When Shavuos comes around, a Kosher foodie’s thoughts often focus on cheese. “What cheeses are now available Kosher?” “What cheeses haven’t I tried yet?” “Where can I buy great cheese?” And my favorite “What’s the best cheesecake recipe?” (I have my personal favorite) This year, I decided to try something new - making my own cheese.
Continue reading Adventures in Cheesemaking: Mozzarella »
This has been a busy summer in the kosher cheese world — or, at least, in my kosher cheese world — as I’ve discovered two new brands of high-end cheese — Mainland and 5 Spoke Creamery.
For no particular reason — the wonderful smells, maybe — I often spend a few minutes dallying through the troves of specialty cheese whenever I get to my local Whole Foods. On one such expedition the most peculiar thing caught my eye — a heksher, and a legitimate one, no less! Of course, on further inspection, the OK heksher was the least extraordinary aspect of the product which caught my eye.
This particular mild cheddar was organic, made of milk culled from grass-fed cows, and imported from New Zealand. The grass-fed milk gives Mainland Organic Cheddar a more complex flavor than any other mild cheese I’ve tried — definitely worth including on your next cheese platter. (The steep price — $7.00 for eight ounces — might preclude you from enjoying it on a more frequent basis.)
Over at my local kosher market, new cheeses also popped up, with equally delightful credentials: these were made of hormone-free raw milk by an Amish farmer. (I can practically hear Garrison Keillor saying “Made by Norwegian bachelor farmers … so you know they’re pure, mostly.”) Well, “5 Spoke Creamery” presents us with three Kof-K certified, artisanal varieties — Red Vine Colby, Redmond Cheddar, and Herbal Jack — all with the complexity of flavor and superb texture one should expect of finer raw-milk cheeses.
They’re also on the pricey side, but I couldn’t help myself from devoting some to a decadent macaroni and cheese. After the jump, enjoy an excellent recipe I’ve adapted from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.
Continue reading New kosher grass-fed cheeses, and a pasta in which to appreciate them »
Nearly all kosher wines are also kosher for Passover, in large part due to the injunction to consume it in quadruplicate, but cheese, its eons-old sidekick, has never gotten much respect. That’s all changed this year, as evidenced in both local and virtual dairy cases, with reliably-certified cheeses from France, Italy, Denmark, and Vermont joining the traditional kosher options.
Several bars of Cabot medium-sharp cheddar arrived by UPS today, proudly brandishing an OU hologram. Brookline’s largest kosher market, the Butcherie, has a few French varieties in stock, including Makabi-brand Camembert and a soft, mold-ripened, goat- and cow-milk cheese called Le Pavé. I passed over the tiny two-dollar morsels of blue cheese, in favor of the pungent wedges of Kirkeby Danablu. As usual, they also had the standard Miller’s and Haolam cheeses, the blocks of which actually aren’t bad. We’ve been enjoying those baby Goudas and Muensters for a few years now, and the cholov yisroel Haolam Monterrey Jack is actually pretty decent, absent any alternatives.
In nearby Newton, Centre Market is carrying a large selection of French and Italian cheeses, including honest to goodness wedges of Provolone and Grana Padano (a close cousin of Parmigiano Reggiano) and whole wheels of French blue and Tomme — not to mention the finest prime meats in town.
Online options are also abundant this year — Cabot sells the OU cheddar exclusive at their website, and KosherItalia.com has 31 Passover-friendly products. In fact, they’ve just announced the arrival of both fresh cow mozzarella and fresh buffalo mozzarella, made in Italy on March 11 in preparation for the holiday.
With the simple addition of petite matzah crackers, a variety of jams and chutneys, some sliced vine-ripened tomatoes, and several bottles of fine wine, you’re ready to have a swanky — and fully pesadik — wine & cheese party.
I’ve often remarked that any holiday on which you can have steak and French fries every night isn’t really such a hardship. A well-stocked cheese drawer is yet another reason to believe that Passover could actually be a lot of fun.
The OU-certified sharp cheddar we fell in love with last year has finally returned to the virtual shelves. (And this time it’s suitable for Passover.)
Per-bar and by-the-case pricing available directly from Cabot and from KosherGourmetMart.com.
I was pleasantly surprised during my last trip to the local kosher market to discover the much-hyped arrival of OK-certified Joseph Farms cheese. Several varities were prominently displayed in the dairy case, including whole, shredded and sliced cheeses. I quickly grabbed four blocks, checked out, and brought them home for analysis.
What immediately struck me was the reasonable price. They run $6.00/lb. (a little less for the mozzarella) which is a substantial savings compared to run-of-the-mill Miller’s, whose cheeses usually sell for between $9.00 and $11.00/lb.
As for taste, they’re far from artisinal, but they’re a solid average. The medium Cheddar has bit of character, but for the same price, I’d probably stick with Tillamook (until Cabot returns to the kosher market). I found it pretty difficult to pick up much taste from the Monterrey Jack, but since I haven’t seen Anderson International’s Jack in these parts for quite some time, and since Miller’s Jack is terrible, it’s nice to have something to use on nachos. The mozzarella actually had a bit more flavor and pleasant soft texture, but lacked the stringy composition one usually finds in a good mozzarella. Melted on pasta, it was perfectly acceptable so, again, Joseph Farms gets the nod due to a superior’s absence;1 lb. blocks of Cappiello mozzarella are nowhere to be found. Last in the lineup, their Confetti Mix is a combination of Cheddar and Jack — nice to look at, good for a decorative party platter, but no distinctive flavor.
The verdict? It’s great to have more competition in the kosher dairy case, it’s great to have cheeses that will give the staid brands a run for their money, and it’s great saving money on popular varieties. On the other hand, it’s disappointing that so serious an effort to make a once non-kosher brand fully kosher only yields mediocre cheese. That said, until better alternatives appear, Joseph Farms will be the de facto “value” cheese in our refrigerator, and I imagine their kosher endeavor will meet with widespread success.
There was some commotion in January about Joseph Gallo cheeses with unauthorized OK hekshers. Turns out that they weren’t unauthorized per se, just premature…
I guess we’ll start seeing their kosher products in August. Some research may be warranted to find out where they’ll be distributing!
UPDATE: Word from Gallo is positive; they’re negotiating with east coast distributors, but don’t have any definitive dates for availability.
A wine and cheese tasting has been planned at the Young Israel of Brookline in honor of Tu B’Shevat. Here’s the official announcement:
Spring is coming! Sample fruits of the earth and fruits of the vine as you celebrate Tu B’Shevat at a Wine and Cheese Tasting
This Sunday, February 12, 2006
6:00 - 8:00 P.M.
Young Israel of BrooklineTo reserve your glass by February 10:
Email wine@frumgeek.com or call 617-738-6131
$5 YIB member / $7 non-memberWithout reservation:
$10 YIB member / $12 non-member
UPDATE: Event’s been postponed due to snow. I’ll repost when it’s been formally rescheduled.
After two years of surveying the kosher cheese scene, it takes quite a bit to get me excited about a new product. When I spied an authentic-looking French bleu in KosherItalia.com’s cheese line up a few weeks ago, however, I seized the opportunity to try it. Two days later, the 1 lb. wheel arrived at my door.
Upon unwrapping, an unpleasant odor was immediately apparent (wet dog?) as was its inconsistently moldy exterior (some patches of white fuzz). Undeterred, I wiped the wheel off, cut it in half, and then excised a wedge — nice blue streaks of mold inside, surrounded by ivory. I carved off the questionable exterior, brought the wedge to room temperature, and tasted.
Creamy texture, with slight granularity, and moderately spreadable. Bold, tangy flavor with some stale/bitter notes. On pizza, it melded well with the other flavors but still made its presence known.
By comparison, Kirkeby Danablu is sharper, but far less musty, and has far fewer offensive odors. Miller’s Blue is much milder, but more enjoyable to eat in an appreciable quantity. As a table cheese, though, the Makabi is certainly the most interesting.
In closing, I have to say I’m a bit concerned about the quality of this cheese both because of the rind’s odor and the fact that the larger interior mold “bubbles” were themselves covered with a thin layer of white mold. Perhaps the wheels were stored at too high a humidity and spoiled a bit? Or perhaps my love of cheese only goes so far?
For quite some time now, GourmetFoodStore.com has offered a decent selection of French kosher cheeses. However, most of the time, they’re only available by the case (10-24 cut pieces per case), which has kept them, in my opinion, largely inaccessible to the casual buyer, and the next-day shipping charge can be an obstacle, too. As such, I’d like to initiate, on a trial basis, a cooperative effort to buy four cases and split them up among other kosher cheese afficionados in the Boston area.
Here’s how I envision it. Their Gruyere and Morbier come 10 to a case; the Brie St. Benoit and Roquefort come 16 to a case. We find 10 people to commit to the Gruyere/Morbier purchase at $25/person and 16 people to commit to the Brie/Roquefort purchase at $22/person (both prices include one piece of each cheese in the combo and 1/26th of the overnight shipping charge). Alternatively, participants can buy more than one share and reduce the number of folks required for the purchase.
Would anyone be interested?
UPDATE: Interested parties from the New York City area are also invited to express their interest; we’ll see if we can get two groups going.
I happened to notice at the local kosher market this evening that Miller’s actually produces an “aged cheddar cheese.” Intrigued, but naturally a bit skeptical, I purchased the $4.29 bar and brought it home.
The proof was in the first bite: it tasted nearly identical to their everyday “cheddar sticks” — the only difference may have been some extra annatto coloring. Of course, nowhere on the package does it say how long this cheese has been aged, so I guess it’s my fault for expecting real sharpness.
False alarm!