Summer Classes: Burrata Saturday & Ricotta 3 Ways w/ Feastly

This Saturday, make burrata (otherwise known as mozzarella & cream dumplings) in Berkeley

Because summer isn't summer without hand-stretched mozzarella and burrata to slice over heirloom tomatoes, I'm amped for this weekend's class in Berkeley. We'll make quick-set mozzarella, stretch our own fluffy curds, then make decadent creamy burrata while sipping a glass of bubbly! There also might be a mini artisan cheese plate involved. A couple spots are still open for this creamy cheese class- registration closes tomorrow.

Stuffing burrata

A couple other events I'm excited about are July's Ricotta & 3 Recipes with Feastly (photo of what we'll make heads the blog post) and California's Unsung Cheeses and Wines at 18 Reasons in August. In the first we'll make our own whole-milk and cream ricottas, then turn our cheese into 3 summer-friendly recipes like herbed pea and ricotta crostini in a short 2-hour class. In Unsung Heroes, I'll reveal some of my favorite under-the-radar wine and cheesemakers of the Golden State, and introduce you to some of the most exciting cheese made in our state today- it's a good time to be a Californian (there's a lot to discover out there and I'm happy to do the dirty work).

July and August public classes follow. As always, classes fill up fast- consider reserving your spot early. If interested in a private class for your friends, party, or employees, please email me at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com!

Summer Events and Classes

Mozzarella & Burrata By-Hand

July 8th, Saturday 2-5pm, Berkeley, Potliquor

In this delicious 3-hour class, learn how to make decadent mozzarella and burrata by-hand! After a splash of cheesemaking science, we'll make quick-set mozzarella, then transform it into burrata- mozzarella’s cream filled cousin. We'll end the class by enjoying the cheese we just made together with a glass of bubbly. Good for beginners and advanced cheesemakers both.

Cheesemaking: Ricotta & 3 Summer Recipes

July 22nd, Saturday 11am-1pm, Russian-Hill San Francisco, Feastly

If unimpressed by grocery store ricotta, prepare to meet an entirely new cheese. In this small, 2-hour class, "It's Not You, It's Brie" author and cheesemaking teacher Kirstin Jackson will teach you how make rich ricotta worthy of an Italian grandmother's lasagna, or just eating with a spoon.   After a breezy cheesemaking lesson and ricotta tasting, you'll make your own cheese with whole milk & cream, then turn it into 3 easy dishes perfect for summer parties! Expect a lively, delicious class.

Rosé & Cheese Pairing

July 24th, Monday 6:30-8:30pm, San Francisco, The Cheese School

Not to be confused with the jug wines of yesteryear, the beauty and delightful flavor of pink wines can be enchanting. Wine and cheese expert 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. Pair the pinks with carefully selected cheeses and you have the perfect formula for outdoor summer entertaining.

Basic Cheesemaking: Chevre, Marscapone and Ricotta 

August 20th, Sunday 11- 2pm, San Francisco, The Cheese School

Chevre, mascarpone, and ricotta are the cheeses that make appetizers and main courses sing. In this hands-on class, cheesemaker Kirstin Jackson will teach you how to make the cheeses that will become staples in your fridge for many more meals to come. You'll try your creations in class and bring some home to share, or not.

California's Unsung Cheeses and Wines

August 23rd, Wednesday 7-9pm, San Francisco, 18 Reasons

With its trophy cabernets and castle wineries, Napa draws more tourists than Bi-Rite Creamery's lines on a summer’s day. Down a winding road (or two) is Sonoma and Marin - home to the legendary creameries that put our state on the dairy map. Past the shiny surfaces of these celebrated regions, bottles, and wheels, you’ll find a California that, while less glittery, is packed with gems that make wine and cheese geeks swoon.

Mozzarella & Burrata

August 27th, Sunday 11-2pm, San Francisco, 18 Reasons

Mozzarella on nearly every aspiring home-cheesemaker’s to-do list. Yet, it’s not easy to get it right. Why won’t your curds form a ball? When you do get the ball to form, why is it hard enough for a game of hacky-sack? These are the mysteries of mozzarella. In this class, your instructor, who is also a cheesemaker, will not only demystify the mozz, but also get you on the road to making perfect ovalini and bocconcini just in time for all that wonderful summer produce. But wait! There’s more! We’ll use our curds to make everyone’s favorite cheese, burrata. Hope to see you around!

Mary Quicke ❤s the Cheesemonger Invitational + CCP, English-Style

Mary of Quicke’s Cheese posing with her wheels

Cheesemaker and owner of Quicke's Cheese, Mary Quicke, would like to see an MC in a cow suit dancing around cheesemongers on a stage in England.

"The first time I was at the Cheesemonger Invitational I thought, this is amazing and should be everywhere and how can we clone Adam Moskowitz [the cow]? Cheese in the U.S. is young and cool and happening, and people are rolling around and having fun with it. It's exciting!"

Though the CMI may not be traveling to London any time soon, Mary Quicke's enthusiasm for cheese can be felt across the world. If an international Cheese Enthusiasm Ambassadorship position opened up, Quicke would be one of the top three candidates. She can be found anywhere, any time, spreading her love for the community and the fruits of its labor.

Flipping cheddar curds at Quickes, Devon, England

Fitting then that Mary is heading the new British Academy of Cheese exams. Starting in the spring of 2017, the United Kingdom will join the U.S. in certifying cheese professionals who have thorough knowledge of cheese history, care, sales and science. This is a pretty big deal because a) it encourages education in the field, making cheese more well-cared for and customers better served, and b) it serves up a sense of pride.

"Now when your mom asks you to get a proper job, you can say, excuse me, look at this," says Quicke. 

Whew... feeling lucky at the moment that my parents took me on trips to creameries all during childhood so they consider my career not only valid but an opportunity for their gastronomical enrichment. Win-win.

In short, Quicke hopes that becoming certified will make you "unmessable in your knowledge." Its been a while since Quicke returned to the family business in 1984, when people kept asking her "why aren't you making block cheese?" Now people want to hear about terroir, specific cheesemakers, to feel that they're supporting a movement or small farms.

"We want to make sure that the cheese professional has everything they need to give a proper answer and serve a cheese at its peak of perfection."

The tests will differ from the American test because they'll start with Level 1- basic training, to 2- professionally able to educate others, to 3- an expert, to 4- a Master. As in a Master of Cheese like a Master Sommelier (they don't have this exam ready yet but I'm hoping it'll require experts to cut cheese with lightsabers instead of cheese wire) where one would know everything from cheesemaking to distribution, education and importing.

Someday she hopes for residency, a sort of international cheese professional exchange. Quicke thinks there would be a lot to learn on both ends, "I've gone from being a judge at ACS many years ago, thinking "oh, the Americans are kind of doing well," to tasting and thinking, "these ones are world-class- there are now so many beautiful, balanced, complex cheeses here. I had many oh-my-goodness moments during judging."

Some of her favorites are the Jasper Hill Cellars collections, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, anything by Andante's Soyoung Scanlan, and Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise Reserve. To start.

And if Mary really loves the CMI, she has to also love pairings or The Perfect Bite part of the competition, right? She does. And she has her own favorite Quicke pairings too- her mature cheddar with single estate Darjeeling tea, or, unblended rye whisky. Cheers.

Photos are from my visit to Quicke's during my Isles cheesemaking tour two years ago. 

Quicke’s hand rolled butter. Not cheese. But,,… butter. Because, butter.

A Visit to Tomales Farmstead: When a Guild Class Means Baby Goats

Early December I had the lucky opportunity to visit this dear kid above. Just as snuggly as she looks, Sweet Pea (whose given name I may have forgotten) pranced up to the fence to demand head scratches and nibble on my fingers. Only a year or two from now, Sweet Pea will not only give snuggles, she will be a valuable milk supplier to Tomales Farmstead Creamery.

Classes at Tomales Farmstead mean baby goats.

This post is a photo dairy of my recent visit to Tomales Farmstead, where I taught a class to some amazing cheese lovers who bid on a class with me at the creamery to raise money for the California Cheese Guild. Bless you, cheese lovers.

After a farm tour and tasting (which anyone can arrange) I taught the class how to make cheese: whole-milk ricotta from the farm's goat milk and Straus cow's milk, traditional ricotta from leftover whey, and queso fresco with milk from the creamery's goat herd. Raw milk, ya'll. This was one of my favorite classes to teach.

Not only did I get to team up with Hadley, one of the Tomales Farmstead cheesemakers (below) and ask her geeky cheese questions, I got to cuddle with her baby between culturing and pressing the queso fresco. Classes at Tomales Farmstead can mean human babies, too.

We visited the growing babes, attempted to herd some goats to the pastures after being milked, peeked in the creamery, and made and likely each ate more cheese in three hours than one should in a week. That's all to say that we left very happy.

Thanks for the opportunity, Tomales Farmstead! I look forward to joining you again soon.

Baby Tomales Farmstead Atika

As a heads up, if you, like me love the combo tour and class events, I'll be teaching a Cheesemaking 101 class nearby at Point Reyes Creamery's The Fork on Saturday, January 13th. We'll tour the farm, visit the creamery, taste Point Reyes's lineup, have lunch, then make cheese with the same milk and cream used for beauties like Bay Blue. Queso fresco, creme fraiche, cultured butter, and ricotta. Tickets up.

Making (and Eating) Paneer with Miss Cheesemonger

Paneer curds draining in cheesecloth – photo by Vero Kherian

If you haven't already discovered Miss Cheesemonger's blog, welcome to the world of beautiful cheese photography! Vero and I have known each other for years but we've never actually had the chance to collaborate on a project. So when she asked me if I'd like to be featured on her blog after I announced I was leaving my full-time job to focus on teaching cheese making classes, I jumped at the chance (not only is Miss Cheesemonger a wonderful photographer, she's an opera singer/former lawyer too. So, you know, she's got some good stories). Our cheese of choice? Paneer.

Paneer is a soft, mild, fresh, and lightly pressed cheese popular over much of South Asia. It's fluffy even when pressed, tastes like the milk from which it's made- use the good stuff-, and is meant to be consumed within days of making it. Not a problem for Vero and I- we ate a half-batch topped with sea salt while chatting.

And... it just so happens to be only slightly harder to make than ricotta. Just takes a little patience.

Paneer & Paneer Recipe

Head on over to Miss Cheesemonger's blog to check out more of her beautiful photos (all featured here are Vero's) and for a paneer recipe if you'd like to try your own batch. Or, if you need a photographer - Vero is one of my faves.

Squeezing lemons to acidify the milk. Photo by Vero Kherian.

Vero took this picture right after she asked if anyone ever told me I looked like Britney Spears. I may have laughed.

Thank you, Vero, the day was very fun! I had tons of fun and enjoyed eating a half-pound of cheese with you.

Cheese Making Classes: Creamy Camembert & Flying Solo

Cheese making classes Bay Area, here I come.

After ten years, this week is the first week where I have complete control over when I wake up. I don't have to leave my home at a specific time to open the doors of a wine shop in fear of a delivery person absconding with our wine if I'm five late. Don't have to pack my lunch the night before or start prepping dinner before I leave because I won't arrive home from work till 9pm. Don't have to obsess about if I'm adding cultures to milk too early before I leave for work since I can now monitor my cheese making experiments from home all day long. 

I am now flying solo. 

From June on, you can find me either at home obsessing over camembert fluffiness (rather than while at the wine shop- good change?), teaching cheese lovers how to make ricotta or mozzarella at their homes or at public cheese making classes in the Bay Area (lucky, lucky girl), or writing. It's taken me a while to get to this place.

Camembert stacks- cheese making classes

In addition to teaching cheese making classes where I show people the proper way to massage mozzarella curds into cream to create burrata, now I have time to pitch magazines and pursue that England and Ireland writing project I've been researching and dreaming about.

Though leaving a place you've been working at with dear friends for ten years, and doing things that reflect the realities of self-employment like spending two hours on the phone and on the Covered California website makes me feel a little anxious, I'm overall so happy. I'm venturing out on my own (and also, those Covered California people were really nice).

I've learned that sometimes you have to firmly close some doors for others to open. And they're opening. This week I've taught students at 18 Reasons how to make burrata, am prepping for private classes and a writing retreat-lockdown next week, and I met with amazing people for whom I'll be teaching classes in the future. There are a lot of cool people around here, and now I finally have time to work for and with them (you may of course include yourself in this list).

If you'd like to schedule a private event, consider me more open. If you'd like to come to one of my public classes, you can find me all over the bay area. If you come over to my house any time soon, expect it to smell of cheese recipes I'm testing. Camembert pictures are the results of test batches (cheese babes, a couple days old, no mold rind yet) for an upcoming class I'm teaching at The Cheese School. Yes, I added extra cream.

Thank you all for helping to make this happen. I look forward to cheese and writing adventures with you in the future. Thank you family, friends, and readers for your support.

From Pairing 101 to Making Brie at Home: New Cheese Classes Bay Area

Last week I hit up New York City. I visited friends, ate pizza (whoa, Don Antonio), went to Russ & Daughters, scouted out Cato Corner in the Union Square farmer's market and tasted everything they offered, ate at Katz deli twice, and consumed my fair share of rye cocktails. Now that I'm back in California, I'm eating vegetable soup, hitting up a pilates and yoga class or two, then....

Planning to fill my fridge with the rich, rich cheese I'm making in preparation for March and April's cheese classes Bay Area.

Below are some of my favorite classes I'll be teaching the next couple months. Also, even though my name is "It's Not You, It's Brie," and I have made such rich wheels with cheesemakers, I am teaching my first brie cheesemaking class in April! Yeah, I'm kinda stoked. In addition to these classes, I'll also be selecting and serving the cheese for Ridge Winery's two upcoming Montebello releases in April and May, and a May Kermit Lynch wine tasting, so please stop by and say hello if you're attending!

As always, the public classes fill up fast, and you can contact me with private class requests at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com

Making mozzarella in a private class, photo by Molly DeCoudreaux

PUBLIC CHEESE CLASSES BAY AREA

Cheese & Wine Pairing 101

 Tuesday, March 15th, 6pm, Solano Cellars

Tuesday, March 15th, Kirstin and Julie will break down the rules of cheese and wine pairing for a taste-on intensive class. You will learn. And you will eat and drink.... Many of you know by now: Cheese and wine are delicious together. But let's admit it, like Kim & Kanye or Liz and Richard Burton, the two can be a finicky pairing.

New California Cheese and Wine: The Modern Movement

Saturday, March 19th, 10am, The Sonoma Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma

Presenters: Kirstin Jackson, Author of “It’s Not You, It’s Brie: Unwrapping America’s Unique Culture of Cheese,” Dan Petroski, Winemaker, Massican and Larkmead Vineyards: California’s wine and cheese scene is at the height of deliciousness and sophistication, but things have changed dramatically since the founding dairy families cut their first curd and the grand families of California wine made their names with rich Cabernets........

Cheesemaking: Mozzarella, Burrata, Ricotta

Saturday, March 26; Sunday, April 24th; Wednesday, May 18th, Sunday, June 26th, The Cheese School

Mozzarella on nearly every aspiring home-cheesemaker’s to-do list. Yet, it’s not easy to get it right. Why won’t your curds form a ball? When you do get the ball to form, why is it hard enough for a game of hacky-sack? These are the mysteries of mozzarella....

It's Not You, It's Brie. Brie at Home

Wednesday, April 6th, 6pm, 18 Reasons

A hands-on cheesemaking class culminating in dinner served with wine and beer. Smooth, rich and decadent, bloomy-rinded cheeses like brie engage senses in a special way. They also lend themselves to a wide variety of pairings and cooking methods. And you can make them at home!....

Spring Sparklers, 

Wednesday, April 20th, 6:30pm, The Cheese School

Prosecco, cava, California sparkling wine, champagne. If you ask us, everything tastes better with bubbles. But some cheeses really do sing to the tune of fruity, floral effervescence....

Hope you're able to make a few! 

Mozzarella, Burrata & Ricotta Cheesemaking Class, this Sunday, July 12th: Pulling Curds & Making Little Pillows of Cream

Ever since I got back from two months in England and Ireland, cutting, draining, pressing and flipping curds with cheesemakers, I've had a hankering to make cheese something terrible. I've been visiting cheesemakers in hopes of surprising them while they're mid-wheel flip or curd stirring. I've been opening the wine glass dishwasher right after a wash at work, hoping to replicate the affect in a make room when warm curds are being scooped into molds and your face and arms get steamy and you're super hot. Also a sensory experience, I've learned, but not the same thing.

 What, I asked myself, is one to do when they want to make cheese but don't want to have to worry about selling it, milking animals, or making vat-size sized batches of wheels?

Teach a cheesemaking class, it turns out! Missing the plush, custard-like texture of freshly set milk, I called Kiri at the Cheese School and told her the deal. If I were writing a personal, my plea would have looked a little something like this:

Cheesemaking and cheese writing geek recently returned from the British Isles with curds on her mind and fermented dairy dreams. Have mozzarella sheets? Will bring the organic cream and curds and we can make burrata together. 

That said, I'm overjoyed to announce that I'm now teaching a mozzarella-burrata-ricotta making workshop at The Cheese School of San Francisco this July 12th. Yup, you read right, all three. Official write up below, and photos from the second mozzarella and burratta class I sat in on at the school, this one taught by Louella Hill.

Mozzarella is on nearly every aspiring home-cheesemaker’s to-do list. Yet, it’s not easy to get it right. Why won’t your curds form a ball? When you do get the ball to form, why is it hard enough for a game of hacky-sack? These are the mysteries of mozzarella. In this class, your instructor, who is also a cheesemaker, will not only demystify the mozz, but also get you on the road to making perfect ovalini and bocconcini just in time for all that wonderful summer produce. But wait! There’s more! We’ll use our curds to make everyone’s favorite cheese, burrata, and with our leftover whey we’ll make ricotta.

If you have mozzarella and burrata making dreams yourself, I'd love to see you there! Spots still open.