La Tur
June 18, 2011
Recently, when asked what her favorite cheese is, The Lady replied, “Usually the last one I tasted.” And this is the last one I tasted and it’s now a new favorite around the manse.
La Tur is a small, dense, creamy wheel of bloomy rind heaven made from a combination of cow, sheep and goat milks. The snowy rind resembles a brain… not to be confused with The Brain… and just inside is a cream line of gooey, decadent tang surrounding an earthy, lactic paste. The lingering after-taste is satisfying and remains long after the entire wheel has been devoured.
It’s small enough to be consumed my two humankinds and one feline foodie in one sitting… even though one of them is a bit on the selfish side and once more tried to get more than his fair share…
I give La Tur 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got). 
Serving Suggestions: All you need is a paw or if you’re of the humankind persuasion, a nice slice of warm baguette will do nicely. Nothing fancy, just some luscious cheese and a vessel to transport it to your mouth.
Wine Suggestion: Champagne or a Sparkling Wine
Beer Suggestion: Maybe a Dortmunder Export
Source: Pasteurized Cow, Goat and Sheep Milks
Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Champions 2011
May 1, 2011
The Dairy Farmers of Canada held their bi-annual cheese awards this past week and announced winners in seventeen categories plus the grand champion:
Grand Champion:
Louis D’or!! A nine-month aged farmhouse and organic cheese from La Fromagerie du Presbytere located in Quebec. This cheese also won in two categories: Firm Cheese and Farmhouse Cheese. Congratulations!!! La Fromagerie du Presbytere also took the Blue Cheese Category with their Bleu de l’Elizabeth.
The Lady and I have not had the pleasure of tasting this cheese but you can be sure, The Lady is already ferreting out a way to get a wedge into the manse. According to Phil Belanger, Chair of the 2011 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Jury and President of the New-Brunswick Chapter de la Chaine des Rotisseurs, ‘’The milky richness of this cheese is a tribute to the organic milk with which it is made. The cheese has a smooth texture, warm nutty and floral notes in aroma and taste’’.
Category Winners:
Fresh Cheese: Mascarpone Tre Stelle, Arla Foods Inc. (ON)
Soft Cheese with Bloomy Rind: Island Bries, Little Qualicum Cheeseworks Ltd. (BC)
Semi-soft Cheese: Lankaaster Traditional Gouda, Glengarry Fine Cheese (ON)
Washed-Rind – Soft and Semi-soft Cheese: Le Mont-Jacob, Fromagerie Blackburn (QC)
Firm Cheese: Louis d’Or, Fromagerie du Presbytere (QC)
Swiss-type Cheese: Fromage Suisse Lamaire, Fromagerie Lemaire (QC)
Mozzarella: Bocconcini Santa Lucia, International Cheese Co. Ltd (ON)
Blue Cheese: Le Bleu d’Elizabeth, Fromagerie du Presbytere (QC)
Flavoured Cheese with Added Non-particulate Flavouring: Naturally Smoked Boerenkaas, Natural Pastures Company (BC)
Flavoured Cheese with Added Particulate Solids Flavouring: Gouda Herbs & Garlic, Sylvan Star Cheese Ltd. (AB)
Mild Cheddar: Mild Cheddar, The Black River Cheese Company Ltd. (ON)
Medium Cheddar: Cheddar moyen Biologique, Fromagerie L’Ancetre (QC)
Old, Extra Old Cheddar: Le Jersey du Fjord, Bergeries du Fjord (QC)
Aged Cheddar (1-3 years): Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar, Cows Creamery (PEI)
Aged Cheddar (4years+): Cheddar Doyen 4 ans, Fromagerie Perron (QC)
Farmhouse Cheese: Louis D’or, Fromagerie du Presbytere (QC)
The Lady and I congratulate all the winners and hope to soon taste each and every one of them…
Follow @cheesemongerCheeses Awarded the Feline Foodie’s 4 Paws Designation
February 17, 2011
The Following cheeses and other items reviewed on the blog, all received 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got…)
34° Cracked Pepper Crispbread Crackers
34° Lemon Zest Crispbread Crackers
*34° Natural Crispbread Crackers
*34° Rosemary Crispbread Crackers
*34° Sesame Crispbread Crackers
*34° Whole Grain Crispbread Crackers
*Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil
BelGioioso Tiramisu Mascarpone
Cahill’s Original Porter Cheese
Carr Valley Cows’ Milk Cheese Plate
Consider Bardwell Farm’s Pawlet
Consider Bardwell Farm’s Rupert
Crave Brothers Fresh Mozzarella
Fiscalini Farmstead Premium Aged Cheddar
Ford Farm Rugged Mature Cheddar
Fromager d’Affinois with Garlic and Herbs
Golden Age Cheese Super Sharp Cheddar
Golden Glen Creamery Farmstead Butter
Gothberg Farms’ Raw Milk Gouda
Gothberg Farms’ The Woman of LaMancha
Greens of Glastonbury Organic Mature Cheddar
*Hawthorne Fred Meyer Meat Counter Has Got It Going On
Ilbesa’s Aged Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Ilbesa’s Mature Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Laack’s Eight Year Extra Sharp Cheddar
*Long Clawson Dairy Lemon Zest Stilton
Mauri Gorgonzola Piccante D.O.C.
*Rogue Creamery Rogue River Blue
Roth-Kase Natural Smoked Gouda
*Salemville SmokeHaus Blue Cheese
Sally Jackson Raw Sheep Milk Cheese
Sartori Bellavitano Gold with Pepper
Sweet Grass Dairy’s Thomasville Tomme
Tillamook 100th Anniversary Three-Year Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar
Tillamook Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar
*Tsunami Sushi at Hawthorne’s Fred Meyer
Upland’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve
Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Bijou
*Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Crème Fraiche
Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Cultured Butter
*Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Mascarpone
*Indicates Cheese is carried on The Lady’s kiosk or Cheese Island
Red Hot Edam
February 6, 2011
A recent addition to the cheese line-up at The Lady’s Kiosk is a hot little number from Holland: Red Hot Edam. It’s a round ball about the same size as a Civil War cannonball The Man bought in New Orleans that had been “allegedly” pulled out of the Mississippi River. However, that’s where the comparison ends… the cannonball is reddish-brown and rusty and Red Hot Edam is coated with a bright yellow wax and wrapped with a bright red sash… and, of course, inside is a creamy cheese, speckled with red hot chili flakes… we have no idea what’s inside the cannonball… but it’s safe to assume it’s more rusty… cannonball…
The level of heat you like will decide how hot you think this cheese is. The Lady loves hot food and the higher it hits on the Scoville Heat Index, the better… The Man… not so much… the woose… but he’s my woose and I love him… The Lady thinks it’s mildly spicy and the man thinks it’s off the charts… you be the judge…
Inside the yellow wax is a creamy semi-soft, young Edam cheese chocked full of red chili flakes to give it an extra kick. A young Edam is very mild with the chili bringing more life to this cheese. The Lady served it with crackers but she and The Man suggested using it on nachos was probably a better use of this particular cheese.
Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with this cheese, but it’s not going to become one of those “everyday” cheeses The Lady keeps on hand for whatever entertaining or cooking possibility that might arise.
I’ll give Red Hot Edam a limp 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: This cheese probably is more at home on nachos or between two tortillas than on a cheese plate. With ham, it would probably make a respectable grilled sandwich.
Wine Pairing: How about a fruity sangria?
Beer Pairing: The Man suggests an IPA while Beer Enthusiast, Mike Wright, suggests Bud Light…
Source: Cow Milk
(Stay Tuned: we are only 3 posts and pages away from our 500th post here (doesn’t include our sister recipe blog, cheesemonger recipes). We have big plans for 500!!)
Kurtwood Farms’ Dinah
October 3, 2010
One of the seminars The Lady attended at the 2010 ACS Cheese-a-topia featured cheeses from the Pacific Northwest and cheesemakers and cheese hounds who specialize in the same. Tami Parr, of the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project and author of Artisan Cheeses of the Pacific Northwest, served as moderator. Four cheeses were tasted: WSU’s Cougar Gold, Willamette Valley Cheese Company’s Boerenkaas, Sally Jackson’s Raw Sheep Milk (all of which I have reviewed in the past) and Kurtwood Farms’ Dinah. Notes on the entire seminar will be uploaded here in the next few weeks.
Kurt Timmermeister, the owner of Kurtwood Farms and the cheesemaker who created Dinah spoke on the panel and told us how he came to be a cheesemaker and dairy farmer. He studied in Paris, looking forward to a life in Foreign Service; but Paris brought out his love of food and restaurants. When he graduated, he returned to Seattle and began a career in food service. A series of jobs in kitchens and dining room led to him opening his own café at the age of twenty-four. For the next two decades he opened a series of even larger cafes while exploring small-scale farming.
In 1991 he bought four acres on Vashon Island; land that became Kurtwood Farms. He cleaned the land off and planted fruit and nut trees. Over time, Kurt bought more land and built a pasture and added sheep, pigs and cows. By 2003, he left the restaurant business and Kurtwood Farms became his full-time job.
He built a professional kitchen to process the food grown on the farm to prepare dinners of greater quality for friends to gather. After acquiring a Grade A Dairy license, Kurt began to milk his small Jersey herd. That led to building an underground cheese cave and began producing Dinah, a fresh, bloomy rind farmstead cheese.
He makes 300 8 ounce rounds of Dinah a week and after thirty days of aging, he delivers the cheese himself, in his pick-up to a select number of restaurants and cheese shops in the Seattle area. His two dogs ride along with Kurt to keep him company.
Kurt is also making a second cheese, Francesca, which is an eight pound round of aged Grana Padano-style hard cheese which he hopes to have on the market by the fall of 2011.
One obstacle he encountered was finding equipment to fit his “smaller” operation. No company in the US made a vat in the forty-gallon size and he ended up buying equipment from Slovenia and Netherlands.
Dinah was his first Jersey cow, who has since passed, and today his herd consists of eleven and he milks three or four regularly.
Dinah, the Camembert-style cheese is made using slow-pasteurized milk, in hopes of keeping the milk’s character and fatty tones. It is hand ladled into molds and after thirty days is “ready for its close-ups” in Seattle.
For someone who professes to not really know what he is doing, Kurt delivers a superior cheese that captured the heart of The Lady. She said you can taste the Jersey but not the barn. It oozes and literally melts in your mouth. It is buttery and splendidly delicious. Sometimes the bloomy rind can be a bit on the mushroomy side; not this one; it’s more like eating a cloud.
The Lady gives Dinah 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got to lend her). She gives Kurt only the best; she greatly admires those who fly by the seat of their pants and aren’t afraid to try something new…
Serving Suggestions: Schmear a wedge of this on a warm baguette and enjoy.
Wine Pairing: Using the theory of pairing wine and cheese from the same region, The Lady suggest Vashon Winery’s Semillon.
Beer Pairing: Iron Horse Brewery’s Malt Bomb Brown Ale
Source: Slow-Pasteurized Jersey Cow Milk
Saxon Homestead Creamery Cheeses
August 12, 2010
In May, during her 2010 Wisconsin Cheese Tour, The Lady met Gerald (Jerry) Heimerl from Saxon Homestead Cheese. He graciously attended the Madison Trade Show and introduced the group to his line of farmstead cheeses. Jerry is one of the cheesemakers, a super salesman and all-around great guy. This is someone you would want to hang around on the weekend.
Located on the shores of Lake Michigan near Hika Bay, Saxon’s cows graze on a salad bar mix of greens in season and savor frozen grass hidden in the winter snow. The Klessig clan (Jerry’s in-laws own the land and encouraged their children to follow their dairy and cheese bliss) feel that sustainable is not enough and are moving forward with “life-enhancing” agriculture practices.
The Lady sampled five of the Saxon cheeses and here’s a review of the “cheese plate” that Jerry served:
Big Ed’s (named after Jerry’s father-in-law) is a Gouda-style cheese with Alpine hints. It is aged four months and has a clean, natural rind imprinted with a cool Saxon logo. The cheese is mild and buttery and melts on the palate. A great snacking and cooking cheese. This cheese is a great cheese for kids who are sometimes shy about trying new foods. But, don’t let that bother you, cheese hounds will love this cheese also.
Saxony is an Alpine-style cheese that reminded The Lady of one of her favorite cheeses, Gruyere. This complex cheese is nutty with that delightful Alpine bite. It is aged for a minimum of ninety days and hits its stride at about five months. This cheese is a perfect cooking cheese – try it in fondue; try it on a grilled cheese and it will add a new dimension to your favorite mac n cheese recipe.
Pastures is a raw milk, bandaged cheese that is aged at least four months. It is young with a full flavor that is sweet and nutty and lingers long after you have eaten your last bite. Again, this is a cheese that is great on the table and in the kitchen.
Green Fields is a monastery-style cheese with a washed-rind. This semi-soft cheese has a nutty flavor that changes subtly as the seasons change and the terroir shines through. This cheese melts well and would make a mean grilled cheese.
LaClare Farm Evalon was the last cheese Jerry served. Saxon Creamery teamed with LaClare Farms to make this raw goat milk cheese that is aged more than seventy days. A wonderful melting semi-soft cheese, with a bit of a goaty finish… as it should… it is made using fresh, clean goat milk from healthy does fed on whole grains.
Although she has no Paws… The Lady gives the Saxon Homestead Cheese Plate 3 Paws out of 4 Paws and gives Saxony 4 Paws out of 4 Paws.
On their website, Saxon Homestead has many excellent serving suggestions and drink pairings for each of their cheeses.
Alouette Extra Creamy Brie
August 6, 2010
New Extra Creamy Brie shown here on the right.
With 75% butterfat, this new Brie from Alouette is technically a triple crème and it is quite appealing.
The Lady brought home this small wheel of soft-ripened cheese recently after a sales rep gave her one to sample. Lucky me, The Lady decided to share… she’s good that way…
It comes in a cute package; it’s a 5 ounce wheel wrapped in paper and sitting on a flower-shaped dish made of bamboo. What’s inside is divine.
The Man swooned and I waited patiently for more, more, more…
This triple crème is creamy and firm with a thin rind. The Lady shared it on the “Sell-By” date at the recommendation of the sales rep. He explained that Alouette is meticulous about these dates and that in reality the cheese reaches its ripening peak on or around this date and continues to be tasty for another 30 days.
This Brie is mild and just a little on the earthy side the way good Brie should taste. It reminded me of that lovely triple crème, Saint Andre The Lady sells on the Cheese Kiosk.
I give Alouette Extra Creamy Brie 3 Paws out of $ Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: The Lady served it on the new 34° Whole Grain Crispbread Crackers. Add a little honey and you’ve got dessert. This Brie would make a perfect baked Brie topped with many of the toppings that The Lady features in this previous posting. You can also serve it on a grilled chicken breast as Lapellah Restaurant does and also it would be dynamite melted on a burger.
Wine Pairing: This Brie deserves a pairing of a fine champagne or sparkling wine.
Beer Pairing: IPA is always a fine pairing with this style triple crème.
FTC Full Disclosure – The cheesemaker/manufacturer sent me their product, hoping I would review the product/cheese.
Back in the day (late 1800s) when refrigeration was inadequate (think: there was no Fedex Overnight), an apprentice cheesemaker at Monroe Cheese Company in Monroe, NY, Emil Frey, was challenged by his employer to duplicate Bismarck Schlosskase, a popular stinky German cheese that didn’t transport well across the Atlantic to New York. It took two years of experimenting but eventually, Frey stumbled upon a spreadable Limburger-style cheese.
Frey’s employer, Adolphe Tode, also owned the popular Manhattan Delicatessen. He took samples of the new cheese to the famous NYC singing society, The Liederkranz Club, whose members were patrons of the deli. When the members of the society pronounced it wonderful, Tode named the cheese “Liederkranz” in their honor. Liederkranz means “wreath of song” when translated from German.
After several changes of ownership, production of Liederkranz was moved to Van Wert, Ohio, which aided the cheese’s distribution and put it closer to its biggest purchasers: the Midwest German population. Overtime, its popularity waned and production ceased in 1985.
In March 2010, DCI Cheese Company located in Green Bay, Wisconsin, decided to resurrect Liederkranz and re-introduce this pungent and full-bodied cheese to the US market.
The Lady brought half of the small foiled brick of this cheese home after sharing the cheese with Amy, her BCFF. We have now tasted this smelly cheese on two occasions.
The first was earlier this week when The Man decided to grill burgers and top them with Liederkranz. I must admit, the aroma of warm Liederkranz is not an aroma soon forgotten. Around the manse, we rarely have stinky cheese and the smell sure takes over when the cheese hits a hot, sizzling burger. While the taste is robust and yet oh-so mellow, you must get past the smell to enjoy it. Once you do, the experience is divine.
Today The Lady served it simply on a plate with Croccantini Original by LaPanzanella.
This cheese has a moist edible rind that is a golden yellow color. The interior is a creamy ivory with a honey-like consistency. With age, Liederkranz will become stronger both in aroma and taste.
I give Liederkranz 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got) and I give DCI Cheese Company 4 Paws for responding to the Liederkranz fan base and bringing this niche cheese back to the market.
Serving Suggestions: Snacking with crackers is a winning combination. As mentioned above, it melts well on burgers and brings a new dimension to an All-American favorite.
Wine pairing: This is a tough one as this cheese needs a wine that stands up to the robust taste of the cheese. Maybe a full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon.
Beer Pairing: Porter or Bock would go great with this cheese.
Source: Cow Milk.
FTC Full Disclosure – The cheesemaker/manufacturer sent me their product, hoping I would review the product/cheese.
Oltermanni Baby Muenster from Finlandia
February 27, 2010
Naturally Lactose Free
Last year when the cheese kiosk opened, the island carried Oltermanni Baby Muenster. It didn’t sell well and The Lady discontinued it. At the time, The Lady was not sampling cheeses featured on the island; instead concentrating on building the popularity of the cheeses on the kiosk. She noticed that a domestic Muenster was growing in popularity and decided to give the Oltermanni another shot.
When she recently re-stocked it on the island, she decided to sample it and let the customers “discover” it. What The Lady discovered is that this is a delightful cheese and thankfully she brought some home for me to “discover” as well.
The first thing that caught my eye was that the labeling boasts “Naturally Lactose Free” and I wondered how that could be. I visited the Finlandia website and found the following explanation:
“Finlandia Imported Muenster, Oltermanni Baby Muenster, Gouda and Havarti cheeses are manufactured from milk, which is coagulated by heat and microbial rennet. After coagulation the cheeses are fermented with a souring agent containing lactococci and lactobacilli. Within 24 hours, these bacteria break down the lactose into galactose and glucose. These are fermented further to lactic acid. Therefore these Finlandia cheeses do not contain lactose or any other carbohydrates.”
Good news for my lactose-intolerant friends.
We don’t eat much Muenster around the manse, but I suspect that is about to change.
This cheese, imported from Finland, is cylindrical in shape and ivory in color. It is mild and buttery with a tangy finish; almost a lemony finish. Like a Colby, you can see the curds that were pressed into the mold.
I give Oltermanni Baby Muenster 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got)
Serving Suggestions: We ate it with Beecher’s Original Crackers and green grapes. It was a perfect match for this cheese. This semi-soft cheese would work well in a mac n cheese (is there really a cheese that won’t?) and would be a killer in a Grilled Cheese, especially with Killer Dave’s Bread.
Wine Pairing: Gewurztraminer or dry Traminer
Beer Pairing: Harpoon Pilsner
Source: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk
Fromager d’Affinois with Garlic and Herbs
February 11, 2010
I previously reviewed Fromager d’Affinois, a French Double Crème that has the texture of a triple crème because Guilloteau, the cheese maker, ultrafiltrates the milk to remove some of the water before the cheese-making process begins. This creates a cheese so creamy and silky that it makes this Feline Foodie weep with gratitude.
Well if you like garlic and herbs added to your soft-ripened cheese, then this version of d’Affinois is the cat’s meow. The garlic and herbs (de Provence would be my educated palate’s guess) are strong, especially the garlic, but not to the point of diminishing the enjoyment of the cheese.
This was one of the small pieces The Lady bought at Whole Foods last week and we should have eaten it sooner… our bad… and not Whole Foods. It had an ever-so-slightly ammoniated after-taste which double crèmes tend to get as they age. The Man didn’t detect the taste nor the aroma but this Feline Foodie with my super-duper sniffer did pick-up on the ammonia. In fact, of the five pieces we sampled on the cheese board today, this was The Man’s favorite. The ammonia taste wasn’t enough to detract from the enjoyment of this cheese; but let it be a warning to not let these fragile soft-ripened cheeses languish in the fridge. Eat them and enjoy them when you bring them home…
I give Fromager d’Affinois 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: On a warm French Baguette or a 34° Lemon Zest Crispbread (which will be reviewed next).
Wine Pairing: Chardonnay which pairs well with the garlic in the cheese and with the cheese as well.
Beer Pairing: Sam Adams Winter Lager
Source: Cow’s Milk
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