Exploring the menu of life.
Recipes for quick, healthy food.
Part II of Cheese 101, written by Raymond Hook, cheese consultant in New York City. This two-part guide is meant to provide the basics needed to navigate, store and enjoy cheese. They are basic rules of thumb, and as with all rules, there will be exceptions but the simple goal is to help you fully ... Read More »
This two-part guide is meant to provide the basics needed to navigate, store and enjoy cheese. The first part explains, in plain English, the difference between the types of cheeses. They are basic definitions and rules of thumb, and as with all rules, there will be exceptions but the simple goal ... Read More »
Sometimes something so delicious can be really, really easy. This recipe, accomplished in under 30 minutes, can turn something mundane into the mmmm. Use it for a chocolate fondue, chocolate dipped strawberries or as a glaze or filling for a moist yellow cake.
... Read More »
Manchego Cheese, a sheep’s milk from La Mancha, Spain, is a name-controlled cheese. The classic go-to cheese in Spain, it’s everywhere and comes in varying ages but the aged version is best for pairing with wine.
... Read More »
Franklin’s Teleme – a tasty-soft, delicious, semi-soft, one-of-a-kind cheese, and a California original! Handmade by third generation cheesemaker Franklin Peluso in San Luis Obispo along the central coast at Cal-Poly, this cow’s milk cheese is dusted with rice flour which helps develop the ... Read More »
This week’s cheese and wine pairing, brought to you by Raymond Hook, cheese consultant in NYC. Give Cypress Grove’s flagship Humboldt Fog a go with this wine. This iconic, award-winning goat’s milk cheese is a great match. Still handmade, one wheel at a time in Arcata, California by ... Read More »
In 1000 AD, Europe was in the throes of the “Dark Ages” — the time before the fork. Asian cultures fared somewhat better. Hundreds of years passed without significant change to the world’s collective culinary palate — with the possible exceptions of Ethiopian coffee becoming ... Read More »
Raymond Hook, cheese consultant in New York City pairs a full-bodied Spanish albariño from Paco and Lola winery (read review) with the Sweet Grass Dairy Green Hill double-cream cheese from Georgia.
... Read More »
NYC Cheese consultant Raymond Hook suggests a California cheese for a California wine. Bellwether Farms Carmody from Sonoma County is a delicious, slightly-young Jersey cow’s milk cheese. Jersey cow milk is higher in butterfat than traditional Holstein milk, which makes for a great mouthfeel ... Read More »
A winning combo from Raymond Hook, cheese consultant in New York City, with the zinfandel-based Clayhouse Adobe Red blend: Seahive cheese from Beehive Cheese Company in Utah. This cow’s milk cheese has been rubbed with honey, adding subtle sweetness and has enough complexity to compliment the variety ... Read More »
Third segment in my wine and cheese pairings with NYC cheese consultant Raymond Hook. This week, we turned to Italy. Italians make wine to be served as a side item to dinner, so their cheese naturally matches their wines.
... Read More »
Gouda may sound like humdrum cheese, but think again. This pure, concentrated cow’s milk cheese from Holland is cave aged 18 months to an elegant perfection. The color and texture kinda look like a hunk of cheddar you forgot in the back of the fridge,
... Read More »