Cheese for a Wednesday, pt. 16 - Majorero

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!

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

"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!

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...

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

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!

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...