Cheese

Dear readers, I am here to tell you that you have been tricked. Bamboozled. Flim-flammed. By McDonald’s, of all places. The most universally trusted fast food restaurant in the world. Okay, that’s probably not true. Neither is the idea that you’ve been tricked, per se. The truth is, McDonald’s has, rather quietly, removed the Angus Third Pounders from their menu and replaced them with three new Quarter Pounders. The old Angus Third Pounders were Bacon and Cheese, Deluxe, Mushroom and Swiss, and, later on, the Chipotle BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Bacon Onion. A lazy amount of Internet research seems to indicate that the Angus Third Pounders weren’t doing that well, possibly due to their high price – $3.99 – in relation to the rest of their menu and the current trend towards value menus. This idea is directly contradicted by the fact that the new Quarter Pounders are the exact same price, so I’m just going with “nobody seemed to like the Angus Third Pounders so we’re trying something else”. The new Quarter Pounders are Bacon and Cheese, Deluxe and Bacon Habanero Ranch. Guess which one I chose to review? …Oh, right, you don’t have to guess. It’s in the review title. Gosh darn spoilers. The Bacon and Cheese and Deluxe varieties are just as boring as you can imagine they are, containing ingredients like…bacon, and…cheese. I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be impressed with in the Deluxe – it’s got mayo, and lettuce, and tomatoes, and zzzzzzzzzzzz. So I find myself with the Bacon Habanero Ranch Quarter Pounder, which, in stark contrast to the other two, actually sounds interesting. “A quarter pound* of 100% beef topped by smooth white cheddar,** thick-cut Applewood smoked bacon, tomato and leaf lettuce, and a spicy-cool habanero ranch sauce, all on a toasted, bakery-style bun.” If you’re curious about the asterisks, the first lets you know that’s the weight before cooking and the second informs you that the cheese is pasteurized process. There, I’ve done my boring due diligence. At this point I was about to launch into the part where I actually eat the fucking burger, but I stumbled upon something on McDonald’s website that I just could not, in good conscience, ignore. In recent times I’ve made a point of not poaching pictures, because I’m pretty sure there’s copyright issues involved. But a picture is worth a thousand words, which I’ll probably end up writing anyways, and I just couldn’t help myself on this one. So up it goes until I get a cease and desist email from Ronald. Look at it. Love it for its ridiculousness. HABANEROS SLAPPING YOUR TONGUE! ZING! Bacon shaming! The tongue-slapping is my obvious favorite, but I’m also very fond of, “I see you looking at me?” With some different punctuation, it could be construed as an amusing threat from the aggressive habanero pepper. But phrased as a question, it a.) makes no goddamn sense and b.) makes the habanero sound insecure. I’m lovin’ it. (Please kill me.) Okay. Burger time. Hab. First off, I took pictures and ate my Bacon Habanero Ranch Quarter Pounder before I did all that researchy stuff, which led to me being surprised by the lack of habanero peppers on my burger. I thought it was bacon, habanero and ranch, not bacon and habanero ranch. I was a little disappointed, but that’s okay. As far as I can remember, this is the first time a major fast food chain has gone habanero, in any form. In case you didn’t know, habaneros are pretty serious business. To give you a point of comparison, jalapeño peppers rate between 3,500–8,000 units on the Scoville scale, while habaneros are between 100,000–350,000 units. Even if you don’t know what the Scoville scale is, and you should, you can see the impressive disparity in those numbers. What I’m trying to say here is that habaneros are hot. Let’s

I can’t go on vacation without stopping at least one cheese place. However, I didn’t realize that on this trip it would be so easy. We decided to vacation in Bend, Oregon for the hiking and for Beer Week, but it is also only ten minutes from Tumalo Farms. We are currently selling a ton of their Classico Reserve which is one of the best American Aged Gouda-style goat cheeses around. I actually think all of the Tumalo cheeses are underrated. Great clean flavor. Good tang. Good sweetness. Great balance of added ingredients to cheese on their flavored cheese… they do not make a mediocre cheese. Partially because Cypress Grove launched their (Dutch) goat gouda (Midnight Moon) years before Tumalo hit the Bay Area, I have always thought that the Tumalo cheeses were really under appreciated down here. And my timing for visiting was good because I even got to see a few little baby goats The farm itself is beautiful. It’s in the high desert of Oregon, surrounded by mountains. If I were a goat, I would love to live there. It was overcast the day I visited, but it is hard to imagine a more picturesque setting. Oh, what the heck, here is a picture of more cheese: here is a picture of me and Flavio DeCastillos, the owner of Tumalo Farms. Can someone remind me to get a haircut before I go on vacation next time? p.s. Little Jewels aging. I am putting this here so I remember to order some.

The recent Wall Street Journal story quoting the findings of Canadian researcher Nadine Ijaz to the effect that, contrary to current regulator attitudes, raw milk is in fact an inherently low risk food, has prompted some backlash, notably on Doug Powell’s Barblog: Doug Powell’s Barfblog logo, David E. Gumpert, Nadine Ijaz “The scientific fringe craves the credibility – the impateur — of the scientific mainstream. It fuels conspiracy theories, drains public health resources, and unnecessarily worries a lot of folks; it’s a recycled tactic often used in the politics of genetically engineered food, water fluoridation, and so on. Mainstream science can be wrong; but it’s better than astrology….” and so forth. To counter this attempt to discredit the science supporting the “raw milk is a low risk food” thesis, David E. Gumpert and Nadine Ijaz have put together a new post on The Complete Patient blog: David: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has had no hesitancy about spending taxpayer dollars to promote its viewpoint that raw milk is a mortal  danger. A couple years back, I called the FDA on its practice, after it spent nearly $2,500 with a press release service to put out  single warning on a slow-news weekend about possible illnesses at a private food club from raw milk, long after any possible threat had passed. The hidden agenda behind the press release was clearly propaganda. It had nothing to do with safety or science…” “Ijaz made a well-received evidence review on unpasteurized milk at the British Columbia (Canada) Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC). Her research debunks raw milk health and safety claims across all sides of the debate. It was picked up by the Wall Street Journal thanks to a media release from the Weston A. Price Foundation.  This kind of exposure represents a wonderful opportunity for sincere scientific debate based on actual evidence…or so Ijaz thought. But, of course, discussion is the last thing some food safety professionals in the academic and government orbit seem to want. Anyone who advocates such a rational approach tends to be shot down, such as in this case, with terms like ‘astrology’ and ‘conspiracy theories’ and ‘scientifically-sounding garble.” This arrogant academic said he decided to `leave it to others to comment on the uh, unique interpretations of risk assessment`.  So much for scientific rigour….” Nadine: “In my BC CDC Grand Rounds presentation of May 16, 2013 entitled Unpasteurized milk: myths and evidence, I reviewed a substantial number of peer-reviewed studies to deconstruct myths propagated on various sides of the raw milk debate. In that presentation, I employed evidence-based perspectives towards a balanced critique of raw milk consumer claims as well as those presented by North American public health bodies.  My goal is to begin depoliticizing the raw milk debate and to bring a higher standard of scientific rigour to this long-controversial subject. My evidence review concluded that while little evidence substantiates several common raw milk consumer claims, neither is raw milk as uniquely hazardous today as it was in the 1930s.  While acknowledging the ongoing value of pasteurization as a public health intervention, I systematically deconstructed what appears to be a fundamental and unprecedented bias against unpasteurized milk in the scientific literature and by public health bodies. I also critically examined recent evidence around the proposed protective effects of raw farm milk on the development of atopic conditions in young children, as well as evidence pertaining to industrial milk processing`s possible health impacts….” Get the whole story on The Complete Patient blog. Watch Nadine’s full presentation to the BC Centre for Disease Control here.

Hudson Flower aging in Murray’s Cheese Cave. Every once in a while, a cheese comes along that is so special words can’t do it justice… this is one of these cheeses. While in New York earlier this month, The Lady was lucky enough to taste Hudson Flower two nights in a row and bring some home to The Man and Moi. Hudson Flower begins life at Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in the Hudson Valley of New York State. Soon after making these small disks of young sheep milk cheese they are shipped to Brian Ralph, Murray’s Cheese Affineur, who uses his expertise and imagination to create “A Come to Cheeses” moment. Some of Brian’s inspiration comes from the Corsican Fleur de Maquis, a sheep milk cheese coated with rosemary, fennel seeds and juniper berries. Brian has coated this young cheese with some of the same herbs and flowers that the sheep are eating as they graze the Hudson Valley. The secret blend which includes rosemary, lemon thyme, marjoram, elderberries and hop flowers brings terroir front-and-center. Brian then ages the cheese for a few weeks, allowing the rind to bloom around the herbal coating and infuse the sublime paste with pine, woodsy and flowery notes. The richness of the sheep milk combined with all those herbal notes makes for a cheese that lingers on your palate and in your head… I can still taste it… amazing how the brain (not to be confused with The Brain…) can conjure up past scents and tastes long after the event… this is one of those cheeses. I give Hudson Flower 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got)… if I had more, I’d give it that as well. Photo is Hudson Flower aging in the Murray’s Cheese Caves and courtesy CheeseMaster Chad of Ohio.

As you, my loyal readers, know The Lady travels… a lot… a lot more than The Man and I like… but there is an upside to her travel and it’s spelled C-H-E-E-S-E… glorious C-H-E-E-S-E… Recently The Lady spent several days in New York attending meetings at our favorite Cheese Shop, Murray’s Cheese located in the West Village. Two nights in a row she and dinner with some of her favorite Cheese Swells at Murray’s Cheese Bar, located a mere 30 steps down Bleecker Street from Murray’s Cheese… what a sublimely, cheesy street Bleecker has become… Each night, the Mongers at the cheese bar started these dinners with a cheese plate… not just another cheese plate… but a cheese plate so special that The Lady brought home all of the ingredients and delighted The Man and Moi with the same plate… if she’s gotta travel… at least she brings home the cheese… First on the plate was one of  Pat Morford’s babies: Up In Smoke, which we recently reviewed. UIS is a great start to any cheese plate; this fresh chevre is wrapped in smokey maple leaves and then spritzed with Bourbon… how can you not be opening the door to a perfect cheese plate when you start with Up In Smoke? Next on this plate was The Star of The Show: Hudson Flower. Every once in awhile, a truly special cheese comes our way and Hudson Flower is one of those. A detailed review follows this posting… receiving my coveted 4 Paws doesn’t really do justice to this cheese… but ” that’s all I’ve got”… stay tuned to read my thoughts on this sheep’s milk cheese that began life at Old Chatham Sheepherding Company, just up the Hudson Valley from Manhattan. The third cheese on the plate was Etivaz, a seasonal, raw cow milk cheese from Switzerland. I would describe this cheese as Gruyere on steroids. Made by about three dozen producers, Etivaz is only available four months of the year and to our delight, The Lady was in Manhattan during one of those months. The cows wander the grasslands of the Alps providing milk that is gently warmed in copper vats before traditional rennet (animal) is added. After curdling, the curds are finely cut and warmed to 57 degrees Celsius. The wheels are made and labeled with the producer to ensure traceability. Aged to perfection( in the either in Switzerland or Murray’s own caves), this cheese became the first food (after wine) to be awarded the coveted PDO designation in 1999. Nutty and sweet with just a hint of the smoke from the fires beneath the copper vats… another 4 Paws cheese… Following Etivaz was Gabietou, a washed rind from the Pyrenees. This cheese was created in 2001 in the mountainous area of Southwest France from the raw milks of cow and sheep. The cheesemaker washes the wheels with a brine made from local warm springs and rock salt. Murray’s buys young wheels and ages them in their caves on Long Island (previously under the shop in Greenwich Village) under the watchful eye and care of Murray’s Affineur, Brian Ralph. Brian uses cheese alchemy and imagination to coax out the best of the cheeses entrusted to his care. Dense, fruity and earthy… another 4 Paws cheese… Wrapping up the plate, The king of  Blue Cheeses, Stilton… what do I even need to say… reviewed by us in the past. If you think there’s a method to this cheese plate; you would be right… only the best of the best… five cheeses all of the 4 Paws caliber… I must commend the Mongers of Murray’s Cheese Bar for creating such a stellar cheese plate and thank The Lady for re-creating it here at the manse for The Man and moi… The Man swooned; I swooned… even The Lady swooned… Cheese plate and Hudson Flower photos courtesy CheeseMaster Chad of Ohio and copper vat photo courtesy etivaz-aoc.ch.

Outside Schneider’s of Capital Hill. A great experience awaits within. In preparation for an upcoming Tequila/Mezcal appreciation party, we needed to get our hands on some major Tequila – and we needed assistance is setting up a respectable Tequila buffet. I searched online for the best liquor store in DC and up popped Schneider’s of Capitol Hill. Easy! The first thing your notice about Schneider’s is that it is small. Like REALLY small. And REALLY full of every liquor you could imagine. We were immediately greeted by Terry, who foolishly asked, “can I help you find something?” Well, 30 minutes later, poor Terry was still helping us. Not because he didn’t know anything, but because he knew everything about everything. He was a Tequila expert. He was a Lillet expert. He was an Absinthe expert. He was a Scotch expert. He helped me pick my new favorite Gin (Green Hat – from DC!), which made the perfect martini last night, and a new Vodka that he said would knock my socks off. Let me put it this way – we went in for Tequila and walked out with a massive box of everything. A box that someone carried out and placed in our trunk! And we walked out with the most valuable thing of all… the memory of a GREAT experience. Sadly, the whole time I was in Schneider’s, all I could think about was that it is impossible to have this kind of quality experience in Virginia. Simply walking into a state-run liquor store here is depressing. Trying to get any information is futile (unless you want “the Tequilas are over there” type of guidance). Schneider’s provides superior education and unique products so customers can’t imagine going anywhere else – and DC allows them to do that. So, to sum up, Schneider’s = awesome experience.  Next time we need to stock up, this is where we’ll go. Oh – and state-run monopolies are bad.

The day has finally arrived.  After several months on hiatus from cheesemaking, I have been given the perfect opportunity.  My wife and daughter (4 month old Nora) took me on a bit of an excursion yesterday.  The secret destination kept me guessing throughout our trip in the car until we finally arrived at a small farm in eastern Long Island.  When I turned to wife wondering what we were doing on a farm in the middle of wine country, I saw a sign on the barn door indicating the spot for raw milk pick up… I have made cheese a few times with raw milk, but I have never had a reliable and consistent source to draw from.  This was a HUGE surprise!  I began to run through styles in my head, leading me to my lack of supplies back at home.  Turns out that all of my cultures, rennet, cheese cloth, and a new thermometer were waiting at home…  She thought if everything.  Nothing to do but make a style decision, brush off my notes, and take the plunge. Cannot wait.  More to come…

Here’s some fast food/junk food news from the past week: I’m curious if someone will stack Jack in the Box’s new Big Stack and Big Waffle Stack to make an Ultimate Stack Sandwich. (via Grub Grade) Enjoy Chuck E. Cheese quietly at home without kids screaming, running, crying, and throwing up around you. (via Business Wire) I guess it’s the Year of the Poutine in Canada because a few weeks ago Jones Soda introduced poutine-flavored soda and now Pizza Hut has poutine pizza. Oh, I wish I had a passport…and money for a plane ticket to Canada. (via Brand Eating) I hope the microwaveable cups Annie’s uses for their new microwaveable mac and cheese cups have bunny ears and a bunny tail. (via PR Newswire) Japan’s popular Mister Donut will have donuts that taste like Japan’s popular Calpis beverages. I guess an American equivalent of that would be Dunkin’ Donuts making Mountain Dew flavored donuts. Oooh. That sounds awesome. Get on that, Dunkin’! (via Japanese Snack Reviews) Related posts: WEEK IN REVIEWS – 6/15/2013 WEEK IN REVIEWS – 2/16/2013 WEEK IN REVIEWS – 3/9/2013 WEEK IN REVIEWS – 4/6/2013 WEEK IN REVIEWS – 5/4/2013

From David E. Gumpert on The Modern Farmer: Jurors with Vernon Hershberger and his wife, Irma, outside of court. Photo via Modern Farmer “The criminal misdemeanor trial of Wisconsin raw milk farmer Vernon Hershberger that drew national media attention ended more than two weeks ago, but Michele Bollfrass-Hopp, one of the jurors in the case, has been unable to get it out of her mind. In the case, Vernon Hershberger, a 41-year-old Amish farmer, was put on trial for violating Wisconsin’s dairy and food licensing laws by selling unpasteurized milk. Cases in which farmers are prosecuted for selling unlicensed food for private use are rare. In one other case, last September, a jury of six people acquitted Minnesota farmer Alvin Schlangen on criminal misdemeanor charges similar to those facing Hershberger. Bollfrass-Hopp been “haunted,” by the proceedings, she said, so much so that she has spent hours since the trial reading up about natural, raw, and nutrient-dense foods of the type Hershberger sells to about 200 members of a private food club in Loganville, WI. “I have never been an organic food person, the whole raw milk thing has never been on my radar,” said the 51-year-old manager of a local telecommunications company. After the trial ended, she was “up till four in the morning reading about all this.” As a result of her reading, she also became deeply troubled by what she now feels was the unnecessary withholding of relevant information from the jury—information that she says would likely have led the jury to acquit Hershberger of the single criminal count of which he was convicted. Hershberger faced a sentencing hearing Thursday at the Baraboo courthouse where he was tried, with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $10,000 fine….” Read more on The Modern Farmer. “David E. Gumpert writes about food and health, and is the author of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights: The Escalating Battle Over Who Decides What We Eat, due out in June.”

This post is sponsored by Cracker Barrel Cheese. Summer is here and with it countless opportunities to get outdoors and celebrate with family and friends. And no celebration would be complete without the cheese, of course. A well-stocked pantry is key to being ready to put together a celebration-worthy cheeseboard on a moment’s notice. An assortment of crackers, dried fruit, jams and mustards and a few nice serving pieces will keep you prepared. I spoke recently with Jeff Mauro, seventh season winner of the Food Network Star and host of Sandwich King on the Food Network. In celebration of National Cheese Day, Jeff was partnering with the award-winning Cracker Barrel cheese that recently placed best in class because of its rich full flavor with its sharp cheddar at the 2013 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest. Here’s what Jeff had to say about creating party-worthy sandwiches. Q. What three cheeses should someone keep on hand for sandwich creating? A. You want strong flavors that can stand up to the other bold flavors in the sandwich. A sharp cheddar, smoked gouda and nutty provolone. Q. How would you prepare sandwiches to serve as hors d’oeuvres at a party? A. Keep them small; don’t give guests too much. Lay it out on a cheese plate and let your guests get creative. Slider buns, dried fruit, raisins, mustards — and some aged cheddar. Q. What’s your most champagne-worthy sandwich creation? A. Gotta have something fruity, salty and gooey — sharp yellow cheddar, sliced green apple and honey, grilled. Of course I had to ask a personal question. What was his earliest memory about cheese? A local fontinella his family always had at the house. As a kid, he took it to school for lunch and stunk up his locker. “I was known as the kid with the stinky cheese,” he confesses. Gotta love that. ~ I used Jeff’s tips to create a simple but elegant summer party spread with three elements: a “signature” grilled cheese, a seasonal cheese plate, and a make-your-own sandwich station. I prepped the apple-cheddar-honey grilled cheese ahead of time so that guests would have something to nibble right away. I love serving cheese on cake platters instead of the typical cheese boards. It elevates the cheese and provides a centerpiece at the same time. Keep the flower arrangements low so that the cheese is really the star of the table. Because there are a lot of strong flavors in the sandwiches, I kept the cheese plate very simple and accessible with three full-flavored but not overpowering sure-to-please cheeses, starting with cheddar: Cracker Barrel Aged Reserve cheddar Basque aged sheeps milk cheese (from Trader Joe’s) Aged Gruyere The rich, full flavor and creamy texture of Cracker Barrel’s aged reserve pairs well with summer berries. Some crackers and dried fruit can go along side, too — and a little pot of honey &/or balsamic syrup. For the sandwich station, make sure to include two types of bread (here I’ve used rye and pretzel bread), two meats and two cheeses, sliced and ready to assemble. This gives guests enough choices to mix and match without overwhelming them with too many options. Pickles and mustards are a must, too. My sandwich creations: Pretzel bread + mustard + sausage + Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar Rye bread + mustard + roast beef + apple + Cracker Barrel aged reserve cheddar A final tips for easy summer entertaining: Choose a monochromatic color scheme inspired by what’s growing in your garden — right now our blue hydrangeas are definitely the star of the show. Write suggested sandwich pairings on a small chalkboard to guide your guests. Place fresh berries in the bottom of your champagne glasses, then top with prosecco as your guests arrive. What’s your favorite summer sandwich pairing? Personally, I can’t wait for juicy summer peaches to pair with fresh mozzarella. Disclosure: This post is part of a ser