Nov 4, 2013
Max with friends at the Colorado Cheese Festival
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Max with friends at the Colorado Cheese Festival
Terrance Brennan opened Picholine restaurant in October of 1993, one block east of Lincoln Center. At the time there was a dearth of fine restaurants in the neighborhood: some nice ones here and there but few that were truly exceptional. Terrance ...
Outside our windows I can usually see cars backed up for miles, or at least as far as the eye can see. The same crowded scene prevails every weekday morning. One of my colleagues is even suffering from extra commuting delays due to a power outage on ...
Boy does he ever! The first time I was invited to speak at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival was a sell-out, with people lined up around the outside of the Odyssey hoping to squeeze in. What seemed like it might be a routine Cheese and Wine 101 ended up being a major production for the Disney cast. ...
Conquering the Summertime Blues with Gamay
Who says you have to wait until winter to indulge in the blues? Last night I was reminded of how delightful those blue cheeses can be when I tried one with a cool Beaujolais. Cool, not cold. The grape is Gamay – a grape I’ve recommended for many cheese types and with a big nod in Mastering Cheese. The Beaujolais was an easy-on-the-pocketbook Beaujolais-Villages and the blue was a modestly priced but delicious Bleu de Laqueuille. The pairing was a marriage-made-in-heaven. I checked my notes to see how other blues have paired with the Gamay varietal, recalling at least one great match with Valdeón. Then I found another with Caveman Blue and other nice matches with Blu del Moncenisio, Fourme d’Ambert, Roquefort and Stilton. I know there are many fans of blue cheeses out there. Ports and Sauternes are recognized as ideal beverages for blue cheeses but you might try Beaujolais instead. Just because they are called blue cheeses does not mean they are the same, not at all. So it could make for an interesting summer course of “study”: the blue plate special.
Max McCalman
Cultural Affairs: The Garrotxa Anomaly - Max McCalman
“The best wine for goat milk cheeses is Sauvignon Blanc, right?
To lump all goat milk cheeses into the Sauvignon Blanc fiefdom is not something to assume as a given. There are many variables to consider beyond species. The choice of cultures employed in…
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Processed Cheese
Processed cheese or "cheese food" is an all-purpose term that covers any number of mass-market products. The basic "process" is that cheese is melted down and mixed with various preservatives, fats, flavorings, colorings, and water. It is then reconstituted in blocks, slices, or wedges, sometimes packed into tubs, often shrink-wrapped in plastic.
If you want good cheese, buy only freshly cut cheeses; don't buy anything that is prepackaged. If you buy prepackaged, read the label and beware of chemical additives or preservatives as well as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats or oils. And always remember that good cheese – real cheese – is made from milk, starter cultures, rennet or a plant coagulant and occasionally a natural coloring or a mold culture. Nothing more.
- from The Cheese Plate, by Max McCalman and David Gibbons
Keep on Tasting: The Same Cheese May Be Different Next Time
"One of the wonderful qualities of artisanal cheeses is that not every wheel or drum or button is the same. Every single real cheese, as a living, breathing artifact, will evolve, its flavor profile developing and changing. This is why you don't want to miss the first, second, third, or any other impression. Not only will wheels differ from one to the next but the same wheel can taste better – sometimes much better – from one day to the next."
- from Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maitre Fromager, by Max McCalman and David Gibbons