cheese

Beer with us #3: Swiss fondue

Beer with us #3: Swiss fondue

Posted on by Pat and David
We've hiked the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps in the winter when the mountains are covered with snow and in the spring, when waterfalls cascade off cliffs and meadows are full of wildflowers. On a spring hike in the Lauterbrunnen Valley (above), the grass was so green that it looked almost as tasty to us as it obviously did to the herds of Swiss milk cattle. Either season, we had worked up an appetite and often ended the day with a satisfying pot of cheese fondue. When we decided to use a can of Lamplighter ‶Giants Under the Sun″ as the base for a fondue, we set aside lightly steamed pieces of vegetables and slices of sausage to dip into the cheese along...Read More
At the source for true New York cheesecake

At the source for true New York cheesecake

Posted on by Pat and David
We grew up in the era of quickie “cheesecake” made with Philadelphia cream cheese, tons of sugar, and an egg. The mixture was deposited into a graham cracker crust and topped with canned pie filling. We both loved it. But we always knew that there was something else called “New York cheesecake” that was presumably more complex and therefore superior. When we spotted a location of Junior's amid the neon clutter surrounding Times Square, we thought we might have located the cheesecake grail. After all, Junior's holds a registered trademark on The World's Most Fabulous Cheesecake®. We soon learned that the restaurant chain has been making it since the original Junior's opened in Brooklyn in 1950. Times Square locations were merely Junior's-come-latelies. So we made...Read More
Russ & Daughters bagels are worth the wait

Russ & Daughters bagels are worth the wait

Posted on by Pat and David
“I come in for the chaos,” joked the man standing next to us in the crowd at Russ & Daughters (179 East Houston St., New York, NY; 212-475-4880; russanddaughters.com). We came for the bagels. On this Saturday morning, the long, narrow shop with a display counter along one side was jammed with people. To be fair, the “chaos” was of the controlled variety. Customers were in an almost jovial, anticipatory mood. It felt like the ticket line at a rock concert. Clearly, part of shopping at Russ & Daughters is the cheek-by-jowl camaraderie. There is a method to the madness. You take a number from the ticket machine at the door, just like at the supermarket deli. Then you try to squeeze to the back...Read More
Green chile rules at Santa Fe’s Inn & Spa at Loretto

Green chile rules at Santa Fe’s Inn & Spa at Loretto

Posted on by Pat and David
Santa Fe is laced with hiking trails, particularly on the outskirts of the historic downtown. It's less well endowed with walking trails — paths that require no special shoes, walking sticks, or other gear. The best of the downtown routes is the Santa Fe River Trail. It quickly became our go-to light exercise route. The paved sidewalk along Alameda Street skirts the downtown in favor of scenic plantings of flowering trees and public art installations along the riverbanks. Much of the route includes a packed-dirt path along the opposite bank, with periodic bridges so you can switch back and forth. Another reason it became one of our favorites is the proximity to the Inn and Spa at Loretto (211 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe;...Read More
Putting Wisconsin prizewinners on the cheese board

Putting Wisconsin prizewinners on the cheese board

Posted on by Pat and David
We hail from New England, home of some of the finest artisanal cheeses in America. But our whole region can't begin to compete with Wisconsin. That state has 1,200 licensed cheesemakers who produce more than 600 varieties of cheese. They convert 90 percent of the state's milk into cheese, accounting for half the specialty cheese production in the United States. Moreover, Wisconsin has a three-year certification program for Master Cheesemakers, who must already have a decade of experience making cheese. Once certified, they can place a distinctive blue Master’s Mark® on their products, indicating that they have supervised each step of the process. So maybe it's not a surprise that Wisconsin did so well in the last round of the American Cheese Society awards. Our...Read More
Wisconsin triumphed in American Cheese Society awards

Wisconsin triumphed in American Cheese Society awards

Posted on by Pat and David
As one of America's big dairy states, Wisconsin takes special pride in its cheeses. Even the fans of the Green Bay Packers NFL football team call themselves ‶cheeseheads.″ They wear ridiculous hats that look a bit like a Swiss cheese, complete with plenty of holes in their heads. The cheese industry's promotional arm brags that the state makes ‶more flavors, varieties, and styles of cheese than anywhere else in the world.″ We do wish that Wisconsin cheese companies wouldn't appropriate cheese names that obviously belong to other places in the world. Wisconsin parmesan, for example, is a fine grating and flaking cheese in its own right. If it were called something else, it wouldn't invite comparison to Parmigiano-Reggiano, to which it displays only a distant...Read More
World on a Plate: Pastitsio’s immigrant life as Cincinnati chili

World on a Plate: Pastitsio’s immigrant life as Cincinnati chili

Posted on by Pat and David
In our last post, we ended our exploration of Greek cooking with a recipe for pastitsio, the hearty dish of layered meat sauce, noodles, and béchamel. As we made the cinnamon-laced meat sauce, we realized it tasted hauntingly familiar. We hadn't encountered in it Greece, but in Cincinnati at Camp Washington Chili (3005 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati; 513-541-0061; campwashingtonchili.com). It turns out that Cincinnati chili is actually a New World adaptation of Greek pastitsio. Greek immigrants opened the Empress restaurant in Cincinnati in 1922 and began serving the deconstructed pastitsio. It became such a huge hit that other restaurants run by Greek immigrants began making their own versions. Unless you are an aficionado, they all seem pretty similar, though Cincinnatians are always ready to debate the...Read More
From the market’s parish church to the tastiest street in Paris

From the market’s parish church to the tastiest street in Paris

Posted on by Pat and David
In Paris this winter, we visited Saint-Eustache as consolation for the closure of Notre-Dame cathedral. With its soaring spaces and grandest pipe organ in Paris, Saint-Eustache (saint-eustache.org/) provided a real spiritual uplift. Although the church's present structure dates mainly from the 16th century, part of the plan was loosely modeled on the 12th-13th century French Gothic cathedral—a hint of glory by association. Saint-Eustache was originally the parish church of the market district, known as Les Halles since medieval times. When Paris moved the central fresh market to the suburbs in 1971, many people viewed the destruction of the old market buildings as a crime against the spirit of the city. One of the side altars in Saint-Eustache memorialized the loss in a mass of statuary...Read More
Il Fiorino crafts wine-friendly pecorino cheeses

Il Fiorino crafts wine-friendly pecorino cheeses

Posted on by David
Pecorino cheese production in the Maremma dates from at least the Middle Ages, but the modern story of Maremma Pecorino dates from the 1957 founding of Caseificio Il Fiorino (Loc. Paiolaio, Roccalbegna; +39 0564 989 059; caseificioilfiorino.it/english.htm#pascoli; open for sales Mon-Sat 9am-1pm and 3-7pm). Duilio Fiorini (usually referred to in hushed tones as Il Fondatore) started the operation, now run by his daughter Angela and her husband Simone with about two dozen staff. Maremma wines practically beg for a cheese plate of mellow, supple cheeses. Il Fiorino fills the bill with a range of sheep's milk cheeses that range from a quivering ricotta to nutty, long-aged wheels. The Pecorino Toscano cheeses are a world apart from the crumbly, sharp, and very salty Pecorino Romano commonly...Read More
Lavender and chevre speak French on the North Fork

Lavender and chevre speak French on the North Fork

Posted on by Pat and David
Lavender by the Bay could not be better located. It was one of the first farms we encountered as we drove from the Orient Point ferry docks into the agricultural stretch of Long Island's North Fork. In mid-June, the English lavender was just beginning to bloom. This pretty, fragrant spot made a welcoming introduction to the region. The farm boasts 80,000 plants on 17 acres. When the French lavender bursts into bloom around the beginning of July, you could think that you are in the south of France. That's where the French-born patriarch of this family-run operation spent his summers. Fortunately for us, lavender also seems to thrive in the salty, sea air of Long Island. The fields may be the big draw, but it's...Read More