Wendell's Cheese Blog

Hurricane Irene is sending a lot of rain and wind here now, so we decided to have a cheese course.  We tried making buttermilk oat crackers from the recipe in this month’s Culture magazine, but they turned out more like cookies. (They taste good with tea. Not too sweet; not too salty).

Camembert from Delice de France, which was good, but I’m not sure if it was from France or not.

Caciotta Toscana, from the Italian deli in Cleveland Park, a nice cow and sheep cheese from Italy.  Caciotta apparently means farmhouse in Italian.

Gorgonzola, also from the Italian deli, was very creamy.

After the earthquake in northern VA, we all had adventures getting home from work, what with all of the issues.  I took the subway, which was _very_ crowded, but somewhat on time.  We rendezvous’ed at Angela’s, and went out for a local happy hour.

From the Dino’s menu:

Guffanti Erborinato { sharp ~ sheep } Francia

BEWARE OF THIS CHEESE! Served with honey to tame its fire – Cave aged cheese that blues naturally from the molds in the cave for a wild effect.  What roquefort would taste like if it could!

It was very good, but we’re not sure why we should beware of it.

Claudia arranged for the TBFM group to go to Central for lunch the other day.  I had the lanb burger, which was very good.  I had cheese for dessert.  All of them were from France.

Epoisse, a washed rind (that is, stinky) unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese.

Mimolette, the orange cheese, also from France.  Steve Jenkins says it is bland.

Blue D’auvergne, an AOC cow’s milk cheese.  Very smooth and very good.

We went to N.C. for the trip to Tweetsie (the steam train amusement park in the N.C. mountains) to see Riders in the Sky (America’s favorite cowboy band).  We took cheese from the farmer’s market by the Navy Memorial (near where I work on Pennsylvania Ave) and from the Whole Foods in Tenleytown.

Hudson Valley Camembert, a very nice soft sheep’s milk cheese from Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in New York.  This one is square, the Nancy’s one is round.

Clear Spring Creamery farmstead cheddar, a very nice cheddar from Virginia cows.  I got this at the farmer’s market, just because it was there.

Fulvi Crotonese, a very nice aged sheep cheese from Italy.  Hard, like Parmigiano-Reggiano, but different.

BellaVitano black pepper, from the Sartori family of Wisconsin, made from cow’s milk.  Yes, it was cheese with stuff in it, but we liked it anyway.

Buttermilk Blue, from Roth Kase of Wisconsin.  A very nice blue, which we both like.  We’ve had this before.

I went to the Navy Memorial farmer’s market right when they opened, hoping to get some Everona blue.  They said that they didn’t bring the soft cheeses (blue, camembert, and feta) out to markets in the summer, as they would soften too much.  I’ll need to call them next Wednesday to have them bring some just for me.

King Island Roaring 40s Blue, a nice cow’s milk from Australia.  It has a wax rind to keep it the same as when it left the cellar, I suppose.  The cheese is named after the infamous Roaring Forties gales which frequently bring westerly winds of more than 100km per hour to the island which lies on 40 degrees latitude.

Calkins Creek Daisy, a nice Tomme cheese make from cows’ milk.  The dairy is in the Upper Delaware River Valley – Pocono/Catskill Region of Pennsylvania.

Everona Marble, an Everona cheese that we’ve not had before, it has vegetable ash in it.  Very good, as usual.

Brie de Paris, a low-fat brie from Whole Foods.  Not as creamy as regular brie, we guessed it was because of the low-fat part.

Yesterday we met at the farmer’s market that is every Thursday near the Navy Memorial.  I didn’t get there in time to get blue cheese from Everona, but I was able to get some Shenandoah.  It was good, as usual.  Sheep’s milk.

I also got some feta and mozzarella from Blue Ridge Dairy Company, in Leesburg, Va.  We tried the feta already, and it is quite good, if a bit salty.  We’ll try the applewood smoked mozzarella next.  All from Jersey cows.

The other day I got some montasio cheese from the Italian market in Arlington.  It is a very nice cow’s milk cheese from northern Italy.

Sheep
carr valley cave aged marisa aged six months; rich, sweet, round la valle, wi

abbaye du bellocq a level of silky caramel smoothness only benedictine monks can achieve, pyrenees, fr

Cow

*old man highlander naturally ripened for 6-9 months, semi-soft, creamy & buttery honesdale, pa

l’amuse gouda aged 24 months; nutty with crystaline texture; deep & complex beemster, holland

Blue

valn d’alos bleu d’auvergne soft & buttery; mildly spicy with notes of grass & wild flowers languedoc, fr

Meat:

bentons tennessee ham 14 mos tn

la quercia prosciutto americano ia

Salumi framani toscano

House Made — didn’t try any of these.
chicken liver parfait
pork butter
smoked lamb liverwurst
suckling pig testa