When it’s too hot to drink wine in wine country (and last week it was), I reach for Kölsch. This brisk German beer style is crisp, thirst-quenching and low in alcohol—usually under 5 percent ABV—so you don’t need to head for the nearest couch after your meal. I love Kölsch with marinated cheeses, feta, mozzarella, burrata—fresh or lightly aged cheeses that won’t overwhelm it.
Read moreMake Dad’s Day with Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes
My dad couldn’t cook but he could at least follow the recipe on the Bisquick box. So Bisquick pancakes are the pancakes of my childhood. These aren’t those. My made-from-scratch hotcakes are likely the fluffiest you’ll ever have. Fresh ricotta keeps them moist and beaten egg whites make them airy. It’s blueberry season so I sprinkled a few plump berries into the batter on the griddle and made a blueberry-maple sauce to serve on the side.
Read moreFour-Star Farmer Cheese
I hadn’t thought of farmer cheese as craveable, the sort of cheese you keep devouring after you’ve clearly had enough, but that’s before I met this one. “Six of us inhaled essentially the whole pound with honey and toasted walnuts,” a friend texted me. “I am obsessed.” And now I’m in the cult, too. Farmer cheese this tasty would make an awesome bagel schmear, but it really deserves to be the center of attention.
Read moreTop-Value Cheeses for Tight Times
Left to right: Piave Vecchio, Taleggio, La Dama Sagrada, Point Reyes Toma, Bleu d’Auvergne
Seems like everything’s going up but the stock market. My neighborhood bakery just hiked the price of my favorite loaf by 33 percent. Ouch. That’s serious inflation. Cheese is hardly immune, and the stresses in the grain market guarantee more sticker shock to come. We cheese lovers just have to shop smarter. The values are out there. I’ve rounded up a few well-priced favorites for these inflationary times. There aren’t many cheeses that make me think “Is that all?” when I see what I’ve spent, but these dozen do.
Read moreFive Cheese Myths that Deserve to Die
Meg Smith Photography
The world of cheese is rich in colorful stories, questionable lore and, yes, alternative facts. Who knows what’s actually true and what’s just fun to imagine? Did Napoleon really slice off the top of a pyramidal cheese with his sword, inspiring the shape of Valençay? I’m going with it. But a few myths and misunderstandings about cheese really do deserve to die.
Read moreRobiola Rave
Wow. Just wow. I am so impressed with this cheese. I tasted it when it first debuted about five years ago, but it is off-the-charts delicious now. Did I change or did the cheese? “It’s the same recipe,” says the cheesemaker, “but we have some really awesome milk now.” Hugely aromatic, supple and beautiful to boot. Put this on your summer cheese boards and wait for the raves.
Read moreHow Bad is Cheese?
As a cheese enthusiast and blogger and the author of a yogurt cookbook, I’m never happy to see dairy foods get slammed. Cows have sustained us for millennia, yet they are increasingly under scrutiny for their role in climate change. The New York Times recently published a Q&A-style feature on the environmental impact of our food choices, and I’m sure the takeaway for many readers was, “Eat less cheese.” Some people will go further and ditch dairy foods entirely. I wondered how the many progressive dairy farmer/cheesemakers I know are grappling with these issues so I reached out to one of the industry’s wise men, Andy Hatch.
Read moreFresh Sheep Cheese is Rye Bread Ready
With May on the horizon, it’s prime time for fresh sheep cheese. The ewes are back on the job after some winter R&R and they are giving their all right now. To manage the surge of spring milk, a few creameries produce a soft, rindless, spreadable sheep cheese that I vastly prefer to fresh chèvre. This category hardly existed a decade ago. Now your favorite cheese counter should have (or can get) at least one of these lovelies. Slathered on whole-grain toast, stuffed in pasta, dolloped on pizza…what an endlessly useful cheese.
Read moreParmigiano Reggiano Deep Dive
Parm by breed: (left to right) Bruna Alpina, Razza Reggiana, Bianca Modenese
One thing (among many) that I love about cheese is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to taste the gold standards. A cult Cabernet Sauvignon can cost more than a round-trip ticket to Europe, but anyone with ten dollars can get a sizeable taste of a cult cheese. And that’s what I would call the three Parmigiano Reggianos pictured above. They are costly, acclaimed, rare and sought after by in-the-know cheese fans. Are they more compelling than the everyday Parm you’ve been using? Well, it won’t cost you much to find out.
Read moreSpring Look for Insalata Caprese
My friend Joanne Weir, the television personality, came up with this genius idea for a spring riff on tomato and mozzarella salad. After all, it’s not tomato season. It’s asparagus, fava bean and pea season. So leave those mealy, flavorless red orbs for someone else and give your Caprese salad a fresh look for spring. What a light, simple salad for Easter and spring dinner parties to come. Thank you, Joanne!
Read more