My husband, Doug, the crazed baker, assigned himself a new challenge this summer: Danish rye bread. His model was the fabulous house-made loaf at Tørst, the hip beer bar in Brooklyn. It’s a dense, dark, moist brick studded with flax and sunflower seeds, and it’s meant to be sliced thin, toasted and topped with butter and radishes or smoked fish.
Read moreA Sheep at the Wheel →
For years I ignored Fiore sardo, the Sardinian sheep’s milk cheese, because I considered it too salty, smoky and sharp. Then, this past summer, I went to Sardinia, where you can’t ignore it.
Read moreCheddar for the Ages →
The crunchy heirloom apples at the farmers’ market last week put me in the mood for a piece of Cheddar, and I found a superb one. From Canada, of all places. We receive so few cheeses from our northern neighbor that I’m always drawn to the ones I do find. The other feature that lured me was the age. When was the last time you had a 7-year-old cheese?
Read moreWhy the Big Smile? →
If your cheesemonger has a little broader smile these days, it could be because he or she has just passed the CCP exam. Like a bar exam for the cheese industry, the CCP (Certified Cheese Professional) quiz is a rigorous test of knowledge. Modeled loosely on programs like Master of Wine and Master Sommelier, the three-year-old credential encourages professionalism among the people who market and sell specialty cheese.
Read moreMade in Marin →
A few years ago, I went to visit a friend with terminal cancer. Ira knew his prognosis, but he was in good spirits that day and eager to tell me about his new doctor, a thoracic surgeon who owned a goat farm in West Marin and wanted to make cheese. Alas, the doctor could not do much for Ira, but I remembered his name and eventually began hearing about his cheese.
Read moreTry Before You Die →
Six Cheese & Beer Pairings Not to Miss
I don’t have many regrets in life, but one would be that I didn’t discover beer sooner. I mean the good stuff, of course—the world’s great craft brews, which have so many flavor affinities with artisan cheese. I’m making up for lost time now and, like many converts, I want to share my epiphanies. Looking back through tasting notes, I selected a half-dozen peak experiences that, truly, you don’t want to miss.
Sleeper Cheese →
A friend in the wine business asked me a cheese question recently that stumped me. “What is the one thing that all the great cheesemakers have in common?” he wanted to know.
Read moreA Beauty from Portugal →
Anybody who sells cheese for a living knows there’s a large contingent of goat cheese avoiders. These folks lump all styles of goat cheese together and banish them all in one emphatic “yuk.” Presumably they’re remembering some overly tangy, chalky fresh chèvre they once sampled that smelled like a goat barn. We’ve all had one of those.
Read moreSo Long, Roquefort? →
Have you heard about all those people getting sick from eating Roquefort, raw-milk Morbier and raw-milk Tomme de Savoie? I haven’t either because it hasn’t happened. And the FDA is going to make sure that it doesn’t.
Read moregot lactose? →
As someone who writes and teaches about cheese, I hear a lot from the lactose intolerant. Whenever I do a book signing or presentation, people tell me—often with a gloomy expression—that they are lactose intolerant and can’t eat cheese. I know that aged cheese doesn’t have much if any lactose, but I’ve never been confident enough of my facts to know how to respond.
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