|
 The
Cheese Course
American diners have discovered one of Europe's most civilized culinary
traditions
By Carole Kotkin
__________
There's more to finishing a meal than just dessert. A full-flavored
Manchego can pair beautifully with that last glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.
A creamy goat cheese may be the perfect partner for the remaining
Sancerre. Then there's blue-veined Stilton and vintage Port, a classic
match that makes for a satisfying finale.
Indeed, the country's hottest restaurants are proving that Camembert
can be as appealing as crème brûlée, and the trend is catching on
with wine lovers who entertain at home.
The age-old European tradition of serving one or more cheeses to
form a separate course at the end of the meal has brought
an added dimension to the American dining experience. According
to Travel & Leisure magazine's top 100 trends for 2001, a cheese
course revolution will sweep the country this year "much as
wine did a decade ago."
We've been hearing about the return of the cheese course for a few
years now, but lately it really seems to be catching on with diners
and chefs. Food Arts magazine, a restaurant trade publication, deemed
cheese trays one of the year's hot culinary trends, and the Zagat
Restaurant Surveys now include a listing of the best cheese trays
in select cities.
Although the trend is something of a recent phenomenon, upscale
restaurateurs (usually French) have long tried to include the cheese
platter as part of the dining experience, but there were few takers.
Cheese was too rich, too high in fat content, and the concept too
foreign.
It is an understatement to say that times have changed since the
1980s, when I owned a retail gourmet store. We stocked our shelves
with runny Camemberts, stinky Livarots, triple-crème Explorateur,
blue-veined Stilton and nutty Gruyère. We introduced our customers
to the lovely flavors, textures and aromas of well-rounded, properly
ripened cheeses, but few bought them. Instead, we sold a lot of
Havarti. Tastes change, however, and today's far more sophisticated
heightened appreciation for the subtlety of complex cheeses.
"People are no longer saying no to butter and cheese. They're
more interested in taste and flavor," says Laura Werlin, author
of The New American Cheese, a book dedicated to profiling domestic
artisanal cheesemakers (the book won the International Association
of Culinary Professional's 2001 award for best American cookbook).
In fact, cheese contains fewer calories and less fat than a slice
of pie, and it's a good source of protein and calcium. "Eating
a little bit of a great cheese at the end of the meal is part of
the growing quality-rather-than-quantity pattern," Werlin continues.
"A little bit goes a long way and can be very satisfying."
Part of this culinary trend includes a growing appreciation for
cheeses of every flavor, texture, shape and, even, aroma. Steven
Jenkins, the Master of Cheese at Fairway in New York, says chefs
have begun to understand that a diverse and well-chosen cheese course
can take diners on a sensory adventure that no other part of the
meal can match. Americans today, Jenkins asserts, crave the exotic
when they are dining out, even if it means swallowing something
they can barely stand to smell.
"It's like cigars; suddenly it's cool," says Jenkins,
the author of the 1993 book, Cheese Primer. "These days, anything
that assaults your senses is cool. As foul as many cheeses smell,
anything that intense is bound to be memorable. It's a conquering
experience. If you get past that, you've climbed that mountain.
It's an achievement to say, 'Yeah, I like that.'"
Traditionally, the cheese course serves as the meal's denouement
- in France it always appears après dessert - an order that wine
lover's seem to prefer. In America, however, where rules such as
these are meant to be broken, the edict is not set in stone.
The cheese cart
Before the dessert menu is proffered at Azul in the Mandarin Oriental
Hotel in Miami, a huge, 100-pound drum of French Cantal from Laguiole,
Auvergne, is wheeled to the table on a trolley and a wedge of the
mildly nutty cheese is offered to patrons. "It lets diners
finish up the last of their wine; it also allows them to enjoy a
dessert wine, too," says restaurant manager Alain Ricci.
The appearance of the cheese cart in so many restaurants across
the country is based on a growing feeling among chefs and restaurateurs
that the cheese course is an integral part of the fine dining experience.
"We are renowned for our cheeses. People come here looking
for them, and sometimes that's all they'll order: cheese, wine and
bread," boasts Max McCalman, maître de fromage at New York's
Picholine, where about three-fourths of the diners order cheese
as part of their meal. A knowledgeable waitstaff helps them make
their selections from a cart laden with as many as 50 seasonal,
mostly European, cheeses.
McCalman shares his cheese passion with Terrance Brennan, Picholine's
chef-proprietor. Brennan decided to expand the ambitious cheese
program and open Artisanal, at Two Park Avenue, a restaurant and
cheese shop designed to focus on and celebrate the world of cheese.
According to Artisanal's Chef de Cuisine Peter Daledda, a five-week
research trip to Europe with cheese affineurs (cheese finishers)
and exporters yielded one of the most extensive selections of cheeses
to be found anywhere in the world. Within view of diners at Artisanal
is a state-of-the-art, glass-enclosed walk-in cave with five computerized
climate zones to maintain the ideal temperature and humidity for
more than 250 varieties of cheese. Among those rarities resting
on the slatted shelves are hock ybrig, a cow's milk cheese from
Switzerland; Serra da Estrela, a sheep's milk cheese from Portugal,
and Ticklemore, a goat's cheese from England. McCalman will tell
all in his book, The Cheese Plate, to be published early next year.
At Gary Danko's in San Francisco, cheese also reigns at meal's end.
Chef Danko, who developed a keen understanding of how wine and cheese
work together during his tenure as executive chef at Napa Valley's
Beringer Vineyards and later at Chateau Souverain's on-site restaurant
in Sonoma County, has hired a cheese-savvy staff.
"There is an inherent marriage of cheese and wine," says
Lynn Andrews, Gary Danko's resident cheesemonger. "Living in
one of the top cheese-producing states in the country, we take the
cheese course seriously. California cheesemakers are producing amazing
cheeses, whose flavors make for interesting pairing with wine,"
she continues. Andrews works closely with Sommelier Christie Dufault
and Chef Danko to choose their global selection of cheeses.
The key to a perfect cheese is proper aging, so Danko's team "finishes"
many of the cheeses in a ripening cooler to assure the flavors are
at their peak.
When diners need advice, Andrews steers them toward a carefully
balanced selection and matching wine. Although they need little
encouragement, "wine is offered by the half glass," she
says, "so our customers can more readily experiment with different
flavor combinations."
Buying Artisan Cheese
Mankind has been engaged in creating different cheeses ever since
the process was discovered by accident at least 10,000 years ago.
France alone produces more than 500 different varieties, and there
are at least a thousand individually named varieties of cheeses
worldwide.
Some, known as farmstead cheeses, are produced right on the farm
using the milk of the animals that are raised there. Cheese made
in this centuries-old manner from raw or carefully pasteurized milk,
are then gently cured and aged.
And despite a challenging array of international choices, the interest
in exotic cheese pyramids dusted with ash, wheels of runny cheese
covered with soft, white rinds, and slabs of blue cheese that look
like penicillin experiments is clearly on the rise.
"Once you start eating hand-produced cheese that has been handled
in a way it's supposed to be handled, it's a whole new world. It
doesn't taste like anything you get out of a commercial package,"
says Peggy Smith, co-owner of Artisan Cheese in San Francisco and
The Cheese Shop at Tomales Bay in Point Reyes, California.
Smith manages the retail units and her partner, Sue Conley, directs
the production of European-style, fresh organic cheeses at Cowgirl
Creamery, adjacent to the Tomales Bay shop.
Together they market their own handcrafted cheese, along with other
artisan, farmstead cheeses. "What we found is that people come
in asking for something they recognize, like Brie," Smith says.
"While we have their attention, we say, try this and they're
always happy to sample [something new]."
Smith and Conley seek out cheesemakers such as affineur Jean D'Alos,
who makes an eclectic range of sheep's, cow's and goat's milk cheeses
in the Bordeaux region of France. They also source from London's
most famous cheese shop, Neal's Yard Dairy, which air-ships their
orders to California.
"The burgeoning interest in cheese parallels what has happened
in the wine and olive oil industries. It's a natural progression,"
Smith says.
Rob Kaufelt, proprietor of the legendary Murray's Cheese Shop in
New York's Greenwich Village, agrees: "Cheese is part of a
broader interest in fine foods; whether it's heirloom vegetables
or artisanal cheese. People are interested in 'real' food."
Kaufelt attributes this newfound interest to three elements: the
retailers who forage for the best possible cheeses both at home
and abroad, media coverage and the birth of the cheese course in
American restaurants. "One of our most popular cheeses is the
fresh and smoked Mozzarella made for us by a little, old, Italian
man in his New York basement," Kaufelt relates. Besides the
local, handmade Mozzarella, he says Parmigiano-Reggiano and French
Chèvre are his bestsellers.
But it is the ultra-exotic for which Murray's has earned its reputation.
Last year, Kaufelt trekked to Europe five times to visit some of
the most revered cheesemaking regions of the continent in search
of unheralded artisanal cheeses. Among his finds is Formaggio di
Fossa, a delectable sheep's milk cheese (aged for three months in
covered pits in the ground) that he stumbled across in a hilltop
village in Emilia-Romagna.
As the American public's taste for fine cheese blossoms, so, too,
has business at Murray's. Kaufelt, who stocks 350 cheese varieties
behind his gleaming counters, says that sales this year have been
the best since the retail shop opened its doors 61 years ago under
the auspices of founder Murray Greenberg.
For aficionados living outside Murray's magnetic pull, the shop
publishes a charming, homespun newsletter that details its unique
portfolio of international cheeses - selections such as Pleasant
Ridge Reserve from Mike Gingrich in Dodgeville, Wisconsin; Bingham
Hill Blue from Kristi Johnson in Cache la Poudre, Colorado; Pecorino
Senese al Tartufo from Emilio Pinzani in Siena, Italy; and cloth-wrapped
Raw Milk Cheddar from James Montgomery in Somerset, England.
Murray's also acts as cheese purveyor to many of New York's finest
restaurants. William Grimes, restaurant critic for The New York
Times, cited the cheese served at Daniel in his four-star review
of the restaurant: "It is highly advisable to study the cheese
trolley when it rolls around. The selection is well organized, the
cheeses superb. The Selles-sur-Cher at Daniel was the one I hoped
to find, but did not, when I traveled in the Loire earlier this
year." The Selles-sur-Cher was procured, of course, from Murray's.
Over the last few years, the increasing availability of artisanal
European cheeses and the growing number of serious American cheesemakers
have transformed the dining table. "It's no coincidence that
this trend occurs as we are seeing a renaissance of fine cheesemaking
in this country," author Laura Werlin notes. She says that
in only a few short years the number of American artisanal cheesemakers
has nearly doubled (from 85 in 1999 to 147 in 2001).
At the annual meeting of the American Cheese Society in California
last year, 80 cheesemakers entered nearly 400 cheeses for judging.
Texan Paula Lambert, president of the Mozzarella Company, was among
the attendees. She developed a deep appreciation for Italian fresh
cheeses when she studied art history in Perugia. During a later
trip to Italy, she studied traditional cheesemaking. She returned
home armed with enough skills to open the Mozzarella Company in
1982.
"Our cheeses are based on classics," she says, "but
like a lot of cheese being made in America today, they are unique
to this country." Lambert borrows inspiration for her cheesemaking
from her Southwestern environs. "We smoke our mozzarella over
pecan shells, because pecan is the state tree of Texas, and we blend
chiles, like ancho, serrano and chipolte, into the cheese."
She delights, too, in melding Old World technique with New World
flavors. One such innovation, the Hoja Santa Goat Cheese Bundle,
is made by wrapping disks of goat cheese in Mexican hoja santa leaves
instead of the usual French chestnut leaves.
Lambert's cheeses are available at specialty purveyors across the
country. One such retailer, Dean & DeLuca's, carries at its
major metropolitan locations cheese inventories of 250 to 500 varieties;
at many of its locations, up to one-third of the cheese on display
is domestic.
Serving Cheese
The late author and epicure Clifton Fadiman once called cheese "milk's
leap toward immortality." And it's the type of milk used that
influences a cheese's flavor. Goat's or sheep's milk cheeses generally
are sharp and light, while cheese made from cow's milk is usually
buttery and smooth.
Other than the milk source, the quality and flavor of a good cheese,
like a fine wine, will vary depending on the maker, the year, the
region, the season and the aging period.
A fine cheese possesses deep, layered flavors and is compatible
with all things fermented. "Wine, beer, bread and cheese have
been enjoyed together for centuries," Paula Lambert notes.
Whether you're planning a formal dinner party or a casual supper
with friends, serving a cheese course will make the meal more memorable.
The selections may be dramatically different in texture, taste and
appearance - this can be accomplished by varying the milk sources
to include cow's, sheep's and goat's. At the other extreme, the
same type of cheese made in different regions of the world can be
presented as an ensemble, such as English and American cheddars,
that will challenge the palate to distinguish the subtleties between
them.
For more formal occasions, serve guests their own après-dinner plate
of approximately three or four cheeses; for more casual dining,
allow guests to select from a variety of cheeses set on a marble
or granite slab in the middle of the table.
Like wine, cheese should be served with the flavors progressing
from mild to strong, from soft to hard. A cheese plate is typically
arranged to progress in this manner, clockwise, starting at midnight.
Wine Partners
In the world of wine and food, pairing advice is highly subjective.
Most experts prefer serving softer, more delicately flavored cheeses
with lighter, fruitier wines. Brie, for instance, makes a lovely
match with a full-bodied Champagne. As cheese offerings become more
flavorful and assertive, a heartier, more intensely flavored wine
is in order. A Brunello with the Parmigiano-Reggiano, and so on.
Others believe delicious pairings can be achieved by deliberately
contrasting flavors. To each his own.
It is fair to say, however, that cheese and wine produced near or
within the same region marry well. Sancerre wines, for example,
go marvelously well with Crottin de Chavignol. Similarly, Spanish
sherries, both dry and sweet, are excellent partners for Manchego.
In making your pairings, be sure that neither the cheese nor the
wine overwhelms the other. Consider the following examples:
·Fresh, rindless cheese: unripened, moist and quite soft, with a
high water content. Those made from cow's milk tend to be mild in
flavor; goat's and sheep's milk have stronger flavors.
Examples: French Chèvre (mild to tangy) and Montrachet (slightly
tangy), Greek Feta (salty and milky), Mozzarella (mild), Italian
Robiola (mild and creamy) and Ricotta (mild).
Wine Pairing: Brut Champagne; Pinot Blanc; Pinot Gris; crisp
Sauvignon Blanc such as Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre; Chenin Blanc;
Vouvray; or Beaujolais.
·Soft-ripened: bloomy rind with soft, edible skin. When fully ripe
and at room temperature, center is runny.
Examples: French Brie (mild and buttery to pungent) and Camembert
(slightly acidic and earthy); triple-crèmes such as French Gratte-Paille
(artisanal cheese), Brillat-Savarin, Explorateur and Saint-André
(all rich and buttery).
Wine Pairing: Brut Champagne; lighter, dry styles of Riesling
and Chenin Blanc; Beaujolais; fruitier styles of Pinot Noir and
Merlot.
·Semi-soft washed-rind cheeses: the rinds have been rubbed or washed
during the ripening process.
Examples: French Pont-l'Evequê, Epoisses and Livarot (very
strong artisanal cheese); Italian Taleggio (mild and buttery) and
Spanish Mahón.
Wine Pairing: sturdy red wines such as Syrah, Barolo, Barbaresco,
weightier Pinot Noirs.
·Semi-soft: moist, often wrapped in wax or plastic. Can be sliced.
Examples: Italian Bel Paese (mild and sweet); Dutch Gouda
and Edam (salty and tangy depending on age), American Brick (mild
to strong depending on age), Italian Fontina (nutty and smoky) and
Bel Paese; and French Port-Salut (mellow to sharp).
Wine Pairing: Chardonnay and oak-influenced Sauvignon Blanc,
dry Riesling or Gewürztraminer, Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne,
Pinot Noir.
·Hard: drier and firmer than semi-soft and aged for varying lengths
of time. Can be sliced or grated.
Examples: French Cantal (nutty and mild to sharp); English
or American Cheddar (mild to sharp depending on age); Swiss or Emmenthaler
(sweet and nutty); Spanish Manchego (mellow, but full flavored);
American Dry Jack (sharp to very sharp) and Italian Provolone (mild
to sharp).
Wine Pairing: Fino and Amontillado Sherries, Cabernet Sauvignon,
Grenache, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Barbera, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese,
Tempranillo.
·Blue-veined: consistencies vary from creamy to dry and crumbly.
Examples: French Bleu du Bresse (piquant, but milder than
most blues), Roquefort (sharp and pungent), Spanish Cabrales, Danish
Blue (sharp and salty), Italian Gorgonzola (tangy and piquant),
American Maytag Blue (strong and salty), and English Stilton (piquant,
but milder than most blues).
Wine Pairing: Extra Dry or Demi-Sec Champagne, late-harvest
Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon and Tokay, old
vines Grenache and Zinfandel, reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz,
Syrah, Vintage Port or Sauternes.
·Grating Cheese: hard, with crumbly texture and ripened for various
lengths of time. Hard to slice; using an "almond knife"
to break cheese into nuggets yields best results.
Examples: Italian Asiago (usually sharp), Parmigiano-Reggiano
(sharp, nutty and often salty) and Pecorino Romano (usually sharp);
and Swiss Sapsago (grassy and herbal).
Wine Pairing: Fino Sherry, Nebbiolo, reserve Sangiovese,
Syrah, Zinfandel.
In the final analysis, don't fret too much over the pairings. The
perfect match is often made by sheer chance. And while fruit, nuts
and other complements may enhance the flavor of a particular cheese,
their inclusion may conflict with the wine selection. The bottom
line: personal preference should prevail.
A simple selection of artisanal cheeses, thoughtfully presented
after the dessert plates have been cleared, is sure to earn the
approval of wine lovers never quite ready to push their chairs back
from the table.
Food Editor
Carole Kotkin is a Miami-based cooking instructor and consultant
who co-authored Mmmmiami
- Tempting Tropical Tastes for Home Cooks Everywhere. It
provides clear, simple directions for 150 dishes, from the simple
(good old Key Lime Pie) to the sublime (Coconut Mahi-Mahi with Passion
Fruit Sauce). The wide array of flavors is especially wonderful
and startling to those used to monocultural cooking; Miami cuisine
is the product of many generations of interbreeding and hybrid vigor.
Click on the link below for more details or to order.
Mmmmiami
: Tempting Tropical Tastes for Cooks Everywhere
CHEESE ON-LINE
The following Web sites provide extensive information on artisanal
cheeses:
Great Cheeses of New England:
www.newenglandcheese.com
Mozzarella Company: www.mozzco.com
Murray's Cheese: www.murrayscheese.com
Vermont Cheese Council: www.vtcheese.com
Wisconsin Specialty Cheese:
www.wisspecialcheese.org
Article
first published in The Wine News
|
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articles courtesy of The
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