cheese Archives - Page 2 of 6

cheese

‘Family’ shows the way to fad-free vegetarian cooking

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Pat and David

Cookbooks seem to run in phases. A few years ago, we saw a lot of volumes devoted to various ways of cooking meat, especially barbecue. And there are the perennial single-country cuisine books penned by veteran authors. Lately, vegetarian cookbooks by millennial food bloggers seem to dominate. But when we first looked at Hetty McKinnon's new book, Family, we missed the subtitle. We were simply struck by how delicious the recipes sounded. After flipping through, we looked again and realized the full name was Family: New Vegetarian Comfort Food to Nourish Every Day (Prestel Publishing; $35). McKinnon moved her restaurant, Arthur's Kitchen, from Sydney to Brooklyn a few years ago, and just continued making strikingly imaginative food that happens to be vegetarian. Maybe we should...Read More

Pour a cool one on Montreal Craft Beer Tour

Posted on July 6, 2018July 4, 2018 by Pat and David

With Heineken as one of the sponsors of the Montreal Jazz Festival, there's no shortage of beer for sale at the outdoor food and drink stalls. But if you are a hops-head looking for something more than a quick thirst quencher, you might want to set aside time for a Montreal Brewpub Experience (montrealcraftbeertours.com). On a previous visit to Montreal, we joined one of the walking and tasting tours—along with a group of extremely cheerful guys on a bachelor party getaway. Stéphane Lussier (our guide shown at right) told us that Montreal jumped on the craft beer bandwagon about 30 years ago. He also pointed out that Montreal is one of the biggest brewing cities in North America. In addition to brewing giants Labatt, Molson,...Read More

Cail Bruich sets the bar high for Scottish cuisine

Posted on April 20, 2018April 18, 2018 by David

“We serve wild game and it may contain shot,” cautions a note at the bottom of the tasting menu at Cail Bruich (725 Great Western Rd., Glasgow; 0141 334 6265; cailbruich.co.uk). For those who like their meat nice and brown, the menu further advises, “Some ingredients are cooked sous vide.” With warnings like that, who could resist? (Against my mother's admonitions, I was always the child with beans in his ears.) It's a bit of a schlep from Glasgow central city out to this bohemian stretch of West Glasgow near the Botanic Gardens, but it's worth the pilgrimage. Now in its 10th year of serving elevated Scottish cuisine made with classical technique in a semi-casual setting, Cail Bruich (Gaelic for “Eat Well”) continues to amaze....Read More

George Mewes makes us smile and say ‘cheese!’

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Pat and David

Few things make us smile as readily as a taste of great cheese. The best local cheeses represent the apotheosis of milk. A top cheesemaker can take milk from a ewe, goat, or cow and bring out both the characteristics of the breed and the flavors of the place where it grazed. To say that Scotland makes world-class cheese is an understatement. The browse may be scrubby, but the cheeses are rich and layered with subtle flavors. George Mewes Cheese (106 Byres Road, Glasgow, 0141 334 5900, georgemewescheese.co.uk) launched nearly eight years ago in a modest, temperature-controlled shop in Glasgow's West End. We stumbled on the shop almost by accident while exploring the neighborhood. We literally smelled the aged cheese aromas wafting out the door...Read More

Sun-splashed markets make Aix a shopper’s dream

Posted on March 13, 2018February 28, 2018 by Pat and David

Just 45 minutes north from Marseille by train, Aix-en-Provence is incredibly cute and utterly Provençal. It almost seems fabricated by a clever group of artisans to send tourists home with suitcases full of the accoutrements of French country design and the ingredients for the celebrated cuisine of the sun. Since it was our first opportunity to visit one of the great market towns of Provence, we scheduled our trip for a Tuesday for the broadest range of open-air markets. Also available on Thursdays, the produce market, flea market, flower market, and textiles and crafts markets are less crowded during the week than on Saturdays. Or so we were told. It's hard to imagine if any more people could have crowded into the mostly pedestrian streets...Read More

As frost looms, fried green tomatoes beckon

Posted on October 16, 2017February 25, 2018 by Pat and David

Jeffersonville, Indiana, is a fascinating little town with a deep history and a lot of good eats. We will soon be featuring several spots there in upcoming posts about our visit to Louisville, Kentucky, and the towns across the Ohio River in Indiana. But right now we're looking at frost forecasts this week. So we're busy harvesting everything left in our garden. That includes a lot of tomatoes that haven't yet shown the first blush of ripening. Jeffersonville happens to be the home of Red Yeti Restaurant and Red Foot Brewing Company (256 Spring St., Jeffersonville; 812-288-5788, redyetijeff.com). We enjoyed a beer flight with a bountiful board of cheeses from five Indiana and Kentucky creameries and along with sausages and other charcuterie from Henpecked Farm...Read More

Niagara cheese assumes a local accent

Posted on July 23, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

Niagara College has played a big role in the Niagara peninsula blossoming as a foodie destination. The school is turning out talented graduates with a commitment to making the most of the region's bounty. The college's offerings run the gamut from culinary and hospitality programs to winemaking, viticulture, brewing, and distilling. The college even operates a teaching brewery as well as Canada's only commercial teaching winery. As we traveled through the region, we met many of its talented graduates and interns who intend to make their careers in the region. But in the pantheon of food and drink, one thing is missing. “There are no courses on cheesemaking offered in the area,” Vivian Szebeny of Upper Canada Cheese Company told us. Szebeny is a partner...Read More

Inniskillin icewines hit the sweet spot

Posted on July 20, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

Like many wine drinkers, we've always thought of icewine as an after-dinner treat. But if Inniskillin (www.inniskillin.com) has its way, we'll be drinking it with dinner as well. As Debi Pratt told us when we toured the property, icewine makes an excellent, if somewhat extravagant, table wine. Inniskillin is another pioneer in the Niagara wine region. It was founded in 1975 by Austrian-born Karl Kaiser and Canadian Donald Ziraldo. “Karl said, 'If I'm going to live in a new country, I'm going to drink the wines of my new country,'” Pratt told us. Ziraldo had actually planted Riesling, Chardonnay, and Gamay vines the year before at his commercial nursery. But when Inniskillin launched, the winery relied heavily on two winter-hardy French hybrid grapes, Vidal Blanc...Read More

Cheese-loving Americans in good company

Posted on January 20, 2017June 9, 2020 by Pat and David

Here in the United States, January 20 is National Cheese Lover's Day. We're not really certain how this designation originated but there's no doubt that we Americans have a genuine affection for the food. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, each American consumed about 35 pounds of cheese in 2015. (That's the most recent year for which statistics are available.) And that figure is way up from a little over 14 pounds per person in 1975. That's certainly a lot of cheese love. But Americans still have a long way to go to catch up with the French. They consumed more than 59 pounds of cheese per person in 2015, according to the Canadian Dairy Information Centre, which tracks global cheese consumption. That's the...Read More

Sawers gourmet shop in Belfast champions Irish flavors

Posted on December 1, 2016June 9, 2020 by Pat and David

Sawers was established in 1897 to bring gourmet foods from around the globe to the people of Belfast. It is the oldest deli in Northern Ireland. The purveyor even provided the R.M.S. Titanic with game, seafood, cheese and other delicacies for its infamous maiden voyage. The people of Belfast can still rely on Sawers more than a century after that ship's larder full of caviar and pheasant ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic. They can stop by to shop for Spanish hams, Italian pastas, French pâté and escargot, Greek olives, and Turkish candies. At the holidays, the place buzzes with people filling gift “hampers” with exotic gourmet goodies. But Sawers also cherishes great Irish foods, making it a must-stop for overseas gourmands. The...Read More