The Cheese Blog
5 Things that Rocked my World at the Fancy Food Show
Every winter a little something called the The Fancy Food Show comes to San Francisco. Open to people in the food industry, The Fanciness is a tasting conference that packs some of the best foods of the world (and also some of the trendiest and weirdest, like hello, flavored collagen water) into the Moscone Center. Basically, its 80,000 foods all being sampled over 3 days
It’s intense. It verges between overwhelming and hours of fun. And, it’s always packed with some of the most delicious butterfat-laden delights of the world. Some of them I tasted before and ached to revisit, and others were brand new to me.
Here are the 5 things I adored at this Fancy Food Show.
1. Ur-Eiche Cheese:
So good! Because I don’t work in a place that has room to store big Alpine wheels (from 15 to 80 pounds), I don’t get to experience their delciiousness as often as many other cheese people do. So I jump at any chance to taste them. One of the coolest I tried was Ur-Eiche at the Gourmino table. Made by Christa Egil In Switzerland, the cheese tastes like melted butter, hazelnuts, and sauteed onions. Christa uses her own rennet and starter cultures, too.
2. Carline Sheep’s Milk Cheese:
Why yes that is butterfact shimmering on the surface of Carline. Sheep’s milk has 2 x the butterfat as cow’s milk! From France, Carline tastes like browned, cultured butter with a splash of buttermilk. It’s lounging on top of its own wheel in the photo, making kissy faces at the camera. I wanted to eat this immediately with a glass of Sangiovese. Or rosé. Or rosé of Sangiovese. Actually, just hand me any glass of wine.
3. Grey Barn Creamery
I had heard whispers about a new creamery milking just 40 cows in Martha’s Vineyard, I wondered if it was real. 40 cows is too cute to be real, right?! Then I learned Grey Barn took home a silver medal from the World Cheese Awards in Italy last year, which mean that they were definitely real. Whoa. This wekeend I had the pleasure of meeting their super enthusiastic and friendly cheesemaker, Joe, in the photo above. This is the first creamery he’s run on his own. Did I mention he won a World Cheese Award and he was shortlisted for a Good Food Award? If you see anything Grey Barn, get it, but I especially recommend the Prufrock with the orange rind and oozy center. It tastes like cheese silk.
4. Tomme Fermier
The name translates to “Farmhouse Cheese.” That’s it. It tastes like rich cream and hay and melts like a dream. It’s cows milk. It’s simple. Have you tasted it before? Probably! But because these un-blingy “tomme” cheeses are always around, we forget about how charming they are. Re-tasting the classics at the Fancy Food Show is one of my favorite parts of the event. I want this, a pieice of porridge or rustic bread, and a botted of chilled Rhone white wine for dinner tonight.
5. The Cheese Industry
Did I ever mention how cool cheese people are? Look at them! They said yes to holding fake wheels of cheese with me for photos! That’s Madame Fromage to the left, and the inventor of the Cheese Grotto to the right. Sometimes when going to the 2nd or 3rd day of tasting cheese in a row sounds… intense, I remind myself that if I go, I get to see awesome people like this. Photographed at the Culture cheese party.
Party Cheese Puff Twist Recipe from your Holiday 🧀 Leftovers
Easy, fancy-looking, cheese puff twists that use up your leftover holiday artisan 🧀
This cheese twist recipe loves your leftover cheese.
If you’re anything like me, you bought massive amounts of cheese for the holidays. Assuming your guests were too polite to polish it all off like mine were (bless their hearts), or that you overstuffed your cheese boards (my hand is raised), you’re probably wondering what to do with the leftovers. You know which ones I mean. I’m talking about the itty bitty pieces that aren’t big enough to serve solo, and that there aren’t enough of to fill an entire recipe. Until now.
This leftover cheese puff twist recipe is the answer to what rolls around in the back of your fridge’s dairy drawer.
These puff twists are pretty, delicious, and simple to make. Next time you’re looking for something to make a dent in all your fabulous cheese bits, look here. New Year’s Eve party, this is your jam. Happy 2020!
Party Cheese Puff Twists
1 package puff pastry dough, defrosted *
1/2 cup all-purpose flour for dusting 1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup hard or grana cheese like Parmesan, shredded (about 1.5 ounces before grated) *
1/2 cup semi-soft cheese like Comté or a young cheddar, shredded (about 1.5 ounces before grated) *
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
black sesame seeds, optional
Makes 24 sticks
Defrost the puff dough in the refrigerator overnight or for 3 hours before making- not on the counter. Chose an all-butter puff like Dufour.
Shred your cheese on the medium or small holes of the grater and your sticks will stay light and fluffy. I give cheese type suggestions above for those who like them, but have also used random bits of older cheese I forgot about before in my fridge with great results.
Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit.
Cut your dough in half. On a clean, lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of dough so it is about half its original thickness. Brush with the dough with the beaten egg, sprinkle with cheese, paprika, and salt and pepper.
Slice the dough vertically into 1/2-inch wide strips. While holding the bottom edge end of a strip, twist the top of the dough in one direction until you have even ripples. Transfer the strips to a cookie sheet lined with parchment, leaving 1/2 an inch of space between each twist, and lightly pressing the ends of the twists onto the tray so they don’t unravel. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if wish (optional).
Chill the twists for 30 minutes to increase fluff and crispiness before baking.
Bake for 24-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Rotate the tray halfway through baking.
If making ahead: These strips will keep in an airtight container for 3 days. To refresh, re-crisp in a 400 degree oven before serving. Another option is making the twists a few days ahead of time, freezing them laying flat, then baking the day-of just a few minutes longer, or until golden.
A Guide to Your Glam Holiday Cheese Plate
The holidays are the perfect time to deck out your plates with already bling-out cheese.
The holidays are a time when excess is not only accepted, it is celebrated.
Maybe it’s not surprising then that your holiday cheese plate begs for bling!
When creating your holiday cheese plate your first step is to decide between:
Decking out a modest cheese plate with all the fruit, nuts, preserves, Funyuns, and cool condiments and sides you can get your hands on. See my post on Rush Creek.
Or, embracing decadence to 11 and serve cheese with bling already included.
How to build a glam holiday cheese plate out of pre-adorned cheese.
Unlike when I was growing up and cheesemakers only “flavored” their cheese when their milk was sub-par, now there is an abundance of wheels with tasty things already included in them. Building a holiday cheese plate that sparkles out is easier than ever.
Here is how to do it.
Go for color! See that Roelli Red Rock above? It is a farmhouse cheddar doused with crazy amounts of annatto. So pretty. And though it’s damn good, even just its color will command a cheese plate. That said, if you put a bright and delicious cheese like that on the board, make sure you include other wheels that can bring it, too.
Like Alta Langa’s Il Canet. Does it look orange on the outside, too? It does! It is rubbed with annatto as well. But more importantly, because it is a washed rind, it has some strength and can hold its own. And it’s also a cute shape. Go bold with flavor, shape, and textures.
Try a gouda with stuff in it. My favorite American made one is by Marieke in Thorpe, Wisconsin, but you can find them all over the place, like the one in the third photo from Ballinrostig in Cork, Ireland. If you can’t find a gouda studded with stuff, just get one that’s at least one year-old. The aged ones look dreamy whittled into chunks on a cheese board.
Buy a winter cheese or a cheese inspired by the winter cheeses of the Alps. They’ll be wrapped in bark. I love Upland’s Rush Creek Reserve, Firefly Farm’s, and Jasper Hill’s wheels. They’re gorgeous. Her'e’s how to eat them with Funyuns.
Get ashy. Ash does lots of things for a cheese, but most importantly for holiday plates, it makes cheeses look pretty. Nettle Meadow’s Sappy Ewe (also has stuff in it!) is a great example, as are Vermont Creamery’s and Stepladder Creamery’s, but there are many, many more. Check them out.
Go for the truffle. The winter holidays are the time to go with fungus. You can find all sorts of amazing truffle cheeses out there, but heads up, you can also find some really bad, overly strong ones, too! Ask your cheesemonger for a taste before buying. A delicate one I especially like is Truf 3 Latti.
Make a solo plate with one of these, or a combo or 3 or 5 (because, odd numbers) and you’ll be golden. Just remember, have fun with it!
Enjoy the bling and your holidays!
Rush Creek Reserve Walks into a Gas Station
A cheese as silky, complex, and gorgeous as Upland’s seasonal cheese Rush Creek Reserve needs no gussying up. A cheese unicorn only available during the winter months, the creamy wheel wrapped in spruce bark tastes of the freshest raw milk possible, cream, dijion mustard, and sometimes bacon.
But..... after cutting off Rush Creek's lid and spooning its lushness over a piece of crusty bread, I always wanted to
show Rush Creek Reserve the world!
Or at least take it on a trip to a gas station.
This is what happened when I took Rush Creek Reserve with me to eat Slim Jims.
I had heard that Rush Creek Reserve is amazing with french fries (thanks for that rec, Erika!). So obvs I wondered, would it also be amazing with something from the gas station if I needed to make a run after all my favorite fry spots have closed? Would it also stun when paired to foods designed to last in their packages for centuries? Does Rush Creek reserve have salty-crunchy cravings, too, or like wasabi powder?
I quickly went to work setting up strict testing methods.
Methodology:
I would limit my purchases to savory/non-sweet selections, represent regionally (people like different gas station treats in different parts of the country, I have some great treats imported from Mexico in mine) and, not be afraid if the clerk looks at me funny for buying out her chip aisle (she didn’t, she was stoked at my selections).
Discovery:
Funyuns, Korean bbq Kettlechips, a Slim Jim, chili and lime Sabritones, Lay’s Original Potato chips, and Diamond Wasabi almonds.
The results:
Funyuns:
Biases: I had heard great things about this pairing before. Powdered with onion flavors and who knows what else, Funyuns are the fried circles that charm at gas stations all over the country, and are the only thing I have found that competes with the scent that Ranch Doritos leave on your breath for hours.
Flavor: Though made of corn, Funyuns taste like, well, just onion powder mixed with a little bit of lime powder. Topped with Rush Creek, I couldn’t put the them down. It wasn’t that the taste was exquisite. It was that couldn’t stop myself from dipping the rings into Rush Creek and trying to decide if I liked it. I’m still not sure. But could I eat half a Rush Creek with Funyons in twenty minutes while binging on Buffy? Yes. Did it bring out flavors in the cheese? No. Was that okay? Sometimes?
Texture: This was the lightest combo around. On top of Funyons, Rush Creek tasted like rich peaks of whipped cream, but silkier. Downside- once in a while my onion ring broke off in the cheese.
Staying Power: I had to drink water to purge the taste before moving on to the next sample.
Would I do it again?: Yes, especially if I had an extra Rush Creek to eat plain afterwards.
Korean bbq Kettlechips:
Biases: I really wanted this to work.
Flavor: You couldn’t taste anything but the chips. The chips are nice, though! Would try with other less-flavored chips. I wanted to buy pickle potato chips but they didn’t have any.
Texture: Reeeeeeally nice. Rush Creek seemed to thicken on top of the Kettlechips and the chip offered the perfect crunch to the cheese’s cream.
Staying Power: Low.
Would I do it again?: Only with other flavored chips.
Slim Jim:
Biases: I’ll always remember the day a customer came to a wine tasting I was pouring at and asked me to hold his Slim Jim while he sipped our daily selection. I hoped this would be a surprise hit here, too.
Flavor: Unremarkable. But I had a hard time getting past the texture so I would give it another try to be fair.
Texture: It felt like I dipped rubber in cream like I was a member of a food fetish group. Unpleasant.
Staying Power: None.
Would I do it again?: No.
Chili and lime Sabritones
Biases: These crunchy, puffy, spicy, lime-y Mexican squares are awesome and I wanted them to win right from the start.
Flavor: I loved these together. The good and the bad of it was that the lime and chili caught most the nuances of the Rush Creek from the tasting experience but it made the cheese taste like rich and creamy butter. On a Sabritone!
Texture: Very cool. Imagine eating a creamy, oozing cheese on vegetarian pork rinds. It made me wish I bought pork rinds.
Staying Power: Lingered for minutes.
.Would I do it again?: Yes, especially if I had an extra Rush Creek to eat plain afterwards.
Lay’s Original Potato chips
Biases: It seemed too basic.
Flavor: Lovely! The BBQ Kettlechips’s issue was that they overpowered Rush Creek. Lay’s instead supplied a light potato-y flavor and a sprinkle of salt. Though the thin crisps didn’t have any ambitions other than to support the cheese, their simplicity was refreshing.
Texture: Pleasant. Next time I’d buy potoato chips with ridges or ruffles because loved the texture combo of the thicker, stronger Kettlechips with RC.
Staying Power: Gone quickly.
Would I do it again?: Yes.
Diamond Wasabi almonds
Biases: I had little hope.
Flavor: Surprisingly good. To me. My husband did not like it. I threw this one in just for fun without thinking it would work, but the hint of heat from the wasabi was perfect, and the toasted almonds brought out bacony notes in the cheese. My husband is wrong!
Texture: Fun. It was hard to dip an almond in Rush Creek without getting it all over my fingertips but it was worth it. Do they make longer almonds?
Staying Power: Medium.
Would I do it again?: Yes. On top of a Lay’s.
Tried anything better with the winter cheese unicorn? Email me at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com. I’ll list it if it sounds amazing, and be prepared to send me snacks that are locally only found in your area for research purposes.
autumn in the cheese world means Apple Chutney
Autumn apple chutney loves aged cheese as much you do.
It’s Halloween week. Which means for cheese and candy freaks out there, it’s time to pair peanut butter cups with a wedge of cheese (check out this video for the down low). But for others, the last week of October means a little something different. Crisp heirloom apples are at their tastiest and pears are just slipping into the market, meaning, it is time to introduce fall fruits to cheese!
An extremely social animal, cheese loves hanging out with others, especially at seasonal parties. And if you’re anything like me and have an abundance of apples on your counter that you couldn’t resist because they were stacked so prettily at the farmer’s market, you’ll probably need to do something with them, quick. Especially if your power has been out for days and you can’t refrigerate them (thanks, PG&E).
Most times when people think cheese pairing, they think sweet things- honey, jams, and dried fruit. But cheese adores savory things like onions, mustard seed, and a little bit of acid, too. They cut through a cheese’s butterfat, and can stand up to stronger flavors in aged wedges.
Meet fall apple chutney, one of cheese's closest acquaintances.
This chutney recipe is classic- sweet, tart, savory, and according to a friend’s English father, darn good (yes, I went there. I made an Englishman taste the chutney). Cutting through butterfat like a knife, and offering just a little bit of sugar that makes the cheese taste even more meaty, chutney also loves aged cheeses. Serve with an aged, full-bodied cheese like Manchego, a farmhouse cheddar, or pecorino, give away little jars away to visiting friends!
Fall Apple Chutney
3/4 pounds granny smith or other tart variety apple, peeled, and finely diced
1/2 pound yellow onions, finely diced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoons mustard seed, black and yellow
1 allspice seed
2 cloves
3 cardamom pods
2 pieces star anise
Combine the apples, onions, raisins, vinegar, and mustard in a heavy bottomed pot. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer. Tie the dried spices in a cheesecloth and add to the pot. Let simmer for two hours until everything is soft and most the liquid has evaporated. Let come to room temperature, and remove the cheesecloth before serving
When Flowers Make Cheese! Thistle Rennet making it ooze.
Used mainly in Spain and Portugal, the ancient thistle rennet is one of the most exciting cheese-makers around.
Ovelha Amanteigado is one of the world’s (or solar system’s) best thistle rennet cheeses
Thistle rennet: Vegetarian, floral, oozy, and rare.
What makes thistle rennet so special? Everything.
Cheesemaking normally goes like this.
Start with warm milk.
Add cultures to ferment milk/turn lactose to lactic acid.
Add rennet enzyme to bind proteins and form curd.
Cut or ladle curd to leech whey from curd.
Stir, cook, and/or drain curds.
Do something with the curds! Mold, press, age, stretch, ....
Age your age-worthy cheeses or eat the fresh ones.
Nearly all cheese is made using the same steps and ingredients (milk, cultures, rennet, salt). What makes each vary in taste are texture are either technological tweaks, like when cheesemakers ladle curds into forms rather than cutting and stirring them, or the types of ingredients used, like cultures. I love this! Just one tiny little difference can make an entirely different cheese- like using thistle rennet instead of traditional animal rennet.
Rennet is an enzyme that denatures (negatively charged) proteins so they can bind to each other. When properly snuggled, the proteins trap the butterfat (yes!!!!), water, minerals, and lactose to make curd.
All rennet has its own style, is harvested through different means, and affects milk differently, so cheesemakers might favor one over another. Vegetarian makers might not like animal rennet. People against GMOs might not like the rennet that’s a DNA replica of animal rennet. Cheesemakers who age their cheese over a month might avoid mocour rennet because it can turn bitter with age. And people who chose thistle rennent?
They choose it either because either: 1) they live in the Iberian Peninsula and make cheese in Spain or Portugal where the practice is traditional, or, 2) because it is just so cool.
Why is thistle rennet cool & how and you taste it? Read below.
Thistle rennet is cool because it makes your cheese taste like like sweet, buttered brioche. Cheeses made with thistle rennet generally start off floral and yeasty then deepen to a cardoon, vegetal flavor over time.
As thistle rennet ages a cheese it breaks down the proteins so the wheel becomes soft and gooey. A super ripe thistle rennet cheese can be eaten with a spoon and oozes (pro-tip: because it softens a wheel over time you wouldn’t chose thistle rennet for a harder cheese like cheddar).
You can make handmade thistle rennet by making a sort of tea from the petals (cardoon, too) and pouring it into your milk just like you would normal rennet! Making rennet by hand is super cool. I know because I did it at Sleight Farms with the wonderful Mary Holbrook. One of my coolest cheesemaking experiences ever.
The thistle flower has bright purple flower petals and is gorgeous. It’s fun to use something this beautiful in cheesemaking.
Thistle rennet is ancient. Used traditionally in the Iberian Peninsula, it is slowly making its way west.
Intrigued? Try one of the classic cheeses made with thistle. One of my favorites is Ovelha Amanteigado, imported by Forever Cheese and pictured above. Made with raw sheep’s milk, Ovelha tastes like just-baked sourdough bread, is rich, buttery, a little tangy and floral. Two more I love are Amanteigado and Torta del Casar. Eat with a loaf of crusty bread, a spoon, honey, or a Cava rosé.
I just launched my first online shop! hello, cheese gifts
After years of thinking, dreaming, and writing about, traveling for, selling, and eating cheese my friends, I am excited to announce that I finally opened an online shop where I can sell cheese bling.
Welcome to my grand opening!
To celebrate, use my grand opening discount code at check-out:
FROMAGETOPIA - 15% OFF
Featuring my favorite goods created by a rotating selection of artists and craftspeople, as well as general bling for your favorite cheese lover (next up, It's Not You, It's Brie tote bags & recipe art, and yup, stay tuned for holiday love, too), the It's Not You, It's Brie shop will focus on all things fromage-tastic. Each month I'll add a little something more until the offering is bustling and as packed as your favorite tub of chèvre.
Soon I hope that my soon will be your go-to source for cheese swag, cheese gifts, and delicious things to eat with 🧀.
First up are 8 x 10 prints by one of my favorite artists, Malachy Egan. His art might look familiar. He created my brand logo by hand (so cute ♡) and he's done work for for Essex St. Cheese, Culture Magazine, Di Bruno Bros., & Columbia Cheese among others.
Everything I’m selling means something to me.
One of the reasons Malachy’s art touches my heart is because it's more than just beautiful pictures- it tells stories of the cheese world that we may not all know about. Malachy has traveled the world for cheese and has worked in the industry for years. His art dishes out behind-the-scenes peeks at secret (ish) cheesemonger cheese paper folds, reveals cheesemaker's personality, or provides a lighthearted look at a traditional cheesemaking or the dairy world. And oh my gosh, yes it's cute too. We just happened to met on a bus during a cheese tour of Wisconsin, I asked to see his art, we became quick friends, and I hired him for my logo and then just kept going.
I think you'll love his art as much as I do.
Next up is art by my friend, wine lover, and architect professor David Gissen.
California & French wine metro maps
Hand-drawn French cheese & wine pairing poster
Creator of the wine metro maps and architect professor extraordinaire David Gissen and I met around 6 years ago when I was managing a wine shop. I’d help David find geeky wine to drink and he’d tell me all about the cool things he was doing as a visiting professor at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Yale, Columbia or Vienna. He was super nice, funny, liked wine and cheese, and we were following each other on social media so obvs we became friends.
One day David walked into the wine shop and unrolled a poster of French wine appellations that was very different from anything I'd seen. Based on the Parisian metro system, it broke down the tricky grape-growing regions in a modern, innovate way that brought them to life and made them approachable (if you've seen other wine appellation maps you'd know this is a big deal). And wow did it look cool. He made it “just for fun,” he said.
Think anyone else might be interested in it, he asked? Ummm… yes!
I’m so honored to be able to sell these today!
I thought you might like to hang these where you like to drink wine, too, or hand them out as your next cheese gift.
Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy my shop as it grows!
Interested in seeing something not yet offered? Let me know what! kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com