If you were limited to eating cheese from only one region (perish the thought), where would you choose? I’m going with the Pyrenees, preferably the French side. The cheeses we get from the Basque Country and neighboring Béarn are so consistently appealing that I don’t even think I would feel that deprived. Two new imports from the region make the choice even easier.
Read moreCacio e Pepe Croutons? Genius.
Meg Smith Photography
Leave it to John McConnell, one of my favorite Napa Valley chefs, to dream up a new take on cacio e pepe. How did grated pecorino plus black pepper became America’s favorite flavor? It’s everywhere. Cacio e pepe potato chips. Cacio e pepe pizza. Cacio e pepe pasta sauce in a jar. (No, thanks.) McConnell anticipated this trend with his cacio e pepe croutons, which perk up the Caesar he serves at the Bruschetteria food truck in St. Helena.
Read moreEverybody Loves a Winner
Has so much deliciousness ever been assembled on Zoom? Sixteen blue-ribbon cheeses. Four tastings. The best of the best. Oh, and a bonus cheese on the final evening. That’s the new “Cheese O’Clock” series in a nutshell, folks. My co-conspirator in cheese, Laura Werlin , and I hope you will join us for this virtual cheese party/cheese class/deep dive. We’re tasting exclusively American Cheese Society Blue Ribbon Winners, grouped into four themed tastings
Read moreMais Non, It's Not Morbier →
If you’re a fan of Morbier, you need to taste Spring Brook Farm’s Ashbrook. This new Vermont cheese, a Morbier lookalike, leaves many examples of the well-known French cheese in the dust.
Read moreShow Time →
Amid the endless jams, honeys, pickled fruits, syrups, crackers and other accompaniments for cheese at last week’s Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, these glamorous Italian mustard fruits (mostarda) stood out. Aren’t they lovely? If you are assembling a cheese board for a special occasion, consider investing in a jar. (They’re not cheap.) Or take a jar to a cheese enthusiast when you’re invited to dinner.
Read moreWelcome Back, Mimolette →
After an absence of more than a year, the pumpkin-hued Mimolette is back. I spotted it at Bay Area cheese counters at holiday time—with that screaming orange interior, you can’t miss it—and retailers told me it was selling briskly. But they couldn’t explain why the FDA had apparently softened its stand on this dangerous import.
Read moreCheese Shop Forecast →
What's ahead for America’s cheese counters? As 2014 draws to a close, I asked some leading cheese merchants and mavens to share their insights. I hoped someone would say that American sheep’s milk cheeses were trending, but no one did. So that’s my wish for 2015, if not my prediction.
Read moreAroma Coma →
Last week at the grocery store, I watched a woman casually drop $200 on white truffles. When the clerk weighed them and announced the price, the customer didn’t flinch but I did. I got to enjoy the aroma briefly while the precious nuggets were on the scale, and that’s probably as close as I’ll get to white truffles this year.
Read moreHaving a Meltdown →
I’m not typically a big fan of cooking with fine cheese, but Reading begs to be melted. Made by Vermont’s Spring Brook Farm, this handsome wheel is modeled on Raclette, the alpine cheese so delicious that it has a dish named after it.
Read moreRipple Effect →
Seasonal and costly but a splurge you won’t regret, the cheese pictured at right is luscious beyond words. I’d like to call it Vacherin Mont d’Or but I can’t. The official name is Petit Vaccarinus, which sounds like a condition that requires antibiotics. But aficionados will recognize it as a Vacherin twin, identical to that sought-after Swiss cow’s milk cheese in almost every way that matters.
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