Food – Page 3

Pleasant Ridge Reserve

September 21, 2006 by Dave!

I had the pleasure of sampling another ACS winner this week, this one is a raw cow’s milk cheese called Pleasant Ridge Reserve from the Uplands Cheese Company in Wisconsin. This one is a repeat, having won the ACS best in show award in 2001 _and_ 2005!

Picture cows grazing in an open pasture in Wisconsin, that’s where this cheese starts. It’s made from fresh, unpasteurized milk, which gives it a wonderful flavor with great _terroir_. )And if you don’t believe that cheese has _terroir_, you haven’t been eating enough *good* cheese.)

The Pleasant Ridge Reserve reminds me a bit of a Gruyere. It’s not quite as “rough” as Gruyere, that is it’s not nearly as firm, nor does it have the grit/grain of a good aged Gruyere. However, it has a very, um, pleasant flavor that make it a really fantastic, straight up eating cheese. It has a great, nutty taste, which really hit the spot on this chilly fall day. I did not melt it, but I have a feeling it would melt well, and I’m sure it would be great to sample at different ages to experience it again and again.

Cabot/Jasper Hill Cloth Bound Cheddar

September 21, 2006 by Dave!

I finally sampled the winner of the American Cheese Society Best in Show from their 2006 convention, which is the Cabot Clothbound Cheddar.
This cheese is actually a joint venture from Cabot and Jasper Hill Farm both Vermont cheesemakers of extraordinary quality. (Jasper Hill makes Constant Bliss.)

What can I really say about this cheese that would make you try it, I mean, it won the Best in Show from the American Cheese Society!! They know cheese!! Seriously, this is a delicious cheddar, the way cheddars should be. The cheese that originated in England is done very proud with this one. It’s aged bound in cloth, like an English cheddar, in fact, it reminded me a lot of the first English cheddar I had as a kid. It’s a nice, sharp cheddar, but not too sharp. Aged just right to be flaky with a little bit of grit/grain and delicious flavor.

Check out just how good an American cheddar can be and pick up some for your next cheese board!

Filed Under: Cheese, Food Tagged With: acs american cheddar cheese cow society winner

Brillat-Savarin

September 10, 2006 by Dave!

If you’re a gastronome you probably know who Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin is. Well, gastronome I am not. But if you’re like me, you remember the opening quote from Iron Chef:

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are. —Brillat-Savarin

You are what you eat. Which may explain why I’m so cheesy. Sorry, sometimes I can’t resist.

Well, it turns out the French gourmand has a cheese named after him! Brillat Savarin cheese is a triple-cream cheese, made from cow’s milk. It is smooth and creamy. Imagine, really, a block of sweet, creamy butter, shaped into a cheese wedge.

In fact, I’d bet that if you shaped it into a stick, people would put it on their bread and not say a word. Well, some people might say, “What is this butter, it’s phenomenal!” Well, okay, not quite. You can still tell it’s cheese. But it is that creamy and buttery. Which is also delicious.

Filed Under: Cheese, Food Tagged With: brillatsavarin cow triplecream

Jasper Hill Constant Bliss

September 8, 2006 by Dave!

I know that it may seem like I only eat goat’s milk cheese, as I have been on a bit of kick recently. So this time out at the cheese monger, I decided to go cow. Wow. Am I ever glad I did!

This week, I went with Constant Bliss from Jasper Hill Farm which is located in Vermont. This is a wonderful cheese, made from raw cow’s milk. It’s a fantastic cheese which showcases just how amazing raw milk cheeses can be.

The cheese is based on a French chaource, which is a young, raw milk cheese. In fact, this cheese is quite a young one, coming in at 60 days. But wow, has it every developed.
Everything about this cheese is a winner… the odor is pungent, but not overwhelming or unpleasant. The cheese is covered in a mild white rind, followed by a pale yellow, creamy (semi-soft) cheese. But hidden in the the color gets lighter and the texture becomes a little chalky… it’s almost as if the middle contains a pat of butter. And it tastes like it, too.

This is a really creamy tasting cheese, you know with the first bite it’s cow’s milk. It melts in your mouth with a rich, silky feel and the tastes of fresh cream and butter are very pronounced. If you like butter, you will almost certainly love this cheese. If you want to taste just how incredible cheese can be, this is an excellent one to add to your tasting list.

Filed Under: Cheese, Food Tagged With: cheese cow food raw

O’ Banon

September 3, 2006 by Dave!

A few weeks ago, I had my first Banon which you may recall, I *adored*.

Banon is a French goat cheese typically made from a raw goat’s milk. The O’ Banon is a domestic offering from Capriole Farms in southern Indiana. I’ve also reviewed their Wabash Cannonball, which is a really outstanding cheese.

The Capriole’s O’Banon takes its name from the former Indiana Governor, Frank O’Bannon. The O’Banon is wrapped in traditional Chestnut leaves, but that’s where tradition ends. Instead of wine, the O’Banon is soaked in Bourbon, which gives it a distinctly different flavor–although still quite good.

Inside, it’s a softer cheese, the consistency of a typical chevre. It’s not runny, it’s still firm, but soft and spreadable. It’s a young cheese, too, so it’s not chalky, nor is it very strong in flavor. It’s quite mild, and if you aren’t a fan of the “goat” tang, you won’t find it in this cheese. It’s deliberately younger, not ripened, to give it that lighter, fresher taste, and I’d say mission accomplished.

It’s not the earth shattering experience that I had with my first Banon, but I really enjoyed this one, it would make an excellent counter to a stronger flavored cheese on any board, and the light freshness of the cheese, combined with the hint of woodiness from the bourbon is a really nice touch. And it’s another great example of a traditional old world cheese that is being embraced by farmstead producers here in the United States, with a decidedly new world twist that demonstrates that American producers are artists in their own right.

Filed Under: Cheese, Food Tagged With: banon capriole cheese farmstead food goat

Garrotxa

August 29, 2006 by Dave!

I took a little informal survey and asked people to name a country known for producing cheese. I got a lot of “France” and some “England” but I didn’t get any “Spain”. That’s really too bad, because the Spanish make some really fantastic cheese.
One of those cheeses is Garrotxa, which hails from Catalonia in northern Spain, sandwiched between the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean.
Garrotxa is a raw goat’s milk cheese, which is covered in a blue-grey, felt-like rind. I’ve seen it described as semi-soft, firm and even one description that said it was creamy! I’m not sure what’s up with that, but the piece I had I would say was firm (or maybe semi-hard) not hard, but definitely not soft–you still had to cut it with a knife. The color was a pale white with a nice texture and good mouth feel.
The rind had a nice “musty” smell from the blue-grey mold and there was a bit of that taste in the cheese, too. Almost reminiscent of walnuts, but without any tanic or bitterness. Fresh walnuts, like you find at the base of a tree and break open yourself… fresh, woody, nutty. Good. It does have that characteristic goaty tang (which I love, love, love) but it’s not as prominent as it is in the creamier goat cheeses. It’s a nice, mild flavor. This is very much a table cheese, excellent for snacking. Another Dave recommended cheese.
Also, as a bonus, while I was looking up sites on Garrotxa to link to this review, I found a great article about Enric Canut who is a leader in bringing artisanal Spanish cheeses back after Franco. I’m going to have to dust off my Spanish and check out his book, Los 100 Quesos Españoles.

Filed Under: Cheese, Food Tagged With: cheese food goat raw spanish

Chicago Eats

August 22, 2006 by Dave!

Chicago certainly has a fine dining scene with some great selections, like the classic Charlie Trotter’s or the nouveau Alinea. We are not lacking for fine dining experiences.

However, if you want to know about the heart of Chicago food, we’re talking fine dining, you should check out GreaseFreak who reviews (with photos!) real Chicago food, from Italian Beef to Hot Dogs. I’m both proud and ashamed to say that I know many of the restaurants on GreaseFreak’s list. Check it out!

Filed Under: Chicago, Food, Restaurants

Prairie Blazing Star Banon

August 19, 2006 by Dave!

Banon is a traditional French cheese, named from it’s town of origin, Banon, in Provence. Traditionally, it’s made from goat’s milk or sometimes a mixture of goat’s milk with some cow. It’s wrapped in chestnut leaves which have been soaked in vinegar which imparts a salty and tangy taste in the cheese.

I’ve been meaning to try a banon for some time, particularly the “O’Banon” from Capriole Farms. However, this week, my cheese monger recommended trying one from Prairie Fruits Farm, a farmstead cheese maker in southern Illinois. I’m always up for a new cheese, so I took home Prairie Fruit’s Prairie Blazing Star Banon, and I was blown away.

The Prairie Blazing Star Banon is made from a pasteurized goat’s milk, and wrapped in maple or sycamore leaves, depending on the season (I believe mine was wrapped in maple, but I was so entranced unwrapping it, I forgot to check closely!). The Blazing Star leaves are also not soaked in vinegar, but red wine, specifically, Alto Vineyards Chambourcin.

The Blazing Star is a pungent cheese, with a very smooth, creamy texture, not chalky like some goat cheeses. When you are unwrapping this delight, you smell the wine with the cheese and it really makes your mouth water.
This is a salty cheese–which I personally love. As a result of the soak and leaves, the cheese also has hints of the red wine and a really great note of “vegetation” that really complement the natural tartness from the goat cheese. It’s a really complex mix of flavors which just floored me… I absolutely loved this cheese. While many cheeses present a very straightforward taste, or are dominated by one flavor, this cheese plays out on your tongue like a wine. It’s a sipping cheese. Seriously. You want to roll this one around on your tongue, enjoying every little flavor it has to offer up.

I have only one bad thing to say about this cheese: it was only 2.3 oz. I should have bought more.

Filed Under: Cheese, Food Tagged With: cheese food goat

Argyleshire

August 5, 2006 by Dave!

Another visit to the farmer’s market! Unlike last week’s sweltering inferno, this week was tolerable, even mildly pleasant, so we ventured out to the market. There were some storms here that knocked out our power for a bit, so that meant disposing of our dairy products, sadly, my Brunkow spreads. Not that they last long in this house, but I *hate* to waste cheese!

After restocking, I noticed that Brunkow had brought some Argyleshire to sell! You may recall I was a bit disappointed in their Pendarvis a few weeks ago.

Presumably, Argyleshire takes its name from the Argyllshire region of Scotland. I cannot say if this cheese is fashioned after any Scottish cheese or not, however it is an aged, clothbound cheese (as are most English cheddars, if memory serves). It does have some cheddar-esque characteristics. It’s a slightly sharper cheese, with a golden buttery color. There is a very, very slight hint of the same astringency of the Pendarvis–I wonder if this is a characteristic of where the Brunkow cheeses are aged? However, in the case of the Argyleshire, it mellows out significantly as the cheese warms up to room temperature. The gentleman fro Brunkow whom I was speaking with said that because it’s an aged clothbound cheese, the characteristics will change with the seasons as well.

Overall, I think the Argyleshire is a fine eating cheese, but I think it would be really excellent to cook with. I’m going to try making some homemade macaroni with it this week, and I have a feeling it will not disappoint.

Filed Under: Cheese, Food

Pendarvis

July 9, 2006 by Dave!

This week I grabbed another cheese at the Farmer’s Market from Brunkow Cheese. This selection was called Pendarvis: A Miner’s Cheese. I’m not up on my Wisconsin history, but a little research shows that Pendarvis was a Cornish zinc and lead mining colony established in the 1800s. Apparently many of the buildings have been renovated and even some of the original prairie has been restored. The Wisconsin Historical Society has more info.

Unfortunately, as a cheese, Pendarvis needs to spend a little more time in the mine… or perhaps get the lead out. I’m not sure which. I don’t know if this cheese is historically accurate to the time or not, but I know it’s time is not now.

It has the potential to be a nice sharp cheese, reminiscent of a sharp, aged cheddar, but it’s just not there. The texture is similar to a cheddar, but the taste has this strange, very astringent tang that is not pleasant at all. And when I say astringent, I mean astringent. Have you ever smelled “Sea Breeze” makeup remover? Well, take a hunk of decent cheddar, and place it on your tongue. Now, dab a little “Sea Breeze” (or some other astringent make-up remover) on your tongue. Yum! Pendarvis!

No, don’t really do that… but you get the idea.

I’ve been so happy with all of the other selections from Brunkow that I’m pretty sad to be let down on this one, I’m going to ask about it next week, maybe I just got a bad slice. Dunno. But I was really looking forward to having some Argyleshire–which they had samples of, but none to buy. I hope the have it in next week!

Filed Under: Cheese, Food Tagged With: brunkow cheese