Sartori Gorgonzola Dolcino

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The Lady brought home a wedge of this delightful gorgonzola and The Man and I have enjoyed it three times this week. The first tasting was on warm French bread fresh from the oven and then The Lady used it to make a salad dressing which is featured on our recipe blog. She used the last to make a pasta and chicken dish that had The Man swooning for hours… it was almost embarrassing… but since it was The Man… not really much of a surprise. (Links to the recipes are below.)

Sartori Cheese in Wisconsin makes cheese that is always a hit around the manse. In addition to the Dolcino, they make the most-decorated Parmesan made in America, SarVecchio and one of my favorites, Bellavitano Gold. When The Lady was cooking last night, I caught a glimpse of a few other Sartori cheeses in the fridge… stay tuned… more reviews to come…

This is one creamy cheese; the cheesemaker adds extra cream and carefully ages this gorgonzola to perfection. On the blue scale, this is on the mild side but distinctive enough to satisfy even the most discerning turophiles. It’s smooth and silky; spreads easily on the warm bread. You will never regret adding this gorgonzola to your cheese board.

I give Sartori Gorgonzola Dolcino 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: The possibilities are endless. In three short days, The Lady served this cheese in three ways and each was a hit. The Salad Dressing she made was divine; but the chicken pasta dish she made was truly to die for… seriously… You can also pair this cheese with pairs and red grapes. The Lady served Dolcino on a cheese plate last year and you can read my thoughts by clicking here.

Wine Pairing: The Lady always likes a sweeter wine with her blues like a Port; but with the pasta dish, she chose her new favorite wine, Pinot Noir.

Beer Pairing: How about a Stout?

Source: Pasteurized Cow Milk

FTC Full Disclosure – The cheesemaker/manufacturer sent me their product, hoping I would review the product/cheese.

About Oregon Cheese Guild

This video was produced by Christine Hyatt, Current President of the American Cheese Society. You can visit her website by clicking here.

Thanks Christine for sharing this with us. 

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Colorado Proud!! Rocking W Flavored Monterey Jack

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Get your Locavore on today at Murray’s Cheese Shops grand Opening at the King Soopers on Leetsdale in Glendale, Colorado!!

If you love Monterey Jack and you love Monterey Jack stuffed with stuff, then you’re going to love the Rocking W Natural Cheeses from the West Slopes of the Rocky Mountains!! It just doesn’t get much better when it comes to local flavored natural cheeses.

The Lady returned from Denver with a bag full of cheese and in her Colorado cache were three flavored Jacks made by a sixth-generation family of cheesemakers.

More than forty years ago Robert and Charlotte Webb (great name!!) decided to buy her parents twenty dairy cows and start their own dairy. Then they bought eighty acres just west of Olathe, Colorado and began their lives as dairy farmers. Today their son and son-in-law are co-owners in this farmstead artisan cheesemaking business. The milk is made into cheese within twenty-four hours of milking from cows that only eat feed grown on the Rocking W Farm.

The three cheeses The Lady brought home are all Monterey Jack stuffed with wonderful herbs, spices and vegetables. The first one we tasted was filled with Portobello mushrooms. It was earthy, creamy with lots of Portobellos, button mushrooms and leeks. Delish!! The second we tasted was tomato and basil jack cheese. Mam, oh, man; lots of tomato and lots of basil. The third had chives and garlic; this one was a favorite of The Man. The Lady and I found the Portobello jack to fit our tastes the best. The cheese is all three was crumbly when slicing but creamy on the palate.

All ingredients labels indicated that nothing artificial had been added; just milk, rennet, salt and the veggies and herbs… now that’s natural.

I give all three Rocking W Flavored Monterey Jack Cheeses 3 out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: Snacking is always an option; but cooking is also a definite way to go with these cheeses. As I write this review, The Lady is making breakfast quesadillas using the Garlic and Chives Jack. You can read her recipe by clicking here. She has plans to make a mac n cheese with the Portobello and leek cheese… always a favorite around the manse…

Wine Pairing: The Lady suggests either a Chardonnay or a nice Table Red.

Beer Pairing: For fear of offending Mr. Richardson from Fort Collins (read his comment at the bottom), The Man decided to go with Fort Collins Brewery’s Weizenheimer Wheat IPA… seemed a perfect pairing suggestion on several levels…

Source: Pasteurized Colorado Cow Milk

Rocking W Cheeses are available at your new Murray’s Cheese Shop located at select King Soopers including the new Murray’s at the Glendale, Colorado location … stop in today and enjoy the new Murray’s Cheese Shop and take home some Rocking W to enjoy tonight. The wines and beers recommended are also available in the liquor department as well. King Soopers is Colorado Proud!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Rogue Creamery Judged Best Cheese in North America Again

At the 27th Annual American Cheese Society (ACS) Judging and Competition in Montreal, Rogue Creamery’s Rogue River Blue was crowned Best in Show, beating out 1675 other entries. The ACS is the largest cheese competition in North America and often is referred to as the “Academy Awards of Cheese.”

This is the second time in three years that Rogue Creamery and its signature blue cheese, Rogue River Blue, have won this prestigious award. The creamery is owned by Cary Bryant and David Gremmels and in Central Point, Oregon.

“We are honored by this recognition of Rogue River Blue, an American blue that represents the flavors of our region,” says Co–owner and Cheesemaker Bryant. “We enter the ACS Competition and Judging annually for the score sheets. Both technical and aesthetic cheese judges from around the world take part in this competition and provide invaluable feedback on the cheeses they score. The Best of Show for us not only celebrates Rogue River Blue as the finest cheese in North America, but it showcases our teams’ dedication to quality from the dairy, to the make room, aging caves and packaging.”

Co-owner and Cheesemaker Gremmels adds, “It takes a lot of hard work, planning and passion to make Rogue River the most distinctive blue cheese in the world. The recognition from ACS affirms this effort put forth to achieve the distinguishing flavor character, texture and quality inherent in a raw milk cheese.”

Rogue River Blue is handmade using autumnal equinox milk from Brown Swiss and Holstein cows’ milk, certified sustainable by Food Alliance. The cows graze in 1,650-foot elevation pastures along the Rogue River and in 5,000-foot elevation pastures along the Klamath River, where they eat a variety of grasses, wild herbs, and wild flowers supplemented with grass hay, alfalfa and grain grown on the ranch. The 5-pound (2.2-kg) wheels are made by hand and aged in specially constructed caves. The cheese ripens from naturally occurring molds found in the Rogue River Valley and, therefore, reflects a deep connection to the land. After maturation, the cheese is wrapped in Syrah grape leaves from Carpenter Hill Vineyard, which have been macerated in Clear Creek Pear Brandy and tied to the wheel with raffia. The cheese is released annually starting in September.

This year the ship date is scheduled for on or about September 13th. It should be in your favorite specialty cheese shop by the end of the month.

Rogue River Blue was honored as World’s Best Blue at the 16th World Cheese Awards in London, beating out entries from all over the world. That was the first time that an American blue cheese has won the title. The creamery also made history in 2007 by becoming the first American exporter of raw milk cheese to the European Union; its cheese is carried in Whole Foods Market, Neal’s Yard Dairy, London and Fromagerie Laurent Dubois, Paris.

Rogue Creamery was founded in 1928. The Vella family from Sonoma, Calif., acquired it from a co-op in Southern Oregon in 1935. In the 1950s, it began making some of the country’s best blue cheese. In 2002, Ig Vella selected Cary Bryant and David Gremmels as the new owners, and it now produces a variety of award-winning cheeses. It offers the only vertically integrated third-party certified sustainable cheese in the U.S. Its local dairy, Rogue View, and creamery, Rogue Creamery, both are certified sustainable by Food Alliance and Steritech, and certified organic by Oregon Tilth.

In the Pacific Northwest, you can buy Rogue River Blue in late September at select Fred Meyer Stores. Year round, you can find other Award-Winning Rogue Creamery Cheeses at most Fred Meyer Stores. For a location near you, please click here.

Rogue River Blue will also be available at Murray’s Cheese in Manhattan and Murray’s Cheese Shops in select Kroger Stores nationwide. For a list of Murray’s Cheese Shops in Kroger Stores, please click here.

Source: Rogue Creamery

Full FTC Disclosure: The Lady has been invited to “make” (remember… this means hang around in the make room and do things that won’t ruin the cheese…) cheese at Rogue Creamery August 24-26… so… Rogue Creamery has a special place in her heart…

Colorado Proud!! MouCo Camembert and ColoRouge

While in Denver, The Lady stocked up on local cheeses available at the new Murray’s Cheese Shops located in the Glendale King Soopers; bringing home eight different Colorado cheeses from three different cheesemakers.

She brought several other wedges for moi, your humble correspondent to taste and review. In fact, she had so many in her bags, the TSA opened her bags and searched my cheese stash. Fortunately for moi, they didn’t taste or confiscate them and all made it to the manse safely…

Tonight, we dived into our first two delicacies; two miniature wheels of camembert and brie from MouCo Cheese Company located in Fort Collins, Colorado.

MouCo is owned by husband and wife team, Robert Poland and Birgit Halbreiter who met while working at New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins. Birgit got her cheese start in Germany working for Kaserei Champignon. Her father is a master cheesemaker in Europe who comes to the US each year to work with Robert to further develop the MouCo cheeses into even more superior traditionally-made brie and camembert.

The cheeses are wrapped in breathable paper imported from France. This allows the cheeses to continue their natural aging process.

The camembert’s package stated that in July this cheese would be soft and creamy and that it would be best by mid-August… as it warmed to room temperature, it began to ooze just a bit and the taste was divinely tart with a slightly bitter after taste. The texture was creamy and buttery, just the way I like my camembert. The finish was nutty and lingering. The Lady served it to moi naked… no, the cheese was naked… she and The Man enjoyed it sitting on a Partners Cracker. Then she topped it with strawberry spread. The three of us were in camembert heaven…

I give MouCo Camembert 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: You can never go wrong serving this camembert on a cheese board with some jams and nuts. Camembert is also great with salami.

Wine Pairing: Colorado’s Infinite Monkey Theorem Rosé

Beer Pairing: Fort Collin’s Fat Tire from New Belgium

Source: Pasteurized Cow Milk

Along with the camembert, The Lady served the Colorouge, a reddish-tinged brie wheel that simply mouthed in my mouth… ooh la la… how I love brie. The label suggested it would be best by early September… it’ll never make it to September here at the manse. It’ll be lucky to make it to 7pm tonight…

This brie was a little firmer than the camembert and the flavor was buttery with just a touch of funk. Again, I enjoyed mine naked (again… the cheese… not your feline foodie… sheesh…) and The Lady and The Man went with warm French bread and a dollop of apricot preserves.

I give MouCo Colorouge 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: Again, you’ll win the hearts and souls of your guests when this brie is sitting on a cheese board.

Wine Pairing: Colorado’s Redstone Mead Raspberry Nectar

Beer Pairing: Colorado’s Odell Brewing’s 90 Shilling

Source: Pasteurized Cow Milk

MouCo Cheese is available at your new Murray’s Cheese Shop located at King Soopers on Leetsdale in Glendale, Colorado… stop in today and enjoy the new Murray’s Cheese Shop and take home some MouCo to enjoy tonight. The wines and beers recommended are also available in the liquor department as well. King Soopers is Colorado Proud!!

Looking Forward… Looking Back… Three Years of Cheese Blogging

This week marks my three year anniversary as your sometimes humble… and sometimes… not so humble cheese correspondent. In that time, I have written 532 posts reviewing more  than 750 cheeses (and I have 100+ reviews waiting in the wings…) and 31 pages providing other information about all things cheese. The Lady likes to grab the glory but we all know who’s the brain behind this blog… not to be confused with The Brain…

The first cheese I reviewed was from my friends in Seattle: Beecher’s No Woman. I love this cheese. When The Lady brings this cheese home… which is never often enough… I claw my way up her leg to get at those tasty and spicy morsels. Three years later and hundreds of cheese tasted and reviewed, No Woman remains my personal favorite. The Lady is nothing short of fickled on this front; her “favorite” cheese is usually the last one she tasted… how capricious… sheesh… humankinds… pick a favorite and stick with it…

Looking Back…

The Lady began her cheese career as a part-time Cheese Steward for Fred Meyer  (yep, that’s The Lady in that picture) in July 2008; in January 2009, she became a Cheese Lead for Fred Meyer’s Flagship store in Portland and in June 2011, she became the Murray’s Cheese Specialist for Kroger and Fred Meyer.

DPI blocked its employees’ access to my blog; then later, due to public outcry, retracted its sad and uninformed decision.

The Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn decided to get snarky and called me zoomorphically delusional… like they’d even know a zoomorphically delusional feline… should one walk through their door.

During these blogging years, while I worked my paws to the bones, The Lady visited cheesemakers in Wisconsin twice and “made” cheese at Roth Kase and Beecher’s Cheese. Please note, that in both instances, when it says “made cheese; it means the real cheesemakers let The Lady do stuff that would mess up the cheese… She received a Certificate in Cheese 101 from Roth Kase and attended two Cheese 101 Classes led by Liz Thorpe of Murray’s Cheese. She scored perfectly following two days of training and became a “Red Jacket-Certified” Murray’s Cheesemonger. In June, she attended Murray’s Boot Camp; she attended training classes in Dallas and this week returned from Denver where she assisted in her first training class of the new Murray’s cheesemongers at King Soopers… all the while leaving The Man and moi at home to fend for ourselves… wrangling The Man is a full-time job, let me tell you… God Bless The Lady, she’s been doing it for 31 years… and loving it, I might add… but I’m not bitter…

The Webmaster of the  Estate of Spalding Gray, John Boland, suggested I change my name and not trade on the success of the great actor whose name The Lady chose for moi out of admiration and no other reason… except I have gray hair. If we want to get picky, then perhaps  John Boland should change his name and not trade on the success of the Athlete, John Boland, who won gold medals at the Games of the 1 Olympiad in Athens in 1896… just saying…

In 2010, the blog was named to two “Top Cheese Blogs” lists on the web; this week, the 160,000^th visitor dropped by this blog and more than 18K have visited my recipe blog.

The Lady, The Man and I hit the road to Seattle to attend the American Cheese Society Conference in 2010; although I only got as close as a Bunker somewhere in the burbs of Seattle due to the restrictive attitudes of the Seattle “No Pets Allowed” Sheraton… shame on you… while The Lady rubbed elbows with all the Cheese Swells of North America… it’s just wrong the way humankinds treat the superiorly intelligent beings known to them as felines… but I digress.

Looking Forward…

A world of cheeses to taste and review… while The Lady continues her gallivanting ways around the cheese world… next up… cheesemaking (see note above…) at Rogue Creamery and then on September 14^th, she heads to the Slow Food Cheese Festival in Bra, Italy… sheesh…

Select American Cheese Society 2011 Winners

 

One of our favorite cheese memories was hanging with the Cheese Swells last year in Seattle for the 2010 ACS Conference. Fortunately or unfortunately (looking at it from both sides), The Lady spent this year’s ACS Conference time in Denver opening a new Murray’s Cheese at the Glendale King Soopers.

On Friday, the ACS announced its 2011 cheese competition winners and the Pacific Northwest brought home the Best of Show for the second time in the past three years with Rogue River Blue. It was a bittersweet win for David Gremmels and Cary Bryant of Central Point, Oregon’s Rogue Creamery. The American Artisan Cheese World lost its Godfather, Ig Vella, this year and in the early 2000’s Ig sold Rogue Creamery to David and Cary… but only after teaching them to make cheese… Ig was a very wise man in so many ways but to require the men to learn the art was one of his wisest demands…

For a complete list of winners, please click here.

The list below is of partial winners; all of which The Lady and I have reviewed:

Best of Show: Rogue River Blue

2^nd Place (Tie): Carr Valley’s Cave Aged Marisa

 

Winners in their respective categories:

Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese’s Mascarpone (1^st)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Mascarpone (3^rd)

Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam (2^nd)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Coupole (2^nd)

Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog Grande (3^rd)

Beecher’s Flagsheep (3^rd)

Sartori’s Reserve BellaVitano Gold (3^rd)

Tumalo Farm’s Rimrocker (2^nd)

Sartori’s Limited Edition Pastorale Blend (3^rd)

Beehive Cheese Company’s Barely Buzzed (1^st)

Rogue Creamery’s Chocolate Stout Cheddar (3^rd)

Beecher’s Marco Polo Reserve (1^st)

Beecher’s Four Year Flagship (2^nd)

Tillamook County Creamery Association’s Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar (3^rd)

Beecher’s Flagship Reserve (3^rd)

DCI Cheese Company’s Salemville Blue Cheese (2^nd)

DCI Cheese Company’s Black River Gorgonzola (3^rd)

Hook’s Cheese Company’s Little Boy Blue (1^st)… Boy did The Lady and miss it on this one…

Emmi Roth USA’s Gran Queso (2^nd)

BelGioioso’s Cheese’s Sharp Provolone Mandarino (3^rd)

Sartori’s Sarvecchio Parmesan (1^st)

BelGioioso’s Burrata (1^st)

Sartori’s Reserve Black Pepper BellaVitano (1^st)

Beecher’s Smoked Flagship (3^rd)

Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese’s Petit Frere Reserve (3^rd)

Tumalo Farms’ Classico (1^st)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Crottin (3^rd)

Sartori’s Reserve Merlot BellaVitano (3^rd)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Company’s Crème Fraiche (1^st)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Company’s Cultured Butter (3^rd)

LaClare Farms Specialties’ Evalon (1^st)

Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve (1^st)

Consider Bardwell Farm’s Rupert (2^nd)

Widmer’s Cheese Cellars’ Washed Rind Traditional Brick (3^rd)

 

The Lady and I have at least 100 more cheeses to review and many of them won awards at this year’s ACS Competition including the following winners:

Tillamook County Creamery’s Monterey Jack; Tillamook County Creamery’s Colby; Carr Valley’s Cocoa Cardona; Carr Valley’s Cave Aged Mellage; Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Cremont (including an ice cream using Cremont); Carr Valley’s Caso Bolo Mellage;Carr Valley’s Billy Blue; Rogue Creamery’s Echo Mountain; Cello Riserva Copper Kettle Parmesan; Sartori’s Reserve Espresso BellaVitano; Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy’s Green Chile Jack; Emmi Roth’s Rofumo; Spring Brook’s Tarentaise; Cypress Grove’s Purple Haze… stay tuned…

 

Up next on the blog (later today): Looking Back… Looking Forward: Cheesemonger’s Weblog Celebrates it’s Third Year Anniversary This Week… that’s a lot of blogging…

What Cheese Nerds Do On Their Days’ Off

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The Lady brought home lots of re-pack labels from Denver and made collages to hang in both our home office and her work office… this is what cheese nerds do in their spare time… cheese, glorious cheese:

Double Cream Gouda and Room Kaas

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Before heading for Denver, The Lady brought home a wedge of yet another Gouda, this one is called Double Cream, which means the butterfat in the cheese is somewhere in the area of 60-74%. Because cheese is usually half water (it comes from cow’s milk, which is primarily water…) a double cream would have about 30% fat in dry matter (the combination of the fat and other solids).

Goudas are always a favorite around the manse and although on the mild side, this Double Cream is mellow and buttery. We decided it’s better suited for cooking as opposed to snacking. You put this in a mac n cheese and you’ll have happy dinner guests. It would also be great in your favorite grilled sandwich.

Double Cream Gouda is made in Staphorst, Holland, where the natives like to show off their traditional costumes and can be seen sporting them most days of the week. The houses are often painted green or light blue. 

In Holland this cheese is sold under the name of Room Kaas.

I give Double Cream Gouda 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving: I suggest you use this in cooking; it’s too mild to put on a cheese plate.

Wine Pairing: A light Pinot Noir would pair well.

Beer: How about a blonde ale?

Source: Pasteurized Cow Milk

Kona Grill – Cherry Creek Mall – Denver

Kona Grill Tampa

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The Lady is in Denver for ten days, leaving The Man and me to fend for ourselves… it’s not easy… The Man, while he tries, doesn’t speak feline the way The Lady does… but we survive, counting the days until she returns… which will be Tuesday evening…

Today, after her work in the Murray’s Cheese Mines at King Soopers, she treated herself to a visit to the Cherry Creek Mall… ooh la la… according to The Lady… very nice mall. After checking out the mall, which reminded her of South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, The Lady decided to have dinner at the Kona Grill. Since she was a party of one, she chose to sit in the bar. She was barely seated when her server arrived and delivered menus.

The Lady chose a glass of Pinot Evil, a Pinot Noir from France to start. Nice and inexpensive.

The menu at Kona Grill, which is a nationwide chain (but hasn’t made it to the Pacific Northwest where The Lady, The Man and I hang out) is amazing. It includes a large sushi and sashimi menu plus lots of sushi rolls; flatbread specialties; “slim chance” low calorie entrees and signature entrees.

The Lady started with “Kona Calamari”, a tempura-battered calamari, deep fried but not oily. It was actually quite “light”, the way properly-prepared tempura should be. The aioli dipping sauce was OK, a little more mayo than The Lady liked; but still enjoyable. The Lady would have preferred a sweet chili sauce; but that’s just her…

She planned to order sushi and sashimi until she spotted “White Truffle Lobster Mac n Cheese” as an entrée. You’d think she get enough cheese day-in and day-out… but… no… As you might guess,  she ordered the mac n cheese…  we’re always in search of another perfect mac n cheese… a journey that hopefully will never end…

Made with cold water Maine Lobster and cavatappi pasta, this mac n cheese is served mounded high in an individual oval serving dish. It was browned just enough to give the top a little crunch. On a personal note, The Lady would have liked more lobster… who wouldn’t… and she couldn’t taste the white truffle oil. But the cheese sauce was nothing short of divine. The Lady asked her server about the types cheeses used and Jeremy, the Executive Chef, came out and chatted with The Lady. The cheese sauce includes grated parmesan, aged cheddar and smoked gouda. To The Lady’s surprise, Jeremy also adds a bit of Velveeta to make the sauce creamier.

When was the last time you saw White Truffle Oil, cold water Maine Lobster and Velveeta in the same recipe? The Lady researched and found a Lobster and Truffle Oil Mac n Cheese  and then to her surprise, she did find a mac n cheese recipe that included Velveeta and White Truffle Oil… who knew… but alas none of the three together except at the Kona Grill.

The Lady enjoyed her dining experience at the Kona Grill and plans to return the next time she is in Denver and other cities where the Kona Grill may be.

The Lady gives the Kona Grill 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got and all I will loan her for rating…). She gives the service at the Kona Grill 4 Paws out of 4 Paws – the service was impeccable.