Monday, August 24, 2009

Let's try the blue ... as in Stilton blue ...



3:56 p.m. and I just finished a late lunch—or early dinner—as the case may be. I remembered the Stilton blue cheese waiting in the refrigerator for me, and that I hadn’t continued with the comparison testing of blues I had purchased.

No time like the present!

I didn’t have time to cook anything, so threw together a plate of what I had. I love this about cheese; one can just eat it any time with so many other things one has on hand.

I will admit though, that I had a disaster the other night. I made some red beans and rice—yum—and thought to toss on some blue cheese just to see how it tasted. DON’T DO THIS! I repeat … BLUE CHEESE AND RED BEANS AND RICE ARE NOT A GOOD MATCH!

Well, I learn from my mistakes as well as from successes, don’t you?

Today I happened to have fresh blueberries I purchased from the farmers market in Blaine, had a chilled delicious apple from the Bay Center Market in Birch Bay, a handful of unsalted roasted almonds, and a little bit of leftover sauvignon blanc … AND … a marvelous Stilton blue!

So simple! So delicious! The Stilton was crumbly, but very creamy. It had more of a salty presence than the smokey blue of last week. It is a strong taste, but not offensive. It went quite well with the sweet freshness of the blueberries and the nutty crunch of the almonds, and what doesn’t go with a crisp apple? I happen to enjoy white wine but sauvignon blanc isn’t a typical match for Stilton. Who cares? I could tell that Stilton would go well with a cabernet. I had read it also pairs well with a sweet red, like a port, when Stilton is presented as a dessert cheese.

I was reading in “The Cheese Plate” by Max McCalman and David Gibbons, that Stilton, probably the most celebrated cheese in England, went through a lot of historical hoops, some of which just about caused its demise. Farmstead cheeses were made by dairies, but when the railroad came through, the dairies could ship their milk to other areas where the cheese was made. This was a good and bad development. Good because it enabled more options for dairy farmers. Bad because it was easier and more cost effective to ship off the milk rather than make the distinctive farmstead cheeses, which weren’t protected, and were in danger of being lost to mass production cheese. Also, during the great wars there was rationing and many of the farmhouse cheese makers went out of business. There was also a health scare that erroneously tied in ANY unpasteurized cheese in the Listeria crisis of 1980s. In 1989, the British minister of agriculture proposed to ban the sale of unpasteurized cheeses—the traditional farmhouse ones. A double whammy was that the British supermarkets took the position that they would only stock pasteurized cheese. All these difficulties notwithstanding, traditional farmhouse cheeses survived and thrive in Britain.

Knowing a little of the history of a cheese enhances my enjoyment. This doesn’t stop at historical or political notes, but also the nature of the land itself.
Here’s an excerpt from Julie Harbutt from her “Guide to the Finest Cheeses of Britain and Ireland”:

“Watching cows munching their way through the grasses of an English pasture, one can see why our British cheeses have a reputation for their sweet, creamy, rich and complex scents and flavours. The characteristic sea spray freshness of Cheshire can only be obtained from the rich salt deposits lying just below the surface of the pastures while the distinct herby, slightly metallic blue taste of Stilton is surely influenced by the mineral rich seams of coal and iron running through the rolling fields of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. These are the great territorials of Britain.”

Artisan cheese provides an enjoyable experience. It’s more than a food source. It’s travel to distant lands, history, politics, tradition, all wrapped up in a wheel of cheese! One doesn't have to pack a bag, make sure the passport is current, or sit on a plane for hours and hours and hours. Just walk or drive to your local cheesemonger or a supermarket with an artisan cheese department ... and enjoy the journey!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Blue ... my new favorite color ...



I’ll be the first to admit I’ve not extensive experience with the blue cheese category. I pre-supposed it would be too sharp, or I didn’t know what to make of the blue mold, or too elitist, or it was simply outside of my naïve and prior conservative artisan cheese experience. I mean, come on! My mom fixed mac-n-cheese with Velveeta and grilled cheese sandwiches on Wonder bread with pre-sliced American cheese. It has taken me awhile to overcome that programming and seek new cheese horizons!

But here I am! I bought four different blues a couple of days ago. One is Smokey Blue made by Rogue Creamery in Oregon, another is an English/Irish Stilton, the third is a Maytag Dairy Farm blue cheese from Newton, Iowa, and a Danablu or Danish Blue.

I’ll follow up on the other three, but I was so taken with the Rogue Smokey Blue that I couldn’t wait to tell you about it.

Rogue Creamery offered the first blue cheese—Oregon Blue—made on the West Coast. They make five blues: Crater Lake Blue, Oregon Blue Vein, Oregonzola, Rogue River Blue, and Smokey Blue, the latter was also the first blue ever smoked. Smokey Blue is handmade from 100% natural full cream sustainable milk from Bonanza View Dairy. The Creamery uses raw cow's milk (the cheese is aged 90 days or more), salt, enzymes, cultures and Penicillium roqueforti.

Then they cold smoke it for 16 hours over hazelnut shells from the Pacific Northwest. The smoking provides a delightful balance of blue sharpness with very slight caramel and hazelnut flavors, although I didn’t detect a specifically hazelnut presence. What I did detect was a very enjoyable cheese that was heavenly when I popped a crumble of it into my mouth, and it was much creamier than I expected.

Since this cheese was first presented to the public in 2004, it garnered honors, including 2005 Best New Product at the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade’s (NASFT) Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. That was quite a coup since there were 1,200 new products introduced that year.

When I went to the Rogue Creamery website (see below), one of their recommendations was to crumble it onto grilled hamburgers.

What luck! Our CENTURY 21 Bay Properties office staff was having our annual summer BBQ and the timing was perfect for taking some of this cheese with me. No sooner was the sizzling hamburger off the grill and placed on a bun, then the crumbled Smokey Blue was spooned onto the meat and it started to soften. I also put a tomato slice and romaine lettuce on the other side of the meat patty and I took my first bite.

Yum! I mean … really … YUMIOSSO!!!!

Everyone who tried it raved! It had the sharpness of blue, but mellowed by the smoke process. It was a perfect taste match on the grilled burger.

I encourage you to go to their website to get more blue cheese recipes and to learn more about this American artisan cheese.

I learned that in 2002 David Gremmels and Cary Bryant—neither of whom had any prior cheese making experience—bought the creamery where artisan cheese had been hand crafted since 1935. Since their purchase, they have won dozens of medals and trophies, including having Rogue River Blue proclaimed as the overall best blue cheese in 2003, nudging aside blue cheeses from all over Europe.

I heartily recommend the Smokey Blue. You’ll not be disappointed!
The photograph used with this article was compliments of www.roguecreamery.com