The Cheese Blog
Daphne Zepos
Today I'd like to pay respects to someone very important. Daphne Zepos, co-owner of the Cheese School of San Francisco and Essex Cheese and cheese advocate, passed away this morning. She was a role model to so many, extremely giving, an amazingly passionate and funny person, and had more knowledge and life in her pinky fingernail than most of us have in our entire body. And more. Those of us who have had the honor of learning from her, working for or with her, or just sitting next to her at table even once or twice know how lucky we are to have been blessed with her enchanting presence. I consider myself very lucky to stand in the long line of people who are in complete adoration of her. Rest in peace, Daphne. My heart goes out to all of her friends and family.
Here is an article that was written about her in Wine Spectator in April. While it doesn't capture her charisma and beauty, it explains her extensive professional reach and influence.
“Cheese educator, importer and innovator Daphne Zepos fed her obsession on the Greek island of Sifnos, where her family vacationed. “I helped the shepherd boys collect the goats for milking every summer,” she says. “Their mothers would make fromage blanc in the sink and we ate it with hot bread.”
But Zepos didn’t get serious about cheese until she was a line cook at Campton Place in San Francisco in the early 1990s. She was put in charge of the cheese service, uncommon in American restaurants at that time unless they were serving classic French fare. While convincing American diners to accept a cheese course presented its own challenges, there was also the problem of sourcing many of the cheeses we now take for granted, as well as finding food purveyors knowledgeable about cheese.
“Suppliers couldn’t tell me where the cheese came from other than it came from France, maybe Normandy if I was lucky,” Zepos says. “They might also tell me the butterfat. That was about it. It was infuriating.”
She broadened her cheese horizons by taking short sabbaticals to Neal’s Yard Dairy in London, as well as stints in the Basque country, the Jura and the Balkans. “It was like opening a box of treasure, a universe that was incredible. I was hooked,” Zepos says.
From 2002 to 2005 Zepos worked at Artisanal Premium Cheese Center in New York, where she chose and aged hundreds of cheeses in Artisanal’s caves. She also created an affinage (cheese aging) internship program, and, with Max McCalman (Artisanal’s maître fromager), Zepos put together a cheese master class program.
Zepos founded the Essex Street Cheese Co. in New York in 2006. Essex hand-selects only a few artisanal cheeses-Marcel Petite Fort St. Antoine Comté, Cravero Parmigiano-Reggiano, two kinds of Gouda (L’Amuse Signature and small farmstead Goudas, such as Wilde Weide) and a recently introduced small-production Manchego called 1602. Essex sells these cheeses to retailers, such as Cowgirl Creamery, Di Bruno’s and Bedford Cheese Shop. (See http://www.essexcheese.com for a list of retailers.)
Zepos works with cheese retailers in another capacity: as a teacher at The Cheese School of San Francisco. She hopes the school will help elevate the status of those who sell cheese. “Cheese retailers are not recognized in the food industry as craftsmen, like … sommeliers. But they should be,” Zepos says. “There is a craft to putting together an inventory, bringing cheeses back from shipping and a million things like that.” To formalize that recognition, Zepos has been involved in creating a certification program much like the one for sommeliers. The first Certified Cheese Professional exam will be offered in August at the American Cheese Society’s annual gathering, to be held in Raleigh, N.C., this year.
Of course, there wouldn’t be a push for certified cheese professionals if American artisan cheesemakers hadn’t started creating cheeses that compete with the best from Europe. Zepos can claim some credit for this, too. Prior to her time at Artisanal, she worked with the California Milk Advisory Board to develop a program for farmstead cheese, a concept foreign to many dairy cow farmers then involved.
To prove how far American cheesemakers have come, Zepos tells about one of her trips to France to buy Comté. She brought with her Andy Hatch, the maker of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, the Wisconsin cheese modeled after French mountain cheeses like Comté. Without anyone noticing, Hatch sneaked some of his cheese among those the Comté cheesemakers were tasting. “When they found out that it was made in the United States, they almost fell off their chairs,” Zepos says.
Zepos feels similarly. Recently she tasted a batch of Winnimere, a cow’s milk cheese made by Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont. “I had never eaten such a great cheese,” Zepos says. “It was like Vacherin Mont d’Or [one of the great Alpine cheeses] to the nth degree.”
Not surprisingly, when asked for an ideal cheese plate, Zepos included the Winnimere, along with Hoja Santa, a goat cheese from the Mozzarella Company in Dallas (offering “hints of sassafras,” Zepos says); Ossau Iraty, a Basque sheep’s milk cheese (”delicate texture, subtle layered flavors”); Monte Enebro, a goat cheese from Spain (try it with “oily Marcona almonds, preferably with the skin on”); and L’Amuse Gouda, which Zepos suggests having with “a shot of espresso or roasted cacao nibs.” Sounds like a great way to end a meal.”"
Cheese Classes Strike Again: Eat, Drink & Learn.
Hello readers, it's educational sipping and eating time again! I'm very happy to share some newly posted classes I'll be teaching in San Francisco this summer (and, yes, September counts as summer in the bay area- it's when the locals really get in thick of complaining about the 86-90 degree weather). All classes are open for registration.
Hello readers, it's educational sipping and eating time again! I'm very happy to share some newly posted classes I'll be teaching in San Francisco this summer (and, yes, September counts as summer in the bay area- it's when the locals really get in thick of complaining about the 86-90 degree weather). All classes are open for registration.
Please join if you can! And keep posted. I'm very excited to share future classes like the beer-pairing one I'll be teaching with Master Cicerone Nicole Erny once the dates are set (yup, consider me awed). Plus, I'm packing the classes and events in for my book's release and will list them here. Full calendars, coming at ya.
A little warm-up:
Here's an article about one of the co-owners of the Cheese School of San Francisco. Along with Kiri Fischer, Daphne Zepos organizes all classes at the school. Not to mention she also runs one of the top cheese importing companies in the country, she's the best teacher I've ever been blessed with the opportunity to learn from and teach alongside, and she's one of the most beautiful, lively, and inspirational people around. She does more in a week than most of us do in 3 years and has done more for the artisan cheese industry in the United States than butter has done for toast. In short, there's no shortage of what we can learn from this woman, and I dream of being even half as awesome as her when I grow up. Read about her here.
CHEESE CLASSES
California Cheese & Wine: Tuesday, July 31st (6:30-8:30pm), The Cheese School of San Francisco
The story of California as told through the microcosm of vine and dairy: It started as the anything-goes wild west, became the promised land, and still churns out hits. In this class you’ll taste the cheeses and wines that have trail-blazed their way onto the tables of food-lovers across the country and discover why they have inspired incredible growth, excellence, and influenced the very identity of West Coast cuisine. Your host and historian is the ‘It’s Not You, It’s Brie,’ blogger and oenophile Kirstin Jackson; and your class companion will be a full tasting of California’s most delicious cheeses and wines.
Pink & Beyond: Tuesday, September 18th (6:30-8:30pm), The Cheese School of San Francisco
Not to be confused with the jug wines of yesteryear, the beauty and delightful flavor of pink wines can be 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. Pair the pinks with carefully selected cheeses and you have the perfect formula for outdoor summer entertaining.
Some other knock-out cheese & wine/beer/spirits classes in the area that I'm eyeing:
Brazos Valley Eden Cheese: Fig Leaf Temptation
Although Brazos Valley Cheese has been winning awards and doing their thing for about seven years now, it's only recently that I've had a chance to cut into one of their delicious creations- in this case, the oozing, creamy wheel of love called Eden. It's its own little garden of unassuming bliss- fig leaf included.
Although Brazos Valley Cheese has been winning awards and doing their thing for about seven years now, it's only recently that I've had a chance to cut into one of their delicious creations- in this case, the oozing, creamy wheel of love called Eden. It's its own little garden of unassuming bliss- fig leaf included.
First place winner of the 2011 ACS brie-style category, Eden is a raw cow's milk cheese that comes from Waco, Texas. Marc Kuehl and Rebeccah Durkin make this gem in the Brazos de Dios Community, a 1,000-person community devoted to traditional agricultural and crafts along the Brazos River (I've got much to learn about this place and love to learn more if anyone would like to share). They've got seven cheeses to their name, and all I've tried have been amazing.
Eden is a raw cow's milk cheese (all Brazos are raw) made in a brie style. Wrapped in a fig leaf, Eden is soft-ripening, has a bloomy rind, and as it ages, it turns into a delectable pool of creaminess. See that bit off darkness amidst the creaminess above? That's an ash vein. When making Eden, the chesemakers layer the curds with a thin layer of ash. Why they choose ash for this one I'm not sure, but ash has been traditionally used in cheeses like Morbier to separate the night and morning curds, and in cheeses like Goat's Leap Eclipse to alter acidity and help a wheel ripen. Not to mention it just looks smashing in a photo.
The flavor?
Just salty enough. Buttery like fresh spring butter. A light beefy savoriness that melds with the sweetness of Eden's high-qaulity milk. Rich as Scrooge McDuck. Fig leaf adds a bit of green flavor to the mix, and yes, eat the rind (rind = more Eden to enjoy). Pairs well with Sauvignon Blancs, lightly oaked Chardonnay, and swimmingly with Champagne.
I've seen it around the Bay Area and have spotted it in Texas at Scardello Cheese and Houston Dairy Maids.
Have you had a chance to enjoy this or other Brazos beauty? What are your favorite leaf-wrapped cheeses?
Lastly - My book has a Facebook page! And the profile photo? A shot of my book cover! Publishes November 6th, but you can like my little ol page whenever you want!
Buckwheat Almond Morning Bread: Because your breakfast cheese deserves it.
A constant desire to incorporate cheese into at least every other meal of my life inspired me to create this (gluten-free) buckwheat almond morning bread. I knew that if I missed slipping cheese into dinner because of some unexplained act of God, I would need a something that fared well with cheese in the AM. Better yet- something that froze well so I could have reserves - like bread.
A constant desire to incorporate cheese into at least every other meal of my life inspired me to create this (gluten-free) buckwheat almond morning bread. I knew that if I missed slipping cheese into dinner because of some unexplained act of God, I would need a something that fared well with cheese in the AM. Better yet- something that froze well so I could have reserves.
Now, I wouldn't say no to a beautiful pecorino or bandage-wrapped cheddar in the morning, but I generally crave milder cheeses while I'm waiting for the caffeine to kick in. My intention with this recipe was also to make something that would fuel me for the rest of the day. So my two goals- create something that tasted good with a light morning cheese- chevre, fromage blanc, ricottas, lightly aged cheeses - and to have something with a little bit of power that would tide me over until second breakfast.
The result of my morning cheese friend need was this buckwheat-almond flour-oat-fig bread. The nutrition force is with it for sure, but it's still delicate enough that it highlights rather than competes with whichever cheese it's pairing. I've had it with local chevres, Nicasio's Foggy Morning, and Bellwether's Ricottas. The buckwheat and oats offer a hefty, earthy base for cheese, and the almonds, molasses and fig provide just enough sweetness. It's also gluten-free. It freezes well if you pop it in a toaster oven once defrosted, and carries over well into dessert with a blue or washed-rind cheese paired to honey and preserves.
Buckwheat Almond Morning Bread (for your cheese!)
1/2 cup room temperature salted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup packed almond flour
2/3 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
10 dried figs, chopped
extra flour and butter for dusting pan
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Butter and lightly (buckwheat) flour a loaf pan.
Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy in a large mixing bowl. Add the molasses, cream again, then add the egg, then vanilla.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flours, oats, and cinnamon. Gently fold this into the wet ingredients until well combined. Add the chopped figs. Spoon the mixture into the loaf pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
Serve at room temperature with cheese, and delicious honeys or preserves.
Goat's Milk Morbier: Le Jeune Autize
I like Morbier. It's pretty. It has a line of ash through the center. It has an orange rind. And it's funky.
But goat's milk morbier? That's a whole another story.
The original morbier was made in the Franche-Comté region of France from cow's milk. Story has it that cheesemakers created it because they had leftover curds from making Comté. Comté is a huge cheese. When cheesemakers had leftover curds from making full Comté batches, but not quite enough to make a large wheel, they have to figure out something to do with all that delicious nutrient-packed lushness. What to do with the curds? Put some ash on it.
At the end of the day, cheesemakers started to put those curds into small cheese wheel molds. Then they'd put ash over the curds to form a barrier so a rind couldn't form overnight, with plans of adding the next day's leftover curds on top of the ash (little fun fact- ash also helps the center of a cheese ripen by altering its pH level). The next morning they'd repeat the curding. After the next batch of Comté goodness was done, they'd put the leftover curds on top of the ash. And voila, a new cheese is formed! Making cheese this way now is very unusual- most morbier is made in large make rooms or factories from milk that is entirely intended to go into morbier.
The taste of the original? Semi-firm, silky, sweet, pretty darn funky, meaty.
The taste of goat's milk morbier? Semi-firm, silky, sweet, a tad funky, and lively. A little lemony.
So.... you've heard that the French are a tad traditional, right?
Well, off in the Pays de la Loire on the Atlantic coast of France a cheesemaker decided to play around. He created a goat's milk cheese that looked almost exactly like Morbier, except whiter (because goats' milk chees-i-fies in a whiter color than cow's milk- I blame the lower butterfat). Then, he took it to Affineur Rodolphe le Meunier (the cheese MOF in the Loire Valley) to age. His name for it? Goat's milk morbier.
But knowing that the French are die hard food traidtionalists, Meunier advised him not to name it goat's milk morbier, "No one would buy it!" So they named it after the tiny river nearby- Le Jeune Autize. So you didn't hear it's goat's milk morbier here.
Check this beauty out if you see it new you. A very delicous twist on a famed classic. And while you're at it, try the original. It's it's too funky for you (give it time, give it time), no fear, it'll make one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches you'll have in your life.
I loooove it with apricots. Because, you know, it's spring.
Cheese & Wine Classes for June: Spring Fever
Next week I'll kick off a cheese series that will feature three of my favorite finds I've been snacking on lately. But, before that, I want to make sure you know about some upcoming classes I'm teaching in June. Because I'd love to see you there!
Next week I'll kick off a cheese series that will feature three of my favorite finds I've been snacking on lately. But, before that, I want to make sure you know about some upcoming classes I'm teaching in June. Because I'd love to see you there!
In honor of the cheesiness that has already come and the deliciousness that is yet to happen, I'm including some pics of a recent cheese class I taught at the Cheese School of San Francisco. The topic - Spring Sparklers. Just some of our favorite pairings from the Spring Sparklers class: Harley Farms Monet with Sommariva Prosecco, Vermont Butter & Cheese Bonne Bouche and NV Bailly-Lapierre Cremant de Bourgogne, Meadow Creek's Grayson and German Gilabert Brut Rosat
Hope to see you soon!
UPCOMING CLASSES:
Shepherds, Transhumance and Volcanoes: Mountain Cheeses & Wines, 18 Reasons, San Francisco, June 5th
Despite treacherous climbs and threats of volcanic eruption, people have been making cheese and wine on some of the most mountainous and volcanic regions around the world for centuries. And not just because the views are picturesque.
Cheese and wine educator Kirstin Jackson, who's publishing a book on cheese called "It's Not You, It's Brie: Unwrapping America's Unique Culture of Cheese" this November, will reveal who, why, and how people craft some of the finest cheeses and wines around on uneven or even dangerous ground.
The cheeses will be vibrant, the wines will be weird, and the class will be delicious.
Summer Cheese & Wine, Cheese School of San Francisco , June 20th
In summer, foodie daydreams linger on sunshine, fabulous cheese, and thirst-quenching wines. ‘It’s Not You, It’s Brie,’ blogger and oenophile Kirstin Jackson will lead you in a fantasy tasting of summer’s best. Think fresh and just ripe cheeses and light, fun wines. You’ll find some pairings to inspire your summer gatherings.
Also, am very happy to announce that I'll be co-teaching a beer & cheese pairing class with the AMAZING Nicole Erny soon. Check her out- the only female master ciccrone in the country, and 1 of 4 in the world. By the way, she's not even 30. Keep posted. I'll announce the class here. Summer and fall classes coming soon.....
New York: Feeling the Dairy Love
Well folks, I'm fresh back from a visit to New York. And once again after a visit to one of my favorite cities in the world, I'm surprised that I feel refreshed. I always thought beach vacations, long afternoons spent reading at French cafes, and camping were the things that were supposed to refresh, and that New York, with its crazy hours, constant foot traffic, and millions of things to do all at once, would always exhaust. Yet I feel revived.
Well folks, I'm fresh back from a visit to New York. And once again after a visit to one of my favorite cities in the world, I'm surprised that I feel refreshed. I always thought beach vacations, long afternoons spent reading at French cafes, and camping were the things that were supposed to refresh, and that New York, with its crazy hours, constant foot traffic, and millions of things to do all at once, would always exhaust. Yet I feel revived. Of course it may have to do with the fact that I was visiting rather than actually living in the city.
Anyhow, I had a hell of a time. Seeing my wonderful friends, experiencing the cheese culture and industry, walking around admiring the blossoms around Central Park (this was the first time I was in New York at spring- oh la la!), and eating and drinking at some of my favorite places replenished my soul as stealthily as it diminished my wallet. It was all worth it. I miss it already.
Here's a little photo diary of my time in Manhattan and Brooklyn. First time using my IPhone camera on a trip!
Hanging out with Hannah, 5, and Claire, 9. My favorite girls in Brooklyn (Claire's glittery shoes above).
I was super happy to go to the Edible Manhattan Good Dairy event while visiting (thanks, Lucy's Whey!). The event was delicious, sold out, and in true Manhattan fashion, had door men.
I was also in town for a cheesemonger meet-up. I got to see all the NYC dairy folk I know, like the lovely Murray's Chef Fromager Tia Keenan, more of Grace and Amy, more of Andy, and ... many, many others. We gathered in the Beecher's basement and feasted on fried cheese curds and cheeses that are hard-to-come-by on the west coast.
Then I hit up some other events that weren't related to cheese, like a normal person (it wasn't difficult, there was always gelato, great coffee with cream, or something deliciously distracting like bone marrow nearby).
- Ricotta almond gelato at Eataly
Maybe I'll come up with a list of dairy things to do while in the city one of these days. In the meantime, have fun creating your own!
What do you like to do while in New York?