Authentic Parmigiano Reggiano is one of the greatest inventions. For me, it’s always been the cashmere socks of the cheese case. It can dress up anything, even an egg. I like it plain, too, to suck on after a good meal. Those caramel notes are all the sweetness I need, and I like the way Parm crumbles like rock candy.
A few weeks ago, my friend Mike Geno received an 18-pound wheel of Grand Cru Gruyère from Wisconsin in the mail. The American Cheese Society (ACS) had commissioned him to paint a series of award-winning cheeses, but after he finished the portrait, he was left to scratch his head. What does one do with a whole wheel of Gruyère? Of course, I got a call.
By Madame Fromage Imagine my delight when I learned that my favorite cheese shop was showcasing cheeses of Wisconsin! Before moving to Philadelphia nearly ten years ago, I was a ‘Sconny grrrl, living the dairy dream in the state capital. It was a life of cheese curds and bratwurst, of beer and Harley-Davidsons (Wisconsin’s other
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By Madame Fromage If you’ve picked up a copy of Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese, then you know that there is a chapter called “Rockstars.” Many of the hunks in that chapter come from a single import company, Essex St., in New York that is famous for rocking the American market with some of the best
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This month, Di Bruno Bros. is introducing a line of Tuscan sheep’s milk cheeses from Il Forteto – an agricultural cooperative near Florence – so I stopped by the store for some samples and spent the weekend languishing with Pecorino at every meal. Saturday started with young Pecorino and berries for breakfast, and Sunday ended with spicy Pecorino-stuffed
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Nobody knows how to put together a snack plate like the Italians – when I traveled across the Veneto and through Emilia-Romagna last summer, I loved watching people stroll into piazzas at 4 or 5 p.m. for aperitivo – a pre-dinner glass of wine and a small plate of snacks to stimulate the appetite. The bar bites in Venice and Verona were unsurpassed, and every cheese counter in Bologna offered cheese-and-meat plates to die for.
Now, you might think a mug of tea and a hunk of cheese make an odd couple, especially during a month when Champagne and Brie is the hot match. But isn’t this supposed to be the season of surprises?
By now you’ve probably heard that the first night of Chanukah falls on Thanksgiving – a phenom that hasn’t happened since 1888. If you’re interested in choosing the ideal cheese for this hybrid holiday, here are a few ideas:
Here’s a hunk I will never forget: a cross between Gouda and Comté, called Remeker Pure. If you’re a cheese fanatic, you’re already calling me on the phone and wondering where you can get some because only a few wheels are exported from a tiny farm in the Netherlands. Better head for the Di Bruno
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I like to say I’ve never met a rind I didn’t like. If I’m at a party and I see people trimming off the edges off a Brie, I always want to tell them not to cut off the tastiest part – but usually I just snag the leftovers for myself and slip them into
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