Brandon Schilling

Fromager D’Affinois [pronounced fro-mah-ZHAY dah-fee-NWAH] is a soft silky French double-creme cheese. It is similar in style to brie, but goes through a slightly different process. The maker, Fromagerie Guilloteau, pioneered a new technique about 20 years ago called ultrafiltration. This process forces the milk through a ultra fine membrane that traps all of the fat and proteins and only allows the water through, thus removing most of the water in the milk. This creates a much higher ratio of protein and nutrients such as calcium than the traditional method of simply adding cream to reach the 60% fat (in dry matter) required for a double-creme cheese. This process is also responsible for the incredibly silky texture and rich flavor of the cheese. The flavors are very mild and almost sweet with just a slight hint of mushrooms. It actually has a bit of the same concentrated milk flavors that are found in evaporated milk. This cheese pairs well with fresh fruit and honey, sparkling wines and even a light fruity beaujolais.

Image Credit: peretzpup

Before reading this article you will want to read both the Fresh Cheese and Uncooked Pressed Cheese articles on cheese families.

Cooked pressed cheeses are made in much the same way as uncooked pressed cheeses. Really the only difference between the process is that after the curds are cut, the curds and whey are slowly heated up to a temperature of somewhere between 110F and 130F. This heating process coagulates the curds tighter and causes them to expel more moisture. This also develops cooked milk flavors as well as encourages the growth of certain thermophilic bacteria which also change the flavor of the cheese. The most famous of the cooked cheeses would have to be Parmigiano Reggiano, but all of the Alpine cheeses such as Ementaler, Gruyere and Appenzeller are also cooked pressed cheeses. Cooked pressed cheeses are the most ageworthy of all of the styles and it is not uncommon to see these cheeses aged for several years or more.

I have already talked about Fresh, Bloomy Rind and Washed Rind Cheeses over the past week and a half; now it is time for the next category in line, Uncooked Pressed cheeses. This family encompasses cheeses like Cheddar, Manchego andOssau-Iraty.

If you have yet to read the article on Fresh cheeses, you will need to read that first. The process for making an Uncooked Pressed cheese starts out just like a fresh cheese, only when the curd is cut it is cut into much smaller pieces in order to allow more of the whey to drain from the curds. The curd is then ladled into the mold where it is allowed to begin draining. Weight is added to the top of the curds in order to press down and expel even more moisture, and this weight is increased over time until the desired firmness is achieved. The cheese is then removed from the mold and salted by either dry salting the exterior or soaking it in a brine solution. These cheeses can be waxed, cloth bound or allowed to develop a natural rind. Since so much of the moisture is driven out, these cheeses are much more ageworthy. They can be aged for months or even years before being consumed.

Image credit: sisterbeer

Cheese, cheese families, cheese styles, milk type, cheddar, manchego, ossau-iraty, aged

Many cheese makers are now pursuing methods to limit their impact on the environment. They are doing so through careful pasture management, recycling of manure and whey and use of wind and solar power.

Crave Brothers: According to their website, “In an inspiring example of finding a greener way to do business, the Crave Brothers Dairy Farm and its cheesemaking enterprise, Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, have a sophisticated, computer-controlled anaerobic digestion system that generates electricity — enough to run their rural Wisconsin farm and cheese plant and power up to 120 homes – that runs on organic waste from their 750 pampered and productive Holsteins.” In addition to producing electricity, the liquid runoff is used as fertilizer in their fields and the remaining solid matter is used as animal bedding and in organic potting mixes. The Crave Brothers truly are on the forefront of the green movement. The Crave Brothers also practice careful sustainable pasture management allowing them to pasture graze their cattle for most of the year.

Vella Cheese Company: Owner Ig Vella received a Sustainable 6 award for their installation of solar panels to provide much of the electricity needed to power their facility. Ig says that he is saving about $2,500 a month on his electricity bill! In addition to this, most of the milk he buys is from local farmers who pasture graze their cattle.

Fifth Town Artisan Cheese: This Ontario based cheese maker makes what she calls “eco-cheese”. From the very beginning owner Petra Cooper made it a priority to limit the environmental impact of facility. All of her milk comes from local farmers to limit energy used for tranportation, waste energy and heat is recycleda and the ageing room is underground and the temperature is regulated using geothermal heat. The facility is the first dairy in the world and the only industrial projcct in Canada to be LEED Platinum certified.

This trend has been going on for a while in the wine industry, let’s hope it picks up the same momentum in the cheese industry as well.

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Summer is here to stay and burgers are on the grill, but processed cheese doesn’t need to be on top of it. The following are some of my favorites:

Goat Cheese- Bucheron is my personal favorite but any soft, young goat cheese will do. The tangy acidity of the goat cheese will help cut through the fat in the burger and really brighten it up. I like to top the burger with baby spinach and the put the cheese over top of that. No need to melt it on the grill, just add it immediately after you take it off, it will be hot enough to wilt the spinach and melt this soft cheese.

Image Credit- quinn.anya

Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue- Any blue cheese makes a good burger, but Smokey Blue makes a good burger great. There website describes it as follows, "We cold smoke it for 16 hours over hazelnut shells from the Pacific Northwest. The result is a balance of sweet caramel and hazelnut flavors that magically contrast the sharpness of our blue cheese." I like to take 2 parts blue cheese 1 part butter, both at room temperature, and mash it together with a fork. Don’t just stop at burgers though, this is great on any steak.

Image Credit- Imhaithaca

Feta- Definitely not your traditional cheeseburger, in fact you wouldn’t even want to put this on top the burger. It is, however, great when crumbled directly into the ground beef. Don’t buy the cheep american stuff made from cow’s milk, spend the extra money on the good stuff. I prefer Bulgarian Feta as it is strong and very salty, so don’t add any salt to the beef.

Image Credit- chotda

Camembert- Cut off the rind and spread a little bit on top of a burger just removed from the grill. Enhance the eathy mushroom flavors of the cheese by sauteeing mushrooms and adding a bit of red wine and reducing it. Serve with a glass of Pinto Noir.

Image Credit- NJGJ

Photo b y Chez Loulou

Tomme is a generic name for any smallish round French cheese. t is usually followed by the region in which the cheese is from. In this case, Savoie, a french depatment located in the Rhone-Alps of eastern France.

Photo from Wikipedia by Marmelad

This cheese has a naturally formed rind that is mostly off-white and speckled with all sorts of colors from the myriad of different molds growing on it. Unlike bloomy or washed rind cheeses that have rinds consisting almost exclusively of penicllium candidum or b. lines respectively, this cheese is allowed to take on is aged. These molds and bacteria give this cheese a very complex aroma, that while a bit ammoniated, has hints of wet straw, manure and nuts. The paste of chese is much more mild than the smell, and almost melts in your mouth.  It is very earthy, with hints of minerals, straw and nuts. The flavor does not linger longe after swallowing, probably due to the low fat content, as this cheese is usually made from the leftover skim milk after butter or higher fat cheeses are made. Go for a wine from a nearby region and try a cotes du rhone, red or white will work well.

I can’t really think of any food more sensual than a triple creme cheese, well maybe a really good bottle of champagne, but why not just have them both together. Really why stop there? Both products are better served directly on the body of your partner than on plate or in glass anyways. Throw in a few dark chocolate dipped strawberries and you’ll certainly have an evening to remember (that might go past sensual right in to the realm of erotic).

Now that I am finished telling you how to spice up your love life, back to the cheese itself. This cheese was first dreamed up by french Gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Famous for his love of cheese, he was once quoted as saying, “Dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.” A bt quirky, but he gets his point across nonetheless. Being a triple creme this cheese contains a minimum of 75% butterfat in the dry matter. No, that does not mean it is actually 75% fat because it is only taking into consideratiom the dry matter, with all the liquid in their it is only around 40% fat by weight. So, still not a diet food, but much better than 75%! In order to acheive this high fat content, creme fraiche is added to this cheese to enrich it, and also to add an extra bit of tangyness.

Unlike Saint Andre, wich I find to be a bit one-dimensional, Delice has notes of rich cultured butter, mushrooms and hay. The hay/straw really comes through on the nose as well. It has a very salty, tangy finish that unless washed down with something crisp will linger for very long time. I would go with a good champaign, preferably something yeasty thay has speant a year or more on the lees. Or a nice crisp ale would do the trick. I ate mine with some sweet fresh strawberries, but I have heard that chocolate goes well with it too.

If you are fan of Fromage D’Affinoise, this is definitely the next step you take. And all you St. Andre fans out there, try Delice de Bourgogne and you will never go back.

Pleasant ridge Reserve- Photo by Kev_Walsh @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/kev_walsh/

This might be my all time favorite American made cheese. And it has a great story behind it.

Mike Gingrich, getting tired of the corporate life I suppose, retired from Xerox. Having fond memories of time spent on his relatives farms as a child, decided to buy a dairy farm in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. In order to afford a larger operation, he and his wife Carol partnered up with  Dan and Jeanne Patenaude to purchase enough land for a sustainable, pasture based dairy. They quickly realized that the milk they were producing was to good to be pooled to gether with all of the other conventional dairies and thus the idea to make cheese came about.

Mike enrolled himself in the education and apprenticeship program required by the state of Wisconsin while the Patenaudes’ managed the farm. After careful analysis of the nutrients in their milk, they decided that it was best suited for an Alpine style cheese, and eventually chose Beaufort as the model. Mike travelled to France and learned first hand the art of making this traditional cheese and came back and set about recreating it.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve is a very labor intensive cheese. It is made completely by hand and during its ageing process it is turned and washed in salt brine, again all by hand! This extra care and attention during affinage (aging) really shows in the final product. They only make this cheese when the cows are pastured, if they are being fed silage production stops.

The aroma is very complex and honestly I’m having a bit of trouble picking out the individual aromas as I have a bit of a stuffy nose. There are definitely unmistakeable herbal notes with browned butter finish. The flavor is overwhelming, it completely coats your tongue and lingers for quite a while after you have swallowed. I can really taste green olives and browned butter in this cheese, with a mild herbal finish. There is definitely something fruity going on in this cheese as well, but I can’t pick out any specific fruit.

This cheese really should be served with some good crusty multigrain bread. Don’t even think about water crackers for this cheese.

This cheese would go well with a Red Burgundy or an off-dry Riesling.

Being made from all pastur grazed milk it is very high in CLA so it can be very healthy as well.

I wish I could afford to eat this cheese every day.

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Mmmm… After you make this you will never buy the processed stuff again.

Ingredients:

2 tbls Butter
2 tbls Flour
1 Cup Beer (I like Newcastle)
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
1 tsp Worchestshire Sauce
1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
2 tbs Spicey Mustard
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 lb Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I like Tillamook Xtra Sharp Yellow), Shredded

Directions:
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add beer, Worchestshire, Tobasco, cream and mustard and stir to combine. Continue to cook until you reach a boil. Remove from heat and add the Paprika and shredded cheese. Stir until the cheese is mostly melted and transfer to a blender. Puree on high until mixture is thouroghly combined and smooth. Serve hot or cold. If serving cold you can make a lighter more spreadable texture by whipping it with a mixture once it cools to room temperature and then refrigerating it.

Serve with cubed rye bread or pretezels.