Tag Archives: murray’s cheese

And… I’m BACK!

7 Feb

So – it’s been several days since my last post, but I am about 95% healthy again!  Yay!  The chicken soup, neti potting, ten thousand cups of tea and massive amounts of clementines definitely seemed to do the trick.  I love when the body rallies!

Anyway, tonight I had a divine cheese experience at Casellula – a place in hell’s kitchen I’ve been dying to try.  They had quite an extensive cheese menu and I went with a couple cheese-maniac friends of mine – Manuela, my fellow Murray’s cave intern and Andrew, a monger at Murray’s.  We got to sample ten cheeses – each served with a pairing treat of some sort – almost all of the pairings were made in-house.  The cheeses were awesome!  Our tasting tonight blew away the tasting experience Manuela and I had at Artisanal the other week.   I brought home the menu so I can list for you all the cheeses that we tried.  However, I’m going to do that tomorrow because it’s already almost ten and I need some QT with the hubby!

Here are my pictures from the last four days:

Photo 300 out of 365 – “Monger Madness”

"Monger Madness" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/5, 1/60 sec, 85mm lens

Yes… just another day at Murray’s buying cheese.  I was there last Thursday and this monger in the picture here is Michael.  It was his birthday and he was dressed to impress!  There’s always a lively time to be had at Murray’s!

Photo 301 out of 365 – “Bird Watching”

"Bird Watching" - Settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/250 sec, 85mm lens

I took this photo last Friday.  I was walking by Tompkins Square Park in the East Village and there was a tree just on the inside of this fence with hundreds of these little birds in it.  Every couple minutes, they’d venture out from the tree and would line up on the fence or poke around on the sidewalk – until someone would walk by.  Then they’d spaz out and all fly back to the tree.  I was there taking pictures for a good ten to fifteen minutes before I got this photo I wanted – of the little bird on the fence in sharp focus with the neighborhood behind in blur (shallow depth of field).

Photo 302 out of 365 – “Dave”

"Dave" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/2.5, 1/60 sec, 85mm lens

Here’s our friend Dave again… he is super photogenic – it’s such a blast taking pictures of him!  I’m going to do head shots for him when it warms up a bit outside, which I’m really looking forward to.  Anyway, I’ve decided to spend the next week or so shooting in black and white – just to focus more on light and shadow and form.  I started this on Saturday and I’ve been enjoying the change of pace!  Everything sort of looks more serious in black and white – a little more artful in a way.

Photo 303 out of 365 – “Jake Plays Piano”

"Jake Plays Piano" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/2, 1/100 sec, 85mm lens

This here is little Jake – serenading us during the Superbowl halftime show with a piano recital.  He is gooooood.  I’m talking serious musical gift good… which is really quite inspiring and amazing to see in a five year old child.  It also makes me want to go back to taking piano lessons.  Another thing to add to the list!

Ok – signing off for tonight.  I’ll report more on our delicious cheese selection tomorrow!

Delicious Cheese Plate!

19 Jan

On Tuesday night, I was invited to a small wine/cheese gathering at the home of a couple I met years ago when I was looking for a new job.  They run a career placement company called Careers for Women (and men).  I liked Cynnie right away from our first conversation and we’ve managed to keep in touch with each other ever since.  She’s been reading about my cheese-capades and asked me if I’d be kind enough to pick out a selection of cheeses for the occasion.  I was happy to do it, of course, and headed over to Murray’s.

We ended up being five people, so I thought four cheeses would be a nice number.  I knew I wanted to do a goat cheese, a washed-rind cheese, a mountain-style cheese and a blue cheese… but I went in to Murray’s with an open mind.  Here is what I ended up with:

  • Monte Enebro: a pasteurized goat’s-milk cheese from Spain.  The white inside has a nice tangy flavor – like most goat cheese, but as you get closer to the rind, you get a nice cream line (super creamy section right inside the rind) and then the rind itself has flavors similar to a blue cheese.  I think this is a delicious goat cheese – unique and tasty – and interesting in flavor and appearance!  Everyone loved it.
  • Vacherin Mont d’Or: this is a special cheese, available only for a few months out of the year (November – March typically).  It comes from the Jura Mountains of Switzerland and is made with thermalized (a gentler version of pasteurization that kills less of the cheese’s flavor) cow’s milk.  It comes in a round wooden box and when ripe, it is SUPER creamy and luscious… we’re talking eat it with a spoon or spread it over bread.  It is a washed-rind cheese (so it has that orangey color and funky barny smell) and it’s also wrapped with a piece of spruce bark so it has a delightful woodsy forest-like flavor.  I’ve been reading about it and supposedly it is delicious if you bake it – mmmmmm…I’ll have to try that someday.  If you’re interested in trying this one, you better look for it quickly because it goes fast and will be gone for the year before you know it!  It’s not cheap though – it sells for around $25-$30 per cheese… but it can feed a bunch of people and it’s like nothing you’ve ever had before.  I swear.
  • Ossau-Iraty – this is definitely one of my all-time favorite cheeses.  It is made from raw sheep’s milk in the pyrenees of France.  It is a mountain-style cheese – like a gruyere or a comte – but this one is made with sheep’s milk instead of cow.  It does have those yummy flavors consistent with mountain cheeses… it’s nutty, a little sweet, rich and buttery and is wonderful to snack on.
  • Fourme d’Ambert:  I’ve mentioned this cheese before – again, it is one of my favorites and definitely my go-to blue.  It is one of the oldest cheeses made in France and is made with pasteurized cow’s milk.  This is a great cheese to try if you’re a beginner with blues (or if you think you don’t like them).  I once thought I didn’t like blue cheese and this is the cheese that changed my mind.  It’s pretty mild and creamy and delicious.  Cowgirl Creamery refers to it as the “chocolate of blue cheeses”.

So, in addition to these cheeses, I brought over some figs, Largueta almonds (from Spain), dried cherries and a nice crusty french baguette.  Total yumminess ensued and all the guests seemed impressed and delighted by the selection!  I must say – these are not inexpensive cheeses.  They all cost between $20 and $30/lb.  Of course, if it’s just a small gathering, you are typically buying less than a pound – but still.  I think for fun next time, I’m going to go the cheaper route and see what kind of delicious assortment we can get for half the money!  Stay tuned for a report.

Now – for the photo of the day:

Photo 284 out of 365 – “Reflection in a Puddle”

"Reflection in a Puddle" - Settings: ISO 800, f/6.3, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

 

nell’s cheese du’jour: “Ben Nevis” – an easy, snacky, sheep delight!

9 Sep

"Ben Nevis" - Settings: ISO 100, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, 50mm lens

For this week’s cheese, I wanted to get something yummy made with sheep’s milk.  I took a walk down to Essex Market, where the lovely Anne Saxelby of Saxelby Cheese assisted me.  Anne used to be a cheese monger at Murray’s, but left a few years ago to open her own little cheese shop, which features a delicious array of all American-made cheeses.  Since I know that Anne is the owner of the shop and is super passionate about cheese, I trusted her 100% to steer me in the right direction in choosing my selection.  When you’re cheese-obsessed like I am, and you want to taste every single cheese that exists, it sometimes helps to leave the decision up to someone more knowledgable than you.  That’s a good tip for approaching a visit to a cheese shop… once you find a monger you trust, let them wow you!  They spend all day tasting all kinds of cheeses and make it their life’s work to share the most delicious ones with you!  So just give up control and be game to try new things!

Anyway, I went up to the counter and asked Anne… “is there anything really special and awesome that you are loving right now?”  She said, “I know just the thing” and handed me a taste of Ben Nevis.  Mmmmmm.  Right away it brought a smile to my face.  It was just simply yummy.  It’s pretty mild – not really complex or pungent or challenging.  To me – this is an easy cheese to like – not really an acquired taste.

Ben Nevis is made by the folks at Bonnie View Farm – a sheep dairy in Northeast Vermont.  The farm is owned by the Urie family, who came to Vermont from Scotland in the late 1800′s.  The current owner and cheesemaker is Neil Urie – a fourth generation dairy farmer.  On the farm, they have 170 sheep, which are milked from April/May to October, while the sheep are able to feed outside on pasture (grass).  The cheese is made with raw milk (not pasteurized) – because of this, the animal’s diet of lovely fresh spring/summer grass strongly contributes to the flavor of the cheese.  Once made, the cheeses are aged throughout the summer for four to five months… that is why the first batches are just hitting the stores now (5 months since April)!

The name “Ben Nevis“, is actually the name of the highest mountain in Scotland.  So I guess Neil Urie was giving a nod to his Scottish roots in naming this baby.  The cheese is made in a unique square-shape and from the outside, the rind has a somewhat stone-like appearance with soft tones of brown, tan, white and a slight ruddy color.  On the inside, the paste is a pale yellow in the middle, turning a darker more mustard color towards the rind.

When I give the cheese a sniff, I smell a little bit of that cave/damp basement smell closer to the rind.  The middle smells bright and a little sharp – but milky.  Now to taste…  the consistency of this cheese is sort of firm and a little crumbly but not as hard as say a parmesan.  When I press it with my finger, it gives a little.  The first things that strike me as I taste the cheese are salt and tang.  There is definitely a good kind of sour/tanginess to the flavor – it makes my mouth salivate underneath my tongue!  There is also a very mild sheepy flavor – but not too much.  Sometimes you can really taste the barnyard flavor – you close your eyes and can picture yourself in the stables with the animals.  This cheese is NOT like that – but if I tasted it without knowing what kind of milk it was… I would guess sheep.  It just has that sheepy essence to me!

I asked Anne what kinds of condiments might pair well with the Ben Nevis.  She recommended a mild honey or interestingly a maple syrup – to offset the saltiness!  I don’t have any maple syrup at home right now, so I tasted it with something called Pear Mostarda (pear mustard), which is basically candied pears with mustard essence added.  I tried pear mostarda for the first time at one of my Murray’s classes and hated it!!  I thought it tasted like nail polish remover.  Now, however, I think it’s delicious… a testament to why you should always taste things more than once!    Anyway, in the class, it was paired with a sheep’s milk pecorino cheese, which is why I thought it would go nicely with the Ben Nevis.  I think it totally works together – though I gave a taste to my friend Amie and she thought the mostarda overpowered the cheese.  I guess you’ll have to try it for yourself!

Pear Mostarda - Settings: ISO 100, f/2.5, 1/100 sec, 50mm lens

So, there you have it – Ben Nevis.  I enjoy this cheese quite a bit – but for its simple cheesiness.  Often, I tend to gravitate towards the more interesting, pungent and complex flavors – this is not that. But this is good… and tasty.  And if you want to try it – it’ll probably only be available from now through maybe February – then the last of the cheeses aged four to five months from spring/summer milk will be gone and we’ll have to wait until next year for the next batch!  That’s all for this week’s cheese du’jour…  see you next Thursday!  Oh – and if you’ve tried any amazing cheeses lately – please write me a comment and let me know.  I’m always scoping out new cheeses to try!

nell’s cheese du’jour: Casatica di Bufala

2 Sep

"Casatica di Bufala" - Settings: ISO 100, f/5, 1/400 sec, 50mm lens

Casatica di Bufala is a bloomy-rind cheese from the northern part of Italy near Bergamo.  It is made by two brothers, Bruno and Alfio Gritti, from the pasteurized milk of water buffalos!  That’s right – water buffalos.  Did you know that there are cheeses made from water buffalo milk?  Well – if you’ve never tried one, you should pick this baby up and give it a taste.  I bought this at my local Whole Foods and it was about seven dollars for a third of a pound.

Anyway – the first thing you probably notice while looking at this cheese is the oozy texture.  Take a look from this angle!

Yummy cheese ooze... Settings: ISO 100, f/3.2, 1/800 sec, 50mm lens

This cheese is wonderfully gooey and delicious.  When you’re tasting or serving a cheese, it is best to let it warm to room temperature first.  If you taste it right out of the refrigerator, you will not get the full flavor or the right consistency from the cheese.  Instead, it will be much firmer and the flavors will be much less pronounced.  When I let this cheese sit out for about forty minutes, this is what happened… it oozed.  Yum.  I tend to love oozy, creamy cheeses and this one is NO exception.

Cheeses made from buffalo milk tend to be super rich and luscious.  Why?  Well – buffalo milk has the highest fat content out of all the milks (cow, sheep, goat).  To give you an example, the percentage of solids (fats) in cow’s milk is 12% per pound of milk.  The remaining 88% is liquid called whey.  In buffalo milk, the percentage of solids (fats) is 25% per pound!  That’s twice the fat solids in the same amount of milk.  Of course, that’s one of the reasons it’s so delicious!!  I learned all this science-y stuff in my Murray’s boot camp.  Yes, I’m a cheese nerd.  Now… onto the tasting.

First – we sniff.  Upon first sniff of the paste (interior), I think of the smell of milk when you gently heat it in a sauce pan.  You know… that sweet milky smell?  When I sniff the rind (outside coating) – it smells a bit mushroomy – like truffles.

Now – we taste.  Mmmmmmmmm.  The texture of this cheeses is to die for!  It is so super luscious – silky smooth and creamy. It completely coats the inside of my mouth and I just close my eyes and sigh – an overdose of yum.  The taste is salty but a little sweet.  It’s rich and buttery and fatty-tasting.  I even get a slight taste of fresh-baked bread – a sort of yeasty flavor.   When I taste the rind along with the paste I think it adds flavors of mushroom and garlic.

With a cheese this rich, I think it calls for some accompaniments.  I cut up a fresh baguette and tried the cheese with some delicious honey I bought a few weeks ago at Whole Foods.

Delish - Settings: ISO 200, f/13, 1/80 sec, 50mm lens

The honey is made by a company called Well Dressed Food and has delicious pecans inside.  I tend to be a cheese purist and typically don’t need crackers, bread or fruit to enjoy a cheesy treat.  But I’ve tried this honey with a couple cheeses now and I think the sweetness and the nuttiness provides a perfect compliment to the saltiness of cheese!

Pecans 'N Honey - Settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/100 sec, 50mm lens

Just a little dab’ll do ya.  You don’t want to drown out the flavor of the cheese.

The perfect bite - Settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/100 sec, 50mm lens

So – there you have it.  Casatica di Bufala.  This baby gets a total yummy thumbs up in my book.  It’s different, it’s pretty, it’s intriguing because it’s made from buffalo milk!  I think it’s a crowd pleaser and I’m excited to put it out for friends on a cheese plate sometime soon.  I hope you’ll give it a try too and spread the word!  That’s all the cheesiness I’ve got for now… see you next week on cheese Thursday with a new cheese du’jour!

nell’s cheese du’jour: Piper’s Pyramide

26 Aug

"Piper's Pyramide" - Settings: ISO 100, f/3.2, 1/1250 sec, 50mm lens

It’s Thursday!  That means it’s time for cheese.  Yesterday after we wrapped shooting over at Chelsea Market, I stopped by Lucy’s Whey to pick up my weekly cheese selection!  I’d been reading all about this new cheese shop, featuring an all-American roster of delicious cheeses, but I hadn’t made my way over to the west side to check it out yet.  What a cute little shop – with lots of enticing options! Last week we talked about a French, washed-rind cow’s milk cheese (Prefere de nos Montagnes), so this week I opted for an American, bloomy-rind goat’s milk cheese to keep things interesting.

Piper’s Pyramide comes to us from Capriole Farms, which is in Indiana near the Kentucky border (yay Indiana… my alma mater).   At first glance, this cheese was intriguing to me for a couple reasons.  First – there are little reddish speckles on top … a sprinkling of paprika.  From Capriole’s website, I learned that this little beauty of a cheese is named after the cheese-maker’s granddaughter, Piper, who is said to have red hair – hence the paprika!

I also noticed the way the rind is all brainy-looking.  During my days as an affineur-in-training (affineur is the person who ages and cares for the cheeses) at Murray’s, I learned that these brainy-looking cheeses are made using a mold called geotrichum candidum, which adds to the flavor of the cheese and contributes to this wrinkly rind.  I could tell just by looking at it from the outside, what it might taste like – as I have tasted several of these cheeses and they tend to share flavor characteristics that I usually enjoy!  So I figured this one was a good bet.

The first thing I did before I even cut into this cheese was to give it a good sniff!  The thought that comes to my mind when smelling this little pyramid is a musty damp cellar.  Sound enticing?  Well, it actually makes sense because cheeses are often aged in damp, cool, underground caves.

After cutting it open…  it looks totally uniform on the inside.  The paste looks very white and chalky and seems on the dry side.  There is also a thin straw-colored line right along the border of the rind – the consistency is a little creamier versus chalkier along the rind, which is because the cheese ripens from the outside in.  As the cheese ages more, it will get creamier and creamier until only the very middle is chalky – or until it’s creamy all the way through.  Because this one was so dense and chalky – I have a feeling it wasn’t aged quite enough and could have used another week or so in a cave before being sold.  Before I tasted, I gave the inside a little sniff as well.  To me the inside smells much brighter than the outside did… sort of like fresh mowed grass versus damp basement.

"Piper's Pyramide" - Settings: ISO-100, f/8, 1/160 sec, 50mm lens

Finally – I cut off a piece of cheese and gave it a taste.  At Murray’s they taught me to taste the cheese first without any rind – just the inside paste.  After, taste the paste along with the rind to see how the rind changes the flavor.  I often find that the rind adds a lot of flavor and interest to the cheese… I’m a total rind eater.  This cheese (without the rind) tastes really mild.  There is a little bright tang (common in goat cheese).  I also found a mild sweetness – like the inside of a cheese blintz, but with a little goaty kick.  The rind adds that musty damp flavor, which when eaten in small doses, compliments the cheese quite nicely.

All in all – I enjoy this cheese, but again… it doesn’t rock my world.  It is a nice summery cheese – light in taste, a bit dry and crumbly and not too heavy.  It would be good with a glass of white wine or a rose on a warm summer night – maybe with a salad?  Or just some french bread and tart fruit?  I, personally tend to like my cheeses with a little more oomph, and a little more complexity and intrigue!  This cheese is just nice, yummy and simple.  I also would like to try it again aged a little more.  The Lucy’s Whey website, describes it as “gooey and naughty” – and I definitely didn’t get that.  Gooey and naughty sounds just my speed.  So yes, I’ll have to give this one another shot.

Oh, so to finish up, that is a good lesson for the day… try cheeses more than once!  They can be quite different each time you try them – based on the season they were made, the care with which they were aged and about a hundred other reasons – that just keeps it even more interesting in my opinion!  See you next Thursday for possibly a sheep’s milk cheese?  mmmmmmm.

Photo 44 out of 365 – “Tasting Supreme” & Cheese Boot Camp Wrap-up

24 May

This is a photo of our final cheese plate of the 3 day cheese mayhem I just experienced.  This tasting was a pairing face-off.  Beer vs. wine, each paired with 5 delectable cheeses.  It was the smallest, yet probably most delicious of our cheese plates at Boot Camp this past weekend.   I am typically more of a wine drinker than a beer drinker, however I’m getting more into the craft beer thing lately and beer is definitely starting to grow on me a bit more.   Here is a list of the pairings we tried:  (I don’t have the exact names for some of the wines, so where need be, I’ll just include the style for now).

  • Coupole – a pasteurized bloomy-rind goat’s milk cheese from Vermont Creamery paired with a Loire Valley Vouvray and a German Wheat Beer. Round 1 winner (according to me) – THE WINE!
  • Hudson Red – a washed-rind raw cow’s milk cheese from Twin Maple Farms in NY’s Hudson Valley region paired with an Alsatian Gewurztraminer and Lagunitas Sonoma Farmhouse Hop Stoopid.  Round 2 winner – THE WINE AGAIN!!
  • Gabietou – a washed-rind, raw, mixed cow & sheep’s milk cheese from the French Pyrenees paired with a 2008 Cru Beaujolais from France and a sour style Panil Barriquee beer.  Round 3 winner – THE BEER! Sour-style beer is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  I just tried one for the first time about a month ago and I think the taste is SO interesting and not bitter at all like a more hoppy-style beer.  I’m a fan.
  • Le Chevre Noir – an aged pasteurized goat’s milk cheddar-style cheese from Quebec, Canada paired with a Cabernet Franc from France and with a Samuel Smith Imperial Stout.  Round 4 winner – THE BEER!
  • Mountain Gorgonzola – a pasteurized cow’s milk blue cheese from the Lombardy region of Italy paired with a heavenly Malmsey Madiera wine from Portugal and a St. Bernardus Abt 12 Belgian beer.  Round 5 winner – THE WINE!

In all honesty, this last pairing of the Mountain Gorgonzola with the Madiera completely rocked my world.  This to me, is what pairing is all about and was the overall winner of the night.  The Gorgonzola is only a medium intensity blue cheese – but it has the sweet, nutty, salty bite that blues often have.  Pairing this with the nutty, rich, luscious, caramel flavors in the Madiera was just PERFECT.  Even after 55 cheeses in 3 days, I could have eaten that all night.  It is one of those tastes that makes your eyes roll back into your head and makes you feel woozy.  It’s very sexy.

Now this Malmsey Madiera we had was quite pricy at $54 a bottle.  As a cheaper alternative our awesome instructor, Amanda Crawford (wine specialist at Christie’s auction house) suggested a bottle of Pedro Ximenez Sherry at half the price.  So as soon as my stomach heals, I’m going to pick up a blue from Murray’s and a bottle of this sherry and have a romantic, tantalizing, tasting extravaganza with my husband.  So far, he’s not a total fan of blue cheese quite yet… but just wait ’til I get a hold of him with this!   ooh baby.

Photo 43 out of 365 – “Playstation”

23 May

This photo is of Adam, deftly riding horseback through the wild west from the comfort of our couch.  He just got a new Playstation game called Red Dead Redemption.  It’s actually a really amazing game – though not exactly the type I like to play.  I like the nice platform games like Super Mario Brothers where the objective is clear and where you can’t really get lost.  In 3-D video game worlds, my poor sense of direction is just magnified and I end up wandering around completely disoriented and irritated.  So I just watch.  This is what the game looks like (thought not really so blown out).

I just finished the last of my cheese boot camp and had a great experience.  55 cheeses in 2.5 days.  They said we each ate about 6 pounds of cheese over the course of the weekend!  YIKES!  Now it’s time for the season finale of Lost – I admit… I am super psyched.  Tomorrow night I will write about the end of boot camp and my favorite cheeses from today.

Photo 36 out of 365 – “Epic Breakfast Sandwich”

16 May

This is a photo of the gorgeous and mouthwatering breakfast sandwich that Adam made for me yesterday morning.  Adam is actually the king of breakfast.  I tend to cook most of our other meals, but on the weekends, breakfast is 100% Adam’s domain.   I do contribute, however in the gathering of our breakfast sandwich ingredients.   Everything you see here was bought at Murray’s.  Friday was my last day with an intern’s discount, so I stocked up… bacon, english muffins, 5 types of cheeses, honey, chocolate, vinegar, crackers, cheese wires, cheese papers, crack butter (sea-salted butter that is addictive like crack), brisket pastrami, sopressata, pear mostarda, marcona almonds, pickles, dill pickle potato chips and a baguette.  YUM.

So here’s the breakdown on this breakfast sandwich… the eggs are all-natural, from Feather Ridge Farm in the Hudson Valley.  The bacon is from Iowa – Vande Rose Artisan Dry Cured Bacon (FREAKING AMAZING).  The

cheese is Cabot Clothbound Cheddar – a phenomenal cheese and by far the best cheddar I’ve ever tasted.  It won “Best of Class” at the 2010 World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin.  Adam and I freak out over it every time we eat it.  It has that cheddary taste you know and love, but has so much more complexity… the little crunchy crystals (Tyrosine) that you typically find in a Parmigiano Reggiano, a subtle flavor of sweet toasty caramel and an earthiness that reminds you that it’s been slowly and patiently aging underground in Vermont caves.  It’s ridiculous cheese and I highly recommend that you blow your mind by trying it sometime soon.

Adam also added a thin layer of the brisket pastrami I bought at the Murray’s counter (a novel addition to the usual breakfast sandwich) and all of this was served on a perfectly toasted Bays English Muffin (puts Thomas’s muffins to shame!)

There you have it – the perfect breakfast sandwich, compliments of Adam & Murray’s.  Just goes to show you, when you have wonderful, quality ingredients, the simplest dish can become absolutely extraordinary!

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