The days when only Maytag Blue represented American blue cheese are long gone. From sweet and peppery Bayley Hazen Blue to the mineral-like taste of Tilston Point and the fruity pear flavor of Rogue River Blue, the options for American blue cheeses have dramatically increased. And, now, there's a new distinctly rustic blue cheese to add to this growing list -- Vaquero from Willow Hill Farm in Vermont.
Unlike other American blue cheeses, Vaquero has a creamy taste with a fascinating and delicious crispy dark chocolate flavor. "I would have to say it's the milk combination," explains Willow Smart, who co-owns the farm along with her husband, Dave Phinney. "We milk both sheep and cows, hence the yellow-ness from the cow's milk. We milk Brown Swiss and Dutch Belted cows, which always have very yellow milk as the beta-Carotene [red-orange pigment] from the pastures comes through in their rich milk."
Vaquero's rustic-looking rind, pale-yellow paste, and thick buttery consistency also make it stand apart from other blues. The natural exterior of the wheel appears similar to that of a Tomme de Savoie. Indeed, the cheese has the same brown Tomme de Savoie mold. Aged for three to five months, the molds, flavor and spreadable texture develop in caves that Willow and Dave built back in 1999.
When it comes to cheesemaking, the culinary exchange between Europe and America is especially noticeable. French cheeses, including Pouligny Saint Pierre and Sainte-Maure de Tourain, have influenced the style and taste of American cheeses, like Mont Vivant and Pipe Dreams ashed log. In addition to France, American cheesemakers, such as Charuth Loth from Farmstead First, look to other countries, like Holland and Italy. And, those looking for the American take on Welsh cheeses should look no further than Landaff, a raw cow's milk cheese inspired by Caerphilly, a cheese from Wales.
The reason for the Welsh influence is far from arbitrary. "The soils and rolling hills in Landaff, N.H., are similar to the terrain in the Cardiff area of Wales," says Deb Erb co-owner with husband Doug of Landaff Creamery. As with other cheeses, like Rogue River Blue, the taste of Landaff is affected by the soil on which the cows graze. Also, it just so happens that Landaff comes from Landaff, N.H. (hence, its name), which was originally named after the Bishop of Landaff, Wales, cleric to England's King George III. In short, this transatlantic influence can be attributed to history and similarities in soil.
Ever wondered where that lettuce leaf you're eating was grown?
Kroger says it's become the first grocery chain to employ traceability technology on its salads, so consumers can see exactly where its packaged Fresh Selections salad greens come from.
For its pre-washed, ready-to-serve salads, Kroger is using HarvestMark technology -- a 16-digit tracking code on packaging that consumers can plug into HarvestMark's Web site to trace the greens back to the source, including the region where the produce was grown and the date it was packed. It's part of the grocer's new "Quality You Can Trace" program.
Judges panel at the Art of Eating, from left to right:
Eberhard Muller, Natalie Sann, Paulette Satur, Daniel Boulud
and moderator David Rosengarten. Photo: Alexa Weibel.
If cooking is the way to one's heart, Daniel Boulud should be able to attribute much of his success to his understanding of food. "I think that every restaurant is the chef's soul," he says in documentary "A Certain Taste for America."
In an ongoing series entitled "Art de Vivre: The Art of Eating Today," led by the French Institute in New York City on Monday, a screening of the film (very doting on Boulud) was followed by a panel discussion reflecting upon the art of eating and, more specifically, the importance of sustainability and sourcing food.
As a world-renowned chef hailing from a small hamlet outside Lyon, Boulud has achieved his veritable empire -- 10 successful restaurants based in New York, Palm Beach, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Beijing -- by striving to keep a strict culinary focus on seasonal cooking and high-quality ingredients.
More on Boulud's rise to fame, and the panel discussion on sustainable produce, obesity in America, seasonal cooking and its debatable expenses, after the jump.
Expat foodies have been known to sniff out American favorites in every corner of the world, whether it's bagels, burgers or cupcakes. According to a review we read, even in China, it looks like a seriously good American burger can be had at Bistro Burger. Made from 100-percent Angus beef, imported from the States and ground on the premises, this Shanghai burger has the potential to be better than most you'd get in the U.S. We don't know what the meat to fat ratio is, but we'd be willing to try them regardless.
In addition to ordering a variety of international themed burgers, homesick visitors and expats can take advantage of the restaurant's October promotion, where they can "get a free milkshake with any burger." Apparently, authentic milkshakes are a big deal in these parts, due to the fact that many are made with ultrapasteurized or nonperishable milk, whereas Bistro Burger uses the fresh stuff.
The review also raves about the eatery's chili cheese fries, pronouncing them the "best" in Shanghai, as well as homemade apple pie packed with honest-to-goodness imported U.S. apples and Brooklyn beer. Who says you can't find the comforts of home halfway round the world?
Taco Zone customers never sleep. Photo: Alexa Weibel.
While most mobile food trucks have dealt with the animosity of less than enthusiastic local eateries, few are subjected to veritable street-meat turf wars. Yet the revered Los Angeles street vendor, Taco Zone, was set fire to one Friday night this past June, reported the Los Angeles Times. The subject of much debate, the fire's origin was never ascertained -- but motives are surmised to include hate crime, envious competitors, vandals or gang activity.
Regardless, in a city brimming with taco trucks on nearly every corner, Taco Zone reigns supreme in Los Angeles. The no-frills Echo Park truck -- outfitted in a plain metal exterior and typically parked just outside a Von's parking lot -- may be as visually unremarkable as the rest of the fleet of local food trucks, but has garnered a cult following for its zesty authentic Mexican tacos.
More on Taco Zone -- and a photo of their fare -- after the jump.
While affinage -- the process of aging cheeses -- is common in Parisian cheese shops, it's a striking novelty here in the U.S. So it makes sense that cheese shops like Artisanal and Murray's would reach out to our French cousins, fromagerieslike Alléosse, to perfect this age-old craft. Recently, we discovered beautifully aged cheeses, notably Pearl and Pipe Dreams Demi, from Saxelby Cheesemongers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Like Voltaire, the 18th-century French philosopherwho compared the intellectual work of assembling the Encyclopédie to cultivating a garden, Anne Saxelby also compares affinageto tending a garden: "I check up on them [the aging goat's milk cheeses] every half hour, moving stuff around and turning the cheeses," says Saxelby, who has been aging cheeses now for about two years.
We decided to try an un-aged Pipe Dreams Demi next to one that's been aged a week and a half to taste the difference (visually, they're extremely apparent – see the photo above). Upon cutting into the younger one (on the left), the paste tends to run from under the beautifully developed bloomy rind. The taste was surprisingly pungent and aggressively remained on the palate for several minutes. On the contrary, the aged Pipe Dreams Demi seemed like an ideal redistribution of the younger one's tanginess. The spicy taste, reminiscent of walnuts and similar to an aged Pouligny Saint Pierre, came in nearly perfectly measured successions.
Oktoberfests are ubiquitous this month. For those not interested in the chug-a-thons and oompah bands, check out this list of alternative options.
Dixon Lambtown USA, Dixon, Calif., Oct. 3: Break out the mint jelly! Attendees can participate in such culinary slugfests as the National Lamb Ribs Eating Contest and Barbecue Cook-Off, not to mention a shearing competition and sheepdog trials. For the kiddies, there's Mutton Bustin' -- a buckin' bronco bruising of the woolly kind. The Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival, New York, Oct. 8-11: Hosted by and benefiting the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength, this festival brings the toque and the home cook together. Everyone from sous chefs to casserole queens can attend wine seminars, recipe-creation panels and cooking demonstrations. For the kiddie cook, check out the Kids Get Cooking! series. Your favorite celebrity TV chefs will be there, en masse, including Ming Tsai, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and Anthony Bourdain, as well as culinary heavyweights such as Sue Torres, Marcus Samuelsson, Odette Fada, Daniel Boulud and David Chang.
Unlike a book not to be judged by its cover, you can always judge a cheese by its rind. Manchester, a raw goat's milk cheese from Consider Bardwell Farm in West Pawlet, Vt., has a stunning rustic rind (that must be eaten!) with ridges and brownish-yellow molds. In the U.S., we tend to associate mold with spoiled food; however, when it comes to artisanal cheese -- especially Manchester -- this association is just plain wrong.
The clay-like appearance of Manchester's ridges (which comes from the use of Italian cheese-basket molds) cannot be separated from the cheese's smooth, sweet aromatic flavor, which makes it comparable to a French Tomme de Savoie. In fact, it's the bacteria and mold around the cheese that contribute to this deliciously well-balanced masterpiece. Just eight weeks into the aging process, Manchester's rind already develops spots of red mold on what Peter Dixon, dairy foods consultant and cheesemaker at Consider Bardwell Farm, calls a "wild rind."
By "wild," does Dixon mean to say that the molds and the bacteria grow naturally out of nowhere? Well, yes and no. After making Manchester, Dixon uses a soft brush dipped in whey to wash the rind. "Whatever microbes like that [whey] will grow," says Dixon. "We make the cheese, and then create the look by turning the cheese and rubbing it a couple of times a week."
Texas is first and foremost about all things Texas. GO TEXAN, a program from the Texas Department of Agriculture, organizes homegrown food events, including the Restaurant Round-Up and Chocolate Festival of Texas & Texas Wine. The organization also sponsors the GO TEXAN sampling event in the Food and Fiber Pavilion at the State Fair of Texas. Attendees can munch on Lone Star State freebies among rustic booths and kiosks decorated with Texan tchotchke.
While they are difficult to find, the samples include pecans -- the official health nut of Texas -- and delicious honeys. Check out the infomercial-ready presentations of cookware for a laugh or a purchase. At the Borden booth, this blogger greeted Elsie the Cow, who soothed his chili-ignited mouth with some milk.
Deep frying improves all. But at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, fried really hurts. On Opening Day, Slashfood set out to eat all eight of the Big Tex Choice Awards finalists, including the nationally heralded, light and not greasy Deep Fried Butter by Abel Gonzales Jr. (voted Most Creative) and Fernie's Deep Fried Peaches & Cream by Christi Erpillo (voted Best Tasting).
Both fried-food creators have State Fair pedigrees. For several years, each has placed as a finalist or won top prizes. These include Fernie's All-American Fried Grilled Cheese Sandwich in 2008 and Gonzalez's Fried Coke in 2006.
"I go on these kicks where I have to eat the same food, prepared in the same way for weeks," Gonzalez said. "Toast was one of them. I thought, 'What's so great about toast? Not the bread; it's the butter.' "
September might be halfway over and autumn imminent, but that doesn't mean the fall food fun has to end. Here's a selection of September food fests across the country.
Nappanee Apple Festival, Nappanee, Ind., Sept. 17-20: Apple season is upon us. Many are headed to pick-your-own orchards. This festival includes an apple-peeling contest, apple bake-off, pie-eating contest and the world's largest baked apple pie, weighing in at 600 pounds and a whopping 7 feet across. There's a daily lumberjack show, too.
The Houston Hot Sauce Festival, Houston, Sept. 19-20: Hot sauce festivals are on fire! Nationwide, they're popular, chilehead blow-outs. Attendees can sample and purchase a plethora of sauces, chiles and dry rubs. Don't forget to vote in the People's Choice for the Hottest Hot Sauce at this ninth annual festival.
After spending months tasting mostly French cheeses, it's hard not to compare our diverse American cheeses to their European counterparts, especially Adelle from Ancient Heritage Dairy in Scio, Oregon. A taste of Adelle is like taking a bite of a phenomenally aged French goat's-milk cheese with an oozy texture and a flavor reminiscent of hazelnuts. What's remarkable about Adelle is that, despite this similarity, it's not a goat's-milk cheese.
In contrast to a French goat's-milk cheese like Pouligny Saint Pierre, Adelle's complex taste can be attributed to a combination of milks – that of East Friesian sheep and of Ayrshire Cows. While its rich taste and creamy consistency come from cow's milk, its meaty pungency and finish come from the addition of sheep's milk. Anne Saxelby, owner of Saxelby Cheesemongers, refers to mixed milk cheese as an "American innovation."
The reason for this American technique of mixing milk from different animals has to do with the seasonality of certain milks. For instance, sheep usually stop milking in October. "We could not afford to stop producing cheeses from October until the spring," says Kathy Obringer, co-owner of Ancient Heritage Dairy (with husband Paul). "So, one season, we used the cow's milk from a neighbor in exchange for cheese lessons, and we mixed it with our frozen sheep's milk."
Before new students at the University of South Carolina can tackle physics and philosophy, they first have to confront boiled peanuts.
Hundreds of out-of-state Gamecocks each year enroll in the school's optional workshop, "What's the Big Deal About Sweet Tea?", intended to ease the transition into Southern-style eating. Acknowledging that discomfort in the dining room might cause some northern-born USC'ers to consider transferring somewhere where eggs are served with hash browns instead of grits, the retention-minded university recently added the immersion seminar to its orientation-week schedule.
"We want to help people feel better about their new home," explains Angela Street, coordinator of Initiatives for Special Student Populations (i.e. Yankees).
Farming may be an endless tale of drought, pests and blight, but North Carolina agriculture officials are encouraging their state's farmers to find more succinct ways to tell their stories.
The state recently held a social-media seminar for farmers, a group that's been notably reticent in the tweet department. While experts aren't sure whether to blame spotty network coverage in rural areas or the exhaustive pace of farming for farmers' near-invisibility in Twitterville, they're hoping to encourage growers to join chefs and restaurant owners in promoting their products via online networks.
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