, Zamarano cow's milk cheese from Spain (like Manchego, but in my opinion tastier!), and an Allegra goat's milk cheese from California. They weren't quite right, but they were pretty good. The richness of the Ossau Iraty really went well with the smoky Syrah with interesting herbal undertones. Nice and rich, kind of floral, and perfect on a little slice of toasted baguette. Yum! The goat cheese went nicely with the Pinot Noir even though it probably would have gotten a better chance to shine with a Sauvignon Blanc. Whatever. It was a delicious cheese and a delicious wine! A little tangy, a little sweet, creamy with a light ash coating on the rind. The Zamarano was nice and nutty, with a sweet saltiness (is that possible?).

The point is not to panic when faced with the decision to choose a cheese plate. Just remember what you like, try to remember why you like it - is it rich with butterfat? Is it nutty? Is it tangy? Is it bold or mild? What kind of wine are you drinking? Is it bold and in need of something strong to go with it? Is it acidic? Full of drying tannins? Bubbly?

What do YOU think it would taste good together? Remember - that's the final test.

Grocery Store Score!

2009-10-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

I love going to the cheese store. All the samples, exotic smells, shapes and tastes. I always enjoy chatting with the cheesemonger, learning a few weird cheese facts - about the animals, cheesemaking or even cheese distribution. But sometimes, I just don't have time to get to the store after work, and I still need to get my cheese fix on! (Though, to be fair, last night was all about tofu, brown rice and veggies - gotta get that fiber in!)

What to do, what to do? Well, duh! Head to the local mega mart. Just shop smart. Look for flavor and meltability. I did bypass the giant orange chunks, but did think about extra sharp cheddar before settling on Kerrygold Irish Cheddar. Creamy, with a nice flavor that explodes on your middle tongue and a rich finish.

A little roux of butter and flour, milk and the shredded cheddar melted right on in. To make it "healthy," I added some frozen peas to the noodle water. 25 minutes in the oven, and badabing!

You have probably all made mac and cheese this way more than once, but man o man, when it gets made this way instead of the "box" way it is always kind of a revelation. When I was a kid, my mom never gave us "box" mac and cheese. It wasn't until I was on my own that I got lazy. Time to get back to the home made place!

I actually owe y'all a blog about cheese powder, but that's for another night. I'm off to bed, with plenty of carbs in my tum. Wonder what dreams that'll bring?

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 10

2009-10-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

Here we are again. A Wednesday night - the least exciting day of the week - always in need of a little bit of a perk-up. Tonight we are featuring aged sheep's milk cheese from Spain named Ombra. The rind on this is hard as a rock, but such a warm brown color, that I had to bring it home. And, did I mention that it smells amazing! Rich, salty, nutty. Yum!

Because this cheese is aged at least 4 months, it is beautifully crumbly (more time aging = more moisture loss = crumbles!) with little air holes throughout the paste. But even dry, it sports the oily sheen of a good sheep cheese. It is so light and delicious, though. Not a bit oily on the tongue. It isn't overly salty, and I swear I can taste the fresh spring grass that the sheep were grazing on in beautiful Catalonia. I can't tell you how much I need to go there!

Anyway, this cheese is subtly complex. There is a sweetness to it - butterscotch maybe? And near the rind, I swear I could taste a little citrus - grapefruit? Further research was necessary - a few more bites. Yup, a definite sweetness at the end, and it smells of the meadows. Sigh. I really likes this cheese - just don't eat the rind. To hard.

This cheese would be amazing on a cheese plate - a little cube of surprise to enjoy with a Zinfandel. (Which I did!) I also ended up grating a huge amount of it to put on a dinner of ravioli, broccoli, peas and a little olive oil infused with garlic, salt, pepper and basil. A great alternative to Parmesan. Yum!

I'm dreaming of a cheese trip to Spain! How about you?

One Cow, One Cheese

2009-10-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, "Wrapped and Covered Week" was officially over last week, but this one is just to special. It comes from the Jackson Farm in Oroville, WA and expert cheesemaker and farmer Sally Jackson. And this cheese is so special that the milk to make this cheese all comes from a beautiful Brown Swiss cow named Renata. The cheese is, of course called Renata. How great is that! When Renata is sick, there is no Renata cheese (which happened a while ago when she nibbled on a wire and got a case of "hardware disease). Luckily, Renata is doing well at the moment, and her amazing cheese is available if you know who to ask. I asked my friend Andrew over at Andrew's Cheese Shop for a chunk to try. I'd been wanting to try it, and since it is wrapped.

Anyway, Renata is one heck of a cow. Whatever she's snacking on in the fields is amazing. I swear she's eating herb salad rich in parsley and sorrel. According to the website, all the cows graze in the farm's aspen pasture every day. How dreamy! This cheese has a bit of the tang that comes from a washed rind cheese, but none of the sticky-ness. Darling Husband thought it was strong enough to compete with "the white part of a blue cheese." I didn't think it was quite that strong, but it was really creamy, nutty, tangy and herbal.

The leaves certainly keep the cheese moist, which I think helps make it so creamy. You can't eat them, though. In fact, if you've ever rolled your own cigarette or smoked an unfiltered cig, picking out the leaf bits out of your teeth whilst eating cheese reminds one of picking tobacco leaves from your teeth during your smoke. A gross analogy, I know, but it's what came to mind. (Yes, I used to occassionally indulge. No more - clouds the ability to taste cheese!) The mold layer under the leaves isn't really that tasty, and the texture is a little mealy. Not for the faint of heart, but not terrible.

I think I might really enjoy Renata as a bit of cheese toast, but at $38/pound, it would be a little more extravagant than my current budget will allow. For now, I'll enjoy it with a little Cabernet Franc and a cracker.

Packed in Rosemary, Flown in from Spain!

2009-10-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

Continuing on the theme of wrapped and packed cheese for this week, for your drooling pleasure, Romao! This sheep's milk cheese from Spain is rubbed in olive oil and rosemary during its eight months in the cave. This cheese is 27% milk fat! It is definitely a bit on the oily side, or at least the chunk I got from the end of a wheel was. But you'd be oily too if you were marinated in olive oil for eight months! It looks really shaggy with all the rosemary stuck to the oil and cheese. Romao comes in one pound wheels from the region of Cuenca, Spain in the center/east of the country. According to Wikipedia (I know, I know...), this region is full of gorges, which I'm sure create a very exciting climate for the sheep! This is definitely a sheep cheese. Full of its own oils and nuttiness, it has a complexity beyond the rosemary.

Anyway, the rosemary flavor doesn't permeate the interior of the paste, but like the other cheeses this week, the flavor does go at least 1/2 inch in. Because it is aged for as long as it is, it has that crumbly, almost crunchy texture. The oil bath does reduce the crunchiness a bit, but it doesn't drown it out completely.

Perhaps the thing I was least expecting is that the shaggy rind wipes right off, due I suppose to the olive oil mixed with the rosemary crust. Originally, I cut the rind off, but after the Darling Husband swiped the last TWO pieces at the same time, I needed to figure out a way to feed my own cheese hunger, successfully wiping it all off, and munching down on the completely edible rind dimpled with impressions left by the rosemary leaves. Sigh.

Oh, and very tasty with a Cabernet Franc from the Santa Ynez Valley, though I'm sure a Spanish red wine would be perfect! Ole.

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 9

2009-10-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

This week has become "Wrapped and Covered" week. Everything I've brought into the house, shared with Darling Husband and tortured Perfect Dog with has been packed with something - peppercorns or grape sediment. Tonight, I visited with Andrew's Cheese with a very specific goal in mind - wrapped cheese. Cheeses wrapped in leaves during aging get a lot of flavor there, and I'm pretty sure the leaves help keep some moisture as well. Beyond my requirement for having wrapped cheese, I didn't have anything in mind. Goat cheese, blue cheese and many other cheeses come wrapped.

So I tell Andrew of my quest, and without blinking he says "Rogue River Blue." And with good reason! This award winner from Oregon was created by Tom Vella's son. Which didn't mean anything to me either until I learned that Tom Vella invented Monterey Jack! So we're dealing with cheese royalty here. This cheese is also the big brother of the Smoky Blue that I shared with you a few Wednesday's ago. It was, in fact, listed as one of the Best of 2009!

And here's why. This amazing blue cheese is wrapped in Syrah grape leaves and macerated in pear brandy during the aging process. It is so creamy, with just the right amount of tang. It just melts on your tongue. The blue and grey green streaks running through it are beautiful, you can definitely taste the pear and a little bit of sweetly salty nuttiness. With a little glass of port, this was the perfect way to end the day!

This grape wrapped blue isn't what I was expecting to walk away with this Wednesday, but I'm so glad it came home with me!

Sleep tight, wrapped in grape leaves and sweet dreams!

Wine and Cheese - On a Cracker!

2009-10-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

This week seems to be about how cheese can be influenced by what it's wrapped in during the aging process. Yesterday, peppercorns, today grapes! Beppino Ocelli's Piedmont dairy makes butter and cheese from cows, goats and sheep who graze on pastures full of wildflowers and herbs, and it really shows in his cheeses. In fact, according to his website, Sr. Ocelli is actively involved in research at the University of Turin to improve meadows for grazing.

The cheese I picked up at Say Cheese is one of Ocelli's "grand cheeses." My cheesemonger was so excited to give me a sample of this one, the Testun Ocelli al Barolo. This cheese is a combination of cow's milk and goat's milk cheese, and you can really taste the goat, and you can see it in the chalk white center. In this case, however, the milk is not even remotely the most exciting thing about the cheese. If you speak any Italian, or ever drink wine, you've heard of Barolo. Yes, dear reader, this cheese is covered with Barolo grape "must" during the last two months of the aging process. (After the grapes are crushed and the juice extracted for wine, the skins, seeds and pulp is left over. This is sometimes called the "must.")

If you look closely at the picture, you can see a pretty incredible cream line just under the grape encrusted rind. The grape flavor really, really infuses the cream line section of the cheese. It's unbelievable. I kept thinking of grape Kool-Aid, but in a really up-scale, mouth popping way. The interior paste of the cheese belies its goat's milk origins, but it is also very much an Italian cheese, with a bit of the crunch that comes from a cheese that is aged for seven months, and the richness of a cow's milk cheese.

This cheese is so much fun. There are layers of flavor and texture, from the creamy inner paste to the grape flavored cream line, to the grape must itself. Watch out for the seeds! If you are really OCD, you could probably save the seeds and grow yourself a vineyard of Barolo grapes!

If you can find this one, give it a try.

Sweet dreams of amazing cheeses eaten in a vineyard!

That's a Spicy Cheese-a-Ball!

2009-10-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

I went on another urban cheese field trip this weekend and ended up at a great little cheese store called Say Cheese. The cheesemonger and I almost got my goat cheese hating friend to like goat cheese. And by almost, I mean that we got him to try a sample of a less goaty goat cheese and not spit it out. Whatever. more for the rest of us!

Just to spiteful (and because I honestly think goat cheeses are both tasty and adorable), I bought one of these little peppercorn covered goat cheese, wrapped up in raffia, with its own doily. Take that goat cheese haters! The little tag says Pevrin, and it hails from Piedmonte, Italy.

After reading the incredibly fine print on the back of the tag, and using Google translator to make sure I had read the Italian correctly, I realized that this spicy cheese-a-ball is actually a combination of goat, sheep and cows cheese. Not sure of the percentages, but interesting none the less. The cheese was crusted in red peppercorns and red pepper. I was a little worried that it would be too spicy (having blown out my spicy meter the night before on Southern Thai delicacies). Luckily, while there was a pleasant bite to the cheese, the soft creaminess of the inside paste really balanced the peppery crust. The peppercorns also added a nice crunch, which was fun!

The paste was definitely goaty, but the blend of milks kept it from being too tangy. The interior didn't taste of pepper at all, but it definitely permeated at least 1/2 inch. The thing that really struck me was the texture of the paste. While Darling Husband enjoyed the spreadability, I kept being reminded of a facial mask I bought once at a beauty supply store. A little sticky and very thick, almost like a beautiful chalk white clay.

Sadly, I have to say this wasn't one of my favorite cheeses. The flavor wasn't overly exciting, but it was very fresh and clean tasting, and the peppercorn crunch and spice was a great find. It was also completely adorable! I would absolutely get it again to add to a cheese plate for a holiday party. And now, I'm a little obsessed with cheeses rolled in other things. Stay tuned for tomorrow night's coated surprise!

Sweet cheese dreams all.

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar. Go Vermont!

2009-10-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

I went to Vermont once. It was the middle of winter, and the icicles were beautiful, and I didn't feel my toes for a week. It was absolutely beautiful. I remember waking up with my aunt's dog's big cold nose in my face, and visiting the Ben & Jerry's outlet store. (When the machine doesn't mix the Heath Bar in very well, and you get a tunnel of Heath Bar down the middle of your ice cream, it gets discounted and you can buy it for half price. O.M.G.)

At the time, I wasn't cheesedreaming, and didn't realize that I should have been visiting creamerys, and learning how to make cheese the Vermont way. I'm sure I could have gone to Cabot Creamery. It's OK though. Because now I've tried Cabot Clothbound Cheddar. Made from a herd of Holsteins, formed into 35 pound rounds, wrapped and coated in lard to keep in moisture, housed at Jasper Hill Farm (gotta try their cheese too!!) and turned every day for three weeks before being turned monthly for 10-14 months. That's love.

Anyway, this is one tasty cheddar. Its beautiful straw color, and delightful scent of lemon is just the start. It is crumbly, but not dry. In fact, in your mouth, it practically oozes butter fat! Yum. It has an amazing nutty-ness, and actually reminded me a little bit of Parmesan. There is even a little bit of the Parmesan crunch.

If it lasts, I think I might try grating it into some savory muffins. If I was a real baker, I'd even try that cheddar on apple pie thing.

There's a nice dream!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt.8

2009-10-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

It's been raining. This is a good thing, but getting re-acclimated to grey and wet is always a bit tricky. Last night, it was tomato soup, but tonight was grilled cheese night. I knew where to go. Andrew from Andrew's Cheese hosts monthly grilled cheese nights. I haven't been able to go, but I knew he'd be full of ideas. O.M.G. I wasn't wrong!

I brought home a 1/2 pound of Munster from Alsace. This stinker has an amazing coral colored, sticky rind and a beautiful straw colored paste. It's also a fast melter!

So here's the 411 on the best cheese toast ever...Take one baguette. Slice in half. Pop in the oven for a few minutes to dry it out a bit. Rub all surfaces with a sliced garlic clove and butter liberally. Pop back in the oven to melt the butter. Then, cover completely with slices of Munster. Melt in the oven at about 350 until you can't stand it any more. Then put it on broil for 30 seconds. Try to eat without making orgasmic sounds. Just look at the Darling Husband and Perfect Dog patiently (!) waiting for it to come out of the oven.

If you've never thought of using a washed rind cheese for grilled cheese, please reconsider. Remember - they usually smell scarier than they taste, and the flavor is just incredible, especially with the garlic background. It's so rich, but with enough tang to cut through and deliver a nutty creamy-ness. Plus, on top of a crunchy baguette...nothing better. That's it. Bread, butter, garlic, cheese.

I know what I'll be dreaming of tonight!

L'Ami du Chambertin - Better Eaten on the Sly?

2009-10-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

*Life at the Cheesedreaming house has been a little hectic, and we had a delightful half round of L'Ami du Chambertin, a rare washed rind stinker from France waiting in the fridge for a thoughtful tasting. Granted, it was starting to stink up the fridge, but at no point did I tell Darling Husband that he could take this untouched nugget in to eat at the office! Today, I get a text telling me that he had taken in the cheese! Grrr. But, rather than get mad that I didn't have a chance to really enjoy this beautiful cheese, washed in brandy, ripening from the outside in, and hailing from Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy, his punishment was to write up the story of his snack, eaten on old bread and saltines. Here is his story.

"L'Ami du Chambertin is a cheese of a feather, meaning it is soft with an orange, wrinkled rind (don’t be afraid). It is said to be the stronger brother to the famed Epoisses de Bourgogne of France. Despite it’s royal heritage it’s not to be feared by any real lover of fromage. Sure, it’s strong. Stinky too, and creamy like butter wishes it could be. This stuff is so velvety, it’s a must spread. The ‘friend of Chambertin’ is a friend to all who love richness and creaminess. Do not miss this one!

The way I came across it may have been a little nefarious, and it was not eaten in the best of circumstances, but it was worth it! If you like soft, spreadable cheeses, prepare yourself for a flavor that will go from a textural experience, to a taste, to a smell all through your mouth. The pleasing flavor goes through the roof of your palette into your nostrils. More than barnyard-y. More than dairy. A bit eggy? The taste comes through on your nose, more than on your tongue. Its strength is in its richness, and that’s where the real delight is. Smooth on the tongue no matter what it rests on, a cracker or a piece of dry bread. Yes, it’s that creamy!

I came across this sovereign because I dared to take my wife, auteur of this blog, a bit too seriously. She’d worried out loud that about how long we’d let it sit, and mused that it might possibly be out-living it’s welcome in our fridge. Seeing this as an opportunity, I heisted it one morning as I ducked out to work. I admit that eating with such royalty, at your desk at work, would get you shunned in any European court. But, this concoction aux cow is so delicious that it deserves the respect of a plate, good bread, and a wine with a body to it. I had it with old bread and apple slices, greedily! I got in trouble for it too! Taste this precious Frenchie and you’ll understand!"

(Please feel free to suggest further forms of punishment for the gluttonous behavior exhibited here by Darling Husband. Somehow, eating 4 oz of amazing French cheese alone requires slightly more punishment than getting to write about it...don't worry - he's not sleeping on the couch!)

Fall in love with Cheddar!

2009-10-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

With the weather getting cooler, and the days getting shorter, I start to crave the flavors of Fall. I don't know what those flavors are for you, but for me, these flavors include butternut squash, brussel sprouts, apples and Cheddar! And not those grocery store blocks of orange, though they certainly have their place. These days, thanks to globalization and Andrew's Cheese Shop, I can aim higher - for more complex flavor, more crumbly goodness, less salty rubber.

Tonight, we feasted on Avonlea cheddar from Prince Edward Island. If the name of this cheese sounds vaguely familiar to you, and at some point in your early years, you longed to be Anne of Green Gables for just a day, there is a reason! This cheese is named in honor of the fictional village of Avonlea where Anne lived. Awww!

This is a prize winning cheese. And I can tell you why. After emerging from 12 months of aging, just the tiniest crumble of this cheese just explodes with sweet, sunshiny flavor in your mouth. And then you smile. Because even if you never had this cheese as a kid, it feels like coming home. My darling husband eloquently stated that it "tastes like a lullaby - after you take a bite, you just want to snuggle in for a nap." The recipe for this cheese comes from the Orkney Islands of Scotland, but it seems to be working its own magic with the Holstein cows of PEI.

We gobbled up our feast with some tasty Golden Delicious apples. If I had more of this tasty stuff, I think I might try grating it up and creating one amazing mac and cheese. I also, for the first time in my life, understood why people sometimes put cheddar cheese on apple pie. Sadly, it is almost gone (and will surely be gone before I get home from work tomorrow!), so I will have to go get some more in order to experiment appropriately.

Hooray for changing seasons and Avonlea Cheddar! Sweet dreams everyone.

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 7 Gross Edition!

2009-10-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

I was at work too late tonight to make it to Andrew's Cheese Shop before they closed, so I am without an official Cheese for a Wednesday Night. But don't despair! I learned about one of the weirdest and perhaps grossest cheeses ever the other day, and just have to share with you. You have been warned!

Andrew Zimmern's show on The Travel Channel, Bizzare Food, is just that. But on Monday, he introduced me to a "delicacy" that I'm just not sure I can get behind. In Nicaragua, there is a cheese born of necessity. Apparently, there is an insect that loooves to lay its eggs in milk. If the olden days, when insects laid eggs in all the milk, they would still need to use the milk - they'd just work around them. This went for the cheese too. I'm not quite sure how it works, but somehow, the eggs stay in the cheese and when the soft cheese gets served on a beautiful fruit plate with mangoes and star fruit, it is wriggling with maggots! O.M.G. Just a little too much. Ok, a lot too much. Apparently, the maggots in this "juicy worm cheese" give the cheese a certain pungent sweetness. Its a local specialty. Urf. I think I'll stick with other regional favorites if I ever get there. If you're braver than me, let me know how it is!

So, I thought it was just a really local, bizarre food thing. But no! When you Google "maggot cheese" Wikipedia (I know, I know...) pops up with Casu Marzu, a cheese from Sardinia that is fermented by little worms introduced later in the cheese making process to break down the fats in the cheese, making it incredibly soft. When it's ready to eat, it will have thousands of living, wriggling worms in it! In fact, if the worms have vacated, the cheese is considered too rancid to eat. Again, urf. I think I prefer my cheese with a little bit more built in inertia!

Somehow, the cheese mites in Mimolette seem positively tame! At least the bugs are gone before you eat it, and they don't make it past the rind!

Sweet dreams - if you can! Mwa ha ha ha!

Faux Cheese? I think not!

2009-10-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

I spotted this little charmer sitting quietly on the shelf at the Cheese Store of Silverlake on Sunday afternoon, a little overshadowed by all the other bloomy rinded cheeses, but just waiting for me to find it. What intrigued me was the fact that the description pointed out the interesting edge rind. While you can see the traditional white bloom on the top, the edge is supported by a thin strip of spruce wood! You can sort of see this in the photo, but I just couldn't get a good angle. Sorry.

Anyway, this support comes in handy to keep this cheese from gooping all over the place, which is kind of cool. This cheese is (gently) pasteurized cheese, which means that it can be imported to the US when it is less than 60 days old/aged. Raw milk cheeses have to wait more than 60 days to enter the US. A similar French cheese, Vacherin, can't seem to get a visa because of it's raw, under age status. Some people call l'Edel de Claron "faux Vacherin." Now, I haven't had Vacherin, but I haven't been to France since I found out about it. I can't imagine that L'Edel de Claron is "faux" anything. It is fantastic! An easy, delicate, creamy cheese with an almost buttercup yellow paste. How pretty!

It doesn't small like pine, which I was kind of expecting because of the strip of spruce around the edge. It might have a bit of tangy, woodsy edge to it, but I might be imagining that because of the the packaging. It definitely smells a bit like green fields, lemons or lemon curd, and perhaps a bit of pepper. Because the flavors are more subtle, it really kept me guessing. It's good with and without the rind. I think I actually liked it better with the rind in this case! I kept pressing it up on the roof of my mouth to try and pull the flavor out. I've got to have some more tomorrow night! It is a confident cheese, but definitely not a show off.

If you are thinking about taking a Brie to a party, but want something that actually has some flavor, give this a try. And don't think you're cheating because it isn't Vacherin. You're eating l'Edel de Claron!

Sweet dreams of trips to France to prove to yourself that your pine wrapped cheese is just as delicious as some underaged curd!

Cheeses can be Delinquent Too!

2009-10-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

The cooler weather has had me craving washed rind cheeses. Somehow, a little stinky cheese makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. How about you? No? Oh well.

Anyway, I was exploring the delightful Cheese Shop of Silverlake on Sunday, and found this little gem that I had previously seen on a list of washed rind cheese and had a little giggle. This is Hooligan, the prize winning washed rind from Cato Corner Farm in Connecticut. It's pretty wonderful, and if you can get past the initial rank, dirty barnyard smell (appetizing, I know), you are in for a real treat. Not only is it super stinky, but the rind is a cross between an old suede jacket and a moldy peach. But in spite of that, you can tell that this cheese was loved.

This raw cow's milk cheese is aged for 60 days, washed in a brine that includes buttermilk. And really, if you keep smelling it, it will stop smelling like a dung heap, and start smelling more like a grassy green, well worn pasture. I know that doesn't sound so great either, but you should try it. It's pretty incredible.

Anyway, this bad boy is really complicated. After the less than favorable first impression, the paste is incredibly creamy and smooth. Not surprisingly, my first taste was sans rind. It tasted almost tangy. Nothing like how it smelled. With the support of my always brave cheese taster husband, my next sample with with a little bit of rind. So much more depth! Tangy, rich, earthy...and when I squished it up against the roof of your mouth, I could taste some real herby-ness. Really delicious.

This Hooligan isn't for everyday. It isn't something that you will probably want to eat copious amounts of all at once. It isn't for gobbling. It is for savoring. Tasting all of the complex flavors, trying out on your palate, and probably amazing in grilled cheese with a bit of parsley and a rich beer.

Trust me - this is a dream cheese!

Uses for Grocery Store Cheese - Chevre

2009-10-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

Goat cheese in the plastic tube at the grocery store is a great ingredient! I don't think it is necessarily a great addition to a cheese plate - it's a little goopy. In addition, I have read in more than one place that the curd for several major brands of plastic tube goat cheese is actually frozen at some point int he process. Eek! But, it adds a definite tangy creaminess to dishes, and that is not a bad thing however you get there.

The other night, I was late at the office, and didn't make it to Andrew's before they closed. *sad face* I was determined to have a cheesy dinner and was trolling the internet for healthy, cheesy recipes, when I happened across Sweet Potato & Red Pepper Pasta on eatingwell.com. The secret ingredient is a short tube of grocery store "chevre." To amp up the volume, I picked up the herbed "chevre." That's just my way of getting creative in a pinch...anyway...ready?

While boiling up some pasta, saute some garlic, sliced red pepper and one raw, peeled, shredded sweet potato. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the saute. Toss around with some tongs and add the goat cheese - crumbled up is good - it allows it to be incorporated more easily. Add a few tablespoons of chopped tarragon (or rosemary, or basil, or whatever you like) and a few tablespoons of chopped parsley. It its a little thick, just add a little of the pasta water to thin it out. Throw in some salt and pepper and Bob's your uncle! Dinner in 20+ minutes with a minimum of mess or fuss. You could definitely add a chicken breast or some spinach if you are looking to add even more veggies.

The tangy creaminess of the goat cheese combined with the soft sweetness of the sweet potato and pepper is pretty amazing. It's like you've made a cream sauce without all the fuss. The tube of cheese is perfect here. Plus, I would probably feel guilty using a Selles-sur-Cher, or some other exquisite artisinal goat cheese in this recipe. That little gem really belongs on a baguette with some Savignon Blanc. But, in this case, I think that the ingredients together elevate the lowly plastic tube of goat cheese to something so much greater than itself.

So, please, as you learn more about the wonderful world of cheese, don't totally shun your grocery store cheese counter. There are some tasty morsels there, just make sure to use them well, and accept them for what they are.

Cheese dreams all! Even in the grocery store!

Black Diamond Cheese - Gubbeen

2009-10-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

This one's a bit of a challenge. The one on the left. Full of contradictions, slight of hand and international flair. What I call a Black Diamond Cheese. No bunny slope here, friends! But the rewards are many.

When we walked into Andrew's Cheese Shop yesterday afternoon, I was in the mood for something stinky! A strong, washed rind cheese to finish off the day and to celebrate fall. I spotted the Gubbeen and said "Yes! I want that!" The rind was a beautiful peach color, pressed with a quilted pattern that made it look soft and accessible. Then, I read the description. Crazy! The cheesemaker, Giana Ferguson, a Hungarian-Spanish woman, learned to make French cheese in the Alps, meets and Irishman, moves to County Cork, and creates washed rind cheese with a bit of a Spanish flair. Gotta have it. We got a sample, and it was perfect. The "nose" was a bit barnyard-y, but a clean barnyard. The bite was a little firmer than I was expecting (maybe the Spanish influence?), and I was told that it would never really get runny, which was ok with me. It wouldn't run out of the bag on the way home!

Once home, and through it's photo shoot, it was time to get down to business. The clean barnyard smell was augmented by a sort of smoky nuttiness-like burnt nutshells, and a comfortable earthiness - like Grandma's root cellar would have smelled like if she had had one. Deep inside, though, you could still smell the green hills of County Cork where the undoubtedly happy cows munch away.

I tried to eat the rind, but in my opinion, this rind is just there to protect the cheese during the ripening process and not for eating. The clean barnyard smell and taste of the paste is intensified to a pretty crazy place in this grainy rind. Go for it if you want, but it took several swallows of delicious Syrah and two pieces of baguette to get the flavor out of my mouth.

The rest of the cheese, though was really incredible. Complex and smoky, with just the right amount of earthiness and cow pasture, with a hint of wildflower field surrounding a charming crumbling cottage on a misty morning. I didn't even bother with the bread, and just savored each tasty morsel all by itself.

Give it a try when you're feeling up to a bit of a challenge, and looking for a special gem.

Sweet dreams - perhaps a happy Irish cow munching on clover, sipping on a soft red wine?

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 6

2009-09-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Wow. Wow. Wow. Thanks Andrew! I popped into Andrew's Cheese Shop this afternoon after an afternoon on the road with the Darling Husband. I'd wanted to pick up a little something stinky. A little runny. A bit unusual. Something worthy of a Wednesday night. As usual, my cheese dreams turned to reality in front of the glass case, and the sun shone down on my incredibly filthy car on our way home with our new cheese babies.

OK - maybe I'm being a little over dramatic. Maybe not.

This evening, we're exploring the soft little diamond on the right (you'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out about contestant #2). The Robiola a Tre Latti. That's right - three milks. This little morsel was so melty that I couldn't really pick it up to give it a good sniff. It just melted onto my fingers! The "nose" of this cheese is definitely a little goaty, and it is very white - another characteristic of goat's cheese. It smelled of wildflowers and green pastures, but in a rich, creamy way. This is because of the three milks - goat, sheep and cow. The goat we've discussed. The sheep we'll get to, and the cow brings the richness. Did I mention that the cheese was just melting on the plate?

So, Robilola is an Italian style soft, fresh cheese perfect for spreading on breakfast toast or on baguette with a great glass of Syrah. With the tre latti, the richness, tangy-ness and complexity (that's the sheep's contribution) of the three together just makes it pop even more. It is so creamy that I felt like it was almost a "lite" triple cream! There is no rind to worry about, and I couldn't help but blurt out "splurk!" as it just gave in to gravity and smeared on the bread.

Search it out. Find a Robiola. Grab a baguette. Forget the vegetables and make this the main course!

Sweet cheese dreams all.

What's in the Cheese Shop: A Comic Interlude...

2009-09-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

Well, the results upon which the future direction of CheeseDreaming are trickling in (Have you voted yet? Let me know what you like reading about the most - just over there to the left of the screen. It's anonymous. I won't know who you are!), and so far the preference is for witty and educational cheese reviews. I promise - tomorrow I'm going to Andrew's Cheese Shop to get my "Cheese for a Wednesday Night" cheese. I will then post a review of said cheese, and the world will rejoice!

In the meantime, a video to remind you to always ask your local cheesemonger what's good. Click on the link. Really. You'll laugh. I promise! Remember, just because it's in the case doesn't mean it's the best thing in the case, and don't you want to take home the best thing (within your price range, of course)?

And maybe a Red Leicester?

For Every Season, the Perfect Cheese

2009-09-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but as the days attempt to get cooler I start thinking about red wine again. I have also found myself thinking less about Camembert and tangy little goat cheeses and more about big smoky Blues and stinky Epoisses. It may have something with the changing light in the evenings, or it may be linked to my need to find the perfect sweater even if it's still 90 degrees outside.

In fact, cheeses do have seasons. It has more to do with how long the cheese ages than anything else. The best cheeses come from the best milk, and the best milk comes from animals eating the tastiest food. Cows, goats and sheep eating yummy spring grass, munching on wildflowers and romping in the fields produce milk that tastes fresh, and reminds you of happy goats romping in the fields making daisy chains. Grass in the early fall, when the rain comes after a hot summer is strong and confident. The milk produced at this time has a richer, bolder taste. The same beasts, eating winter hay, will produce milk that tastes a bit less exciting. Needless to say, you want cheese made with tasty milk. BUT, because cheese is preserved milk, you can have it whenever!

In the spring and summer, fresh cheeses and young cheeses rule. Tangy goat cheeses galore! Brie and bloomy rinds come next, as they are all relatively young cheeses. Come early fall, the blue cheeses become available, along with the washed rind cheeses. Yum! In the winter, when all the cows are munching on dry fodder, we get to enjoy cheese that has been aging since April. The flavors of spring grass and wildflowers just intensifies as the Ossau-Irati and Morbier come into season, becoming a comforting reminder of the spring around the corner.

So, go with it! Here's an interesting chart (in French) that can help you determine the best time to eat what. The aged cheeses tend to be good year round, while some others are really fleeting! Ask your cheesemonger what's in season. Think about how dry a cheese is, and try to figure out when it was made by counting backwards. If the month you end up in has tasty wildflowers on the menu, you're in luck no matter what the weather is outside!

Alternate Uses for Bad Cheese...

2009-09-24T20:51:00.001-07:00

My cheese experience was so unmemorable that there is nothing to say other than it was basically a food court Caprese sandwich with a few rubbery slices of mozzarella, two slices of tomato and piece of wilty basil between two oily pieces of foccacia. Blah. The gummy-ness of the cheese was such a let down. When you are eating amazing cheese everyday, you get a little spoiled. This is really only a bad thing when you badly order at a questionable restaurant. Otherwise, I say - huzzah for realizing the difference and knowing what you like!

So, I was searching the internet for inspiration having failed to experience any cheese related inspiration on my own, and hit across something kind of relevant. I am going to quote directly from the Sailing Navies Forum 1650-1850 Topics Related to Naval History and Literature because, really, how awesome is it that this forum exists in the first place?

"I rather liked this extract from The Times, of October 9, 1804 about making cement.

".... A most excellent cement has been prepared lately by the French Chemists from common cheese. The method is this: Cut the cheese in pieces, and boil it in water, stirring it with a spoon until it be reduced to a glutinous state. Then throw off the remaining water not evaporated, and pour cold water upon the substance. Let it then be pressed or kneaded, and renew the change of the water several times. Pound the mass afterwards upon a stone or in a mortar. In two days the cement will be fit to use, will be wholly insoluble in water, and may be employed on wood, marble, &c. and the union of the fractured parts will be so perfect as to render it very difficult to discover the intersection ...."

... and I'd always thought French cheese extremely edible...."

How great is that! I must assume that since they were French, they wouldn't do this to an amazing Camembert or Brillat Savarin or heaven forbid a tangy Roquefort! No, they would only use overripe cheeses or cheese made from dogs or something...it totally reminds me of my glue-y mozzarella experience this afternoon! And I can just see a bunch of 1804 French Chemists cooking down their cheese rejects, boiling them down until they were reduced to a "glutinous state" and ALL the moisture is gone, beating the crap out of it and letting it sit until they need it to patch a leak in a boat (I'm assuming this is a function as I found this description on a Historical Navy site, plus the fact that it is waterproof...), or glue a teacup back together. Or whatever else needed bonding so tight that it would be "very difficult to discover the intersection."

I propose that the next time you encounter low caliber cheese, you attempt to follow in the steps of the French Chemists and create a batch of glue to make Louis Pasteur proud! But use an old pot. And keep a fire extinguisher handy. And put the glue in a container you never want to use for anything. Ever again. Because it is going to be the most amazing glue ever.

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 5

2009-09-23T21:02:00.001-07:00

First of all, I can't believe this is the fifth official Wednesday cheese, and probably the third blue cheese of those Wednesday cheeses. Something about Wednesdays and blue cheese. Will have to research that a little bit more, next Wednesday...with some more blue cheese...

Anyway, in honor of the upcoming Wedge Festival celebrating the artisinal cheeses of the West Coast (October 3 in Portland, OR for those able to get there. Take notes and eat lots of cheese!), I asked Andrew for something from the Pacific Northwest , and he gave me this amazing Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue. Isn't it pretty in its aluminium foil wrapper?

I hear you wondering "How can a blue cheese be a smoked cheese? I've never heard of that before." Well, the folks at Rogue Creamery aren't called rogues for nothing! They've been in business since 1935 (so you know they aren't trendy). They made the first blue cheese on the West Coast. And now, they are making the first ever smoked blue cheese. Yowza!

Now, if you as much of a BBQ novice as I am, you might wonder, as I did, "But wouldn't the cheese melt if you put it in a smoker?" Well, yes, as it turns out, if it is a hot smoker, and not a cold smoker like they use at Rogue. They use smoke up some hazelnut shells to give the cheese a great nutty, smoky flavor, and its cool enough in the smoker not to melt all this delicious cheese!

Click here to see how to make your own cold smoker. Let me know how it works...I don't think I'll be trying that one soon.

So, this tasty smoked blue was so tasty, both on a baguette, and in the grilled steak and onion salad with tomato and avocado.

Sweet blue cheese dreaming!

Cheese Rolling!!!

2009-09-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

What has a super steep slope, lots of lumps and bumps, separated shoulders, rugby playing catchers and a Double Gloucester as the grand prize? Why, the annual Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake, of course!

Since perhaps the dawn of time (or at least the 1800s), people have gathered at Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire, England, to participate, or to watch the crazies participate in a fantastic tradition. Folks in all types of dress or undress, wrapped in bubble wrap, loincloths or knee pads depending on their level of crazy wait for the MC to say "ready, steady, go" and hurl a 7-8 pound whole Double Gloucester cheese down an amazingly steep hill. Moments later, the "contestants" hurl themselves right after it! Cooper's Hill is a 1-1 or 1-2 grade all the way from the plateau at the top to where the rugby players catch people at the bottom so they don't just keep going. Needless to say, pretty much nobody makes it down without doing a little slide on their bum, or more dramatically, bouncing head over heels all the way down. (You MUST click there for an awesome video!!) When it rains, it's slippery, but the ground is softer (and you can get a nice mud slide going!)

The winner receives their very own cheese to take home. And not just any cheese, but one hand made by Mrs. Diana Smart of Churcham, Gloucester using traditional methods and milk from her herd of Brown Swiss, Holstein and Gloucester cows! Second place gets 10 pounds sterling and third gets 5 pounds. Not a lot of a prize considering that there is almost always a separated shoulder, or some other major/minor injury! It's all about the challenge and the tradition.

A pretty great way to celebrate cheese and the crazy things people will do for it!

(And BTW - The next race is coming up in May, 2010...visit the official Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake website to make your plans! Maybe I'll see you there!)

Shropshire Love in Wine Country

2009-09-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling guilty about not taking care of happy cheese land these past few days, but I've just been having too much fun in real cheese land to have write up my adventures in virtual cheese land. But here we are, back in happy virtual cheese land with memories of Shropshire Blue and Robiola Bosina and Bermuda Triangle, Pinot Noir and cupcakes.

That's right - nothing like a day in Santa Ynez enjoying the best wines of the Central Coast of Cali, and pairing them with delicious cheeses and yes, cupcakes. Nothing like it to make for an amazing day, and nothing like it to make you want to spend the next day drinking gallons of water and taking many, many naps!

That said, I am now unabashedly in love with Shropshire Blue cheese. We were formally introduced in a glamorous tent, under the magical light of a chandelier. It may be because I'd had many, many samples of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but it may also be that there is something inherently unusual about an orange-yellow cheese with beautiful blue veins throughout. It may be because there was an enormously humongous chunk of the stuff sitting right there in front of me. Who knows. But I do know that it had enough just enough sweetness to counteract the moldy saltiness of the blue mold, and just enough crumbly-ness to require eating with your fingers instead of spreading on a cracker. Yum. Plus, it tastes great with a 2007 Pinot Noir from the Foley vineyard.

This is a relatively new cheese, but it is a very confident, secure cheese, with a great sense of humor. It was developed in the 1970s, and the unusual orange color (for a blue cheese) comes from the natural annato food coloring. For our veggie friends, this cheese is made with vegetable rennet, so no animals were harmed (unless the milk maid hadn't moisturized in advance!). Originally, it wasn't even made in Shropshire, England, but in Inverness, Scotland. I guess they thought Inverness Blue just didn't sound as rich and creamy as Shropshire Blue. Funnily enough, this cheese is now made in Shropshire England.

At the end of our magical evening, it was a a bittersweet sight to see the Shropshire Blue devoured to within an inch of its life. To know that that many people share my love is exciting, but to see it so decimated made me a little sad. I guess that's the thing with cheese - you have to destroy it to really show your love....

Getting a little deep here. Sweet dreams of happy Inverness cows munching on highland grass!

Cheese Cruelty & How to Avoid It - Lesson 1

2009-09-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

I love a full cheese plate. A whole, lovely goat cheese round, a two inch wedge of aged Gouda, a three inch wedge of my favorite Roaring 40s blue...It has something to do with proportion. Unfortunately, the suggested serving size for any cheese is one oz. per person per cheese. Any more than that, and you are asking for some digestive problems. So here's where I attempt to use the geometry I learned in High School... The radius of a Gouda is about six inches, so if you are only getting enough for two people, the wedge only needs to be about a 1/2 inch. A two person serving of Roaring 40s (probably a four inch radius) is an inch or less. If my calculus was better, I could tell you what the volume of a wedge that shape would be, but I can't. I can tell you that you are looking for 2-3 ounces. Insert sad face here. How insubstantial, if nutritionally sound.

Anyway, I've been trying to watch the budget (and the waistline), so I keep the wedges thin during the week so there isn't a lot left over at the end of the night. (I'm enough ADD to get bored with cheese leftovers after a day.) But, when I'm shopping for a party, I get to buy the thicker wedges; the full rounds. So exciting! And, when I've chosen right based on what I know of the guests and the menu, there still aren't any left-overs!

I guess the lesson for the day is to make sure that your eyes, dinner plan, and budget are all in agreement before you enter the cheese shop. Once you are there, and you get a few tastes, you might end up with more selections than you thought you needed, even if you have a specific shopping list. Stay strong, but be flexible. Cheese does keep in the fridge, but the little left over nubs look so sad. BTW - try wrapping your left over bits in paper (parchment, not waxed) - plastic wrap doesn't let it breathe. You don't want to be accused of suffocating your cheese. Avoid cheese cruelty - shop appropriately!

Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 4

2009-09-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am giving some love to sheep cheese, and no better day to give this love than a Wednesday, the day I have unofficially devoted to exciting new cheese. I managed to get out of the office and made it to Andrew's Cheese before it closed. I was looking in the case for labels with little sheep on them, and didn't find as many sheep icons as cow and goat ones, and realized that I needed to love sheep cheese for another reason - it's kind of the undersheep, as it were, in the cheese world, and I love an underdog!

I was going to get an Ossau-Iraty from France because my friend VG really enjoyed that cheese on vacation last month, but I got there and I saw a funny, almost flying saucer shaped cheese with a lumpy brown rind from Coventry, England called Berkswell with the sheep icon on the label. Hooray! Something totally new. And so delicious. Dry and crumbly, but not flaky. A sweet nutty-ness that went great with the chocolate almond crostini. Andrew says there's a pineapple finish. I don't know if I got that, but it was definitely amazing.

I asked him for another sheep cheese to serve as counterpoint to the Berkswell. Most sheep's milk cheese are hard cheeses, and I was hoping to find a nice soft sheep cheese. Apparently, that is because they have a higher protein content. The opposite is true of goat cheese, with it's lower protein content it is easier to make a soft cheese than a hard one. But I found a great semi-soft sheep cheese from Portugal called La Serena. It smelled like black olives at first whiff, and the first taste tastes just like it smells. The end is a little bit bitter, but in a good way. With all of these complex tastes and smells, it doesn't have any of that barnyard/ammonia smell that comes from a washed rind "stinky" cheese (because it isn't a washed rind cheese - duh!).

So, we had a delicious Wednesday dinner of sheep's milk cheese, chocolate almond crostini and Sangiovese. My skin is a little extra oily at the moment, but it's good for skin, right? We ended with a great over-the-fence chat with neighbors, an an evening of my favorite Fox television - Glee with a starter of So You Think You Can Dance. Nobody ever said I wasn't a little cheesy!

Sweet dreams everyone, and continue to count those happy little sheep!

Cheese - You Can Bank On It!

2009-09-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

The economy has been on everyone's minds for a long while now, and far be it from me to ignore such a trend. In Italy, the Parmigiano-Reggiano makers have a creative way of raising money for general operating expenses on their diaries and other production expenses. They use aging rounds of their national treasure as collateral for bank loans! According to MSNBC, a wheel of this hard salty goodness is worth up to 300 euros, and a cheesemaker might put up as many as 2,000 of the 7,000 wheels they make each year (600,000 euros), and the bank would give them a cash loan for 60-70% of the value (420,000 euros). Not a bad deal, especially in difficult economic times. When the loan is due to expire (when the cheese is fully aged and ready for sale), the cheesemaker can either repay the loan, or allow the bank to sell the cheese at market prices. Considering the two year delay, a lot can happen to the price of cheese (commodity prices being what they are), and the 30-40% taken by the bank doesn't seem that high when you consider the risk they are taking (though I think it still seems a bit high). The BBC report says there is only 3% interest + a fee, which seems much more reasonable. I guess we'll have to travel to Italy and check it out for ourselves to clarify!

This isn't a new financial arrangement. Apparently, the Italians have been doing this since right after WWII. It's extremely organized, and banks even have in-house cheese watchers to take care of the collateralized wheels of cheese in environmentally controlled vaults especially built for cheese aging. They even check the wheels during the aging process to ensure that they are properly developing (they aren't worth as much if they have air holes in them).

Cheese deposits are up 10% during the current recession. Yet another indicator to watch as we look for signs of light at the end of the financial tunnel. In the meantime, grate a little Parmesean on your pasta and don't panic! There's more where that came from, and its tucked up safely in a bank vault.

Baa!

2009-09-14T22:10:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, we went to the LA County Fair this weekend! We trembled at all the scary rides, ate all the weird fried things, saw all the prize winning tablescapes and quick breads, went to the pig races (Lindsay Loham was the big winner), and spent A LOT of time at the farm!

We saw sheep get sheared, and went to a goat milking demo, but wasn't allowed to try milking because I'm over 12 years old. Such a huge bummer! I got pics of the milking rig, but was so disappointed that we didn't stay till the end. The wool lining was that I ended up really bonding with the sheep.

Now, this isn't to say that the goats weren't totally adorable, and I still love them, their milk, and their cheese. There is even more love there now that I've pet their ears and stroked their fuzzy necks. The good news is that my heart has expanded to include woolly sheep! The way they look into your eyes and let you scratch their heads is pretty awesome. I think that I was the only adult in the petting zoo without a 5 year old, but I had so much fun, and got some great pics of my fuzzy dairy producing friends!

So, I've vowed to highlight more sheep's milk cheeses, starting today! At the moment, the sheep's milk cheese I'm most familiar with is Feta, with all it's salty yummy-ness, perfect in a summer Greek salad and Pecorino Romano, which I often substitute for Parmigiano-Reggiano. (BTW - Pecorino tranlates loosely in Italian as "little sheep" so whenever you see a pecorino cheese, you know it's got sheep's milk in it.) But a quick look in Murray's Cheese Handbook reminds me that there are so many great sheep's milk cheeses to taste and talk about!

I'll leave you with a fun one introduced to me by Andrew at Andrew's Cheese. Zamorano is a great Spanish sheep's milk cheese that he suggests when you are looking for Manchego (another sheep cheese). Manchego isn't regulated, so it can be made wherever and however (but it is always pretty tasty). Zamorano is regulated, which is good for consistency. It's a nice firm cheese, and still goes great with quince paste. It has a dry, confident nutty flavor that is really delicious. Check it out!

Sweet dreams all, and don't forget to count your sheep!

A Cheese and Tea Party

2009-09-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

My dear friend VG hosted a birthday tea for herself today, and we all pitched in, bringing cucumber sandwiches, scones, tea, and of course, I had to bring cheese! I had never thought about how to pair cheese with tea, but I knew it was totally possible. There are not as many guides for tea and cheese pairings as there are for wine and cheese. Its a bit more complicated than goat cheese with Chardonnay! That said, I did find this great site that offered a few suggestions (I also subscribed to the magazine! Stay tuned for future insights). Very helpful!

I was running late, and had to go to to Whole Paycheck to pick up the cheese babies for the day, and so was deprived of an encouraging chat with my cheese monger friends. I was looking for the Mt. Tam triple cream that I knew everyone would enjoy, but they didn't have it, darn it all! Thinking on the fly, I settled on a very diverse trio, figuring that people would probably find at least one that they enjoyed, and perhaps one that even melded well with the tea. Since almost everyone snacked on at least two, I think it was a success!

The first cheese was a Bucheron goat cheese, which has a nice delicate flavor, with a soft, almost bloomy rind. It comes from the farm in a log shape, so what you get from the store is a lovely circle of goaty goodness. It is slightly aged to mellow out the goat flavor a little, and the one I got had an incredible "cream line" which is the ring of softer, gooey-er, more translucent cheese right underneath the rind that has ripened more than the bright white, firmer center. Yum! And delicious with green tea, as it turns out.

The second was an amazing Epoisse - a traditional washed rind cheese from France that gets its weekly rind washings with brandy! How about that. This stinker comes in its own cute little balsa wood box, and has a great saltiness that tastes much more mild than it smells. Once you cut into this one, it oozes gracefully out onto the plate - just waiting to be scooped up onto a cracker and eaten with Earl Grey.

Finally, I grabbed a beautiful, caramel colored hunk of 5 year aged Gouda. Now, I recently learned that this cheese is not called goo-da, but how-da. Those crazy Dutch. This hard cheese would probably taste amazing grated up and used instead of Parmesan on a pasta with a butternut squash sauce. It even looks a little like Parmesan, because as it ages, it somehow grows crunchy crystals, probably through dehydration. It tastes a little like a butterscotch candy that got mixed with hazelnuts. My goodness, delicious! I could have eaten the whole chunk myself. But I did share, and it was incredible with an Autumnal black tea infused with orange.

We all had a great time at the party and stuffed ourselves with little sandwiches, scones, champagne, tea and cheese! We didn't hold our pinky's in the air, as we discussed the craziness one of the ladies experienced during her week at Burning Man (unpublishable on this respectable page!), outdoor corporate karaoke (the horror!) and watched Tessa the dog do tricks for (non-cheese) treats. What can I say? We're a post-modern crowd, but we sure know how to have a good time!

In addition, I had fun experimenting with how tea and cheese can go together. It was great to share these cheeses with such a smart and eclectic group of women, and I'm looking forward to continued research! It's a gooey job, but someones got to do it!

Sweet dreams all. I hope that the caffeine has all been absorbed by the cheese and I'll be able to rest up for another day of cheesy exploration!