Month: February 2008

It was the first cheese night in Burlington, and all of the cheese was from the local Harris-Teeter. It was our first time getting the mini-wheel of the St. André, which made for a nice presentation. The other cheeses were fine also. Everyone rated all of the cheeses highly. The comte was good on toast for breakfast.

St. Andre
French cows
type: triple cream

St. André is made from cow’s milk and enriched with pure cream. St. André is also fairly rare. Containing no less than 75% butterfat for every 100 grams of cheese, St. André is commonly agreed to be 50% richer than the average Camembert. This cheese is a favorite of our cheese boards!

Asiago
Italian cows
type: hard

The rind is thin and elastic. The interior is straw white, slightly more golden in color if aged. The paste is elastic and contains holes but, depending on the aging, it may also be granular with small cracks. The cheese’s scent recalls milk fresh from the cow, and its taste is sweet and balanced, more accentuated and flavorful in the aged version.

Comte
French cows
type: semi-hard

Comté (also called Gruyère de Comté) is a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow’s milk in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Comté has the highest production figures of all French AOC cheeses, making around 40,000 tonnes annually. Its name is French for ‘county’, and is named after the Franche-Comté region. The rind is usually a dusty-brown colour, and the internal pâte is a pale creamy yellow. The texture is relatively hard and flexible, and the taste is mild, slightly sweet, and ‘nutty’.

Tony & Maura came to visit this weekend and brought some nice sheep cheese from a creamery in northern New Jersey. Although Maura thought we took too much preparation time, they enjoyed it a lot, and the cheese event was very nice. (In Maryland it is illegal to sell raw milk, so we have to depend on out-of-staters to smuggle in raw milk cheese!)

Cowgirl Triple Creme
(left over from the tasting at Melissa’s, still very good)

Baby Shepherd
raw sheep’s milk
type: 1lb wheel, semi-soft
New Jersey, Valley Shepherd Creamery

A small 1lb wheel of sheep’s milk cheese. Very real cave aged farmstead cheese.
at, mt, tt, ms, wt: good

Oldwick Shepherd
raw sheep’s milk
type: hard
New Jersey, Valley Shepherd Creamery

A cave ripened, raw milk cheese that develops a brownish–white mold exterior during its 3-4 month stay in our cave. Great earthy aroma, nutty smooth finish. Just a wonderful Pyrenees style sheep’s milk cheese.
at, mt, tt, ms: good; wt: very good

Shepherd’s Basket
raw sheep’s milk
type: hard
New Jersey, Valley Shepherd Creamery
A mold ripened traditional Basque raw milk cheese aged a minimum 4-5 months in our cave. The basket imprint may remind you of a Manchego but the flavor is deeper.
at, mt, tt, ms, wt: good

Blue d’Auvergne
cow
France, Calvert Woodley

We just needed a blue to round things out.
at, mt, tt, ms, wt: good

With Angela’s kitchen deep in construction, cheese night was held at my place on February 6th. Josh made a special trip to Cowgirl Creamery. Here are the selections:

Red Hawk

(Point Reyes [where the infamous blue cheese is from]): Cowgirl Creamery captures the essence of West Marin with its Red Hawk, a triple-cream, washed-rind, fully-flavored cheese made from organic cow milk from the Straus Family Dairy. Aged four weeks and washed with a brine solution that tints the rind a sunset red-orange, Red Hawk won Best-In-Show at the American Cheese Society’s Annual Conference in 2003 and 2nd Place Ribbon in 2007.

Rating: JR–Way too smelly! AT & MS–Tastes great, just don’t inhale.

St. George

Matos Cheese (Santa Rose, CA): Putting their personal American spin on the original recipe, St. George, named for the island, is a full-flavored cow milk cheese with a cheddary depth and a rich texture.

Ratings: JR, AT & MS–Good hard cheese.

California Crottin

Redwood Hill Dairy (Sebastapol, CA): Redwood Hill’s own version of the French Crottin Chavignol has a sharp and meaty flavor with a thick, pale yellow, corrugated rind. When cut, this cheese manages to be both dense and fluffy with and intense earthy aroma. This is the third time for this one. Ratings: JR–Still a little earthy but good.

AT & MS–As good as the last few times.

Triple Cream: I don’t even have to write about this one as we all loved it, again.