It’s probably a good thing that the artisan cheese world doesn’t have cult cheesemakers—at least, nothing like the wine world, where the fandom can be insidious. That said, I’m starting to think Connecticut cheesemaker Brian Civitello deserves a fervent following. He is so capable and so thoughtful about his cheesemaking, and I love what he does. Melinda Mae, his company’s flagship cheese, is among my favorite soft American cheeses. And his newest creation, pictured above, is simply outstanding.
As a hard cheese, Finback is a departure for Mystic Cheese, the eight-year-old creamery Civitello operates with business partner Jason Sobocinski. But Civitello is a man on a mission. He envisioned a cheese similar to France’s Salers and Cantal or British Lancashire. These are all large, firm, tart and crumbly cheeses—Cheddar-like but not Cheddar. All belong to what Civitello calls “the rapidly disappearing world of uncooked, multi-day, milled-curd cheeses, small-batch historical cheeses that could not be mechanized and crammed into a single shift. I think they are the most beautiful cheeses.”
Man on a mission: Brian Civitello
The “multi-day” part is what’s most unusual here. Civitello is combining curd made on two different days—usually, but not always, consecutive days. This technique contributes to Finback’s mouthwatering acidity and tangy flavor. He also designed and built his own mill, the device that shreds and rips the curd into smaller pieces before it’s packed into forms and pressed.
I’m going to largely turn over the mic to Civitello now because he’s so articulate and his descriptions of Finback totally jibe with my impressions.
“After 21 years of making cheese, I felt like I wanted a challenge and to maybe prove what I am capable of. Boy did I find it. I found this to be the most challenging niche of cheese I have ever attempted. It has humbled and inspired me and maybe most importantly made me remember why I love making cheese so damn much. It is just that beautiful blend of microbiology and the senses…the repetitive physical movements to achieve consistent results, but also the willingness to read and react to slight daily changes in the milk, in the factory ambience and in yourself.”
Civitello describes Finback as “creamy and crumbly with a lactic foreground and savory, brothy finish. It has acidity. This is something I really wanted. I feel cheese has lost its acidity, driven by consumer preference for sweet helveticus-fermented Gouda and Cheddar. Acidity makes you salivate. It keeps you coming back.” Lactobacillus helveticus is a culture that gives many Swiss cheeses their nutty flavor, and Cheddar makers are increasingly using it to make their cheeses more mellow.
Civitello is aging the 13-pound Finback for seven months before release; the sample he sent me was eight months old. It had a gorgeous rind, crusty but not too thick. The interior was the color of pale butter with pronounced dairy smells: warm butter, buttermilk, yogurt. The paste was dense and crumbly but not overly so; I used a Parmigiano knife to serve it and the nuggets held together. And that flavor! It was lively, buttery and mouthwateringly tart. Just a compelling piece of cheese.
“Peter (Dixon) and Rachel (Fritz Schaal) at Parish Hill Creamery are the only others I know domestically who are making a two-day curd cheese, their West West Blue,” says Civitello. “It is a dying art for sure. The amount of work it takes, and how meticulous you have to be just doesn’t match up with the requirements to clear the production floor and start another batch. I don’t know that these cheeses will be the biggest part of my portfolio, but I’m going to keep them in the marketplace as a placeholder. Hopefully it will inspire more cheesemakers to keep it alive.”
Look for Mystic Cheese Finback at these retailers:
East Coast:
Adams Fairacre Farm (Poughkeepsie, NY)
Aperitivo (Grand Rapids, MI)
Balducci’s Westport (Westport, CT)
Dedalus (Burlington, VT)
Edgewood Cheese Shop (Cranston, RI)
Fairfield Cheese (CT)
Firefly Farms Market (Accident, MD)
Greenwich Cheese (CT)
Kings Food Markets (Old Greenwich, CT, and Short Hills, NJ)
Mere’s (Charlotte, NC)
New Curds on the Block (Watertown, CT)
Sandy’s Fine Food (Westerly, RI)
Village Market (Wilton, CT)
Wedge (Warren, RI)
Weston Provisions (Weston, MA)
West Coast:
Cheese Parlor (Livermore, CA)
Jensen’s (San Diego, CA)
MilkFarm (Los Angeles)
Sacramento Natural Foods Coop (Sacramento, CA)
Star Grocery (Berkeley, CA)