For more information, please visit Vermont Cheese Council. The following list is from their website and copyrighted to them.
| Blue Ledge Farm | Green Mountain Blue Cheese | Sage Farm
Scholten Family Farm Shelburne Farms Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery. |
February 5, 2010
Vermont Cheese Makers
Hook’s Little Boy Blue
The Award-winning Cheesemakers at Wisconsin’s Hook’s Cheese Company have delivered a pungent blue cheese similar only to Roquefort in that it is made from sheep milk. The cheese is produced during the period of the year when the sheep are out grazing on lush grasses growing on the rolling hills of Southwest Wisconsin. Much of the milk used in this cheese comes from the local Amish farms.
The Lady’s friend and fellow cheesemonger, Nate, brought a wedge of Hook’s Little Boy Blue back with him from his recent trip to Wisconsin. It came from Dee’s Cheese and More, a place that cares little about appearance in regards to wrapping… not a criticism… just an observation… I actually find it rather charming…
The Lady was thrilled to receive this cheese and has served it two ways: as the final cheese on a recent Whole Food cheeseboard and as a dressing for a lettuce wedge salad. The dressing recipe can be found on my other blog by clicking here.
The Lady and I have struggled over this review. This cheese is good; but it isn’t great and I had so hoped it would knock my paws off… it didn’t.
There was nothing really wrong with it; but there wasn’t anything particularly right about it either.
It was okay; but when you have the opportunity to use sheep milk to make cheese; I would like to see more… much more.
I give Hook’s Little Boy Blue 2 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: On a cheese board and as the basis of a blue cheese dressing.
Wine Pairing Suggestions: Tawny Port or Meritage
Beer Pairing Suggestions: Belgium Ale
Source: Sheep Milk
Super Bowl Smackdown: Nachos vs. Nachos
By Bonnie S. Benwick and Joe Yonan
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
As far as we’re concerned, the most egregious fouls committed during Sunday’s Super Bowl will involve tortilla chips and melted cheese.
Nachos are championship party food, to be sure: cheap, easy and sociable. But once the best bites come off the top and the cheese congeals, things get ugly. We agreed that a better game plan was in order.
In previous years, Joe has played positions of Texan, traditionalist and purist in our smackdowns over chili, guacamole and meat snacks. This year, he chose to run an anti-nacho pattern. He called chef-restaurateur Rick Bayless, who coached him through a recipe for tostadas built like tlayudas, the famous street food of Oaxaca, Mexico. The huge corn tortillas are grilled on both sides, brushed with lard, then topped and cut into pizzalike wedges.
Bayless’s version calls for six-inch tortillas, a thinned guacamole sauce, crumbled cooked chorizo and judiciously applied queso fresco. Simple. Guests can grab one and go. And while the tostadas may overlap slightly on a platter, no ref would throw a flag for piling on. The tostadas pack a spicy punch and will remain crisp through four quarters plus a halftime show with the Who. The same technique can be applied to all manner of combinations: grilled shrimp with black beans (or a smooth bean puree), or perhaps carnitas and pickled onions drizzled with a smoky salsa.
Bonnie spent the past three contests trying to reverse the status quo, and the strategy for Super Bowl XLIV is no different. Her nachos could remain en masse, but they would need crunch, coverage and heat. Those elements couldn’t come from a corny base, soggy toppings and rubbery jalapeño slices.
David Suarez, culinary director of Rosa Mexicano, offered up the X’s and O’s of a recipe created for the restaurant chain’s current Real Men Cook Mexican festival. The nachos start with thick-cut potato slices fried golden brown and crisp. Transferred to the largest platter you’ve got, they form a wide playing field for layers of flavor: a garlicky herbed oil, chopped braised boneless short ribs deepened by a tinga (cooked vegetable base), scattered hits of Mexican blue cheese, a crunchy jalapeño slaw, cooling crema, chopped scallions and — wait for it — julienne strips of pickled morita chili peppers.
Not simple. And at some point, utensils need to be called in. But these nachos welcome substitutions, depending on the strength of your culinary bench: Use kettle chips or wedges of baked corn tortillas instead of frying your own potatoes. Skip the garlicky oil and reduce the calorie count. Add cooked beans, roasted red peppers and marinated artichoke hearts to the tinga instead of beef. Choose a milder cheese such as a dry Jack instead of a salty Cabrales or Valdeon.
If classic nachos are more your speed, see our list of tips for ways to raise that game. The snack might have sprung from a Hail Mary attempt long ago by a desperate restaurateur just across the Rio Grande, but Americans continue to top nachos in winning ways. Except for the goopy ones sold at stadiums, which should be banned from all sports.
February 4, 2010
Fondue is “Cool” Again
From Philly.com
Bring that fondue pot out of storage: It’s time to take the plunge once more.
By Anna Herman
For The Inquirer
Remember fondue?
Those hot pots of melted cheese were so ubiquitous in ’70s American culture that every newlywed couple opened at least one fondue pot among their wedding bounty.
By the early ’80s, the fad had faded, and most pots were stowed away.
But a desire for simple home entertaining has led many of us to rediscover those pots from the past. No longer exotic, fondue now feels comforting and nostalgic, with added appeal as an easy-on-the-budget, festive food that’s quite versatile.
If you serve chocolate fondue for two, it’s romantic. Serve cheese fondue during the week – even after school – and it’s a special occasion. Serve fondue in courses for company and it’s a party.
Fondue Night has become a tradition at our house. We were inspired initially by the menu of an expensive and now defunct fondue restaurant to create our own (higher quality and much less costly) version of a three- or four-course fondue meal.
The menu feels stylishly retro, is completely kid-friendly, and is a convivial way to gather and feed a group.
Invite a few couples or families together – in front of the fireplace if possible – around a pot of gooey cheese fondue with sliced baguette, apples, and sliced vegetables to dip. Offer cocktails or beer and wine, and some cider or spritzers for the kids.
Next, move to the dining room and find a place across from a simmering pot of seasoned broth. Spear thin-sliced beef, or marinated duck or tofu, and chunks of veggies and cook to order in the hot, savory liquid.
You can make a big salad, or, once all the meat and veggies are cooked and eaten, add a quantity of julienned vegetables, greens, even noodles or dumplings to the still-simmering broth for an easy, flavorful third course.
Later – back by the fire, perhaps – put out cordials or tea and coffee and several small pots of warm dessert dips with fresh and soft dried fruit, cake, and homemade marshmallows or graham crackers, to end the evening.
Any one of these courses is enough to offer – and on a snow day or for an early weeknight dinner, it can be more than enough.
The word fondue comes from the French fondre, “to melt” – an apt description of the melted cheese and wine mixture first served in French-speaking Switzerland. Now the term is used for not only warm cheese mixtures, but also for simmering liquids and hot oils in which to dip or cook food communally.
Each Swiss canton has its own classic cheese combination, and many cheese shops throughout Switzerland offer a proprietary blend of grated Alpine cheeses such Gruyere, Emmentaler, Appenzeller, Raclette, and Vacherin. Most cheese fondues cook a blend of cheeses in seasoned wine or beer, with some starch to bind. The right blend of cheeses ensures a good mix of nuttiness, sharpness, and complexity and also balances melting and textural qualities. I especially like sharp aged Cheddars, Fontinas, and nutty aged Goudas in my own proprietary blend.
Many other cultures have long traditions of warm dips and bubbling broths or oils in which to cook foods to order. Chinese “hot pots” have been served for more than 1,000 years. Various meat and seafood broths served in the center of the table allow diners to choose from sliced meats, seafood, and poultry, dumplings, and vegetables artfully arranged on platters. Selections are cooked in the broth and served with additional dipping sauces. This broth-style preparation is quite flavorful, light, and low fat. A small amount of tender meat can be sliced into many portions. I generally avoid chicken – even though it cooks quickly – because of the risk of cross-contamination from raw poultry.
There are many high-quality fondue pots available at almost every price. But if you keep your eye out at yard sales, and ask your friends, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to gather a collection of slightly used or completely unused fondue sets very cheaply or free. Any heavy-bottomed saucepan – copper or cast iron – with some sort of warming stand and chafing burner works.
The easiest setup I’ve used is simply a nice saucepan held up by three bricks set in a triangle, with a can of sterno in the center underneath. Up to eight good friends can take turns around one cheese fondue pot – but for bubbly broths cooking meat, poultry or seafood, try to have enough pots going so no more than four to five people are sharing one cooking vessel.
Use your heaviest pots for the easy-to-scorch cheese fondue; the thin-walled decorative fondue sets are good for keeping the broth simmering. For cheese fondue I go directly from stove to warming ring with a heavy copper pot. Smaller ceramic, terra cotta, or copper pots are good for the very delicate and easy-to-burn chocolate and other dessert mixtures, which need only a candle to keep warm.
Experiment with different cheeses, meats, vegetables, and chocolates. I think you’ll find that on these cold and dreary winter days, a warm aromatic pot of delicious food to share is never out of fashion.
January 29, 2010
Say Cheese Magazine – Premiere Issue – January 2010
My friend, Jim Lowes, is Retail Director for the newest “totally cheese” magazine on the market: Say Cheese.
Please check out their website for more information.
Celebrate With Cheese
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/sc-food-1224-cheese-20091228,0,3184741.story
Boom in American cheesemaking brings quality, choice for any party in the new year
By Bill Daley, Tribune Newspapers
December 30, 2009
Ring in a new year and (unofficially) a new decade with an ancient foodstuff. Celebrate with cheese.
More and more people are getting turned on to cheese. Cheesemakers are popping up around the country. New cheese books are being published seemingly every week. The first consumer cheese magazine, a quarterly called Culture, debuted a year ago. And you can increasingly find and buy all sorts of cheese at farmers markets, in ambitious cheese stores, and even the dairy and deli cases of your local supermarket.
Clark Wolf, the New York City-based author of “American Cheese,” said people turn to ages-old basics when life gets complicated. That’s why cheese, particularly American-made cheese, is surging in popularity during these hard economic times.
“We re-entered the macaroni-and-cheese economy in a good way,” he said. “There’s nothing kitschy about this stuff. It’s heartfelt and real. They’re using ancient wisdom and new ways, and that’s just good.”
Consumer demand is fueling the boom in the American artisan cheese production, said Jeanne Carpenter, founder of the Madison, Wis.-based Wisconsin Cheese Originals, which spreads the word about new cheeses and their makers.
Only 20 of the state’s dairies produced a specialty cheese in 2004, she said. Now 88 of 127 cheese plants are making at least one type of specialty cheese.
“Many cheesemakers are developing innovative American originals, which are rivaling the great European cheeses in flavor, quality and popularity,” Carpenter said.
Yet this burgeoning supply of cheese varieties can prove daunting to the average consumer.
Here are some ways to grapple with the choices.
•”View it as an adventure,” Carpenter said. “Visit a cut-to-order cheese shop so you can taste any cheese before you buy it. If you’re not sure where to begin, tell the cheesemonger some of your favorite foods. This will give him or her a direction for your palate, and you can start with flavor profiles you know you’ll like.”
•Be willing to go outside your comfort zone if your cheesemonger recommends something different, she added. “You may discover a new favorite.”
•While artisan, locally made cheeses are the rage, Elaine Khosrova, the editor of Culture magazine, said don’t give a cold shoulder to cheese made by big companies. “Just because they’re big doesn’t mean they aren’t high quality,” she said.
•Conversely, just because a cheesemaker is a small operation doesn’t guarantee the cheese will be delicious. “You have to taste your way around,” Khosrova said.
When you do bring the cheese home, take steps to make it accessible to guests.
Allison Hooper, co-founder of the Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery in Websterville, Vt., said some cheese boards can look scary all festooned with big hunks of cheese that people are reluctant to cut into.
“Get a cheese started,” said Hooper. “I think it’s OK to cut up some of the cheese so it’s a little more inviting.”
And don’t put out too much cheese.
“Even for a party of 15 people, two signature cheeses are plenty,” Khosrova said. “Go for something special.”
These days, that’s easier to do than ever.
Want to learn about cheese?
Books about cheese are as hot as cheese itself these days. The focus ranges from basic how-tos to quasi-memoirs to artisan cheese guides to cheese cookbooks to advanced tutorials in cheesemaking and appreciation. Here are some recent titles:
“Fiona Beckett’s Cheese Course: Styles, Wine Pairings, Plates & Boards, Recipes,” by Fiona Beckett (Ryland Peters & Small, $24.95)
“World Cheese Book,” Juliet Harbutt, editor-in-chief (DK Publishing, $25)
“In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen,” by Allison Hooper (The Countryman Press, $19.95)
“Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship From a Maitre Fromager,” by Max McCalman and David Gibbons (Clarkson Potter, $40)
“The Cheese Chronicles: A Journey Through the Making and Selling of Cheese in America, From Field to Farm to Table,” by Liz Thorpe (Ecco, $15.99)
“American Cheeses: The Best Regional, Artisan and Farmhouse Cheese, Who Makes Them, and Where to Find Them,” by Clark Wolf (Simon & Schuster, $25)
– B.D.
// Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
Brewers Roll Out High-Alcohol Beers
Thursday, January 28, 2010
From http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/
Copyright 2010 Portland Business Journal
Two of Oregon’s most noted craft beer makers will introduce products for ale enthusiasts who appreciate “big” beers that are both heavy and high in alcohol content.
Full Sail will bring out its Top Sail Bourbon Barrel Porter next month. The Hood River company stored the product in oak barrels used to distill such bourbons as Maker’s Mark and Stranahan’s for about a year. Full Sail’s marketing department describes the concoction as having “aromas of oak, coconut and bourbon. … Oak, toast and caramel flavors are rounded by the bourbon fire and sweetness.”
The beer’s alcohol content is 9.85 percent, or twice as much as much as a typical mass-produced domestic beer. It’s also made to condition well, meaning it ages nicely over time.
“If you store a few bottles in a dark, cool place and be patient, you will be rewarded for your effort and restraint,” said Jamie Emmerson, Full Sail’s executive brewmaster.
The beer will be sold in 22-ounce bottles and on tap in selected locations. Retailers carrying the beer include all area New Seasons, Zupans, Whole Foods and some Fred Meyer and QFC stores. All area beer specialty retailers will also carry the product.
Deschutes Brewery will also unveil a Reserve Series of its popular Jubelale winter seasonal. Jubel 2010 marks only the second time the Bend brewer has bottled the product, which, around the holidays, it sells on tap as “Super Jubel” at selected pubs.
The story behind the beer borders on folklore. Twenty years ago, a burglar tried to steal a Jubelale keg but misjudged the beer’s weight and left it behind in the snow. When Deschutes owner Gary Fish discovered it the next day, more than half the liquid in the keg had frozen, leaving a “very cold, highly concentrated Jubelale on steroids” ale, said spokeswoman Marie Melsheimer.
Brewers immediately began using the process to create the special Super Jubel blend, aging it in Oregon oak pinot barrels.
The beer contains 10 percent alcohol by volume. Deschutes will sell the 22-ounce wax-dipped bottles at all outlets that carry it through its 14-state reach.
January 28, 2010
German Hirtenkase Reserve
Another small morsel from Whole Foods on the cheese board was a German cheese, Hirtenkase Reserve. This “herdsman” cheese is traditionally handmade in the mountain regions of Southern Germany. The milk comes from small herds, usually under 20 cows per farm, which means the cows are well cared for, and graze at altitudes above 2500 feet. The cows enjoy the alpine meadow grasses of the summer and in the early farm return to the valleys where a celebration is held to announce their return for the winter.
This cheese is a hard cheese similar to a super-aged Gouda or an aged Parm with those tasty little flavor crystals that The Man and I so love. It has a pleasant ever-so-slightly bitter aftertaste.
This cheese won two gold medals at the World Cheese Awards in 2005.
I give Hirtenkase Reserve 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: This is a very versatile cheese. You can grate it and use it in pasta dishes; on a gourmet pizza; in gratins and on a cheeseboard.
Wine Pairings: Gewurztraminer
Beer Pairing: As with Robusto, I recommend a Brown Ale
Source: Very spoiled and well cared for Cows that graze in the alpine meadows.
Awards: 2005 World Cheese Awards
Parrano Robusto
The “older” (by four months) sister of the Parrano that The Lady sells, Parrano Robusto, was the fourth cheese from The Lady’s Whole Foods Reconnaissance Mission (aka “spying on the competition”).
Back in the day when we all lived in SoCal, The Lady and The Man attended wine and cheese tasting classes at The Wine House in West LA, with cheeses provided by The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. The classes were conducted by a friend of The Lady named Susan who was married to a well-respected film writer. At one of the tastings, Susan introduced the class to Old Amsterdam Aged Gouda and it became and has remained a favorite of The Lady and The Man.
Every time The Lady has a chance to sample a new aged gouda, you can bet she will and thank you very much, she always shares with me, your favorite feline foodie.
Holland produces some terrific aged goudas and The Lady likes them all: In addition to her first aged gouda love, Old Amsterdam, she also loves Rembrandt, Beemster XO, Beemster Vlaskaas, Parrano, UnieKaas Extra Old Gold Label (sold on The Lady’s Island – hmm, I haven’t seen that cheese in the cheese drawer – what other cheeses might The Lady be withholding from me…this inquiring mind really wants to know…) and Vincent.
The aroma of Robusto is sweet and toasty and the texture is creamy and buttery with small eyes. The taste is sweet and buttery with those fabulous crunchies that The Man and I so love in aged cheeses. It just doesn’t get any better than this in the world of aged goudas…
I give Parrano Robusto 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got). Another winner from Holland…
Serving Suggestions: Aged Goudas go with pears like no other cheese. While fresh pears are always preferred, they aren’t always available. The Lady snagged a can of pears from her Aunt Karra that came from the Hood River area where fabulous fruit grows in the valleys below Mt. Hood. These paired perfectly with the Robusto. However, this is a very versatile cheese and will do well in many casseroles and pasta dishes. It grates well for those purposes. And… drumroll, please… it will be dynamite in a Mac n Cheese… or how about pairing this with a Jamon Serrano and making a killer grilled ham n cheese???
Wine Pairing: A big Cabernet is the perfect wine for this cheese.
Beer Pairing: A Brown Ale will hit the spot with this cheese.
Source: Cow’s Milk
Asiago Fresco Mitica
The third cheese on the Whole Foods cheese plate The lady prepared for The Man and me was Asiago Fresco Mitica.
Quite frankly, I expected more from this cheese. It is a DOP protected cheese from Italy, made in the traditions of the Italian cheesemakers.
It is a young Asiago and semi-firm; unlike the Asiago d’Allevo which is aged, aromatic and quite wonderful. The Lady sells the aged version and offers it grated as well as wedged.
Perhaps it was just this cut of cheese but it was bland, rubbery and had no aroma and almost no taste.
It was just a piece of nothing cheese.
I give this particular Whole Foods wedge of Asiago Fresco no Paws as it deserves none.
Serving Suggestions: I’ll reserve suggestions until The Lady finds another outlet so I can compare wedges and then make my pronouncements…
