Day four in Seattle was all about repeating to myself "I am not worthy, I am not worthy..." Our first class was a charcuterie tasting with the following quartet: Herb Eckhouse of La Quercia in Iowa, Christiano Creminelli of Creminelli Fine Meats in Utah, Paul Bertolli of Fra'Mani in California, and Armandino Batali from Salumi Artisan Cured Meats here in Seattle.
We kicked off the days festivities with our annual town hall meeting. A lively, informative session monitored by Steven Jenkins, we discussed and debated raw milk cheese and regulations, information availability, shipping strains and how to define terms like "farmhouse," "artisan" and "handmade." And you thought the ACS was all fun and games...
Yesterday's food-filled first day in Seattle concluded with an all-you-can-eat seafood display on the waterfront. Good friends from around The States and Europe spent the evening catching up, filling each other in on cheese discoveries, and marveling at the view.
How awesome is it that my “work” entails flying to Seattle, tasting America’s best cheeses, and commingling with fellow cheese nerds? This week Emilio and I are attending the American Cheese Society meetings, and I will post our daily activities right here. Try not to get jealous. With full appreciation for the irony, the first
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If ever there were a “sensuous” category for cheese, Ardrahan just might rock top placement. It is, in a word, plush. Picture a round cushion of a cheese, give it a satiny gold finish and a rich texture, then meditate on this: peanuts, wild mushrooms, a whiff of pasture. It’s cheese nirvana.
Point Reyes Blue seems to pair well with warm weather. It’s sweet and fudgy with a crisp, grapey sharpness and just a little peppery tingle on the finish. My friend Tracy says, “It’s like an evening on a catamaran.” She says she can taste the Pacific.
Avenues, all lined with cheese… We here at Di Bruno bros on Chestnut know that summertime is a time when many of our regular customers will seek out some of the more delicate selections from our case. The hot weather tends to make a cheese lover look for the tangy, brighter flavor of a fresh
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Grana Padano, which costs a third of the price and still tastes like joy itself. Grana Padano looks a lot like Parm. It’s dry and crumbly with a fruity smell and golden color. What’s the difference? True Italian Parmigiano Reggiano is highly regulated and can only be made from the milk of cows grazing in certain provinces during the months of April through November.
Wild caught rock lobster tails, also known as spiny lobster, have just arrived at our seafood department at our Rittenhouse location. This crustacean, which is not seen as a true lobster due to its lack of large front claws, is still practically the same in flavor and texture, albeit the meat being a little more delicate and sweet.
The inspiration for Q-Tonic came to Jordan Silbert on a balmy summer night while drinking gin and tonics with friends in his Brooklyn, NY backyard.
