Life with Spaulding Gray

As you can see, your favorite Feline Foodie is the Center of the Universe…at least the center of The Lady’s Universe.

more about “Life with Spaulding Gray“, posted with vodpod

 

My Tillamook Cheese Plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lady does indeed love this Feline Foodie. Last night as a snack, she fixed up a Tillamook Cheese Plate with three of my favorites: Cheddar with Peppercorns, Smoked Cheddar and Extra Sharp Cheddar.

To keep The Man appeased she threw in the Horseradish variety, which just about made The Man weep. He does love his horseradish and when you combine it with Tillamook, you can never go wrong…

As you can see below, The Lady was unable to get a picture of me with my head not moving…that’s because I was scarfing down those tasty morsels so fast, her lens couldn’t stop the action…

This Feline Foodie gives the Tillamook Cheese Plate 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got)…

Cheese 101: The Eight Faces of Cheese

The Lady has discovered that Customers are often reluctant to ask in-depth questions about cheese and instead either ask her to recommend a cheese she (or I) like or they’ll just pick a cheese that sounds or looks “familiar”.

Your favorite Feline Foodie and Tillamook Cheese Fan of the Month for November (that would be me) thought it might be a good time to start short tutorials about the basics of cheese.

First up: the eight basic styles of cheese – all cheeses fall into one of the following categories and understanding what each style is can help make your next cheese-buying trip anxiety-free and more enjoyable.

Fresh Cheese:  Any cheese that does not undergo any ripening period is a fresh cheese. These cheeses have high moisture content; are mild in taste and have a creamy texture. Fresh cheeses include cottage cheese, cream cheese, and ricotta. While mostly bland, they improve, taste-wise, when mixed with other flavors such as herbs, fruit and sweeteners. These cheeses often have acidic or citrus taste and also the taste of fresh milk. Most of these cheeses should be eaten within a few days to a couple weeks of when the package is opened. These cheeses have a short “Use-by” date.

Other fresh cheeses include Cotija, some Mozzarellas, Queso Fresco, Mascarpone, Feta, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company Fromage Blanc, Fresh Goat Cheese aka Chevre, Bel Gioioso Burrata, Crave Brothers Mascarpone, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company Crottin, Valencay, Cabecous Feuilles, Bel Gioioso Crescenza-Stracchino and BelGioioso Tiramisu Mascarpone.

Soft-Ripened Cheese: These are cheeses that ripen from the outside in and are soft even when chilled and can be runny when out at room temperature. The outside rind is often a white, bloomy rind that has been sprayed with a mold, usually penicillium candidum, before a short aging period. The most common cheeses in this category are Brie, Camembert and Triple Creams. In the United States most of these cheeses are made from pasteurized milk; whereas in Europe many of these cheeses are still made from raw milk. Because of the FDA Regulation requiring that raw milk cheeses be aged at least sixty days, most European Cheesemakers make both raw milk and pasteurized versions of their cheeses that fall into this category. I have addressed this issue in a separate posting that you might like to read.

Included in this category are Brie de Nangis, Humboldt Fog, St. Andre, Delice de Bourgogne, St. Albray, Champignon, Cambozola, Pierre Robert, Formager d’Affinois, Crave Brothers Les Freres, Florette, Explorateur, St. Maure, Le Chatelain, Soignon Chevrion Buche, Fourgerus.

 Semi-Soft Cheese:  Cheeses in this category have a smooth and mostly creamy interior with little or no rind. Like fresh cheeses, semi-soft cheeses usually have high moisture content and often are very pungent; but can also be quite mild. Raw milk and pasteurized milk are both used in this category. Blues and washed-rind category cheeses can also be in this category.

Semi-soft cheeses include Chaumes, Bel Gioioso Fontina, Havarti, Tillamook Monterey Jack, Bleu D’Auvergne, St. Agur, Bellwether Farms’ Carmody, Roth Kase Petit Swiss, Jarlsberg, Roth Kase ButterKase and young Goudas.

 Washed-Rind Cheese: These cheeses are surface-ripened by washing the cheeses with brine, wine, brandy, beer or other ingredients throughout the aging process. The washing encourages the growth of bacteria and promotes pungent, sometimes very pungent, aromas and are therefore sometimes known as “stinky cheese”. While at Roth-Kase last spring, one of the duties The Lady completed in her Cheesemaking Class was to wash the ripening Gruyere. Also in my review of Taleggio, I state that it is also known as “My Father’s Smelly Feet”. In contrast to their smelly rinds, many of these cheeses are quite mellow and mild in taste such as Epoisses and Taleggio. Both taste absolutely nothing like the way they smell…and that’s a good thing…who would eat cheese that tasted like smelly feet???

Washed-Rind Cheeses include Raclette, Morbier, Epoisses, Taleggio, Pont l’Eveque, Livarot, Le Timanoix, Abondance, Bel Gioioso Italico, Winey Goat and Roth Kase Raclette.

Blue Cheeses: These cheeses have distinctive blue or green veining which is created by injecting penicillium roqueforti mold. This mold adds an easily recognized flavor that ranges from mild to bold and pungent. In Italy these cheeses are called “Gorgonzola”, in France “Bleu” or Roquefort – a protected name and style and in Britain and the US “Blue”.

In this category are Rogue River Blue, Bleu D’Auvergne, Forme d’Ambert, Maytag and Black River Gorgonzola.

Hard/Firm Cheeses: This is a broad category that covers cheeses that may be elastic at room temperature or are hard enough to grate like a Parmesan. Most of the Beemster Premium Goudas fall into this category as do most Cheddars, Swiss-style and Gruyere-style cheeses.

Specific cheeses in the hard category include Beecher’s Flagship Reserve, Comte, Rembrandt Gouda, Parrano, Piave, Grana Padano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Manchego, Idiazabal, Roth Kase Grand Kru, Emmenthal, Tillamook 2-Year Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar,  Beemster XO and Beemster Vlaskaas.

Natural Rind Cheeses: These are cheeses that develop a natural rind during the aging process without the addition of molds and without washing of the rind. Because they age over several weeks, many of these cheeses are made using raw milk. Many “Tomme” style cheese including Tomme de Savoie are in this category. The rind is usually edible but not necessarily tasty and is often gritty – try a nibble before going full steam ahead with the rind.

Other cheeses in this category include Mimolette, Cantalet, Brillat Savarin, Garroxta, English Stilton (also a blue), Shropshire Blue (another blue), Testun and St. Nectaire.

Spun Cheeses: Often called “Pasta Filata”; these cheeses are usually Italian in origin. As the name says, they are cooked and then kneaded (spun). They can be fresh or very hard grating cheeses depending on the producer. The cooking occurs when the curd is exposed to warm water which in turn makes the curd silky and elastic. The softer cheeses are then brined and the harder cheeses are air-dried.

This category includes BelGioioso Burrata, Mozzarella and Scamorza which all have a high moisture content and BelGioiosos Provolone and Caciocovallo with lower moisture content.

(There is a ninth category sometimes included in a list of cheeses but since your humble feline foodie does not consider it cheese, I refuse to really include it here: processed cheese such as Velveeta, “American Cheese” and other cheeses that can withstand a nuclear war…)

Up Next: Cheese 101: What is a Cheesemonger and other Cheese Vocations

LYSOLAC, Made From Lysozyme, Protects Against ‘Late Blowing’ In Aged And High pH Cheeses

From The Cheese Reporter:

LYSOLAC, which is made of Lysozyme, has been used as a natural antimicrobial enzyme in foods and pharmaceuticals for over 30 years.
Extracted from the hen egg white without the use of solvents, Lysozyme food-grade is a completely non-toxic and highly effective natural preservative which protects against many spoilage microorganisms, such as the Clostridia tyrobutyricum spore responsible for “late blowing” in cheese, according to Bioseutica USA, Inc., Rhinebeck, NY, which markets LYSOLAC in the US.
“It is used to prevent late blowing, which is due to bacterium in the cheese,” said Gilles Lagarde, executive vice president business development and regulatory affairs for Bioseutica plc. “The defect occurs during the ripening stages of the cheese.”
These bacteria have the properties that produce a lot of gas which causes late blowing, as well as bad flavors and bad smells, Lagarde said.
Added to the cheese vat during filling, LYSOLAC binds to the casein to remain in the curd and within the cheese for years, protecting while improving the natural, organoleptic aspects of the cheese, the company explained.

 
“Lysozyme is a protein that has a strong positive charge, so when it is put in milk and mixes with the casein, which has a negative charge, the Lysozyme binds with the casein,” Lagarde explained. “Therefore it does not affect the whey in any way. In fact with LYSOLAC the whey is highly sought for its use in applications such as infant formula.”
LYSOLAC is already very popular in the European cheesemaking industry, according to Bioseutica USA; 99 percent of the Italian Grana Padano and 85 percent of France’s hard cheese industry uses Lysozyme.
“It is well used in Italy where they use it systematically with the hard cheeses there,” Lagarde noted.
Lagarde said LYSOLAC is perfect for any cheese where extensive ripening is used and there is a heavy risk of loss.

“They use LYSOLAC because they cannot afford to age the cheese and find out the spores have caused the cheese to blow,” Lagarde said. “If it does, all you can do with it is for grated cheese and the loss is enormous.”
He also said LYSOLAC is used on high pH soft cheeses like Brie.
“The higher the pH,” Lagarde said, “the higher the chance for Clostridia to occur. Any cheese, except for the fresh cheeses.”
Affirmed as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 10 years ago, LYSOLAC is also USDA-approved for use in organic products and available certified Kosher and Halal. Products containing LYSOLAC are required to put “egg white lysozyme” on the ingredient listing by the FDA.

Extensive studies over the years have demonstrated Lysozyme is effective against a variety of microorganisms, including Clostridia, lactic acid bacteria, Listeria, Streptococcus thermophilus and Clostridium tyrobutyricum.
Lysozyme is described as a pure, white microcrystalline, odorless powder with a slightly sweet taste. Lysozyme activity is demonstrated to be effective by attacking the cell wall polysaccharide of different bacterial species, which leads to a breakdown of the cell wall and destruction of the microorganisms.

Granular LYSOLAC has a shelf life of two years when maintained dry and at moderate temperature. Mixing a solution in the cheese plant is said to be simple and requires a minimum of 15 minutes imbibing time prior to addition to the vat.
LYSOLAC 22 percent solution has a shelf life of one year, and can be stored in the refrigator once opened. For more information about LYSOLAC, contact Bioseutica USA, at (845) 876-8616.

Spaulding Gray: Tillamook Cheese Fan of the Month

Your humble Feline Foodie has been honored by being chosen as ”Tillamook Cheese Fan of the Month”. You may check out the detalis by visiting the Tillamook FanClub Website…WooHoo!!

(And they revealed a “random fact” that I have tried to keep secret…the result of another Burbank “incident” that ocurred before The Lady had me “tutored”…)

My thanks to the kind folks at Tillamook Cheese!! (And I guess I have to thank The Lady…who introduced me to the finer things in life when I adopted her…I’m referring to cheese…especially Tillamook VWESC…but, of course!!)

Cheesecake vs. Cheesesteak

From New York Daily News

Mouth of the Potomac by The Washington Bureau

By Michael McAuliff

New York and Pennsylvania’s senators are throwing down a little World Series bet that’s sure to send the winners to their cardiologist.

Chuck Schumer’s office informs us that he and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand are putting up some Junior’s cheesecakes if the Phillies win, while Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter are going in on some cheese steaks.

“I give Senators Specter and Casey credit for sticking with their team but I can already taste those delicious Philly cheese steaks,” Schumer said. “And even though the Phillies won the World Series last year, there’s no comparing the Yankees’ 26 World Series victories to the Phillies’ measly two. When the dust settles, I am confident that the Yankees will be victorious and Sen. Gillibrand and I will be enjoying our Philly cheese steaks.”

“Unfortunately for the Yankees, tradition alone will do them little good against Charlie Manuel’s fearsome lineup,” said Specter. “I look forward to enjoying the New York cheesecakes, although nothing will be as sweet as the Phillies’ back-to-back titles.”

We’ll let the players decide this one, but we’re pretty sure the cheesecakes travel better than the hot meat slathered with Cheez Whiz..

The Keystone senators had better hope it’s not one of these cheesecakes that have proved so popular with the rodent set.

And if Chuck had asked us, we’d have recommended those roast pork sandwiches with provolone and broccoli rabe that you can get in the Tony Luke’s concession down the first base line at Citizen’s Bank Field.

 

Trouble Brews for Wine; Cheese Chooses Beer

From the Wall Street Journal  (Copyrighted by the wsj.com):

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

Food & Drink

By DAVIDE BERRETTA

Bra, Italy

After wrestling for a spot on the gourmet drink list, beer is trying to push deeper into wine territory: right by the cheese platter.

“Some cheeses are considered to be jewels. And for now wine is a more prestigious partner,” says Leonardo Di Vincenzo, owner of Birra del Borgo, a young Italian artisanal brewery that has recently begun exporting to the U.S. But once they try beer with cheese, he says, “People are struck by how easily the two go together.”

The combination has long been a staple in Belgian cuisine, but in recent years, the pairing of beer and cheese has gained legitimacy even in wine-obsessed Italy — where beer is hardly the default drink to accompany fine dining. Similarly, in New York, at gourmet beer spots such as the Beer Table, serving cheese with a $10 brew no longer raises eyebrows.

For brewers, teaming up with cheese is part of a campaign to show that beer is as sophisticated as Bordeaux, not just a tipple associated with student parties and sports bars. The idea is to “bring it up at the same level as wine,” says Marc Stroobandt, a master beer sommelier and consultant at U.K.-based F&B Partnership, a company that trains restaurateurs on the best way to pair beer with food. Mr. Stroobandt says he sees “a lot of interest in experimenting” with pairing beer and cheese across Europe and in the U.S.

Slow Food, for one, is putting its clout behind the beer-and-cheese combo. At the nonprofit group’s Cheese 2009 — a biannual international fair held last week in Piedmont, the northern Italian region that shares a border with another cheese superpower, France — cheese lovers and producers from around the world tasted dozens of varieties, with beer helping wash down the food in addition to the usual wine.

Alberto Farinasso, events coordinator for the fair, says Slow Food is eager to give more attention to artisanal brews, and has elevated beer’s role from bit player to supporting actor. In previous editions of the fair, beer was present, but wine was recognized as the default partner for cheese tasting.

This time, the fair’s program and the crowds around the beer stands made it clear that beer no longer plays second fiddle to wine. Of 37 “taste workshops,” six were dedicated to pairing beer with cheeses. On Monday, the last day of the fair, one section dedicated to artisanal beers had to shut down because it had run out of beer to sell.

“It is a very valid union, both in terms of sensory experience and in terms of stories it can narrate,” says Mr. Farinasso.

At the fair, Parmigiano Reggiano, known in Italy as the “king of cheeses,” was paired with Italian artisanal beers. In other workshops, American and Italian microbrews accompanied U.S. cheeses such as Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Wisconsin and Rogue River Blue from Oregon. At another session, 39 people sat for more than an hour, tasting five raw-milk cheeses from central Italy paired with four unpasteurized Italian beers, guided by the cheese and beer producers.

Mr. Di Vincenzo, who led two of the beer workshops, says pairing beer and cheese is a no-brainer — “like bread and cheese. Beer is a bit like liquid bread.”

“The bitter note of hops gives a skimming strength that allows to cleanse the mouth from the fat” in cheeses, allowing for a better savoring of the flavors, he says.

Part of the appeal comes from the fact that beer and cheese are part of a common farm cycle. In the 19th century, Belgian monks would brew beer, feeding their cows the leftover barley husks. The cows’ milk yielded cheese that the monks — many of them vegetarians — liked to munch while enjoying their beers.

“You will often hear the argument that cows don’t eat grapes,” says Justin Philips, owner of New York’s Beer Table, a gourmet beer bar in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. Mr. Philips, who has been serving beer and cheese since opening the bar a year and a half ago, says palates have warmed quickly to the pairing, such as his proposed meeting of Swiss cheese with Swiss Rebetez beer.

“A year ago, it was a new experience for everybody we presented it to,” Mr. Philips says. “Now just one in 10 are surprised.”

But beer fans still have a long way to go if they want to convince the public that suds are a worthy partner for cheese, especially in France.

“Have you ever seen anyone drink beer in Bordeaux?” asks Emeric Sauty de Chalon, president of 1855, France’s largest online wine shop. Mr. Sauty de Chalon agrees that the most flavorful cheeses have a flavor that is too strong for some red wines, but doesn’t think beer and cheese is necessarily the right alternative.

“With some lower quality cheese, why not?” he says. “But with the most high-quality cheeses from Italy or from France I really would not recommend it. Try something else.”

Mr. Stroobandt, though, thinks consumers just need a little hand-holding. “So far, wine people have been so much better at education and marketing,” he says. “They give people the confidence to try new things, telling them this is how you taste it and appreciate it.”

Write to Davide Berretta at davide.berretta@wsj.com

2009 World Cheese Awards – Categories 38-40 – Mild & Vintage Cheddars

2009 World Cheese Awards

You can view all 2009 World Cheese Award Winners at the official website by clicking here.

38: Mild Cheddar made after 31/05/09

award	entry	entered by	phone number
GOLD	Mild Cheddar	Dairy Crest (Davidstow)	01840 261878
SILVER	Mild White Cheddar	First Milk Cheese Co Ltd (Haverfordwest Cheese)	01437 761501 01437 762852 / 01437 761503 Mark’s direct line
SILVER	Mild Cheddar 1	The Cheese Co (Taw Valley Creamery)	01837 883400
BRONZE	Mild White Cheddar	First Milk Cheese Co Ltd (Haverfordwest Cheese)	01437 761501 01437 762852 / 01437 761503 Mark’s direct line
BRONZE	Mild Cheddar Cheese	Joseph Gallo Farms	001 209 394 7984
BRONZE	Mild Cheddar Cheese – produced by Glanbia Ingredients Ireland	Glanbia Ingredients Ireland	00353 568 836000

 

39: Vintage farmhouse Cheddar made before 31/05/08

award	entry	entered by	phone number
GOLD	Keen’s Traditional Extra Mature Cheddar	Keen’s Cheddar Ltd.	01963 32286
SILVER	Extra Mature 1	The Cheese Co (Taw Valley Creamery)	01837 883400
BRONZE	Extra Mature 2	The Cheese Co (Taw Valley Creamery)	01837 883400
BRONZE	Westcountry Farmhouse Cheddar	Bakers of Haselbury Plucknett	01460 72893
BRONZE	Vintage Farmhouse Cheddar	Alvis Bros Ltd.	01934 864600

 

40: Vintage creamery Cheddar made before 31/05/08

award	entry	entered by	phone number
GOLD	Vintage Creamery Cheddar	Dairy Crest (Davidstow)	01840 261878
SILVER	Vintage White Cheddar	First Milk Cheese Co Ltd (Haverfordwest Cheese)	01437 761501 01437 762852 / 01437 761503 Mark’s direct line
SILVER	Vintage Cheddar	Wyke Farms Ltd	01749 812424
SILVER	Cabot Vintage Choice Cheddar	Cabot Creamery Cooperative	001 802 371 1260
SILVER	Vintage Creamery Cheddar	Dairy Crest (Davidstow)	01840 261878
BRONZE	Cabot Old School Cheddar	Cabot Creamery Cooperative	001 802 371 1260

What is Your Cheese IQ?

Fun quiz at delish.com to test your knowledge of cheese…this feline foodie missed one question…:

http://www.delish.com/food-fun/quizzes/cheese-iq-quiz

Other fun quizzes:

Wine IQ:

http://www.delish.com/food-fun/quizzes/wine-iq-quiz-102308

Beer IQ:

http://www.delish.com/food-fun/quizzes/beer-iq-quiz

Golf, Tradition and Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Joel and The Lady New Year's Eve 1993

 

 

The Lady loves to watch golf and her favorite PGA tournament is The Masters.

That means this week is her favorite week to watch golf. The DVR has been set (with care) for all four days. Yesterday and today, she walked in the door from the cheese mines; took a Jacuzzi bath and hunkered down to watch the first and second rounds. Much un-lady-like hooting and yelling went on and a couple of times while I was napping on her lap, I suddenly found myself on the floor. (For those of you who know The Lady, like most everything else she does in life, she watches golf with a lot of passion…and I mean a lot of passion…that’s part of her “charm” according to The Man.)

But this is also a bittersweet week of golf for The Lady.

In 2005, she was in Atlanta and she watched The Masters, all four days, with Joel, her baby brother. That was the last time she saw him alive. For many years before 2005, they “watched” The Masters together via the phone across country. It was a tradition.

Another tradition was eating pimento cheese sandwiches while they watched the tournament. Pimento cheese sandwiches are served at Augusta National (in green wax paper wrapping); and if they were good enough for The Masters, they were good enough for Joel and The Lady.

The Lady makes her pimento cheese sandwiches using a closely-guarded recipe that she pried out of her mother several years back. It is a recipe that came from her mother and probably her mother before her. Another tradition. The Lady will not allow me to divulge the recipe here but will admit that she does not use cheeses that she sells in the kiosk. Instead, staying with tradition, she’ll make the pimento cheese tomorrow night using both sharp and extra sharp cheddars.

And on Sunday The Lady and the Man will eat wax paper-wrapped pimento cheese sandwiches on plain old Wonder Bread (the only day of the year that The Lady would even consider eating Wonder Bread…it’s a tradition…) while they watch the final round of the 2009 Masters, reminisce about Joel with lots of laughter and a few tears.

The Lady loves The Masters; but not as much as she misses her baby brother.