Who Gets Your Cheese Dollars?

January 5, 2021 janet@janetfletcher.com

At this inflection point in the pandemic, it’s hard to predict where will we shop for cheese in 2021. Will we continue to buy online because it’s safe and easy, or from the big-box stores because it’s cheap? Or will we return to the small independent merchants who provide the service, selection and smiles we love? The demise of San Francisco’s Mission Cheese and Portland’s Cheese Bar made me anxious about what lies ahead. My recent conversation with Sarah Dvorak of Mission Cheese reminded me that, as consumers, we have to decide what we value. Low prices, selection, quality, knowledgeable service, convenience, personal safety…what matters most to you?

Margrit Mondavi’s Blini

December 28, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

I’m looking forward to lowering the curtain on this no good, very bad year. At my house, we’ll be celebrating quietly with Margrit Mondavi’s blini and a bottle of bubbles. I had the pleasure of collaborating with Margrit on two memoirs, and her buckwheat blini recipe is in one of them. The wife of vintner Robert Mondavi, Margrit was a fine cook but, by her own admission, not a patient one, so she made her blini with baking soda, not yeast. She put crème fraîche on top, but I have labneh in the fridge and like the tang.

Good News for a Change

December 20, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

Photo: Victoria Pearson | From Cheese & Wine by Janet Fletcher — Photo: Victoria Pearson | From ***Cheese & Wine*** by Janet Fletcher

I don’t eat cheese or drink wine for my health, but it’s gratifying to learn that both may have benefits. When a study recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease suggested that daily cheese and wine consumption correlated with mental acuity, you could practically hear glasses clinking around the globe. We like getting the doctor’s approval for what we’re going to do anyway. Astonishingly, compared with 48 other foods, cheese topped the charts. It was by far the most protective against cognitive decline in older adults studied over a decade. I spoke to the study’s lead investigators, from Iowa State University, for some insights into this unexpected outcome.

Homemade Panforte for Holiday Cheese

December 15, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

It’s not the holidays around here without homemade panforte. Although I’ve never met a panforte I didn’t like, I like mine best. It’s moderate on the spicing and heavy on the toasted nuts. Plus dried figs, honey, cocoa, aniseed. Oh, yum. Back in the day when we had dinner guests, I would put thin slices on the cheese board with a mellow, creamy blue (here: Fourme d’Ambert) and open a sweet wine. This year at my house, it’s panforte for two, but that won’t be a problem.

Your British Cheese Checklist

December 8, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

Of course you want some buttery Stilton on your holiday cheese board. So do I. But Britain has so many more sublime cheeses to try. Alas, with a no-deal Brexit looming, Britain’s cheesemakers are at risk, potentially facing a huge drop in sales to Europe. Time to show them some love. I asked Tracey Colley, who runs the UK’s Academy of Cheese, to name the 10 British cheeses that every American cheese lover should know. Availability is spotty, unfortunately. Importers have been reluctant to bring in the best from Britain because punitive tariffs implemented last year have made these costly cheeses even more so. Stephanie Ciano of World’s Best Cheese, an importer, says she is hopeful that the tariffs will disappear under the new Administration.

Give One, Keep One

December 1, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

Bread or crackers? I rarely teach a cheese class without someone lobbing this question. Don’t make me choose. But, truthfully, crackers are inching ahead now that I’ve discovered these wonderfully seedy, crunchy, crackly shards made in Buffalo. What a great stocking stuffer for a cheese lover, although you’ll probably want to stockpile a box for each one you give. That’s how I hope you’ll feel about all the giftables I’ve rounded up for this post. One for them, one for you.

Turkey Chilaquiles Time

November 23, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

At the small neighborhood market where I buy essentials for Mexican cooking, the meat counter has thick Mexican-style crema and slabs of moist queso fresco in bulk so I can buy just as much as I need. With Thanksgiving looming, I’ll need some of both for turkey chilaquiles. My husband and I are splitting a turkey with friends (I joked that I wanted the front half), but even so, we are sure to have plenty left over for one of my favorite cheese-topped Mexican dishes.

Relish Tray Reboot

November 16, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

Crème fraîche makes the most luscious deviled eggs, a discovery I made only recently. For a client who needed some holiday recipes, I was playing around with ways to dress up stuffed eggs without resorting to budget-busting caviar. I landed on crème fraîche, which gives the filling a subtle tang, and smoked trout on top to make them festive. Eureka. Open a sparkling wine or a Riesling and reboot your Thanksgiving relish tray with these two-bite beauties.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Encore

November 9, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

The definition of eternity, they say, is two people and a ham. I’m recalling that wisecrack as I contemplate the Thanksgiving menu for my bubble of two. Cenk Sönmezsoy’s luscious pumpkin cheesecake has become a holiday tradition at our house, but it serves a dozen at least. My husband and I could polish it off, I have no doubt, but I’d rather take that option off the table. So I wanted to try to cut the recipe down—for my own sake and for those of you who might also be having a smallish gathering this year.

The Soup We Need

November 2, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com

Nothing is predictable as I write this except that we’re in for an emotional week. Soup to the rescue. It nourishes, soothes and sustains us, and a bean soup like this one even waits for us. Make it now, enjoy it later. The fat Greek white beans called gigandes produce an especially creamy result, but chickpeas, cannellini beans or cranberry beans would be just as successful in this recipe. I crumble feta on top (of course I do), and garnish with pickled Greek peperoncini for some zip.