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Best of 2006 -- Cheese
Jan. 8th, 2007 08:13 amBest thing to happen to workers at a Cheese Factory
Wisconsin cheese factory workers embrace Buddhism, win lottery
Cheese ad of the Year
OMG this is so bad. Laugh again for the very first time.
Most Predictable Weather Condition
The American Cheese Society Conference would be somewhere unbearably hot. I didn’t know Portland could get like that. I left town early it was so bad. Milwaukee was so awful a couple of years ago that our fridge broke in the Presidential Suite. In Louisville, the government was actually telling people not to go outside. I walked two blocks from the hotel to go to a Walgreen’s and I felt like I had swum out past the breakers. I honestly didn’t know if I could make it back. Next year: Vermont.
Most inspiring event
The benefit for friend and cheese rep Sheana Davis. It was amazing how folks put aside the petty competitiveness that can be so common in the food profession and really came through. I was in charge of organizing the cheese donations and when word got out, people were calling me making sure they could send something. Here’s a photo of the cheese workers (minus Jessie Satan) who put the five tables of cheese together.:
Yes this is what cheese professionals look like. Sorry.
Best cheese
Really folks, many of you asked for this, but how does one decide on a best cheese? Ripeness, seasonality, handling, blah blah all affect the taste so that I could rave about something here and you can buy it elsewhere and it can suck. Some cheeses are fragile. But here are some of my new favorites of 2006:
-- Winnemere by Jasper Hill Dairy. The bandaged wrapped cheddar they made with Cabot won first place, but this sticky, stinky, washed-rind, bark-wrapped, ripened raw cow’s milk cheese is awesome. It’s only made seasonally, and it’s pricey, but it’s one of the best US cheeses ever made.
-- Anything by Pugs Leap Dairy. Made in traditional French styles from a couple of guys in Healdsburg who only have about three dozen goats. If you can find this, buy this. Though the goats are kidding right now, they are making a limited-time only cheese from Straus cow milk that should be available locally this week.
-Bellevaire French cheeses. Newly available in the Bay Area but only sporadically. My fave is currently the Cathare, a ripened goat cheese that looks like a moldy pancake. I also like the Couronne Lochoise which looks like a moldy glazed old fashioned. Oh man. This is the real stuff.
-Tenerone Tre Latte Basically a big format 3-milk Robiola but damn it's good. Goat, sheep and cow, mild but complex. Buttery but you taste a lot more than fat. Perfectly balanced.
--And for something not new at all, I personally rediscovered Blue de Basque last year. we have always carried it on and off, and really I wouldn’t say it’s the "best", but man I love this cheese and i just kept finding myself buying it. Basically a Basque sheep blue. If you like Ossau-Iraty, Petit Basque, Abbaye de Belloc etc. and like blue, this is the blue cheese for you. Tends to be a little salty, but those of you who know me know I love salt.
Biggest Cheese Disappointments
Fromage de Clarines used to be a bark-less faux Vacherin. Knowing that no real, raw milk Vacherins were coming in this year I ordered a bunch only to find they were are much more mass-produced and mild, more like Fromager D’affinois than Vacherin Mont D’or. They are still mighty tasty, just a shame seeing a cheese get so much less interesting.
Also the Gran Pecorino that I got bait and switched on. My sample was awesome. Nutty, sweet, sharp. Pecorino I could justify selling at $17/lb. What came was bland and boring. I returned most of it and eventually had to sell off the rest below cost.
I already wrote about the Toledo. By the way, with a hole punch they make great x-mas ornaments. Though, let’s be clear, it is not the cheese’s fault I bought too much of it.
.
Wisconsin cheese factory workers embrace Buddhism, win lottery
Cheese ad of the Year
OMG this is so bad. Laugh again for the very first time.
Most Predictable Weather Condition
The American Cheese Society Conference would be somewhere unbearably hot. I didn’t know Portland could get like that. I left town early it was so bad. Milwaukee was so awful a couple of years ago that our fridge broke in the Presidential Suite. In Louisville, the government was actually telling people not to go outside. I walked two blocks from the hotel to go to a Walgreen’s and I felt like I had swum out past the breakers. I honestly didn’t know if I could make it back. Next year: Vermont.
Most inspiring event
The benefit for friend and cheese rep Sheana Davis. It was amazing how folks put aside the petty competitiveness that can be so common in the food profession and really came through. I was in charge of organizing the cheese donations and when word got out, people were calling me making sure they could send something. Here’s a photo of the cheese workers (minus Jessie Satan) who put the five tables of cheese together.:
Yes this is what cheese professionals look like. Sorry.
Best cheese
Really folks, many of you asked for this, but how does one decide on a best cheese? Ripeness, seasonality, handling, blah blah all affect the taste so that I could rave about something here and you can buy it elsewhere and it can suck. Some cheeses are fragile. But here are some of my new favorites of 2006:
-- Winnemere by Jasper Hill Dairy. The bandaged wrapped cheddar they made with Cabot won first place, but this sticky, stinky, washed-rind, bark-wrapped, ripened raw cow’s milk cheese is awesome. It’s only made seasonally, and it’s pricey, but it’s one of the best US cheeses ever made.
-- Anything by Pugs Leap Dairy. Made in traditional French styles from a couple of guys in Healdsburg who only have about three dozen goats. If you can find this, buy this. Though the goats are kidding right now, they are making a limited-time only cheese from Straus cow milk that should be available locally this week.
-Bellevaire French cheeses. Newly available in the Bay Area but only sporadically. My fave is currently the Cathare, a ripened goat cheese that looks like a moldy pancake. I also like the Couronne Lochoise which looks like a moldy glazed old fashioned. Oh man. This is the real stuff.
-Tenerone Tre Latte Basically a big format 3-milk Robiola but damn it's good. Goat, sheep and cow, mild but complex. Buttery but you taste a lot more than fat. Perfectly balanced.
--And for something not new at all, I personally rediscovered Blue de Basque last year. we have always carried it on and off, and really I wouldn’t say it’s the "best", but man I love this cheese and i just kept finding myself buying it. Basically a Basque sheep blue. If you like Ossau-Iraty, Petit Basque, Abbaye de Belloc etc. and like blue, this is the blue cheese for you. Tends to be a little salty, but those of you who know me know I love salt.
Biggest Cheese Disappointments
Fromage de Clarines used to be a bark-less faux Vacherin. Knowing that no real, raw milk Vacherins were coming in this year I ordered a bunch only to find they were are much more mass-produced and mild, more like Fromager D’affinois than Vacherin Mont D’or. They are still mighty tasty, just a shame seeing a cheese get so much less interesting.
Also the Gran Pecorino that I got bait and switched on. My sample was awesome. Nutty, sweet, sharp. Pecorino I could justify selling at $17/lb. What came was bland and boring. I returned most of it and eventually had to sell off the rest below cost.
I already wrote about the Toledo. By the way, with a hole punch they make great x-mas ornaments. Though, let’s be clear, it is not the cheese’s fault I bought too much of it.
.
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