Is it cream? Is it cheese? I have been in the cheese business for 25 years and when Taylor asked this question recently, I wasn’t sure if my answer was right. So I polled a few of my cheese buddies to ask them and get a recommendation for a good cream cheese.
... Read More »Author: Raymond Hook
Interview with Giacomini Family at Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese
NYC cheese consultant Raymond Hook chatted with Jill Giacomini Basch, Karen Giacomini Howard, Diana Giacomini Hagan and Lynn Giacomini Stray from wildly successful Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese. Based in northern California, this family-owned company has inspired American consumers and dairies alike. ... Read More »
Wine and cheese pairing: Reblochon with Hogue Genesis 2007 Meritage
A wine like this (read the review) needs a strong cheese to stand up to the big flavors, but not overpower them. This wine is a perfect match for Reblochon, a great cow’s milk cheese from the Savoie region of France. It’s a wash rind, small format — around a pound — creamy cheese ... Read More »
Wine and cheese pairing: Elegant pinot noir and Nettle Meadow Kunik
A blended cheese for a blended wine. Nettle Meadow Kunik also “tastes like elegance defined.” It’s made from a blend of Jersey cow’s cream and goat’s milk on a small farm in upstate New York, north of Albany. Rich and creamy with a white bloomy rind, this kind of cheese is ... Read More »
Gordon Edgar: Rainbow Grocery cheesemonger, life on the wedge
Interview with Edgar Gordon, Cheesemonger at Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in San Francisco. He talks about his upcoming book, his favorite beer and cheese pairings and the future of American cheese.
... Read More »Tia Keenan: Fromager and cheese lover changing the scene in the City
Tia Keenan is a Chef Fromager and food consultant based in New York City. In 2007, with a decade of NYC restaurant experience behind her, Keenan opened Casellula Cheese and Wine Café, a pioneering cheese bar, featuring a rotating selection of 40 international artisan cheeses paired with more than ... Read More »
Cheese and wine pairing: Idiazabal and Palarea 2005 Tinto
I am always cautious of wines with lots of oak, and more so of smoked cheeses. Smoked cheeses often taste fake, like liquid smoke, and all you can taste is the smoke. But there are always exceptions to the rules, like Idiazabal, a firm Spanish raw sheep’s milk cheese (like Manchego) from the Basque ... Read More »
Interview with rising star Chef Hugh Atcheson from Empire State South
Rising star Chef Hugh Acheson talks about his new cookbook, his background and his love affair with wine and cheese.
... Read More »Buying four great cheeses at Whole Foods for under $20
I was in Lower Manhattan heading to a small party, just 3 other people and me, and I hadn’t made it back home to Brooklyn and my cheese stash. I am “Cheeseguy” and obviously expected to bring cheese. So I popped in to Whole Foods Tribeca and threw down my lofty request: I need four ... Read More »
Wine and cheese pairing: Carina Cellars Clairvoyant and Cowgirl Red Hawk
Gotta love a well balanced Rhône style red wine. California’s Central Coast makes some great ones. And I’m also a big fan of Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, produced up the coast about 100 miles or so at Point Reyes Station on Tomales Bay — easily one of the most beautiful places in California. ... Read More »
Making farmstead, artisan cheese at Sweet Grass Dairy
This is the second in a two part series on what it takes to own and run a farmstead dairy and make high-quality cheese. This is a story of love, not cheese. It’s the only way artisan cheese makers like Sweet Grass Dairy can justify the work they put into the product. Not to us… to themselves. ... Read More »
Making farmstead cheese: Animals don’t care it’s your anniversary
“Farmstead.” So many cheese people think they understand this term, but do they? Yeah-yeah, it means cheese made from milk produced on a farm, but it involves so much more than that. This story is about what goes into making fine, artisan-crafted cheese at Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville, Georgia. ... Read More »