The Cheese Blog
July: Cheese Classes Bay Area, Bubbles (!), and off to Ireland
Bubbles & Camembert Blog
Happy Burrata Season. If you're anything like me, you're wondering how we already made it almost halfway through July. There were signs, of course. Like, June ending, BBQ's coming and going on the 4th, sweet corn hitting the markets, and the smell of funnel cakes at state fairgrounds. But July 2016 feels like June-July-August crammed into one. It's a full force month.
On this end, one reason July was so busy was because in addition to teaching many private and public cheeses classes, I'm preparing for my August trip to Ireland where I'll be guest-lecturing a tour, then staying on for a bit solo. I'm dreaming of our cooking classes at Ballymaloe, and am arranging visits at creameries whose cheesemakers craft their wheels with seaweed. So you'll be seeing me a little less around town late July and early August.
Cheese brining in salt water, Cork, Ireland
Here's a list of where I'll be when. Check out the top class- Bubbles & Cheese, at Solano Cellars. Very excited to return to my alma matter and teach with my friend. Marin and Contra Costa cheese lovers, keep posted. Next newsletter I'll be announcing classes at new spots near you, like Cavallo Point and the Walnut Creek Recreation Center.
I hope you see you around, and may you all get your season's fill of fresh mozzarella with hierloom tomatoes!
CHEESE CLASSES BAY AREA
Bubbles & Cheese Pairing: Summer Sparkles
Tuesday, July 26th, 6:00-7:30pm, Solano Cellars
Bubbles are for celebrations, warm days, cool nights, and creamy cheeses. Join cheese book author Kirstin and sommelier Julie for a seasonal look at summer sparklings and the cheeses that love them.
Light & Bright: Cheese and White Wine
Monday, August 29th, 6:30-8:30pm, The Cheese School, San Francisco
While cheese and wine pairing is more art than science, one thing is true: white wines are significantly easier to pair with cheese than reds. Cheese expert Kirstin Jackson will lead you in a tasting of summer’s most thirst-quenching white wines...
Cheesemaking: Camembert!
Sunday, September 4th, 11:00-2:00pm, The Cheese School, San Francisco
Your ovalini are moist and perfectly round. Your chevre is fluffy and tangy. Now you’re ready for your next challenge: Camembert. In this class, you’ll learn how to make the French classic (with a twist) from author Kirstin Jackson. Kirstin will lead you in inoculating fresh milk, recognizing when the curd has set, then layering the curd in the form. Over the next month you’ll take your little cheese home and watch it grow fluffy and white as you care for it. We’ll keep in touch via Facebook to see how our camembert ripen! As a friendly reminder, these public cheese classes fill up fast. If they're listed but sold out, ask about a waiting list- sometimes spots open up. If you want a customized cheese making or cheese & wine pairing class for your next party or team-building, you don't have to wait for dates to open for public classes. Email me at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com for more information .
"Extreme" Cheese & the Wines that Love Them.
This Wednesday I wore my cowboy boots to teach. I may have even worn a little green eye shadow and en extra ring. When teaching a class titled "Extreme Cheeses and the Wines that Love Them," one has to step it up a notch.
I've been teaching at the Cheese School of San Francisco now for over three or four years, and I've taught some of my favorite classes there, from Springtime Cheese and Rosés to Southern Cheese and Spirits. This last class was one of my tops taught. The focus: The weird, the odd, the unusual cheeses, unique wines to pair, and the stories behind them.
What makes a cheese odd, you ask?
Good question. We didn't limit it. And we didn't judge. If a cheese was delicious after being patted down with flavors as oddly harmonious as espresso grounds and lavender, we weren't going to raise an eyebrow. If a cheese couldn't decide between being a cheddar or a blue, we were't going to try to make them. Hell, if a cheese wanted to wear that swan dress that Bjork did to the Oscars one year, or even decide they wanted to be in an open relationship, we wouldn't judge either. Just as long as they showed up to class tasty and ready to charm.
Our requirements for an "extreme" cheese was that a cheese was novel and delicious- it was made in an interesting style, had an unusual taste, or was made with unfamiliar milks or a mix of milks. But because we also wanted to include awesome or rare wines, we made an exception or two. We included Comté not because it's odd (it's special and unique, but not odd, per se), but because it makes one of the weirdest wines in the world (which happens to be one of my favorite) from the Jura taste amazing. The pairing is transformative, delicious, and odd as heck.
Here's the list. Hope you enjoy our picks! They're listed in clockwise order, starting at 11 o'clock with the golden Comté. Cheeses with a * have write-ups in my book.
1. Comté
Provenance: Jura/Franche-Comté, France Type: Raw cow’s milk
2. Pecorino Foglie di Noce - sheep milk pecorino wrapped with walnut leaf as it ages (leaves only available twice a year and the cheese was in very limited, seasonal supply until just recently).
Provenance: Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Type: Pasteurized sheep's milk
Both paired with 2008 Domaine Macle Côtes du Jura (Jura, France), made mainly in the oxidative style typical of vin jaune from Savagnin and Chardonnay, in the Chateau Chalone appellation. Tasting Comté and Macle together years ago was a transformative pairing for me. May have or may not consumed a half a pound of cheese first time I tried this.
3. Dunbarton Blue, Roelli Cheese Co- Cheddar/Blue Hybrid *
Provenance: Shullsburg, Wisconsin Type: Pasteurized cow's milk
4. Barely Buzzed, Beehive Cheese Company, rind of espresso grounds and lavender. *
Provenance: Uintah, Utah Type: Pasteurized cow’s milk
Both paired with 2009 Gricos Aglianico del Vulture (Basilicata, Italy), Aglianico grown on soils from the Vulture volcano.
5. Hubbardston Blue, Westfield Farm - the first goat, soft ripened blue cheese in the U.S. *
Provenance: Hubbardston, Massachusetts Type: Pasteurized goat’s milk
6. Torta de Trujillo - washed rind sheep's milk made with thistle rennet. To eat, slice off the top of the torta and scoop.
Provenance: Extremadura, Spain Type: Raw sheep’s milk
7. The Bomb, Bohemian Creamery - a lovely blend of milks on this bumpy, natural-rinded cheese that's been washed with a Russian River Brewery's sour beer, Consecration.
Provenance: Sebastopol, California Type: Pasteurized sheep and goat’s milk
All three paired with 2009 Clos Lapeyre Jurançon La Magendia (Jurançon, France), made with 100% Gros Manseng.
8. Casatica di Bufala- Buffalo milk normally belongs in the south. The Gritti brothers sold their family's Alpine cows to focus entirely on buffalo.
Provenance: Lombardia, Italy Type: Pasteurized water buffulo’s milk
9. Kunik, Nettle Meadow Farm - one of the only mixed-milk triple cremes in the world. *
Provenance: Thurman, New York Type: Pasteurized goat’s milk & cow’s cream
Both served with 2010 Château de Ripaille Vin de Savoie Ripaille (Savoie, France) - see third photo above.
What are your favorite "extreme" cheeses? What do you drink with them?
Southern Cheese & Whiskey Fever
Southern cheese, my friends, has arrived. Or rather, it has been thriving, and the rest of us are finally noticing its presence. This last Sunday I taught the Cheese School of San Francisco's first Southern Cheese & Spirits Class. Quite an honor. It was great. We ate. We drank. We marveled at the jug of corn whiskey.
Southern cheese, my friends, has arrived. Or rather, it has been thriving, and the rest of us are finally noticing its presence. This last Sunday I taught the Cheese School of San Francisco's first Southern Cheese & Spirits Class. Quite an honor. It was great. We ate. We drank. We marveled at the jug of corn whiskey.
The idea of the class arose one day when I was telling Kiri Fisher, co-owner of the Cheese School, how excited I was about the region and its dairy goodness as a result of my cheese book research, a friend from Tennessee who's introducing me to its bounty, and a new distributer to the bay area bringing in southern cheese. We were chatting right before I was about to start teaching a class, and I was just rambling my little heart away when Kiri said, "You know, I like the idea of a southern cheese class."
Although southern cheese is thriving in the south, it's still hard to find a lot of the small production stuff around here. Plus, it's spring, when many mama animals need more of the milk that might otherwise go into our cheese to feed their young- there's just less of the small-prouction cheese around in general. So to source enough cheese, we had to diversify. We ordered four of the eight cheeses from my friend Kathleen Cotter who owns The Bloomy Rind in Nashville, Tennessee (beautiful cheeses, arrived in perfect condition, even though they were FedExed all the way from Nashville). We ordered others through Darren, the owner of Cream and the Crop cheese distribution, and Tomales Bay. All beautiful.
And did I mention we served booze? Whiskey heaven, plus New Orlean's own Abita beer.
1792 Ridgemont Reserve Bourbon, Templeton Rye Whiskey, Platte Valley Corn Whiskey (a.k.a especially tasty legal "moonshine"), Abita IPA.
Here's a a little look at our favorite pairings from that night.
1. Lambert Hoja Santa ♥ St. Abita IPA & Platte Valley corn whiskey
2. Capriole Kentucky Tomme ♥ St. Abita IPA & Platte Valley corn whiskey
3. Sweet Grass Green Hill ♥ Platte Valley corn whiskey
4. Cumberland, Sequatchie Cove ♥ Templeton Rye Whiskey, Platte Valley corn whiskey
5. Chapel Hill Calvander ♥ St. Abita IPA, Templeton Rye Whiskey
6. Looking Glass Chocolate Lab ♥ Platte Valley corn whiskey, Templeton Rye Whiskey
7. Blackberry Farm Singing Brook ♥ 1792 Ridgemont Reserve Bourbon
8. Sweet Grass Asher Blue ♥ 1792 Ridgemont Reserve Bourbon
Moonshine shined bright, folks. A lightly oaked pure corn whiskey stole the pairing show.
Again, thanks to The Bloomy Rind for getting us amazing cheeses at the drop of a hat!
What are your favorite southern cheeses? What do you drink them with?
Sparkling Wine & Cheese Pairing: A Class Guide
Last night I taught one of my favorite classes ever at the Cheese School of San Francisco- Cremes & Bubblies, and in its honor, I’m creating a guide to pairing sparkling and creamy cheese today. Why is it my favorite? Two reasons. One, I love cremes and bubbles. Separate, together, at a dinner table, at a party, on the side of the road, however, wherever. Two, I loved this class because the students were into it.
Last night I taught one of my favorite classes ever at the Cheese School of San Francisco- Cremes & Bubblies, and in its honor, I'm creating a guide to pairing sparkling and creamy cheese. Why was it one my favorite classes? Two reasons. One, I love cremes and bubbles. Separate, together, at a dinner table, at a party, on the side of the road, however, wherever. Two, I loved this class because the students were into it.
The first sign of whether students are going to be down with the class is if they laugh at the name of my blog. These guys did- hearty chuckles. If they don't, I know it's going to be a loooooong night, and it's very likely my jokes will fall flat. But these guys didn't just assuage my fragile ego by making me feel funny, they asked questions, they commented on flavors rather than starring at me questioningly when asked "what do you taste?," they contributed fun information to the class, and they ate and drank like pros. As a side note, I also attribute the class's success to listening to Def Leopard while crossing the Bay Bridge to teach- I was inspired, and the students felt it. Do you want to get rocked? Why yes, yes I do (get those cheese class engines revving!).
In short, it's hard to get a bad pairing with bubbles and cremes. Cremes are creamy, soft cheeses that are high in moisture and taste especially rich. If you nibble on them with a sparkling, you've got a win-win situation- the bubbles (like the carbonation in beer) and the acidity in wines like Champagne help cut the fat in the cheese and uplift the pairing experience. I always imagine the bubbles wrapping themselves around the creamy cheese molecules and taking them to a happy place, like cheese heaven. Truth be told, it's hard to fall flat when matching bubbles to creamy cheeses, almost everything tastes at least good. But some pairings are much better then others. Below I divulge the pairings in the class that were the favorites, and why they worked to create a light and easy pairing guide for sparklings.
A 4-Step Guide to Sparkling and Cheese Pairings
1. Light, lively cheeses like light, lively bubbles.
La Tur (cow, sheep and goat) from Piedmont Italy, and Crémont (goat and cow) with Prosecco. When you have goat cheese, think light, low-oak, and unoaked sparklings. Proseccos. Cavas. If you don't know if they're low oak or un-oaked, ask your wine salesperson. You can go fruity, but don't go bold and heavy with your wine. Your spunky little goat cheese or milk blends like to shine without heavy oak getting in the way.
2. Richer cremes like richer wines.
Nettle Meadow Kunik (triple creme cow, sheep and goat) and Brillat-Savarin (triple cow) with cremants or Champagnes. Cremants are sparklings made in the Champagne Method that are not from the Champagne region. They age in barrels, accumulate a light creamy, yeasty flavor. Champagnes generally (but not always) achieve a greater creamy, yeasty flavor and have more acidity than cremants. When I'm pairing creamy triples with sparkling, I either go cremant or Champange. Cremants are less expensive, so I often go there. When triple cremes are still clean-flavored and buttery like Kunik and Cremont, you don't need the richness and earthiness of Champagne.
3. Sultry cheeses like sultry, full-bodied, earthy Champagnes.
Old Chatham Nancy's Camembert (sheep and cow) and Bent River Camembert with Champagne. A full-bodied champagne is yeasty, toasty, creamy, earthy, sometimes mushroomy. They replicate what's going on with these cheeses. Sheep's milk cheese? Earthy, buttery, toasty. Camembert? Earthy, yeasty, mushroomy. These are easy pairing matches made in heaven. It's also possible to get an earthy cremant if you don't feeling like dishing out the dough for a Champagne- ask your winemonger, they should be able to direct your choice.
4. Washed rind creamies with rosés.
Rush Creek Reserve (cow) and Pont L'Eveque (cow) with sparkling rosés. This is a pairing inspired by the regional Époisses and Burgundy pairing. The stinky washed rind Époisses is traditionally matched with a Pinot Noir, so when I think of other creamy washed rinds, I let this guide me. A rosés light red fruit goes with the washed rind funk. Most sparking rosés are going to be heavy on the Pinot, but a rosé need not be Pinot Noir to pair well. But it helps.
Lastly, I'm teaching a class at the Cheese School that I'm super excited about. Southern Cheese & Spirits in March. I'm very excited about it. Think artisan cheese, paired to southern beer and .... moonshine. If you're in the SF area, please come! Geek out and feel the moonshine burn with me.
Cheese & Wine Classes: School Time!
Are you ready sharpen your pencils to a dangerous point, fill your binder with white paper, and put on your new super hero backpack? Not in the mood? Yah, don't worry about it, places like The Cheese School of San Francisco pimp their own writing supplies. The Wonder Woman backpack is up to you (find two and I'll give you my mailing address).
Are you ready to sharpen your pencils to a dangerous point, fill your binder with white paper, and put on your new super hero backpack? I already have, but if you've been too busy to go back-to-school shopping, don't worry about it. Places like The Cheese School of San Francisco pimp their own writing supplies. The Wonder Woman backpack is up to you (psst, find two and I'll give you my mailing address).
Cheese Class Time!
This August and September I'll be teaching two classes at the Cheese School of San Francisco. Official descriptions are below. If interested in joining, follow this link to reserve a spot with the school. I hope to see you there! Want more cheese action or live out of state? Keep scrolling.
EDUCATIONAL CHEESE OPPS:
Cheese & Rosé Wines, Tuesday, August 30, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Not to be confused with the jug wines of yesteryear, the exquisite beauty of some pink wines can be absolutely enchanting. Instructor and wine maven Kirstin Jackson will explore how Rosé is made and discover the flavors of strawberries, minerals, rose petals and cocoa powder that characterize the very best of this style. Paired with carefully selected cheeses and you have the perfect anchor for summer outdoor entertaining.
Old World Inspiration, New World Innovation, Tuesday, September 13, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Cheesemaking in Europe is inspired by centuries of tradition. Cheesemakers in North America on the other hand are known for their cheese innovations. But can you taste the difference between a new and old world cheese? You be the judge. In this class, we'll taste a French double-crème against a similar cheese from the American south; an English cheddar alongside a Vermont one; and several other equally delectable match-ups. Along the way you'll discover what the most important components of a great cheese really are. Hint: It has to do with the cheesemaker.
Still want more education? These are some other classes I've been eyeing:
Mystery of the Caves, Thursday, August 4, 6:30-8:30 pm, Brian Ralph, At Murrays, NYC
See why Conde Nast Traveler named Murray’s Cheese Caves one of the 50 Coolest Places to see in the world. Join us as we share the world of cheese caves with you. Take a tour of the subterranean caves at Murray’s and find out exactly what goes on in there. Learn about basic affinage practices and the elementary science behind what happens to cheeses as they age. Enjoy your newfound knowledge as we lead you through a guided tasting of cave-aged gems so you can see (we mean taste) the benefits of the aging process for yourself.
Amazing Cheeses of Wisconsin and the Beers That Love Them, Monday, August 22, 6:30 – 8:30 pm (also at the Cheese School)
While we take a lot of pride in our California cheeses, Wisconsin has been producing more cheese than any other state in the nation for more than 100 years. Building on those traditions, trailblazing artisan cheesemakers are popping up all across the state. Sara Hill of Wisconsin’s own Milk Marketing Board will guide us through the evolving landscape, from rustic and simple cheese curds--‘squeakers’ in local parlance--to award-winning, artisanal masterpieces. Cheeseheads of all regions are sure to love this tasty tour of America’s dairy heartland...and brewland. Did we mention there would be beer?!
Instructor Sara Hill
Free Story Hour, Tuesday, August 23rd 3:00-5:00 pm, at Forward Foods, Norman, Oklahoma
Let’s start this school year off right! Join Cheesemonger Bailey for an hour of fun with cheese - We’ll read books, color, and even play with our food while the grown-ups shop! A free come-and-go event for ages 3 and up.
Parents/Guardians must remain in the store while children attend Story Hour.
Wine Rep Showdown! – Round 1 Ashley vs Megan, Round 2 Travis vs Shane, Thursday September 8, 7:00pm and Thursday September 15, 7:00pm, Scardello Cheese, Dallas, Texas
Two titans face off in Cheese Stadium! They pick the wine (Sparkling, White, Two Reds!) We pick the cheese! You decide. Whose wine will reign supreme?
Cheese Basics, Tuesday, Sep 27, 2011, At Artisanal, NYC
You may know you love a particular cheese, but do you feel tongue-tied when asked to tell another person what makes it so great? Are you at a loss when talking about a fantastic cheese + wine pairing? The range of vocabulary surrounding cheese is at least as vast as that around wine, but each of us already has the vocabulary to talk about cheese and wine, using colorful and expressive - yet everyday - words.
Ask the Cheesemonger: Perfect Ripeness, Thursday, September 29, 6:30 – 8:30 pm (also at the Cheese School)
Cheesemongers spend a lot of time with cheese. Over the years they learn to recognize what’s almost ripe, what’s fabulous, and what’s seen better days. The perfect window for cheese excellence can be as short as a few days or as long as a few weeks. In this class BiRite cheese buyer Anthea Stolz [the sweetest person in the world] will take us through a vertical tasting of the same cheeses at different stages of ripeness. You may find you prefer some cheeses older, while other younger. By the end you’ll be ready to snob it up with your favorite cheesemonger.
Have some I should add to the list? I'd looooove to get some more up here. Please let me know! Email me at itsnotyouitsbrie@gmail.com