Like me, you probably have a set of cheese knives in your kitchen, and like me you are probably at a loss matching the right cheese with the right knife when you entertain. Honestly I don’t think it makes too much difference which knife you use for which cheese, but the right tool can make for better cutting and better presentation. The one with the pointy tip is meant for hard cheeses (use the tip to flick chunks off cheeses like parmesan). The wide-edged flat blade is good for small disc shaped cheeses or very crumbly blues, and the curved rounded blade for soft cheeses. If you want to splurge on great cheese knives check out brands like Laguiole or Giesser, and invest in one with the granton edge (grooves carved into the side of the blade). The cheese won’t stick to the blade and you can get cleaner and more even cuts.
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What does artisanal mean?
When I
think of the word artisanal, the term “hand-made” pops into my head. But what
does hand-made mean when it comes to cheese? There are a few things that define
the term for me, and a few things that clearly don’t. Scale, for example, is a clear don’t in my mind. Who is to say whether a sole wheel of cheese produced by a shepherd
in the Pyrenees is more artisanal than the hundred wheels produced by a cheesemaker
in Vermont over the same season? When you start talking in terms of tons of
cheese produced, sure, scale is a handy rule to measure by, but otherwise it’s
misleading. After all, you can have a large and successful artisan cheese
operation – cheesemakers are allowed to dream big too.
When you
break down the word artisanal, you find “artisan”, which is the obvious and first
of the three aspects that defines the term for me. It’s a basic point, but at
some stage in the life of the cheese it needs to have come into contact with an
artisan and that all important human touch. Whether through hand salting, hand
brushing, hand flipping or hand bathing, the cheese needs to have been touched and
cared for by the cheesemaker.
The
second part of the definition is the actual product, namely the ingredients. Sure, you can have bad artisan cheese
(inferior milk perhaps), but that’s a different issue. The point here is that
the ingredient list defines whether the product is artisanal, and in the cheese
world that list can include: milk, enzymes, cultures, salt, rennet and natural
colorants. I’m not a total naturalist by any means, but I think if you’re
starting with mainly processed and unnatural building blocks then you don’t get
to call your product artisanal.
Finally,
the tools – many artisan cheesemakers still use equipment from generations ago,
but does adopting modern techniques preclude them from being considered artists? In my
mind it is perfectly OK if the equipment or techniques ultimately better the
quality of the end product. But it becomes less clear when the goal is to increase
quantity or to extend shelf life. When
you have a true artist, and the bare necessity ingredients and tools, you have
the making of an artisan product. And like all art, while the price tag may be
steep, it’s meant to bring pleasure. So enjoy the art, and seek out cheese that has truly earned the name artisanal.
Cream, sugar, and a spot of cheese
Forget
finger sandwiches—the best thing to have with your cup of tea is a hunk of
cheese! I had heard of pairing coffee with cheese (ever since Artisanal teamed
up with Starbucks to bring you mini cheese platters with your Mochaccino) so I
guess it should have occurred to me that tea and cheese would go equally well
together. But it didn’t cross my mind until Waldemar and I met a lovely lady,
Dolores Snyder, at an event we did at Telepan.
Dolores is
a tea authority and no doubt she rules the tea circuit in her hometown of
Dallas, Texas. But she also happens to be a cheese lover and a collector of Victorian
cheese keepers (which is just about the coolest collection I have ever heard
of). Dolores teaches about tea all around the country, and is a big fan of
pairing it with cheese. But I was so enamored with the vision of these
Victorian cheese keepers that I forgot to ask Dolores what her favorite cheese
and tea pairing was.
So, here
are my thoughts instead: If you sweeten your tea, you would do well to nibble
on a saltier cheese, like aged cheddar. Herbal teas are probably fabulous with
fresh goat’s milk cheeses, and Earl Grey is probably fabulous with everything.
If you were drinking a very tannic black tea, I would avoid very lactic cheeses
like a triple-crème. And any mint or peppermint tea is probably pretty gross
with cheese, unless the mint component is a background flavor.
Dolores,
if you are reading this, please post advice for us cheese and tea novices!
California dreaming
The month
of September 2006 has been christened California Wine Month. So let’s move our
collective focus westward to the Golden State, and celebrate a little.
California
Wine Month is a salute to the quality and progress of winemaking in the state,
not to mention the fact that it produces a whopping 90% of all US wine. You’ve
probably tried wines from Napa and Sonoma, so commemorate this month by
discovering other fantastic lesser-known appellations like Mendocino and Paso Robles.
You may
have heard that Arnie shut down the proposal to name Zinfandel the “state
grape”. But in the minds of many this varietal remains characteristically
Californian. That and buttery Chardonnays, euro-style Meritage, and big boozy
wines (16%, anyone?) are among the many California contributions to the world
of wine.
So
where’s the cheese in all this? Thankfully wherever there is great wine, great
cheese seems to follow. Several Californian artisan cheesemakers have become so
successful that you can find their cheeses nationwide. Some of the best include
Cypress Grove, Cowgirl Creamery and Fiscalini Farms.
Cheers California. We’ll be back.
Me toasting the vineyards of St Supery on a recent trip to Cali.
And, le voilà!
I came across a blog post about how to make goat's milk cheese. I thought it was very cute for two reasons - first because it starts out "milk the goat...", and second because the author is Fanny, a pixie looking French girl with a very pink blog. Visit Fanny's blog Food Beam for her goat's milk cheese recipe and for some of the most gorgeous food photos on the net. Merci Fanny for demystifying cheese making, and for the photo of your delicious looking goat's milk cheese!
Taste like you mean it
Oftentimes
we inhale our food without really tasting it. Food becomes a necessity and
sometimes we just don’t have the time or presence of mind to really pay
attention to what we are eating. For your next meal, take the time to follow
some of the suggestions below. Or, to make this cheese relevant, head to your
cheese shop and splurge on a cheese you have always wanted to try (go by
instinct, not price tag) and follow these simple guides to getting the most out
of taste…
- Behold
the power of smell. Pinch your nose shut and pop a piece of cheese into your
mouth. All you will taste is salt, and maybe a little tanginess. Now release
your nose and inhale. You will be hit with a barrage of different flavors,
and it should feel like your taste buds are holding a raging party in your
mouth. Remember, your tongue can only perceive salt, sweet, sour and bitter.
Use your nose to get the full experience.
- Ditch the
fork. Use your fingers to explore your food. Note different textures and
temperatures. Squish foods together and lick your fingers clean. Touch can tell
you a lot about your food. In fact squishing cheese between your fingers is a
technique for testing ripeness and quality. Playing with your food in this way
also promotes losing yourself in the moment. Maybe try this alone at home to
get really comfortable, and so as not to gross out your fellow diners.
- Want you
to want me. When you are presented with an amazing bit of food, maybe something
rare or exquisitely prepared, you are probably familiar with the feeling of
desiring your food. I propose making that a two-way street. Imagine the food in
turn, desires you. Don’t get too hung up on the intellectuality of it, just
imagine the food you are about to eat wants to be eaten by you, and let the
relishing by mutual. If it helps, you can imagine a 9-½ weeks scene where some
human object of desire is feeding you the food you are consuming. You will know
you are doing it right when the pleasure train parks on your tongue, even after
you are “done”.
How can I dress up my cheese?
Cheese can look glorious all on it’s own, but there are elegant and tasty ways to dress it up a little for a special occasion. The following suggestions and photos come directly from my cousin’s wedding in Napa (Nick and Suzi, you guys rock) and in my mind were the height of elegance and simple sophistication. And believe me everyone at the wedding was scooping up seconds and thirds with the nonchalance of a thief in a bank vault. Click on the photos below to enlarge.
Plate #1:
Humboldt Fog with fresh figs and fig jam. As the wedding was in Napa this was a
perfect homage to the terroir (I’m pretty sure they grow figs somewhere around there).
The cheese is fresh (i.e., not aged) the fruit was fresh, and the combination
could not be more visually stunning with the deep purple of the fruit contrasting
with the pristine white of the cheese paste.
Plate #2:
Manchego with membrillo (quince paste). If you are going to do a classic
combination, do it well. They chose an excellent quality cheese and membrillo,
and the rustic simplicity of the ingredients drew me back to the fields of España, with all the flavors and
textural nuances that hail from the Mediterranean culture.
Plate #3:
Gorgonzola dolce with raw honeycomb and hazelnuts. This is close to what my “stuck
on a deserted island” meal would be. Only blue cheese packs enough punch and
salt to pair with honey, and if you are going to have honey, make it the whole
comb. It makes for an unforgettable visual presentation, and offers your guests
an experience most have never had. Now for whom to take on
that deserted island with you…
For more ideas on accompaniments, check out my posting Cheese, Accompanied, on the Restaurant Girl website.
What is American cheese?
Last
month I traveled to the distant land of Portland, Oregon to find out. There I
had the pleasure and privilege of attending the 23rd annual American Cheese
Society (ACS) Conference, a gathering of the who’s who in the cheese world and
a multi-category judging of practically every artisan cheese produced in this
country.
American
cheese initially adopted the character and traditions of the immigrants that
chose to make this country home. The Brits brought their cheddar recipes, the
Dutch the Goudas, and so on. Nowadays many of the best American artisan
cheesemakers retrace their recipes back to Europe, spending time with the
masters there to further hone and perfect their craft.
As a
result, American cheese is where American wine was 30 years ago—truly
palatable, and catching up to their finest European counterparts. The record
number of entries in this year’s judging is also an indication that American artisan
cheesemaking is here to stay. Check out my photo album for an idea of the sheer
amount of cheese we were privy to (I think I ate about 4 pounds in 3 days).
Finally,
the crowning glory of ACS 2006 …(insert drum roll)… The Best Of Show ribbon was
pinned on Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, made by Cabot Creamery and expertly aged by
the folks at Jasper Hill Farm. Check out the ACS website for the full judging
results brochure.