LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER
This raw-cow’s-milk cheese from England has a real presence. Uncut, it is a large cylinder covered in cheesecloth and discolored by mold. The firm interior is a beautiful deep creamy yellow, edged with cracks and fissures where the mold has made incursions into this dignified cheese. Its flavor has the highly prized bite desired by the Cheddar enthusiast, coupled with a slow, complex flowering of taste uniquely its own. Flaky in texture, it is a real pleasure to shave into wafer-thin slices and eat with crisp apples.
New Year’s Eve Cheese Plate
The busy holiday season culminates with New Year’s Eve, when the most common question asked is, “What should I serve with Champagne?” Everything tastes good with Champagne, but for New Year’s Eve you want especially rich, usually forbidden cheeses.
BRILLAT-SAVARIN
You don’t need to make your New Year’s resolutions until January 1, so enjoy this triple-cream cow’s-milk cheese that is at least 75 percent butterfat. It has a soft, “bloomy” rind that resembles white velvet. Rich and creamy, this cheese will bring you closer to heaven. If you have a hard time finding Brillat-Savarin, ask for a St. André or an Explorateur.
LE MARÉCHAL
The floral aroma of mountain meadows precedes the taste of this rich Swiss cheese made from raw cow’s milk. The interior is smooth, with a firm texture a little softer than that of Gruyère. The herbs rubbed on the dark outside of this cheese make its flavor quite different from any other. It ranges from sweet and mild when young (four or five months) to earthy and strong when aged.
SAINT-AGUR
This sophisticated blue cheese made from cow’s milk has beautiful blue-marbled veins running throughout and an assertive flavor that is simultaneously sweet, salty, and sharp. It tastes smooth and rich, complementing Champagne and leaving your palate with a fragrant, clean finish.
LANGRES
For a romantic (and private) New Year’s Eve celebration, I’d bring home a small Langres. It’s a French cow’s-milk cheese from the high plains of Langres in Champagne. The outside is orange in color, sticky, and smelly. It has a strong yeasty flavor and a smooth, oozy texture. Langres is shaped like a cylinder with a well in the top. Traditionally, Champagne is poured into the well. You really don’t need any other cheeses or a lot of company.
—Cathy
PS: Because it is unpasteurized and ready to eat before the U.S. regulation of sixty days of aging for raw-milk cheeses, Langres is rarely found here. If you ever see it at your local cheese shop, toss your planned menu and surprise everyone with your discovery.
Stinky-Cheese Plate
In the case of most stinky cheeses, the bark is bigger than the bite. The smell of the perfumey rind is part of the eating experience, but in most cases it will not override the smooth, strong, sometimes even sweet flavor of the cheese.
FONTINA D’AOSTA
This is a semisoft cheese from the Valle d’Aosta, a large valley at the foot of Monte Bianco. While this cheese is pungent, its flavor should be assertive but not overwhelming. It has a silky smoothness of texture and melts beautifully, making it a great addition to baked polenta or pizza.
MUNSTER
Though Maroilles and Livarot are also candidates, Munster is unique in its stinkiness. Munster’s history dates back over a thousand years, to
A.D.
960. A good ripe Munster will perfume your refrigerator to the point where you won’t open the door unless you have to. This French Alsace cheese and its twin from Lorraine,
Géromé, are washed-rind cheeses with an interior reminiscent of a creamy, malty Trappist beer (which, incidentally, is its perfect accompaniment, along with a chewy dark rye with caraway seeds).
GORGONZOLA
There is a story about one of our past members opening the plastic bag that the Gorgonzola comes in and drinking the liquid therein. True? Who knows, but we still tell the story to all our new cheese clerks. Gorgonzola juice is so smelly—everyone at the Cheese Board knows it as one of the main culprits of Stinky Hand Syndrome—but let your cheesemonger worry about that part. With its flavors of toasted pistachios, cream, and salt, all in one wonderful mouthful, this cheese is too good to miss.
THE SCENT OF CHEESE
My first memories of working at the Cheese Board are impressed in the membrane cells of my nose. I had just moved back to Berkeley and was so happy to be working at the store. On Friday nights, my job was to restock and clean the cheese case. After my shift, I would stay and wash up with lemon juice, scrubbing to my elbows and wondering why I could still smell the stinkness as if I hadn’t washed at all. I would sniff my clothes—they seemed okay, but the smell coming from me was unbearable. When I eventually got home, my boyfriend would move toward me to give me a welcome-home kiss, but never make it to my lips before sending me off to the shower with a “Phew!”
It took years of experience (and meeting another man) for me to discover exactly what causes this unpleasant occurrence. It is the random piece of cheesy substance that hides itself on the unsuspecting clerk. Sometimes you just have to touch the end of your nose with a cheesy hand, and there it is! All day you keep sniffing around, washing your hands, but it is right there at the end of your nose the whole time.
It might have been when you cut a ripe Taleggio, and a wee bit of the perfuming rind was flung onto the side of your apron. Once you accidentally wipe it onto your fingertip, which then barely brushes the seam of your pants, you keep smelling something potent. You wash your hands, and by now you have learned to wash your face and nose too. You even change your apron, but you just keep smelling it. You know it’s somewhere nearby—maybe it’s your coworkers—no, it’s still there as you politely move away from them.
One occasion I’ll never forget. A customer called needing a low-fat cheese that she could get only at our store. I rarely have time to do this, but in this instance, I agreed to ship it to her. So I packed the box carefully with ice packs so the cheese would not spoil or smell, and ran up to a little shipping store a block from the Cheese Board. Standing in line for several minutes, I noticed something odiferous. When it was my turn, I was eager to share this information, so I leaned forward toward the young man behind the counter (a regular customer at our store), and murmured, “Hey, you know it smells pretty funky in here, you should open the door.” When he glanced at me and said, “It smells like cheese,” I shrunk to the size of a mini Stilton, meowed “I’m sorry,” hurriedly completed my business, and quickly left.
—Lisa
Super Bowl Cheese Plate
Super Bowl parties are the complete opposite of New Year’s Eve celebrations. Instead of cheeses to match with Champagne, select cheeses to eat with beer. Everyone always talks about matching cheese and wine, but beer has been a long-time companion to cheese. Below are a few suggestions for armchair football players.
TALEGGIO
Maybe Italians don’t watch American football, but Taleggio could easily be on a World Cup cheese plate. The pinkish rind is slightly gooey, with heavy yeasty overtones that do not mask the luscious sweetness of this cheese. (See a
discussion of the making of Taleggio
.)
ROOMANO GOUDA
Made in Holland from cow’s milk, Old Amsterdam Gouda is aged for a minimum of two years, during which time it develops a deep golden color, a firm smooth texture, and a butterscotch flavor. Sweet white crystals throughout the pâte add a crunchy texture to each bite.
I love the variety of the cheeses. I like to know how they are made, where they come from, what they are eaten with, and how they are traditionally eaten. I love seeing the way a wheel of cheese changes. I can taste a wheel of cheese and think, “Oh, this is nothing compared to the way it usually is.” Or, “Wow, this is by far the best wheel of this cheese we’ve ever had.” I eat cheese here, at the store, more out of a sense of responsibility than because I love it so much. I feel like I should taste all the cheese.
—ADAM
BEERKAESE
This is an American factory-made cow’s-milk cheese fashioned after a Danish Esrom. If aged long enough, it has a wonderful stinky quality and a deep flavor with hints of caraway. The paste is creamy in color and semisoft in texture, with small irregular holes.
GUBBEEN
Made in County Cork, Ireland, in two- to three-pound wheels, this pungent cow’s-milk cheese has a soft interior and an assertive flavor. It is a perfect cheese to eat while drinking stout.
COTSWOLD
This factory-made English cow’s-milk cheese is a mixture of Double Gloucester and chives. Orange in color with green specks throughout, it has a texture that is firm and smooth. The chives add a mild onion flavor to the cheese, which is delicious with beer and chips.
It’s weird, but when it’s the turn for my next customer, my favorite customers are often the next in line. Hardly anyone else ever gets to wait on them. It’s my fate to wait on them again and again. They go from being customers to being friends in no time.
—LISA
The very first Saturday I worked at the Cheese Board, a woman came in with her tiny baby. Now when I see that baby grown into a boy, it makes me so happy. Every time I see him it reminds me of my first day—he marks my tenure in the collective.
—CATHY
Intimate Picnic Plate
Whether the location is a meadow, a beach, or your living room floor, an intimate picnic implies romance and requires a simple and elegant selection of small cheeses. These cheeses travel well, whatever your destination, and reflect the mood of the occasion.
PICANDOU
This petite fresh goat cheese comes in two-ounce round disks that are perfect to share. It has a tart, floral flavor and a creamy texture. Serve it with fresh cherries and a glass of white wine.
CAMEMBERT
Sold in the familiar eight-ounce round wooden boxes, Camembert is made from cow’s milk that is hand ladled into molds and aged for three weeks. It has a bloomy white rind and the pâte is the color of straw. The rich, mellow flavor of Camembert is sensual and satisfying.
PETIT AGOUR
This one-pound Tomme is made from raw sheep’s milk from the Pyrénées. The small size of the cheese is perfect for cutting in half. The flavor is smooth, nutty, and bright, perfect with a light red wine.
Camping Cheeses
People often come into the store and ask for advice about what types of cheese would hold up to the rigors of camping. Some people will be car camping with a cooler, while others will only have a small space at the bottom of a backpack. In both cases they are looking for a cheese that is sturdy as well as tasty. Since cheese was developed mainly as a way of preserving milk before refrigeration existed, there are many types that are eminently suited to the exigencies of outdoor living. Our recommended cheeses are all well aged, and they will hold their shape and keep their flavor even when they are tossed around in a backpack, and heated by the sun at high altitudes. Most cheeses will sweat a combination of moisture and oil if left unrefrigerated; while the look may not be pleasing, usually no harm is done to the cheese. If cheeses are allowed to get hot, a more significant change of texture will occur; again, not always pretty, but usually edible. (Discard any cheese with a rank smell or brightly colored molds on the surface.) To keep cheese unrefrigerated, wrap it in a layer or two of cheesecloth and seal it tightly in two plastic bags.
DRY JACK
This California cheese is made in an eight-pound disk; its dark exterior is rubbed with oil and cocoa powder. It has a warm, mellow flavor that is pleasing on a sandwich or grated over a dinner dish. The extra-aged variety has a flaky quality and a sweet flavor.
PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO
Simply put, this is one of the best and most versatile cheeses around. Its use as a grating cheese is well-known, but it has been overlooked as an excellent cheese eaten out of hand. It may seem like a luxury, but as a backpacking cheese Parmigiano is hard to beat. It’s good with crackers and will make your high-altitude vermicelli taste great.
THE NASAL TOUR
“Why does my cheese taste stronger when I get it home?” is a frequently asked question at our cheese counter. The answer is partially due to how enthusiastic we are about strong cheeses—so much so that we influence our customers’ choices. But mostly it has to do with the store itself, which produces such an olfactory overload that the sense of taste is overwhelmed; as a result, robust-
tasting cheeses seem mild. Here is a nasal tour of our store, featuring a few of the aromas that compete with an accurate assessment of cheeses.
The two cheese cases, arranged in an L shape, produce a wonderful array of musty aromas. Wandering over to the goat cheese section, centrally displayed on wooden risers, you instantly get a whiff of the barnyard. A little farther along the same case, you find the French cheeses. Take a snort of the Munster and what can you say except, “Ah, stinky feet”? Of course, not all of the cheeses are so stinky. Walk around the protruding corner of the first case and you will discover the sheep cheeses; rather than reeking, they more often have a scent of caramel candy, rich and sweet. (An exception would be a liquidy Brin d’Amour melting on an unseasonably hot June day.) Many of these cheeses, such as the Beaufort, have a subtle fragrance that is experienced as both a bouquet and a delicious, complex flavor.
Mingled with the delightfully cheesy aroma of the store is the scent of hot bread fresh from the oven. The seductive smell is so strong that the last portion of my three-block stroll to work could probably be accomplished by following my nose with my eyes closed. From half a block away, I can tell whether or not cheese rolls are coming out of the oven. The fragrance of hot baked goods assaults the prospective cheese buyers, surrounding them in waves rising from the nearby baskets.
Other smells intertwine with the cheese and bread odors. In the back of the kitchen, near the Hobart bread mixer, lives the sourdough starter. Beware of the potent emanation coming from the buckets that house the starters. If a top is bulging, don’t ever make the mistake of putting your nose right over it when you open it, lest the pent-up gas escape with a hiss and rush up your nose. You’ll gasp, and tears will come to your eyes as the acidic fumes overload your sinuses. During warm weather, the sourdough starters frequently rise to the top of the buckets and push off their lids, foaming over onto the steel tray where they rest, forming a pool of odiferous white muck.
The espresso cart and coffee urns by the front window contribute a comforting mellowness to the surroundings that belies the jolt they provide a tired baking crew and busy customers on the way to work. The huge coffee urn remains hot and fragrant hours after it has been shut off and the Morning Bakery has closed down.
There are also those moments in our olfactory history we’d like to forget about, such as the time various staff members intermittently noticed acrid fumes of burning wood. A few days later, we figured out that our huge walk-in oven had succeeded in burning through the floor, and had started charring the joists underneath it!
The lesson: When tasting cheese, be aware that your nose is part of the experience, and adjust your selections accordingly!
—Ursula