Spring 2020

NATURAL WINE WITH NATURAL CHEESE

VISIT THE VALLE DE GUADALUPE: MEXICO’S CHEESE CAPITAL

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE YOUR CHEESE

THE SUSTAINABILITY ISSUE SPRING 2020

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VOLUME 12 . ISSUE 2

SPR I N G 2020

A CHEESE PLATE FOR A LOW-WASTE LIFE

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ST. M AL ACHI CENTERFOLD

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spring

2020

— 70 —

THE ROAD SOUTH Journey to Mexico’s cheese and wine region.

by Whitney Otawka

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ST. MALACHI

Find out what makes this wheel so heavenly.

by Margaret Leahy

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SUSTAINABLE MEAT AT EVERY MEAL

Kitchen activism just got easier (and cheesier).

by Emily Farris

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WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

These US cheesemakers are harnessing the power of poop.

by Linni Kral

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THE NATURAL TOUCH

ON THE COVER: Cowgirl Creamery’s Red Hawk (left) and Mt Tam (right) Photographed by Adam DeTour, Styled by Kendra Smith

Cheeses made as they used to be: naturally.

by Chris Allsop

THIS PAGE: Photographed by Benjamin Wheatley

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The First Taste of Spring Available for a Limited Time Only

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Made from the first milkings when cows are led to pasture, after having spent the winter indoors.

Milk taken during this specific period, is the creamiest milk of the year; which accords the cheese a rich and creamy consistency along with a deep favor. Known in the Netherlands as the “cheese from the meadow” Artikaas Youngsters First Milk is particularly sweet, buttery savory and texture. This pasteurized Gouda’s fresh, grass-fed flavors appease cheese aficionados, while being mild enough to please novice consumers. Fantastic on its own, its pliant, smooth texture is also a perfect option for melting. Produced in limited quantities, it is matured for one-month before being sold in the market.

Upon its release, seasonal fresh fruit from early summer pickings will be a timely and elegant pairing with Artikaas Youngsters First Milk. Best served with a dry Rosé or a dry Prosecco.

®

MAKING CHEESE SINCE 1890

DutchCheeseMakers.com

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What’s Inside VOLUME 12, ISSUE 2

NE W & NOTE WOR THY

10 New on the Market

Discover just-released cheeses, accompaniments, and more.

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11 Cheese Lit

Southern chef Peter Dale dishes on his many restaurants, plus his take on cheesy comfort.

12 Farm Animal

CHEF’S DISH

In-house reviews of four curd-related books.

Learn about Icelandic sheep, one of the world’s oldest sheep breeds.

COLUMNS

14 Ask a Cheese Expert

Is there a difference between ‘raw’ and ‘pasteurized’? Why do only some cheeses have DOP/PDO/AOP status?

16 Meat And Cheese

Erika Nakamura explains how to expertly match salumi with formaggi.

18 Drinks With Cheese

Pair natural cheese with natural wine.

22 Voicings

It’s no secret: Rachel Fritz Schaal is all about raw milk, natural cheese, and fighting for the little guys.

88 Ruminations

The one where culture finally discusses vegan cheese.

CULTURE CO OK S

24 In Season

Add tangy ramps to your springtime meals, and don’t forget the curds!

26 Cheese Plate PHOTO: Bailey Garrot

Cowgirl Creamery crafts this issue’s environmentally-friendly cheese plate.

28 Can Do

Three tasty tips for reducing your cheese waste.

IN E VE RY ISSUE 4 Recipe Index 6 From the Editor 8 Contributors 9 @culturecheese 87 Shop Talk

37 One Cheese, Five Ways

Fresh and versatile, queso fresco is the cheese you need for spring.

SPRING 2020

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eat RECIPES IN THIS ISSUE

25 Cheesy Spaghetti with Ramps and Chiles 82 Green Chili and Queso Fresco Frittata 82 Grilled Zucchini with Cilantro Buttermilk, Queso Fresco, and Pine Nuts 85 Leftover Steak Salad with Fresh Cheese 79 Maepole Mac and Cheese 86 Ribeye Steak with Gorgonzola Butter 83 Spicy Ground Beef Breakfast Casserole 86 Stuffed Meatballs

84 Tri-Tip Steak Sandwich 81 Watermelon & Tomato Salad with Queso Fresco and Sweet Peppers 80 Whipped Queso Fresco with Spring Vegetables

PHOTO: Bailey Garrot

80 Tomato Braised Chickpeas with Queso Fresco and Lime

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CEO Bill Springer Publisher Matt Thomas Founder Stephanie Skinner Editor-in-Chief Madison Trapkin

The Oldest Family-Owned Cheese Company in California

EDITORIAL

Associate Editor

Digital Assistant

Copy Editors

Editorial Intern

Margaret Leahy Monica Petrucci Kristina DeMichele, Meghan Kavanaugh Dana Ferrante

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Creative Director

Mallory Scyphers

ADVERTISING SALES

National Brand Managers

Sales Coordinator

Rebecca Carrington, Natalie E. Herman Shauna Epstein

CONTRIBUTORS EDITORIAL Chris Allsop, Anna Brones, Emily Farris, Linni Kral,

Erika Nakamura, Whitney Otawka PHOTOGRAPHY Adam DeTour, Nina Gallant, Benjamin Wheatley STYLING Chantal Lambeth, Kendra Smith ART AND ILLUSTRATION Erin Wallace PRINTER Lane Press, Burlington, Vt.

HOW TO REACH US For SUBSCRIPTION ORDERS and customer service inquiries, call toll-free, 866.318.7863; 8 a.m.–5 p.m. EST Mon.–Fri. For ADVERTISING, contact Rebecca Carrington, t. 607.432.2219; f. 866.557.1212; rcarrington@jvjohnson.com or Natalie E. Herman, t. 908.996.7339; natalie@culturecheesemag.com For RETAIL SALES, contact Shauna Epstein at production@culturecheesemag.com For EDITORIAL, contact Madison Trapkin at editor@culturecheesemag.com For CREATIVE, contact Mallory Scyphers at design@culturecheesemag.com

culture magazine (ISSN 1945-1466) is published six times a year (Winter, Spring, The Great 28 Pairings Guide, Summer, Autumn, and Best Cheeses of the Year) by CheeseToast Inc., PO Box 1064, Lynnfield, MA 01940.

Back issues of culture are available online at culturecheesemag.com.

SUBSCRIPTIONS are $30 for one year. Canadian subscriptions $40; all other foreign subscriptions $60. US currency only.

Go to culturecheesemag.com/subscribe or write to culture, PO Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834.

Visit us at culturecheesemag.com or facebook.com/culturecheesemag

www.rumianocheese.com

PLEASE RECYCLE THIS MAGAZINE

Remove inserts before recycling.

SPRING 2020

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FROM the E D ITO R

T

hese days it feels increasingly difficult to go green.

Products we once trusted have proven unsustainable, and many eco-conscious measures can seem like a mere drop in the bucket of carbon neutrality. But here at culture, we’re encouraged every day by the cheesemakers who work to give back to the land that gives them so much. In this, the Sustainability Issue, we track some big green shifts in the cheese and larger food communities.

Author Linni Kral takes us on a tour of three US farms that are harnessing their methane emissions to power their cheesemaking facilities, one cow patty at a time (“Waste Not, Want Not,” p. 56). Then there’s this issue’s Centerfold, the heavenly St. Malachi from the Farm at Doe Run on p. 44. This cheese hails from a dairy farm that embodies sustainability, from the trees they plant to filter the local waterways, to the whey byproduct they feed to their pigs. Lower-impact natural cheeses (and wine!) feature big in this issue, as lauded by Chris Allsop (“The Natural Touch,” p. 64), Rachel Fritz Schaal (Voicings, p.

22), and culture’s own Madison Trapkin (Drinks with Cheese, p. 18).

Also in this issue, we hit the road with Whitney Otawka to marvel at the red hills, cheese caves, and sprawling vineyards of Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico (“The Road South,” p. 70). We catch Erika Nakamura waxing romantic about the union of meat and cheese, which might be enough to make the staunchest vegetarian question their ideals (“Salumi and Formaggi: A Love Story for the Ages,” p. 16). We even swoop in to rescue your deli drawer with Anna Brones’ whimsically simple solutions for your leftover cheese chunks (“No Rind Left Behind,” p. 28).

The major theme running through this issue’s pieces is cyclical: as farmers and cheesemakers reduce, reuse, and recycle, they’re taking what’s old and making it new again in order to leave as soft a mark as they can on the planet. Let’s take a slice out of their cheese wheel and work together to make the world a greener, cheesier place!

—MARGARET LEAHY, A SSOCIATE EDITOR

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CO NTRIB UTO R S

Chris Allsop is a UK-based freelance food and travel writer and British Cheese Awards Judge with a soft spot for British farmhouse cheeses. Allsop begins this issue’s Style Feature (p. 64) on natural cheese in Italy’s Piedmont region, where Slow Food’s 2019 Cheese event celebrated formaggio made “the natural whey.”

Illustrator Erin Wallace brings culture’s Farm Animal (p. 12), In Season (p. 24), Can Do (p. 28), and Ruminations (p. 88) columns to life in this issue. With a background in printmaking and illustration, Wallace always has her hands busy, whether she’s sketching, sewing boxy linen clothing, or making kimchi.

Writer, editor, and former cheesemonger Linni Kral doesn’t usually muck around when it comes to the dairy industry. In this issue, however, Kral sheds light on the handful of pioneer cheesemakers incorporating methane energy conversion into their operations; or as she likes to put it, “saving the planet, one cow pie at a time” (p. 56).

Vegetarian-turnedartisan-butcher Erika Nakamura is the recent co-founder of a smallbatch sausage company, J&E Small Goods. Fired up about making quality meats accessible to all, Nakamura brings her butchery expertise to the cheeseboard, breaking down the age-old love affair between salumi and formaggi in culture’s inaugural Meat And Cheese column (p. 16).

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@CU LTU RECHE E S E

Your Digital Dose of Dairy

GET CULTURED IN JUST ONE CLICK (OR SWIPE) Visit culturecheesemag.com for more cheesy content, from articles like the piece on a Croation cheese finally achieving the honorable PDO status after a decade of campaigning, to countless fromage-filled recipes.

Check out our culturecheesemag.com/cheese-library, the ultimate resource for cheese knowledge. From aged cheddar to za’atar burrata, the Cheese Library has over 1,000 entries chock-full of history, flavor notes, and—of course—pairing suggestions.

CHEESE PHOTO (LEFT) BY Adam DeTour

Hungry for more? Search our online Retailer Directory by location or store type to locate a cheese shop near you.

Visit culturecheesemag.com/cheese-shop.

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NE W & N OTE WO R TH Y

NEW on the Market

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Our pantry goals for 2020?

Create a pantry as beautiful as it is delicious. Known for their stylishly empowering “Pine For” pantry guides, Pineapple Collaborative recently launched their own line of pantry staples to promote small-batch, women-made products. The Olive Oil is organic, perfect for dipping or drizzling over mozzarella, and comes in three sumptuously-colored tins.

PHOTOS: Diaspora Co.: Andria Lo; Pineapple Collaborative: Heidi’s Bridge

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Nothing gets us more fired up than ethically-sourced, pesticide-free spices from Diaspora Co. Their latest flavor bomb, Single Origin Guntur Sannam Chilli Powder, adds a fruity, even heat to any last-minute dinner; just a pinch boosts mac and cheese, chili, or creamy curry to the next level.

A compact blue beauty, Jasper Hill Farm’s recent creation Bridgman Blue marks one of the decorated cheesemaker’s first forays into the caprine world.

A touch sweeter than Jasper Hill’s tried-and-true Bayley Hazen Blue, this creamy mixed-milk cheese also boasts a piquant, goaty bite. Pair this salty-sweet wedge with seedy crackers or bright dried fruit.

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Put down the plastic and protect your cheese—and the environment—with Z Wraps reusable beeswax food wraps. Mix and match your favorite signature cotton fabric designs with their new Multi-Pack option. From leftover cheddar wedges to fresh baguettes, Z Wraps have your cheese board leftovers covered.

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In the words of the master-makers at Vermont Creamery: “These handrolled fresh goat cheese logs are chèvrything.” Coated in the classic sweet and savory spice blend, Everything Goat Cheese tastes great with preserved mushrooms, floral honey, or even dark chocolate.

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NE W & N OTE WO R TH Y

Cheese Lit 1. HANGOVER HELPER With this expertly-researched collection of recipes, Lauren Shockey will have you planning your next night out around the next day’s meal. Hangover Helper (Hardie Grant, 2019; $20) details the precise causes, preventative measures, and treatments for hangovers before diving into mouth-watering DIY remedies from around the world, labeled according to post-partying difficulty. Brace yourself: nearly everything is carb-y, fried, and smothered in cheese.

2. CHEESE BEER WINE CIDER Cheese Beer Wine Cider (Countryman Press, 2019; $25) is the ultimate guidebook for the truly pairing-obsessed. Authors and cheese geeks Steve Jones and Adam Lindsley break down the basic elements of pairing cheese with fermented alcohols,

painting a vivid picture of what to expect from the colliding textures, tastes, and smells of each suggested partnership.

Enhanced by David L. Reamer’s moody photography, this book will send you sprinting to your local cheese shop to test their assertions.

Ryan Jacobs’ true-crime tale The Truffle Underground (Clarkson Potter, 2019; $12) digs into the prized fungus’ supply chain, from foragers in France and Italy, to fraudulent middlemen, to five-star restaurants around the globe.

4. HOMEMADE YOGURT & KEFIR: 3. THE TRUFFLE UNDERGROUND: 71 RECIPES FOR MAKING & USING A TALE OF MYSTERY, MAYHEM, AND PROBIOTIC-RICH FERMENTS MANIPULATION IN THE SHADOWY Sporting products like Icelandic skyr and MARKET OF THE WORLD’S MOST “almondgurt,” the modern-day dairy aisle is more inclusive than ever. In Homemade EXPENSIVE FUNGUS Yogurt & Kefir (Storey Publishing, 2020; Whether shaved over handmade tagliatelle or encased in a double cream brie, the truffle’s luxurious legacy and mountain forest flavor profile masks an underworld of deceit, theft, and sometimes deadly crime. Following up on his 2014 exposé in The Atlantic,

$20), dairy expert Gianaclis Caldwell embraces this reality, outlining the basics of traditional cow’s, goat’s, and sheep’s milk yogurt- and kefir-making alongside dairy-free alternatives. Experts and amateurs alike will delight in her accompanying recipes for cultured butters, gazpachos, and creamy cocktails.

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NE W & N OTE WO R TH Y

FARM ANIMAL: ICELANDIC SHEEP illustrated by

ERIN WALL ACE

BREED: Icelandic Sheep SPECIES: Ovis aries COLOR/PATTERN: White, brown, or gray wool; often patterned HEIGHT: 25 to 34 inches WEIGHT: 130 to 220 pounds REGION OF ORIGIN: Northern Europe Widely considered the oldest, purest sheep breed in the world, Icelandic sheep are prized for their hardiness, dual coat, and ability to survive on pasture grazing. These unique traits derive from over a thousand years of natural and selective breeding in Iceland’s subarctic climate, where the animals have remained the island’s exclusive ovine breed since Vikings first arrived with their Northern European Short Tail relatives. Sheep prevailed as Iceland’s primary source of dairy until the mid-20th century, when mechanized haying made cow-rearing more feasible.

What Icelandic sheep lack in milk yield, they make up for in rich, naturally sweet milk, perfect for all things cultured, such as Icelandic skyr, butter, and cheese. In addition to milk, Icelandic sheep are also profitable sources of meat and wool. The latter has earned them a following within the crafting community: their dual-coated wool—a soft, fine, insulating undercoat combined with a tough, glossy, water repellant outercoat—fetches premium prices. —Dana Ferrante

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NE W & N OTE WO R TH Y

CAVEMAN BLUE

PHOTO: Beryl Striewski

(WE PROMISE IT’S NOT AS OLD AS ITS NAMESAKE)

Yeti, Sasquatch, Abominable Snowman—for a creature spotted so infrequently, Bigfoot’s names are a dime a dozen. In Grants Pass, Oregon, locals inspired by southern Oregon’s extensive cave system have historically preferred the name “Caveman,” frequently portraying the fabled humanoid in costume at city events. Embracing the local folklore, early 20th century dairy factory Rogue Gold featured a lumbering caveman as their emblem. A century later, when it came time for the modern-day Rogue Creamery to name their cave-aged, mold-riddled blue, the choice was easy: Caveman Blue.

Complete with bristly lettering, stalactites, cave drawings, and of course, a woolly caveman, the label reflects the “unique, distinctive, and quirky cheese” underneath, explains Marguerite Merritt, Marketing Manager at Rogue Creamery.

Merritt says the label has essentially remained the same since 2004, with new awards and certification updates

over the years. Foremost among these changes has been the addition of certified organic and Oregon B Corp seals: While Rogue has long been inspired by a sense of place, the creamery earned its B Corp status in 2016.

“Being a B Corporation is all about sustainability and using [our] business to build a better future,” says Merritt.

“The culture of Oregon is distinctively artisan, and this label is a great example of how many Oregon makers are opting for character, personality, and authenticity in their branding.”

When asked how the creamery’s win at the 2019 World Cheese Awards will affect their labels going forward, Merritt says, “We’ll continue to innovate and experiment.” She assures fans that Rogue’s designs will always celebrate “the character of our cheese, our place in Southern Oregon, and our mission: sustainability, service, and the art and tradition [of cheesemaking].”

—Dana Ferrante SPRING 2020

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A S K A CHE E S E E XPE R T

Ask a Cheese Expert writ ten by

GIANACLIS CALDWELL

Q:

Is there a difference between “raw” and “pasteurized”?

There sure is! The differences are both technical and aesthetic. Let’s start with the technical difference between raw milk and pasteurized milk cheeses.

In the United States, as in most countries, the term “pasteurized” is appropriate when the milk used to make cheese has been heat-treated according to regulatory standards. There are several possibilities for a combination of time and temperature, all of which are formulated to eliminate or reduce the number of microbes in the milk to a level the FDA considers safe. Most pasteurization processes do not sterilize the milk; in fact, if they did, the milk would be altered to a state unsuitable for creating a natural cheese. Pasteurization processes and equipment are closely monitored by the cheesemaker, milk processor, and regulators to ensure that FDA parameters are met. Currently in the United States, all cheeses that are not aged over 60 days and above freezing must be made from pasteurized milk.

When milk is not heated within these parameters, it is legally considered raw milk. That might mean that it has had an alternative treatment that falls outside the criterion stipulated by the FDA. One example is a process called thermization, which some cheesemakers use to lower the bacteria count yet retain the milk’s native enzymes and protein status. More often, though, “raw milk” means there has been no heat treatment—other than the temperature the milk attains during the natural cheesemaking process.

Now to the aesthetic differences—those you might be able to taste and smell.

Raw milk contains a significant microbial load as well as native enzymes. Harmless,

lactic acid-producing bacteria, together with the enzymes, contribute greatly to the development of the cheese. Most raw milk cheesemakers (but not all) also add microbes that will ensure acid production and flavor. Pasteurized milk depends fully on these added cultures and the enzyme in rennet (a coagulant) that, after coagulation, helps break proteins down as the cheese ages. As you can probably imagine, high quality raw milk offers the most potential for variety of unique and distinctive flavors.

The choice between making raw or pasteurized milk cheese is based on whether the cheese is fresh or aged, and how confident the cheesemaker is in the safety and quality of the milk source.

Only the freshest and highest-quality milk should be used to make raw milk products. A good cheesemaker will assess this suitability on an ongoing basis.

Q:

Why do only some cheeses have DOP/PDO/AOP status?

If you’re like me, acronyms tend to spill off the tongue in a haphazard fashion; When it comes to reading cheese labels, you might get a mouthful of these abbreviations. These European-based acronyms are “geographical indications” (and yes, that has its own acronym of GI). They are also referred to as “quality schemes,” which are designed to help consumers have confidence in the products. Before the formation of the European Union, countries such as France and Italy had their own GIs. Once these nations became part of the EU, most of the terminology was streamlined to the single GI of “protected designation of origin,” or PDO. However, since protected designation of origin is an English term, the same

term translates differently in other languages. For example, in France the PDO equivalent is appellation d’origine protégée, or AOP; in Italy it is denominazione di origine protetta, or DOP; and in Spain it is denominación de origen protegida, also DOP. (If you want a more in-depth answer, I recommend reading the section titled “Cheese Appellations” in Max McCalman and David Gibbons’ book Mastering Cheese (Clarkson Potter, 2009).)

For a cheese to qualify for PDO or equivalent status, it must meet certain criteria that include things such as where it is made (the appellation), how it is made (the recipe), the source of the milk, and how and where the cheese is aged (the affinage). This aspect of appellations is quite complex and no stranger to controversy.

No such systems exist in North America, which isn’t surprising given the more recent history of cheesemaking and the proudly independent nature of North Americans (cheesemakers included).

I suggest viewing these schemes as, in effect, preserving a maker’s process as it was at the time the status was granted.

This doesn’t mean that the process is inherently more artisan! The best example of this is the English classic Stilton, which was made with pasteurized milk at the time it was granted the PDO label, even though it had a long tradition of being made with raw milk before that. (It’s up in the air as to what Brexit will do to the PDO British cheeses!) c Oregon native GIANACLIS CALDWELL grew up milking cows but was lured to the “goat side” where she remains a committed devotee.

She was a commercial cheesemaker at her dairy Pholia Farm for over 10 years and now milks her Nigerian Dwarf goats just for pleasure—in between writing books (six of those), speaking, and judging cheese (the most fun).

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A S K A CHE E S E E XPE R T

HERE’S A QUICK GUIDE TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION ACRONYMS: AOC = (France) appellation d’origine contrôlée. First used in 1925.

AOP = (France) appellation d’origine protégée. This is the current PDO equivalent.

DO = (Spain) denominación di origen (appellation of origin).

First used in 1951.

DOP = (Italy and Spain) denominazione di origine protetta and denominación de origen protegida. This is the current PDO equivalent.

PDO = (European Union) protected designation of origin. Products labeled with this mark are produced, processed, and refined in a clearly defined region. First used in 1996.

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ME AT A ND CHE E S E

Salumi and Formaggi A LOVE AFFAIR FOR THE AGES

writ ten by

ERIK A NAK AMURA |

I’

photographed by

ve never met a cheese I didn’t like.

When I was a kid, I used to adore the little wedges of Laughing Cow. I would sit at the table, carefully peel back the foil wrapper, and then shove the whole triangle of creamy processed goodness in my mouth. I also loved string cheese and found endless amusement in pulling apart strands and dangling them into my mouth from above.

Other, more complex cheeses were hard to come by in Tokyo where I grew up, mainly because they weren’t available in

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MADISON TRAPKIN

the Japanese gourmet food market in the 1980s. My father had a taste for the stinky stuff—the smells only the cat would stick around for. When my father would return from a business trip to Paris or Milan, I knew I was in for it. He’d preciously wrap the contraband cheese in layers of paper and plastic so he could pass through customs undetected. I was lucky to be raised by parents who dug the funk.

As I matured, so did my taste buds.

I developed a taste for cheese with character—weird, bright, tangy, earthy,

rich, nutty, salty, sweet; when time, temperature, mold, and terroir come together in perfect harmony to produce each unique flavor profile. Salumi (Italian for “cured meats”) are produced in a very similar fashion, so it makes sense to match them with their dairy counterparts.

Within the salumi family, you’ll find many dry-cured meat products you’re already familiar with, such as prosciutto, Genoa salami, and mortadella. If you’re a more adventurous carnivore, perhaps you’ve sampled soppressata, finocchiona, capicola, or bresaola at your local Italian deli. And if you’re a fan of “The Sopranos” (or you live near an ItalianAmerican community) you’ve probably heard pronunciations like “gabagool” (capicola) or “brejole” (bresaola). These are all salumi!

Salumi is made by manipulating natural elements, much like the cheesemaking process; the final flavor profile is defined by genetics (of hog or steer), diet, environment, and natural bacteria (a.k.a. cultures). Upon humane and ethical harvest, the meat product is then packed with salt and herbs and stored for a period of time. Salt is used to remove moisture from the meat and acts as an antimicrobial, which prevents the meat from spoiling at this early stage. Bits of salt penetrate deep beyond the surface of the meat through osmosis, replacing a portion of the moisture. This process is called curing.

The earliest forms of salumi were made simply with meat and salt, then left in a dry, cool place with ventilation to age over time. The same general technique is applied today. The bigger the muscle, the longer it takes to dry and age. For example, prosciutto takes a minimum of 16 months to reach its full maturation.

Over time, things start to ferment; connective tissue begins to break down, crunchy salt crystals form in small nooks, and the true depth of flavor is exposed— aging is when the real magic begins, much like with cheese.

Beyond the ancient techniques and deeply engrained European traditions, I’m not entirely sure how dry-cured meats and cheeses became such a quintessential pairing. But the resulting taste is undeniable. c

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ME AT A ND CHE E S E

SPANISH CHORIZO (DRIED) + 1 YEAR MANCHEGO Manchego is a hard Spanish cheese made with sheep’s milk.

Despite being a hard cheese, it has a smooth, buttery mouthfeel, and complements the pimentón (smoked paprika) and garlic notes in the chorizo. Since chorizo is packed with pork fat that coats the inside of the mouth and awakens the taste buds, Manchego’s sharp nuttiness is a perfect match.

MORTADELLA WITH PISTACHIOS + 4 YEAR AGED GOUDA PITTIG Unlike prosciutto, mortadella is an emulsified sausage that’s been thinly sliced, similar to American bologna. It’s supple, fatty, and lightly seasoned with spices like black pepper, myrtle berries, and whole pistachio nuts. It’s a great match for the aged Gouda’s caramel and butterscotch flavors.

PROSCIUTTO DI PARMA + 30 MONTH AGED PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO I love this pairing because both Parmigiano-Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma are produced in Italy’s Parma region, so they have similar terroir.

Because this prosciutto is quite lean and mild, it pairs nicely with an aged Parmigiano with deep, nutty flavor. I love the little crystalline crunch hidden in the aged cheese, which also has a surprising sweetness that stands up to the porkiness of the prosciutto.

WIN

Enter our spring giveaway and you could be one of three lucky readers to receive a package from Caputo Cheese including three of their award-winning cheeses.

WINNERS WILL RECEIVE: • 1 tub hand-dipped Ricotta 16oz • 1 tub Burrata 12oz • 1 tub Nodini 8oz • 1 tub Caputo Pesto 8.8oz • 1 Essere Franco hand-crafted wooden cutting board • 1 cotton denim Caputo embroidered apron

Visit culturecheesemag.com/giveaway to enter your name in our May 12, 2020 drawing. No purchase necessary. You must be a resident of the US or have a US mailing address to win.

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Margot Mazur holds Haltwhistle Pennymede

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D RINK S WITH CHE E S E

Tasty by Nature

PAIR LIKE WITH LIKE IN OUR ALL-NATURAL CHEESE AND WINE MATCHUP

writ ten and photographed by

“N

MADISON TRAPKIN

atural” is having a moment.

The food world is abuzz with all things au naturel (please read in a French accent), and the world of cheese is no exception.

Much like the labels “organic” and “pasture-raised,” “natural” refers to how things are made. In the case of curds, a natural cheese should be produced with raw milk using cultures created by the maker—not store-bought, industriallymade cultures. The resulting cheeses have a double dose of terroir because both milk and cultures come from the land, unsullied by non-native elements. It’s quite simple, really, and it’s how cheese was made way back when. But since so many North American producers favor conventional cultures over natural methods these days, we’re here to shout about the folks who are making natural happen.

“While industrial food production puts all of its efforts into low cost of production and ease of distribution, natural artisanal foods are, at every turn, optimized for the joy of eating,” says Nina White, co-founder of New Jersey– based Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse.

“It turns out, not by accident, that the same methods that produce the very best cheeses are also the most humane, improve soil while sequestering carbon, and consume the least fossil fuel.”

White and her husband, Jonathan, have been making cheeses naturally since

2002. White believes the true measure of a natural cheese is in the flavor. “We get a complexity and depth in our cheeses that speaks deeply to our hunger centers, to our minds, [and] to our souls,” she says.

Bobolink is in good company alongside fellow North American natural cheesemakers Parish Hill Creamery of Vermont and Haltwhistle Cheese Company of British Columbia. And what better to pair with natural cheese than natural wine, yet another industry making the case for sustainable taste of place?

“Natural wine allows for better ecological practices and creates a unique, terroir-driven product that in turn protects the Earth,” says Margot Mazur, sommelier and events lead at Rebel Rebel, a natural wine bar in Somerville, Massachusetts. “I don’t want to drink chemicals and additives.

I want to feel connected to the land and the grapes and the winemaker—not to syrups and chemically synthesized flavoring agents.”

Many European makers had returned to natural processes long before the US showed up to the new natural party, and some products (think: PDOs like Parmigiano-Reggiano) have always been made naturally. Better late than never, as they say! Find our picks for three natural wine and cheese pairings on the next page, featuring leaders in North America’s natural cheese revolution. c

Read more about natural cheese in our Style Feature on pg. 64

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D RINK S WITH CHE E S E

FOR THOSE CURIOUS ABOUT “THIS NATURAL CHEESE THING”

FOR THE SELF-PROCLAIMED FOODIE

PARISH HILL REVERIE + JEAN BOURDY CÔTES DU JURA BLANC

HALTWHISTLE PENNYMEDE + DOMAINE DE L’ECU MUSCADET SÈVRE-ET-MAINE GRANITE

About the cheese: Reverie is a traditional, semi-hard Toma with bright milky notes and a peppery tang on the finish, perfect for a crisp fall day. This is a great intro to natural cheeses because its mild milkiness pairs well with almost anything.

About the cheese: This Canadian cow’s milk wheel is pungent, semisoft, and has a touch of saltiness. A regular washing in British Columbia’s Dageraad Brewing beer lends the rind its light orange hue and pungency.

Why this pairing works: “This pairing is cozy, like sitting fireside in Vermont,” says Mazur. The wine—a 100% Chardonnay from the Jura region of eastern France— brings out the oxidative qualities in the cheese and makes for a nutty, cheese-fordessert pairing.

Why this pairing works: This wine looks like white gold and tastes like the mineral-rich granite soil in which its grapes are grown. It’s ever-soslightly salty, which brings out the briny nature of the cheese and makes the pairing sing.

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D RINK S WITH CHE E S E

FOR THE ADVENTURE-SEEKER BOBOLINK DRUMM + MARGINS CLARKSBURG CHENIN BLANC About the cheese: Drumm is meaty, grassy, and complex, but not overpowering.

One of Bobolink’s trademark offerings, the taste of this semi-hard cow’s milk cheese changes from wheel to wheel. “We make cheese daily, capturing the best of each day’s microbial balance, that moment in terroir,” says White.

Why this pairing works: “Chenin… It’s a workhorse,” says Mazur. Margins Wine founder Megan Bell is certainly a leader in domestic natural wine, and her Clarksburg Chenin Blanc is super cheese-friendly: It’ll pair well with Drumm no matter the wheel you get.

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VO ICIN G S

Rachel Fritz Schaal

R

MARGARET LEAHY

achel Fritz Schaal makes it her business to fight for the little guy— namely, microbes. “I can go hard here,” she says, when asked to explain the merits of native dairy cultures, “so I’ll back off.” Schaal, along with her husband, Peter Dixon, and sister, Alex Schaal, is co-owner of Parish Hill Creamery in Westminster West, Vermont. Their claim to cheesemaking fame is their exclusive use of homegrown cultures—Parish Hill Creamery propagates autochthonous clabber cultures, to be exact. One of the four pillars of cheesemaking (in addition to milk, salt, and coagulating agents), cultures literally bring cheese to life. The bacteria, yeasts, and molds used to curdle milk

into cheese are readily available to home cheesemakers and professionals alike, commercially produced by a handful of biotech companies and deemed foodsafe by the FDA. But some small-scale producers like Parish Hill Creamery are pushing back against industry-wide homogenization by cultivating their own microbial menageries at home; as Schaal says, “I think it makes it harder to [justify selling] a really expensive piece of cheese if, in the end, you’re just doing the same dang thing that the big guys are doing.”

Fighting the good fight takes the right equipment. We asked Schaal to name some of her essentials, the can’t-livewithout-’em items that bring her joy and make this “the best job I’ve ever had.” c

PHOTO: Sue Miller

writ ten by

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VO ICIN G S

“I love Parish Hill Creamery and I love what we do, but what thrills me to no end is working with other cheesemakers and encouraging people to go backwards, to really look to traditional methods. Look at what they were doing, look at the resources they had on hand, and really try to make the most of those.”

BOSKA PROFESSIONAL WOODEN HANDLE DUTCH CHEESE KNIFE

COOKBOOKS

C. VAN ’T RIET CHEESE PLANES

“I’m particularly fond of cheese planes because, especially with real hard cheeses...it’s so nice to be able to get that super-thin slice so you can pop it in your mouth and it just melts.”

“I love cookbooks, but I love them as literature. I’m really terrible at following recipes, but I love to read them. All those Ottolenghi cookbooks are so divine. I love a cookbook that’s full of stories.”

“Peter has a Dutch knife that he was given as a gift from Boska because he was [a Cheese Heroes] calendar boy a few years back. And we use that thing at least every week because we make these big, giant, hard cheeses, so cutting with a regular knife is bullshit.”

“It’s all about the cultures. The very thing that I am most passionate about now is the thing that I doubted the most. And now, I truly believe that the flavors, the intensity, the breadth and depth of flavor that we achieve in our cheeses, are directly correlated to our cultures.”

VERMONT CHEESEMAKERS FESTIVAL CHEESE TASTING “GO BAG”

“I have these insulated bags, like a lunch bag, but it’s big enough that I can put a little cutting board in it, and then a couple wedges of cheese, and a knife, and a little cheese plane. You’ve got your little guerilla tasting session right there.”

“I feel like the next step for American cheesemakers is to stop trying to make cheese that other people make. I absolutely, fervently believe that [native] cultures are how you do that. That is really the only way to have taste of place. I understand that cheesemaking the way that Parish Hill does it is not the answer to the whole question, but I feel like it is an important part of the answer.”

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IN S E A SO N

Ramp It Up

CARPE SPRING’S DIEM WITH THIS ULTRA-SEASONAL AND EXTREMELY SOUGHT-AF TER WILD ONION PL ANT, WHICH HAPPENS TO TASTE GREAT WITH CHEESE

writ ten by

MONICA PETRUCCI

illustrated by

ERIN WALL ACE

S

o maybe you’ve never tasted ramps, or if you have, you’re not quite sure how to pair them with cheese.

Either way—don’t worry, we’ve got you. First of all: Ramps are similar to scallions, with bulb-like stems and leafy green tops, and they’re a member of the wild onion family. What sets them apart is their bold, pungent flavor, which combines everything we love about onion and garlic.

The name itself derives from the Old English term “ramson,” the common name for the European bear leek. From South Carolina to Québec, ramps can be grown in most low mountain altitudes.

And they’re pretty scarce—with a peak season of only about three weeks— adding to their widespread allure, so get ’em while they’re fresh.

To enjoy ramps with cheese, try them raw with fresh chèvre for a punchy bite.

If that’s not your thing, these are also delicious when sautéed—add them to creamy risotto, a melty omelet, or a cheesy pasta dish like the recipe to the right. c

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IN S E A SO N

CHEESY SPAGHETTI WITH RAMPS AND CHILES This dish combines the garlicky flavor of ramps with Italian cheeses we love, plus a spicy kick.

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine.

Serves 6 1 pound spaghetti 3 tablespoons unsalted butter Ÿ cup extra-virgin olive oil ½ pound ramps, thinly sliced Kosher salt, to taste Freshly ground pepper, to taste 2 Fresno chiles, thinly sliced Ÿ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on desired spice level) 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

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Âź cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for serving Âź cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving ď‚„ Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water for later use. ď‚„ While spaghetti cooks, heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet until butter is melted. Add ramps to skillet along with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium high heat for about 3 minutes, until just wilted.

Add fresh chiles and red pepper flakes and cook for another 30 seconds. Add lemon juice, grated Pecorino and Parmigiano, and stir until combined. ď‚„ Add cooked spaghetti to the skillet, then add reserved pasta water as needed. Cook over medium low heat and toss to combine until the spaghetti is thoroughly coated.

Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to shallow bowls, top with additional grated Parmigiano or Pecorino, and serve immediately.

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CHE E S E PL ATE

Sustainable Arrangements YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CHEESE PL ATE AND GO GREEN, TOO writ ten by

MARGARET LEAHY |

photographed by

ADAM D eTOUR |

st yled by

KENDRA SMITH

I

f you’re trying your darndest to keep food waste to a minimum, cheese plates might give you pause. Each cheese comes in its own wrapper, as does each accompaniment, not to mention the environmental impact of production. As dire warnings about rising sea levels and a slowly cooking planet permeate the news, it’s reassuring to know that dairies are among the businesses taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint and re-use as many resources as they can. Cowgirl Creamery of Point Reyes Station, California, is a leader in this field, creating stellar products through sustainable practices.

Cowgirl Creamery’s conscious production starts from square one: The milk for all Cowgirl cheeses is sourced from nearby farms that use organic and pasture-raised practices, including Bivalve Dairy and Tresch Family Farms (also a source for Straus Family Creamery). These farms utilize rotational grazing, water conservation methods, and pasture reseeding to ensure they give back as much as they get. Cowgirl also works hard to conserve water during cheese production, which is crucial in drought-prone California.

Armed with this knowledge, you can build this irresistible all-Cowgirl cheese board with a clear conscience. c

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MT TAM Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk + RAW WALNUTS Luscious and buttery-smooth with a light mushroom funk, Mt Tam has long been one of Cowgirl’s most popular cheeses, and their first foray into aged cheese. You want to go clean and simple with this pairing, so look to the bulk aisle of your local natural foods store for raw walnuts or pecans. Buying in bulk cuts down on packaging, and you can take it one step further by bringing your own jars or Tupperware to the store.

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RED HAWK Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk + WE LOVE JAM BLENHEIM APRICOT JAM The assertive, triple crème paste of Red Hawk announces its intentions at first taste; it’s bold, almost meaty, with an orange rind reminiscent of a West Coast sunset. When paired with this vibrant California-sourced (and endangered) Blenheim apricot jam, the experience is a true taste-of-place moment.

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HOP ALONG Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk + WOODSTOCK INN BREWERY SPENT GRAIN BEER BREAD The newest member of the Cowgirl gang, each wheel of silky Hop Along is bathed in organic cider and aged for 45 days.

The result is yeasty and subtly sweet, with a milk-chocolate meltability that renders it irresistible. “Spent grain bread has a texture and flavor that matches perfectly with table cheese like the cider-washed Hop Along,” says Maureen Cunnie, Cowgirl’s head cheesemaker. Hop Along plays excellently with this toothsome bread slice-for-slice, but Cowgirl recommends broiling the pairing to kick it to the next level.

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CLABBERED COTTAGE CHEESE Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk + PULP PANTRY JALAPEÑO LIME CHIPS “Cowgirl’s Clabbered Cottage Cheese curds are made from skim milk left over from Mt Tam production, so we get to utilize every bit of our quality milk source,” explains Cunnie. Another California-based company making strides in low-waste snacking is Pulp Pantry, which takes the veggie and fruit pulp left over from juice production and turns it into healthful, crunchy alternatives to potato and tortilla chips.

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CAN DO

No Rind Left Behind IDEAS FOR USING LEF TOVER CHEESE

writ ten by

ANNA BRONES |

illustrated by

ERIN WALL ACE

I

n the United States, it’s estimated we waste about 30 to 40 percent of our food supply. That results in billions of dollars of food wasted every year, and while not all of that food waste is on the personal level (it happens all across the supply chain), a great step to combating the problem starts at home.

Despite our best efforts, even the most committed of turophiles can end up with uneaten cheeses. At some point, we’ve all been left with those small, hardened chunks that get pushed to the back of the cheese drawer.

They sit there, often forgotten, until we guiltily fish them out wondering why we didn’t put them to better use.

However, there’s no need to berate yourself or throw out these longforgotten bits of cheese; there are plenty of ways to put old cheese to good use and we’ve rounded up three to get you started. c

ODDS AND ENDS PESTO Basil, spinach, arugula—you can make a green pesto with most leafy greens. (Even carrot tops make for an excellent zero-waste rendition!)

The same goes for using up little bits of hard cheese. Pesto alla Genovese—from Italy’s Liguria region—is what we typically associate with this aromatic sauce comprised of basil, pine nuts, and parmesan. But you can make pesto with just about anything as long as you’ve got the basics: greens, nuts, and cheese, mixed with garlic cloves and olive oil. Any leftover bits of hard aged cheese will work—simply swap them into your favorite pesto recipe, or make up your own.

POPCORN Turn a basic bowl of popcorn into a stunning culinary concoction by adding any finely grated cheese that’s past its prime. Comté, cheddar, parmesan, and even a dried-out blue cheese work great. Start by finely grating the cheese, since smaller pieces mean easier melting atop the popcorn. Once popped, drizzle popcorn with a little olive oil or melted butter, then add the cheese along with desired spices, like freshly ground pepper, oregano, cumin powder, red chili flakes, or even turmeric. Toss together and serve immediately.

OIL-CURED CHEESE Pecorino Romano, ParmigianoReggiano, Asiago, Manchego—you can revive any of these cheeses with the help of some olive oil. Queso en aceite is an old Spanish method of curing cheese and it’s perfect for reviving leftover cheese bits. Trim the rinds off, cut into small pieces, and place in a jar along with any other herbs or spices you want to include, like rosemary, black peppercorns, za’atar, or citrus zest. Fill jar with olive oil, making sure no cheese pieces stick out, then seal and store in a cool, dark place, or your refrigerator. This method also works for softer cheeses, like feta, and even labneh can be preserved in olive oil. The key is to ensure that your cheese is completely submerged in the oil, otherwise it won’t cure properly.

ANNA BRONES is a writer, artist, producer, and author of several books.

There’s usually a small piece of hardened Comté sitting in her refrigerator.

Check out culture’s recipe for roasted parmesan rinds at culturecheesemag.com/ recycle-your-rinds

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CHE F ’ S D I S H

Southern Comfort FOUR-TIME RESTAURATEUR PETER DALE SERVES CHEESY DELIGHTS IN THE CL ASSIC CIT Y writ ten by

MADISON TRAPKIN |

photographed by

BAILEY GARROT

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T

he small town of Athens, Georgia, is many things. It’s home to the Georgia Bulldogs (the University of Georgia’s pride and joy), it’s the birthplace of bands you’ve probably heard of (think: R.E.M., The B-52s), and it’s become a food haven for chefs like Peter Dale, who’s opened not one, but four restaurants in the Classic City. “I can’t have a favorite, they are all special in their own ways,” says Dale. He opened his most recent concept, Maepole, in the summer of 2018, and he

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packed their fast casual menu with plenty of locally-grown, hormone-free, and grass-fed goodness. Plus, there’s cheese!

“We always knew there would be a mac and cheese at Maepole,” says Dale when asked about their cheesiest dish. “While we lean healthy, sometimes you just need some comfort food to make your day.”

Dale’s other concepts include the cozy Condor Chocolates, an all-in-one factory, café, and retail location for bean-to-bar chocolates and other confections (like decadent sipping chocolate); the chic

Seabear Oyster Bar, home to a grilled cheese filled with Tillamook cheddar, tomato, and a pickle, which Dale says is “really hard not to order every time;” and his first food baby, The National, which is home to Boybutante drag brunch and day-one delicacies like their Manchegostuffed Medjool dates. As for Maepole, Dale’s got plans: “In the big picture, we’re hoping to expand Maepole to a second location.” As long as this means more mac and cheese, we here at culture fully support this endeavor. c

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CHE F ’ S D I S H

“Athens is a really special place, full of creative people who are incredibly supportive of each other,” says Dale.

“I can’t imagine another small town that would support all my varied interests the way Athens does. Each new business has been a response to something that I [wished] Athens could have, so it has always been about offering more options for our community.”

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While Dale prioritizes local producers in his restaurants, he still has a special place in his heart (and stomach) for non-local cheesemakers.

“It’s hard for me to fin in Georgia, but I love a German cow’s milk blue cheese called Chiriboga,” he says. “Chiriboga has blue cheese qualities but it’s also creamy and buttery… It just melts in your mouth.”

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CHE F ’ S D I S H

Dale is no stranger to Georgia’s local cheese scene. He had the opportunity to work with Sweet Grass Dairy (Thomasville) in the early 2000s when they were just getting started, and has since added Hobo Cheese Co. (Atlanta) to his lineup of Georgia-grown cheesemakers. Dale’s current favorite fromage is Hobo Cheese Co. Banjo: “I like to eat it simply on some crusty bread, maybe with some sliced Georgia peach,” he says.

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The Maepole mac and cheese gets its richness from a secret ingredient: cottage cheese! This makes the dish extra gooey and the perfect base for a crunchy buttered breadcrumb topping. Check out the recipe on pg. 79 for more of Dale’s tips for recreating this comforting classic.

Mac and Cheese

P. 79

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CHE F ’ S D I S H

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O NE CHE E S E , FI V E WAYS

Keeping it Fresh THIS CL ASSIC MEXICAN CHEESE ISN’T JUST FOR TACOS writ ten by

WHITNEY OTAWK A |

photographed by

BENJAMIN WHEATLEY

L

iterally translated, queso fresco means “fresh cheese” and is a favorite in the Mexican kitchen. This cow’s milk wheel is often made at home, but you can also find it at your local supermarket chain or Latin grocery store. It’s slightly salty, milky, and extremely versatile—treat it like feta and crumble over salads and roasted veggies, use it like paneer and leave it to soften in a stew, or throw it on the grill alongside spicy peppers to double up on charred flavors. c

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O NE CHE E S E , FI V E WAYS

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Grilled Zucchini with Cilantro Buttermilk, Queso Fresco, and Pine Nuts

P. 82

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Watermelon & Tomato Salad with Queso Fresco and Sweet Peppers P. 81

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O NE CHE E S E , FI V E WAYS

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Whipped Queso Fresco with Spring Vegetables P. 80

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O NE CHE E S E , FI V E WAYS

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Tomato Braised Chickpeas with Queso Fresco and Lime P. 80

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Green Chili and Queso Fresco Frittata P. 82

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writ ten by

MARGARET LEAHY |

ADAM D eTOUR |

st yled by

KENDRA SMITH

Named for a Roman Catholic parish in Pennsylvania’s Londonderry Township, St. Malachi by The Farm at Doe Run embodies the heavenly qualities of buttery cheddar, young Gouda, and fruity Piave Vecchio. Its smooth, savory paste is imbued with hints of crème brûlée that emerge the longer it sits on the tongue.

The Farm at Doe Run proudly carries the torch of traditional dairy farming in Pennsylvania’s Chester County, upping the cheesemaking ante with the ultimate in sustainable practices. Their free-range herds of cows, goats, and sheep graze rotationally on 350 acres of native grasses that are fostered by locally-sourced mushroom compost. The animals are milked on a natural cycle to make seasonal mixed-milk cheeses, and the whey byproduct is used to feed the farm’s herd of heritage pigs and fertilize the pastures. The resulting high-quality soil supports strong tree root systems, which filter and shade nearby waterways, allowing the fragile brook trout population to flourish. c

photographed by

St. Malachi CE NTE RFO LD

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In 2019 alone, St. Malachi was bestowed with a gold medal and Best of Show distinction at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, along with a gold medal at the World Cheese Awards. The extra-aged Reserve varieties snagged additional accolades.

The Farm at Doe Run initially conceptualized St. Malachi as a fontinastyle cheese, but tweaked the recipe until it matured into the firm, naturallyrinded, Alpine-style icon it is today.

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–S U S T A I N A B L E–

MEAT AT EVERY MEAL

How to become an activist in the kitchen WRITTEN BY EMILY FARRIS PHOTOGRAPHED BY ADAM D e TOUR STYLED BY KENDRA SMITH

Americans eat a lot of meat. In fact, the US is consistently one of the top five meat-consuming countries in the world, yet we spend less than any other developed nation on meat and poultry. So how much of that meat is actually sustainable? And what does “sustainable” even mean when it comes to beef? On the following pages, we explore what makes meat sustainable, how you can be a more conscious consumer of meat, and five fun ways to combine responsibly-sourced meat and cheese, no matter the time of day.

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BREAKFAST

Spicy Ground Beef Breakfast Casserole P. 83

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WHAT MAKES MEAT

SUSTAINABLE? There is no one way to define sustainable meat. Because “sustainable” means different things—and often many things—to different people, we asked a handful of food professionals to tell us how they define it.

THE FARMER According to Jennifer Vahldick, farmer and owner of Moxie Farms in Trimble, Missouri, a sustainable meat system must focus on the land. “Sustainable meat should be produced in a system that values soil health first,” she says. “The farmer and the livestock are teammates in building topsoil, pasture diversity, a healthy ecosystem, and sequestering carbon. The resulting product should be a bonus of that system, not just a reason for it.”

THE BUTCHER “[Sustainability] has more to do with

relationships and trust than with the meat itself,” says Rob Levitt, the head butcher and chef de cuisine at Publican Quality Meats in Chicago. “‘Sustainable’ means the whole process from birth to steak is transparent. ‘Sustainable’ means doing what you can to help a small farmer and finding ways to make good meat available to all people, regardless of income.”

THE AUTHOR Tom Mylan, author of The Meat Hook Meat Book: Buy, Butcher, and Cook Your Way to Better Meat and former head butcher of Marlow and Daughters and the Meat Hook in Brooklyn, New York, sees sustainability as a spectrum, but says, “At the very least ‘sustainable meat’ agriculture practices should leave the animals, soil, and water better off than if you had grown nothing on the land.”

THE CHEF “Sustainable meat comes from breeders and farmers who think about every aspect of their practices and truly care for their animals,” says Sohui Kim, chef and co-owner of Brooklyn’s The Good Fork restaurant.

THE RESTAURATEUR For Justin Brunson, a Denver restaurateur perhaps best known for his sustainable meat-centric concept, Old Major, sustainability is all of the above and more.

Environmental conservation, animal welfare, and waste reduction are top of mind for Brunson, but he doesn’t forget about the people behind the scenes, either. “Sustainability also has to do with the company’s responsibility to take care of all its employees,” he says. “It is very unsustainable to have employees working in subpar conditions.”

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Leftover Steak Salad with Fresh Cheese P. 85

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Tri-Tip Steak Sandwich P. 84

LUNCH HOW TO CUT TRI-TIP An Illustrated Guide

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WHAT TO

LOOK FOR

Ribeye Steak with Gorgonzola Butter P. 86

LOCAL Knowing where your meat comes

from is a good first step in determining whether it’s sustainable. If the farm is a few miles down the road, it should be easy to get good intel on agricultural practices, and you know resources weren’t wasted on transport.

GRASS-FED AND PASTURE-RAISED

Studies have shown that grass-fed cows can produce meat with better micronutrients for human health than grain-fed cows. And it’s generally safe to assume that cows free to roam a grassy pasture are happier and healthier than cows crammed into muddy stalls.

ORGANIC Organic farming practices limit antibiotics and fertilizers in the meat you eat, as well as improve fertility and soil structure while reducing erosion.

Organic farming also protects workers from exposure to toxic chemicals.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT When it comes

to local or grass-fed meat, it’s important to consider the resources needed to feed cattle where you live. While local meat can often be a more sustainable option, if your local climate isn’t naturally conducive to cattle farming, according to Brunson, it’s not truly sustainable.

“I don’t think it’s sustainable to [raise] cattle in an area where there isn’t enough rainfall to naturally grow crops for those animals to live,” he says. “It’s very similar to the thought process of [raising] cattle in an area where you have to truck in the feed from another state.”

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COOKING MEAT LIKE A PRO Everyone has a preference for how done (or not done) they want their burgers and steaks. But that doesn’t always jibe with the United States Department of Agriculture’s safety guidelines for cooking meat. This is why restaurants are required to print a disclaimer on their menus, warning diners of the risks associated with consuming raw or undercooked meats.

While cooking with sustainable meat won’t necessarily save you from foodborne illness, knowing where your meat comes from and how it was processed can help you feel more comfortable eating rare or medium-rare beef.

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FIRE IT UP: STEAK The USDA recommends steaks and chops reach an internal temperature of 145ºF, then rest for at least three minutes, which puts you in the medium-well range. Like your steak another way?

Use this internal temperature guide: Rare: 115ºF to 125ºF Medium-Rare: 130ºF to 135ºF Medium: 135ºF to 140º F Medium-Well: 140ºF to 150ºF Well Done: 155ºF and up

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HOW TO

SUPPORT

A SUSTAINABLE MEAT SYSTEM QUALITY OVER QUANTITY Focus on eating less of better

quality meat. Some people do this by observing Meatless Mondays, eating smaller portions, or reserving red meat for special occasions.

JOIN A CSA When you participate in Community Supported Agriculture, you “buy” a share of a farm or coalition of farms in return for regular food distributions.

GET TO KNOW YOUR BUTCHER Your neighborhood

butcher is an often-overlooked part of a sustainable meat system, and an important part of your local economy.

Plus, a good butcher can answer any questions you have about where the meat comes from and even custom-cut meat for you—which means less waste!

JUST SAY “NO” TO FACTORY FARMING While factory

farming may keep meat prices low, the evidence is overwhelming that factory farming practices are bad for animals, bad for the environment, and bad for your health.

Unfortunately, experts estimate that about 70 percent of cows in the United States are raised on factory farms.

Stuffed Meatballs P. 86

FIRE IT UP: GROUND BEEF

LET IT REST

The USDA recommends ground beef reach an internal temperature of 160ºF. That works if you want your burger well done. Otherwise, use this guide:

Cooked meat should rest for a few minutes before you cut into it. This helps retain the juices that give meat its flavor and texture. After removing meat from the grill or pan, set it on a plate or cutting board and loosely cover it with foil. Most meats should rest for at least 10 minutes; rare steak is the exception and should rest for only three minutes.

Rare: 120ºF to 125ºF Medium-Rare: 130ºF to 135ºF Medium: 140ºF to 145ºF Medium-Well: 150ºF to 155ºF Well Done: 160ºF and up

EMILY FARRIS is a food and lifestyle writer in Kansas City, Missouri (where she has three very happy backyard chickens). She’s written for Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Epicurious, Food52, and many other publications.

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WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

These cheesemakers are saving the planet, one cow pie at a time WRITTEN BY LINNI KRAL PHOTO: Courtesy of Crave Brothers

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The methane digester at Crave Brothers Dairy Farm

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PHOTOS: Courtesy of Crave Brothers

Cows grazing at Crave Brothers Dairy Farm

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MAKING CHEESE SUSTAINABLE

On a windless gray day in Waterloo, Wisconsin, when solaror wind-powered farms might be switching on their back-up generators, cheesemaker George Crave doesn’t miss a beat. His family’s farm and creamery run on renewable energy, as do their homes. Whether pumping 100,000 pounds of milk into the creamery or heating that milk to make 10,000 pounds of cheese daily, George can count on this energy, because it comes from one of nature’s most reliably unceasing outputs—poop.

“W

e make it every day,” George said of the waste that powers his business. We spoke on Waterloo’s first sunny day in over a month, when George was feeling particularly grateful for the machine that converts his cows’ manure into electricity. “You wake up at midnight, it’s running, you come out at 6 in the morning, it’s running. On a Saturday, it’s running, on a rainy cold snowy day, it’s operating, because we have new fuel consistently.”

That fuel is the methane emitted by cow excrement. A potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas, methane accounts for at least a quarter of today’s global warming and is at least 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide—that is, when it’s released into the air. The Craves, along with enterprising cheesemakers across the globe, are using something called a methane digester to convert these emissions into energy before they even reach the atmosphere.

The first time I attempted to reach the Craves, they were hopping on a plane to Switzerland to visit Käserei Holzhof, a dairy that also runs on methane.

George and his wife Debbie Crave, President and Vice President of Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese respectively, call these educational trips “working vacations,” and they go on them a lot.

Before releasing their first cheese in 2001 (a mozzarella), they visited France, Switzerland, and Italy.

George and his brothers Mark, Charles, and Tom run the Crave operation, which they started after learning the ropes on their dad’s dairy farm. Debbie grew up nearby and met George at a county 4-H Christmas caroling activity when the two were in high school. Now, they live on the 3,000-acre Crave farmstead—along with all the brothers and their adult children.

Their methane digester produces enough energy to power every building on the property, and 300 homes beyond that.

“Some people will say, ‘Oh my employees ride their bikes to work,’ or ‘I recycle boxes,’” Debbie said. “Okay, we do all that, but we also produce enough electricity for our businesses and [neighboring] homes.”

How that works looks different for every farmer—as of November 2019, there were 254 digesters on dairy farms in the US. For the Craves, it takes the form of two massive 750,000-gallon anaerobic tanks. These green-domed circular vessels take in manure, whey, and food waste from the farm and neighboring businesses (apparently, French fry grease burns great). The resulting slurry emits methane, which is piped out of the tanks into a generator that burns the gas, turning it into electricity. What’s leftover is sorted, with liquids fertilizing the fields and solids dried into cow bedding.

“It’s very soft, very little odor,” George said when I expressed doubts about the cows sleeping in their own...well, you know. “If you’re familiar with potting

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MEET THE NEW PLASTICS While farmers deal with animal waste, retailers face heaps of packaging. Hansel New, who manages the Dairy Farmers of America’s sustainability programs, says innovation in packaging tech is the next frontier of reducing cheese’s carbon footprint.

Here are a few of the folks disrupting the wasteful world of cheese packaging.

FRIESLANDCAMPINA: This Dutch dairy cooperative, one of the largest in the world, has pledged to make all their packaging 100 percent recyclable by 2025—starting with a polypropylene grab-and-go cheese wrap.

OVTENE: Using polyethylene, this Italian company makes a recyclable retail wrap now used by Whole Foods, Eataly, Saxelby Cheese, Emmi, and Tulip Tree Creamery.

FORMATICUM: In addition to a polypropylene wrap, Brooklyn-based Formaticum sells a biodegradable cellophane made from wood fibers, and Zero—a new paper sourced from sustainable Swedish forests that’s recyclable and compostable, and will even biodegrade in landfills.

On this page: Production facilities at Jasper Hill Farm

BEE’S WRAP: Cheesemakers like Grafton Village and Shelburne Farms (not to mention Babybel) have sealed their cheeses with wax for decades— do the same at home with reusable beeswax-based Bee’s Wrap.

Read more about ecofriendly wrapping on pg. 10

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PHOTOS: Jasper Hill Farm: Bob M. Montgomery Images

soil, you know you squeeze it real hard and it still opens back up, that’s what it’s like. The cows really like it, and then of course we don’t have to buy bedding or use straw.”

Contrary to what you might expect from a giant gas tank, digesters actually reduce odor. On farms without digesters, waste is often stored in open lagoons or spread onto fields, releasing methane (not to mention stink) into the air.

Practices like open-air lagoons make dairy farmers responsible for a sizable chunk of global methane emissions. According to the California Air Resources Board, more than half of the state’s methane emissions come from dairy farms.

Perhaps not surprisingly, states like California and Vermont are at the forefront of efforts to get more digesters on farms. In 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1383 into law, calling for a 40% statewide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2013 levels by 2030, a goal aided by aggressive funding. Last year, the California Department of Food and Agriculture made $61–75 million available to farmers in grants for the Dairy Digester Research and Development Program.

“The state goal has definitely been a boon to our business,” said Doug Bryant of Maas Energy Works, a consultancy that works with farms to install digesters.

Before the bill, Maas put one or two projects online each year; now, they have 40 digesters in development.

Maas consulted the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, known for their award-winning blue cheeses, on the digester they installed in 2009. Similar to the Craves’ in function, this digester on Point Reyes’ scenic Tomales Bay farm would not have been possible without state funding.

“We were able to utilize both state and federal subsidies and grants to help us with the initial installation,” said Jill Giacomini Basch, who owns Point Reyes with her four sisters and their father, Bob. Four generations of Giacominis have farmed California land, starting with grandpa Tobias, who emigrated from Italy in 1904.

Nowadays, the Giacominis run a very green operation—from the digester to farming that maximizes carbon sequestration and controls erosion. They use a low-emission notill drill; capture urine and wastewater through a flushing system that uses, and produces, recycled water; and pull residual heat off their methaneconversion generator to heat water for cheesemaking and sanitation. All told, they pay about 50% less on their energy bills than before installing the digester.

TURNING POOP INTO PROFIT Meanwhile, in Vermont—the California of the East Coast, as far as green energy goes—a utility-owned program called Cow Power provides farm-made energy to consumers (and revenue to farmers) by giving them the option to pay a four-cent surcharge per kilowatt hour on their energy bill to get power from methane digesters.

Though not eligible for this program, the esteemed cheesemakers at Jasper Hill Farms in Greensboro, Vermont, have really leaned into making the most of their manure. Their digester doesn’t produce electricity (their solar panels do that), but it does generate enough heat to keep a glass-walled greenhouse growing Meyer lemon, fig, and banana trees year-round.

“We built a system—it was not a purchased machine, as the [digester] technology has not been miniaturized for our small-scale dairy,” said Mateo Kehler, who co-owns Jasper Hill with his brother, Andy. Mateo lives above the creamery, in a building adjacent to the Green Machine—their name for the digester and greenhouse.

Funded in part by state and federal grants, the Green Machine funnels liquid waste, whey, and wash water into three small methane digesters on the greenhouse floor that power the creamery boiler. Just outside, dry waste cures on top of valves that suck hot, moist air down and pipe it into the greenhouse.

Once anaerobic fermentation is complete,

“Some people will say, ‘Oh my employees ride their bikes to work,’ or ‘I recycle boxes,’” Debbie said. “Okay, we do all that, but we also produce enough electricity for our businesses and [neighboring] homes.”

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the solids become barn bedding while the liquid empties into greenhouse reservoirs where microorganisms, aquatic animals, and minerals perform filtration. What remains is a fertilizer that spawns pea shoots, tomatoes, and other veggies on a catwalk suspended above the digesters.

“The structure was conceived of and built to avoid installing a manure lagoon in the backyard of the Kehlers’ home,” said Zoe Brickley, Jasper Hill’s Director of Development and Marketing. “It was less about powering the farm and more about trying to rethink the normal ways of managing a dairy farm’s waste stream.”

That management gets more difficult during the summer, when Jasper Hill’s cows spend all day in the fields and it’s difficult to capture manure—a problem posed by any grass-grazed herd.

“You can’t tell the cows to come in at night and save your poop ‘til you get back into the barn,” said George Crave of Crave Brothers. And the challenges don’t stop in winter—when Wisconsin experienced a

30-below cold snap last year, the Craves had to use a back-up boiler to heat the manure in the digester to the temperature needed for methane production. Without enough heat to make methane, they can’t make heat at all.

MANAGING THE HICCUPS Even with these kinks, it’s tempting to view methane digesters as a silver bullet.

They represent a comprehensive solution to three of the largest environmental concerns of our generation—excessive waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy shortages. But like most things that seem too good to be true, digesters fall just short of perfect.

Manure accounts for only half of cattle methane emissions—the other half comes from burps. Yep, just when you thought a story about poop couldn’t get more puerile, we must contend with enteric emissions, the fancy term for methane

produced by bovine belches. A woman named Joan Salwen has been developing a seaweed-based cattle feed that claims to reduce enteric emissions by 70% when added to regular dry feed, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be seeing “seaweedfed” on your cheese label any time soon.

“Experimenting with any new feed means that flavors in our products could potentially change,” said Jill Giacomini Basch of Point Reyes. As a farmstead creamery, Point Reyes’ main concern is their cheese’s flavor profile, and according to Jill, “feed flavor” is a thing.

Feed solutions are also problematic for grass-fed herds. Even if farmers could lead grazing cows to seaweed, they can’t make them eat it. “Much caution is needed with these to be sure the animals will still eat the food,” said Deanne Meyer, Livestock Waste Management Specialist at University of California, Davis. She also worries that the energy to grow, dry, and transport seaweed could void any benefit from reduced emissions.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Point Reyes Farmstead: Michael B. Woolsey

Point Reyes Farmstead

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PHOTO: Courtesy of Point Reyes Farmstead

Manure digesters have a similar robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul problem.

According to Joe Rudek, a scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, digesters only create a climate benefit if they replace fossil fuels, not add to global fuel production—which is what some cash-strapped farmers must do to stay solvent. There are no state grants available for methane digesters in Wisconsin (the Craves built their system on bank loans), so some farmers forego expensive electricity-generating systems to instead convert their methane into natural gas that can be sold directly into pipelines.

George Crave had just returned from Europe when we spoke, where he’d toured areas powered by civiliansubsidized sustainable energy, with digesters numbering in the thousands.

He told me that he views farmers as the original recyclers, and American farmers as the caretakers of the country’s best natural resource: our dirt. To Crave, most farmers with digesters are saying the same thing: “We like it, we’re proud of what we’re doing, but gee whiz, it’d be nice to get paid for it.” c

“It was less about powering the farm and more about trying to rethink the normal ways of managing a dairy farm’s waste stream.”

Cheesemaking at Point Reyes Farmstead

WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WHEY When you separate milk, curds become cheese and whey becomes...a business opportunity, depending on who you ask. Whey is the largest waste product in cheesemaking, aside from manure—but it doesn’t have to be. Read on for just a few of the ways cheesemakers are turning this watery byproduct into wine.

FEED THE ANIMALS: From the makers of Prosciutto di Parma to Wisconsin’s Uplands Cheese, “wheyfed pork” is definitely a thing.

MAKE HOOCH: Whey can ferment into booze, which sounds niche as hell ‘til you realize it’s happening in the US, Canada, France, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, where cheesemakers at Grandvewe Cheeses sheep dairy make vodka, gin, “whey-sky,” and vanilla liqueur. In Ireland, one distillery even makes a sloe milk gin.

JOIN THE FANCY WATER FAD: Boston-based Superfrau crafts traditional Alpine refreshers out of upcycled whey, in combos like Elderflower Lemon and Cucumber Lime. In New York, Iranian yogurt makers White Moustache turn their whey into Passionfruit and Pineapple Probiotic Tonics.

TREAT YOURSELF: Dairies in the Italian and Swiss Alps are creating a new revenue stream by offering whey baths, facials, and massages—apparently, the protein-rich substance has skinsoftening and anti-aging properties.

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The

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PHOTO: B. PICCOLI

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Last September, across town from the Great Hall of Cheese and just up the road past Affineur Alley, a group of cheesemakers began to set up their stalls behind Biodiversity House. They were part of Slow Food’s biennial Cheese event: a four-day weekend in the Piedmontese town of Bra spent tasting, sharing, and learning about cheese.

Touch PHOTO: B. PICCOLI

WRITTEN BY CHRIS ALLSOP

T

his particular group of cheesemakers debuted a new section: Piccoli & Naturali (small-scale and natural). They were central to the event’s primary topic of “Natural is Possible,” which Slow Food’s website identified as, “a crucial theme for the future of food, and the next step on our journey from raw milk to natural cheese.”

Piero Sardo, president of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, explained that while the natural cheese situation in Italy was in relatively good health—the 200-odd Italian Slow Food Presidia all fall within the category—elsewhere it was not the case. Cheese 2019, therefore, was designed with two objectives in mind: to promote those dairies already working in the natural way and to educate the cheese-loving public on what natural cheeses are all about.

“This year’s Cheese,” added Sardo, “was an important step in [the right] direction.”

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Starter for Ten So what exactly is a “natural cheese”?

Well, it’s hard to establish a set of category-defining attributes such as flavor, texture, and aroma, especially as the natural cheese umbrella includes cheeses as weird and wonderful as a 100-pound Herzegovinian cheese aged in a sheepskin (so-called “cheese in a sack”) to a fridge mainstay like Parmigiano-Reggiano.

One tenet of this category is the use of raw milk, and a cheesemaking fundamental around which Slow Food has been pushing a program of

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by lactic acid bacteria transforming lactose sugar into lactic acid, which, with the addition of rennet, separates the solid curd from the liquid whey.

As such a crucial part of the process, it’s little wonder that a lucrative industry has grown around lab-developed cultures that can be shipped—frozen or freeze-dried— to anywhere in the world. Its purpose is to replace perceived risky and inefficient natural methods, such as the attractively named “backslopping” technique—the practice of carrying over whey from the last batch of cheese to act as a starter. From a food safety perspective, this carrying over of the whey makes all batches of the cheese as one. If not practiced safely, there’s the chance a pathogen could contaminate the entire stock.

However, David Asher, author of The Art of Natural Cheesemaking and a Slow Food associate, believes the real risk lies with freeze-dried starter cultures.

“Freeze-dried microorganisms need time

Crottin de Chavignol AOC

to wake up from their slumbers,” he says. According to Asher, this awakening extends the window for unwanted microorganisms to become involved.

Food safety debates aside, for Sardo and Slow Food the use of non-native lactic bacteria arriving by mail-order can entirely subvert the delicate territorial expression of raw milk. Asher says the commercially produced rennet curdles the milk differently than traditional calf rennet, causing bitter, acrid flavors and delivering a very different curd texture that can lead to a more rubbery cheese.

Such wheels would receive short shrift from Bronwen Percival, buyer for Neal’s Yard Dairy cheesemongers in the UK who was also in Piedmont last September.

When asked her definition of natural cheese, her emphasis illuminated another essential part of the category.

“For me, a natural cheese is a cheese that tastes uniquely of the farming system in which it is made, that tastes

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PHOTO: Armando Rotoletti

education for decades. Besides being rich in vitamins, enzymes, and probiotic bacteria, raw milk carries biodiverse microflora that plays a crucial role in developing complexity in a cheese’s aromas and taste (therefore, it’s probably fair to say that natural cheeses tend toward stronger flavors).

However, Sardo has stated that he sees no logic in working with raw milk if you’re also using commercial starter cultures and rennet—and it was this perspective that had top billing at this year’s Cheese. A starter culture is named for its role in kicking off the cheesemaking process by acidifying the milk—an imperative shift in pH achieved

Brousse du Rove AOC

PHOTOS: Brousse du Rove AOC: ChantalS; Valençay: Frédérique Voisin-Demery; Crottin de chavignol AOC: art anderson

“For me, a natural cheese is a cheese that tastes uniquely of the farming system in which it is made, that tastes of the integrity of the farming system.”

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PHOTO: Armando Rotoletti

PHOTOS: Brousse du Rove AOC: ChantalS; Valençay: Frédérique Voisin-Demery; Crottin de chavignol AOC: art anderson

Ragusano PDO

of the integrity of [that] system,” says Percival. “So not just the use of the native microbes to make the cheese… but actually one that uses rare breeds that are eating a biodiverse landscape of grasses allowing us to really tune into the flavor of a farming system… For me, I’m interested in tasting uniqueness when I buy cheese, not in tasting industrial monoculture.”

The protection and promotion of the use of indigenous and often rare breeds has long been a key part of Slow Food’s Presidia program, as well as the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) scheme. Like Percival, Asher—originally an organic farmer from the Canadian West Coast—sees the use of these native animals (think: Lacaune sheep for Roquefort) alongside noninterventionist farming techniques as essential elements to produce cheese fully expressive of its place of origin.

Lands of Milk and Money Taken altogether then, natural cheesemaking—unless you’ve been finetuning your technique (and business model) for centuries like the ParmigianoReggiano producers—makes for a noncommercial proposition. Slow Food’s tagline of “Natural is Possible” begins to sharpen into focus, especially when you look outside of Italy for adherents to natural practices.

“The only country that has a significant presence of natural cheeses [other than Italy] is Portugal,” Sardo says, adding that Switzerland and Germany have little to no production of this category of cheese.

Even France has a very limited number of natural cheeses, although Sardo points to the numerous French goat’s milk cheeses that use lactic coagulation (such as Valençay) instead of rennet as a bulwark against “dramatic homologation.”

Which isn’t to say the French aren’t keen to improve matters. Camembert producers Patrick Mercier and Janine Lelouvier—the only members of Slow Food’s Natural Farmhouse Camembert presidium—are exploring how to eliminate the small amount of nonnative starter they currently rely on.

Mercier recently told Profession Fromager magazine how it allows him to maintain regular production schedules, which is important for a business with employees to pay. However these are baby steps indeed—Slow Food’s Nicolas Floret, who assists with the Camembert project and others, notes that of the 70,000 tonnes of Camembert produced a year, only about 100 tonnes represents the kind of cheese that Mercier and Lelouvier are producing.

For another eye-watering statistic, we turn to North America, where Asher explains 90 to 95 percent of cheeses are prepared with a lab-produced rennet called fermentation-produced chymosin

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Creamy Ingot

(FPC) as producers fear that using traditional rennet harvested from calves’ stomachs will deter certain customers.

But there are a few beacons of hope for the natural cause stateside: Sister Noella Marcellino, a.k.a. the Cheese Nun, is a long-time practitioner of natural cheesemaking (the FDA’s efforts to swap her “risky” wooden vat for a steel tank backfired when the tank produced the E. coli the vat never had). Asher also singles out the zero-intervention cheesemaking of Jonathan and Nina White at Bobolink Dairy in Milford, New Jersey.

“With their cows outside all winter, no external feeds brought into the system, and only a whey starter saved from one day’s cheese making to the next,” Asher says of the Whites, “they make beautiful, beautiful cheeses that are winning awards internationally.”

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The Natural Whey Back across the Atlantic, another natural cheesemaker—Doetie Trinks—is also collecting awards for her approach to “Doetie’s Geiten” (Doetie’s Goats). Her herd of 75 Toggenburger goats (“Not milk-type goats,” she says, “but strong, sustainable goats”) provides around 50 liters of milk that she uses to make lactic goat’s milk cheeses on her farm in rural Jubbega, about an hour-and-a-half north of Amsterdam.

Trinks is a farmer, but it’s worth noting that she’s also a trained clinical chemical and medical microbiological analyst.

Having grown up on a dairy farm, she witnessed the costs and compromises of industrial agriculture and the loss of highquality milk—it instilled in her a desire to do things differently.

“I consider my cheeses to be natural,” she says. “I do not cool nor heat the milk.

The natural microflora remains intact.

Cooling kills the lactic acid bacteria…

When heated, the milk becomes a breeding ground, and, in addition, heated proteins are difficult for the human body to recognize.”

Trinks produces several lactic goat’s milk cheeses including a Valençay-style called the Swarte Toer (the Black Tower).

In the morning, she transfers the milk into a wooden vat and adds a whey starter from her own goat’s milk and rennet derived from the stomachs of her own goats. Come evening, she hand-ladles the curd into cups and lets it drain for two days. Soon the mazey design of Geotrichum candidum, the fungus occurring naturally in her starter, begins inscribing itself on the rinds of her cheese.

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Quesos la Cabazuela

Cheese making process diagram

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PHOTOS: Courtesy of Quesos la Cabazuela

“I consider my cheeses to be natural,” she says.

“I do not cool nor heat the milk. The natural microflora remains intact.

Cooling kills the lactic acid bacteria.”

When I ask if natural cheesemaking is more intensive than a commercial approach, she replies that her difficulties are more because she’s a one-woman band running a small-scale operation than anything to do with her natural methods.

The main difficulty she encounters is legislation in the Netherlands favoring largescale farming, to the point that small-scale operations pay unrepresentative costs to simply exist. Nevertheless, she balances her farming responsibilities with spreading the word, offering master classes on natural cheesemaking.

And the word is spreading, albeit slowly: Sardo is on a book tour in Italy with his tome on the subject, Formaggi Naturali, while demand for Asher’s Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking continues to take him everywhere from Uruguay to Ukraine—and Bra, of course. It’s a long road before the precepts of natural cheese reach the center of the global cheesemaking consciousness. But, as Sardo says, if we don’t start now… c

TASTING NOTES CREAMY INGOT Quesos la Cabezuela Madrid, Spain

SWARTE TOER Doetie’s Geiten Jubbega, Netherlands

New wave Brie-style cheese aged for a month-and-a-half that delivers herbal aromas and flavors of white pasta, acorn and thyme.

New wave Valençay-style that’s fresh and lactic when young, maturing to offer complex earth and floral flavors with a peppery finish.

RAGUSANO PDO Sicily, Italy

BROUSSE DU ROVE AOC Bas-Languedoc, France

A straw-colored pasta filata cheese with a savory-sweet flavor offering extra spice as it ages.

A fresh cheese made from Rove goat’s milk that has a creamy texture and a sweet, milky flavor.

SALERS TRADITION AOC Auvergne, France

AMRAM Bobolink Dairy Milford, New Jersey

Semi-hard cow’s milk cheese which, at 10 months of aging, offers floral notes contrasted by a sour tang.

VALENÇAY AOC Berry, France Covered in salted charcoal ash, this truncated goat’s milk cheese pyramid offers mouthfuls of creamy lemon and nut.

CROTTIN DE CHAVIGNOL AOC Loire Valley, France Goat’s milk cheese with a stark white interior which, when ripe, has a pungent aroma and an equally punchy flavor.

Made at Bobolink Dairy from unpasteurized cow’s milk, Amram has an ashy-grey rind after 60 days aging, and a sweet, grassy flavor with earthy notes.

BETHLEHEM Abbey of Regina Laudis Bethlehem, Connecticut Produced at the Abbey of Regina Laudis, this raw milk SaintNectaire–style has a rich, fruity aroma and nutty flavor.

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View of the vineyard at Finca la Carrodilla

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The

ROAD SOUTH In Search of Cheese in Mexico’s Wine Country WRITTEN BY WHITNEY OTAWKA PHOTOGRAPHED BY BENJAMIN WHEATLEY

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View of cheeses aging in La Cava de Marcelo

El Buen Sazon, a local taco shop

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Entrance to Rancho de Campana, home to La Cava de Marcelo

My sister looked skeptical.

“I don’t think this is the way,” she said.

I

looked down at Google Maps.

The twisting network of roads meandered aimlessly with no real point of orientation. Looking up at the steep, dirt hill ahead and the cloud of dust that had gathered, I agreed with her and carefully backed the car down to the safety and reassurance of one of only three paved roads in the Valle de Guadalupe. Ditching the navigation app, we turned to the most reliable source of directions in the Valle: the bright blue roadside signs that mark the wineries and restaurants otherwise hidden in the maze of trails and rolling grapevinecovered hills.

With headlines like “The Hottest Up and Coming Wine Region” and “The New Napa,” the Valle de Guadalupe in Baja California Norte, Mexico has built up a steady pilgrimage of travelers for the past decade. These flashy headlines do not do justice to the magnitude of what this region has evolved into; Mexico’s wine country fosters an unadulterated food community that is showcasing what the dining scene of an agricultural community should be. With rustic authenticity, the Valle de Guadalupe is redefining the identity of Mexican cuisine. The rumor of cheesemakers drew me in, but I quickly found that organic growers and local fishermen were just as alluring in the story of Baja. The Valle is everything Napa is not, in the very best way.

Sitting just 90 miles south of San Diego, California, the Valle is worthy of

a road trip. The border crossing into Mexico is an easy, unfussy affair—no passports checked and no cars stopped (if you’re lucky), it’s just you and the instant sensory overload experienced when crossing the border into Tijuana.

Navigating through the city traffic, then following the signs to Ensenada, you are greeted first by the looming, rusted border wall that mournfully reminds us of the conflicted relationship between our countries. Your attention is quickly diverted as the border wall gives way to the coast and dissipates into sea foam.

The stunning beauty of the Pacific Ocean and rugged cliffs of the Baja coast are your new travel companions on the drive to the heart of this rural, agricultural region.

A Taste of Baja

M

y sister and I focused on the road signs along the main highway, looking for our first stop after the drive from the border. “Conchas de Piedra,” the sign announced, with an arrow pointed right.

There is no better way to welcome oneself to the Valle than with fresh harvested Pacific oysters and sparkling wine. We cautiously navigated the dusty path up another, less threatening hill to a small dirt parking lot. With the car parked and a palpable sense of relief, we walked towards a grouping of corrugated, yet stylish buildings. A stone-lined path skirted around the buildings, where we found a picturesque open-air patio and kitchen.

The best kitchens in the Valle de Guadalupe have become as much a part of the scenery here as the rolling hills of grapevines. Conchas de Piedra offered long wooden communal tables and a simple menu of the Pacific’s bounty. We ordered a platter of raw oysters: Baja Kumamotos, Kumiai, and Pai Pai accompanied by a trio of mignonettes that included habanero and grasshopper. Chocolate clam ceviche was served in its freshly shucked shell, tossed with tomato, onion, and lime juice. Roasted Pacific oysters were briny and luscious in epazote butter. The restaurant is on the vineyard Casa de

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Where to Eat in the Valle

TRASLOMITA Try: Tamales de Calabaza, Torta de Calamari DECKMAN’S EN EL MOGOR Try: Grilled Quail with Bergamot, Abalone with Beets and Pork Jowl ANIMALÓN Try: Clay Baked Lamb Barbacoa, Grilled Octopus with Chile Morita LA GUERRERENSE Try: Sea Urchin Tostada, Clam Ceviche LA COCINA DE DO A ESTHELA Try: Housemade Queso Fresco with Chips and Salsa, Borrego en su Jugo

Oysters (Kumamoto, Kumiai, Pai Pai) at Conchas de Piedras

El Buen Sazon tacos: Pescado (fish), bottom left; Birria (stewed beef), top center; and Camarones (shrimp), bottom right 74 culturecheesemag.com SPRING 2020

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Local Cheeses at Tienda De Quesos y Vinos los Globos

Piedra, led by celebrated wine maker Hugo d’Acosta, whose Espuma de Piedra Blanc de Blanc could stand up to any champagne in a blind tasting.

After leaving the dreamy restaurant setting, we stopped at the local cheese shop, Tienda de Quesos y Vinos los Globos, for our first sampling of Mexican cheese. As you enter the Valle on the main road, this nondescript building is easy to miss. Inside the shop the wooden counters display wheel after wheel of flavored queso fresco, smoked Manchego, and mushroom-rubbed añejo (a firm, aged Mexican cheese).

Local olive oils, honey, guava fruit jams, and olive-oil-fried potato chips pack the shelves of this mecca for local products.

While a handful of the cheeses were imports, the majority highlighted local cheesemakers from the neighboring Valle de Ojos Negros (literally, “Valley of the Black Eyes”). Home to more than twenty cheesemaking families, the Valle de Ojos Negros is to cheese as the Valle de Guadalupe is to wine. Local producer

Home to more than twenty cheesemaking families, the Valle de Ojos Negros is to cheese as the Valle de Guadalupe is to wine.

Quesos Castañeda makes queso frescos flavored with everything imaginable: rosemary and olive, jalapeño, garlic, tomato, and even almond. Cincho, a cheese in the style of cotija, boasts a beautiful, bright orange-red rind starkly contrasted by its chalk white, salty, crumbly interior. The exterior is rubbed with adobo to achieve a vibrant color.

The Valle de Guadalupe is a food lover’s paradise. Where there is a wine growing climate, you will find the terroir that produces a bounty of impeccable delights. Hugged by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Sea of Cortez to its east, the seafood is unparalleled. Oysters, sea snails, clams, uni, snapper, crabs, lobster, and tuna are just a few of the diverse offerings fished daily. The microclimate for the region is the inspiration for its namesake cuisine, Baja Mediterranean.

Hot, dry summers where the sea breezes sweep in to temper the evenings give way to cool, damp winters, ideal for the growth of olives, grapes, and almost every other type of produce imaginable. What has taken shape is a style of cooking that is rooted in the historical recipes and traditions of Mexican flavors, yet reflective of the unique characteristics of Baja. Complex sauces and deeply charred, smoky flavors balance fresh produce and ingredients distinct to the region.

Chef Javier Plascencia has been a key force in defining the Baja taste.

Animalón, a recent addition to his roster of restaurants, focuses exclusively on Baja-grown ingredients. When we arrived that evening the sun was beginning to set, casting a violet hue onto the vines lining the path to the restaurant. Mesquite wood perfumed the cool night air. The view was dominated by the outstretched branches of a 200-year-old oak tree woven with small lights mimicking the starry night sky. This is the dining room at Animalón. Tables are tucked under the immense canopy of the tree, setting the scene for that rare culinary gem: a restaurant that combines a comfortable and casual energy while serving you a meticulously crafted tasting menu.

Smoked chicken breast was sauced with a complex olive chimole paired with baby

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turnips and apple tempeche. Lobster Tallarines took the form of a stuffed pasta served with lobster mole, tomato jam, and crema Mexicana. I would willingly drive the most perilous roads of the Valle for a meal of this magnitude.

Valley of The Black Eyes

D

ay two opened with the bright, saturated sunlight that permeates this arid region.

Where there are no grapevines, the land is hard packed and seems to reflect the burnt orange glow of the sun. It was time to find the cheese cave of Casa Ramonetti, home of the legendary fourthgeneration cheesemaker Marcelo Castro in the Valle de Ojos Negros. Getting there takes you through Ensenada, a small coastal city with the finest seafood tostados ever made. For a quick lunch, we stopped at the small street corner stall, La Guerrerense. Run by Chef Sabina Bandera, this stall is standing-room only.

I ordered my favorite: pisco clam and sea urchin, while my sister opted for octopus and red snapper ceviche. We ate them so ravenously we immediately got back in line and ordered two more tostados each.

On the road to cheese, one must always eat tostados, right?

Back in the car, we drove the twisting highway through the boulder-strewn foothills of the Sierra de Juárez. GPS goes out fast but highway signs that read “Bienvenidos a la Ruta del Queso y el Vino” offer us peace of mind that we are headed in the right direction. Rancho la Campana is arguably the most wellknown creamery of the Valle de Ojos Negros. They’ve produced cheeses like their aged cow’s milk Ramonetti since 1911. It was Marcelo Castro’s greatgreat-grandfather Pedro Ramonetti Bonetti, a Swiss-Italian immigrant, who began the family cheesemaking legacy here, which now includes cheese, butter, and ice cream. Their cheese cave, La Cava de Marcelo—the first in Latin America and the only one open to the public—was Castro’s dream.

My sister and I took the full tour of

Cheese presses and molds at Rancho de Campana

the property with our guide, Diego, who showed us the milking facility and the cheese pressing room. The cows, who were clearly done with the day’s work, dozed languidly in the pastures around us, wisely avoiding the heat of the day. I eagerly anticipated our entry into the cheese cave, partially for its 45°F temperature and fully for the opportunity to eat all of the dairy products awaiting me therein. Inside the cheese cave, we were first presented with eight cheese samples and the butter made on the property. Ricotta, four types of queso fresco, and three ages of añejo: 5 months, 1 year, and 2 years. The tasting room was flanked on three sides by the aging rooms and through the glass doors I admired the granite walls casting their shadow over

the aging yellow wheels. Upon entering the room, we were greeted by wheels of all shapes and sizes, some washed in ale from a brewery in nearby Ensenada, while another is coated in hay. Here, deep underground, in the heart of Baja California, Mexican cheese takes on a bold new personality.

The Land of Grapes

O

ur last day in the Valle opened with breakfast, and the onehour wait that is accompanied by trying to get a table at La Cocina de Doña Esthela, once named the best breakfast in the world. Blanca Esthela Martinez Bueno first opened her doors to feed the workers from the neighboring vineyards and is now feeding hungry

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Valle Wines + Mexican Cheese Pairings

Casa de Piedra, Espuma De Piedra, Blanc de Blancs Lechuza, Chardonnay, Acero Inoxidable Viñedos Malagón, Grenache Rosé

Lomita, Tinto De La Hacienda (Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz) Las Nubes, Colección de Parcelas (Tempranillo, Cabernet, Merlot, Nebbiolo)

Queso Asadero

Chihuahua

Queso Cincho

Queso Añejo

Cotija

Lomita Vineyards Grenache

travelers who make their way to the Valle de Guadalupe. Every table is welcomed with tortilla chips, salsa, and housemade queso fresco made from the milk of the cows on the property. The menu includes her legendary fresh corn pancakes and lamb slow-roasted in a clay oven and served in consommé.

The lure, the growing crowds, and the celebration of the Valle de Guadalupe over the past decade would be impossible without the region’s highquality wine production. In the early 1900s, a sect of Christian immigrants from Russia moved into the Valle de Guadalupe and began to make a living doing what they knew how to do: grow grapes. They didn’t make these grapes into wine, but instead sold to others who did. The vines took hold of

the land and continued to grow. Now the Valle boasts over 200 vineyards, including the biodynamic practices found at sister properties Finca La Carrodilla and La Lomita.

We tasted organic wines made using sustainable practices at the sweeping property of Finca La Carrodilla. Tucked up against the boulder-strewn hills that frame the valley, this vineyard boasts a vegetable garden, cows, sheep, chickens, and bees. They make their own queso fresco and butter, which are served exclusively on-site in their tasting room. Working with a biodynamic calendar, their Canto de Luna wine is a robust blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, and Syrah, all harvested by moonlight. Árbol is an organic Syrah made using the natural

yeast of the grapes. La Lomita Winery is located on a more compact parcel of land, but boasts TrasLomita, one of the best restaurants run by Chef Sheyla Alvarado—our final destination.

Our rustic wooden table at TrasLomita was perched on a patio framed by rambling vines and jewel-toned bougainvillea. Sitting at this table in the fading light of the day with a bounty of tamales wrapped in grape leaves, olive wood grilled chicken, and glasses of organic Grenache in front of me, I was filled with gratitude and inspiration. It’s hidden among the grape vines where Baja Mediterranean cuisine shines. And it’s the country’s winding roads—lined with breathtaking views, supple Pacific oysters, and sea urchin tostados—which lead to cheese in Mexico. c

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recipes

Southern Comfort

PAGE 29

Use 1 tablespoon butter to grease a 9-inch round or square baking dish.

Maepole Mac and Cheese

Using cottage cheese makes this dish extra creamy, and using dry pasta saves a step. The extra moisture of a young cheddar will add to the creaminess of the sauce. Cavatappi pasta is a corkscrew shape and its grooved sides hold more of the cheese mixture, but if you can’t find cavatappi, feel free to use elbow pasta. For added luxury, top with buttered breadcrumbs before the second bake. Recipe inspired by Melissa Clark of The New York Times.

Serves 6 to 8

2 tablespoons salted butter, divided 1 cup full-fat cottage cheese 2 ½ cups half and half 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard Pinch cayenne Pinch freshly grated nutmeg ¼ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 pound sharp white cheddar cheese, grated ½ pound cavatappi pasta, uncooked

In a blender, purée cottage cheese, half and half, mustard, cayenne, nutmeg, salt, and pepper together. Reserve ¼ cup grated cheese for topping. In a large bowl, combine remaining grated cheese, cottage cheese mixture, and uncooked pasta. Pour into a prepared baking dish, cover with foil, and let sit for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 375°F and position an oven rack in upper third of oven. Bake dish for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and gently stir, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and dot with remaining butter. Bake, uncovered, 20 to 30 minutes more, until browned. Rest for 15 minutes before serving.

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RECIPE S

Keeping it Fresh

PAGE 36

Tomato Braised Chickpeas with Queso Fresco and Lime

In this deeply satisfying one-pot meal, queso fresco shows off its versatility by adding texture and body to this stew.

Serves 4

Whipped Queso Fresco with Spring Vegetables

This easy dip can be served with your favorite vegetables, breads, or crackers. Alternatively, use it as a spread on a sandwich.

Serves 6 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1½ teaspoons za’atar spice blend 1 shallot, minced 12 ounces queso fresco 1 tablespoon chive, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon chervil, minced 1 tablespoon parsley, minced 1 cup full-fat plain yogurt Mixed baby spring vegetables to serve alongside Crackers to serve alongside Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add za’atar and cook until fragrant and just sizzling,

about 10 seconds. Transfer mixture to a heat-proof container and let cool to room temperature. Set aside.

In the same pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-low heat. Stir in the shallot and cook until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Set aside.

Using the medium sized holes on a box grater, grate queso fresco into a large bowl. Add in chive, chervil, parsley, yogurt, and shallot. Use a whisk or wooden spoon to vigorously mix the mixture until smooth.

To serve, spoon whipped queso fresco into a serving dish and top with za’atar oil. Serve with mixed baby spring vegetables and crackers on the side.

3 tablespoons olive oil 1½ teaspoons chili powder ½ teaspoon ground fennel seed 1 cup onion, diced 1 cup tomatoes, diced 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 cups cooked chickpeas 1½ cups tomato purée 1½ cups queso fresco, cubed 1½ teaspoons kosher salt Lime wedges for garnish Cilantro for garnish Toasted naan or other flatbread In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Stir in chili powder and fennel seed, cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add onion, tomato, ginger and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add chickpeas, tomato purée, and 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.

Stir in queso fresco and salt. Cook for an additional minute.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with a squeeze of lime and cilantro.

Serve with naan on the side.

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RECIPE S

Watermelon and Tomato Salad with Queso Fresco and Sweet Peppers

Crumbled queso fresco rounds out this salad that pairs sweet, salty, and bright acidic flavors. Omit the country ham for a vegetarian-friendly version.

Serves 2 to 4 SWEET PEPPER VINAIGRETTE: Yields 1½ cups 1 roasted red bell pepper, deseeded and minced 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar ½ teaspoon parsley, minced ½ teaspoon kosher salt ½ cup olive oil ¼ cup grapeseed oil SALAD: 1½ cups diced watermelon ½ cup sweet pepper vinaigrette 1 large heirloom tomato, cut into wedges 8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half Flaky sea salt 3 paper-thin slices of country ham ¼ cup crumbled queso fresco Fresh chervil for garnish

SWEET PEPPER VINAIGRETTE: In a mixing bowl, stir together the red pepper, lemon juice, Champagne vinegar, parsley, and salt. While whisking, slowly pour in both oils.

Transfer to a storage container if not using immediately. Vinaigrette can be stored in the refrigerator for up to seven days.

SALAD: In a large bowl, toss watermelon with 1 tablespoon of sweet pepper vinaigrette. In a separate bowl, lightly season heirloom tomato and cherry tomatoes with the sea salt.

To serve, arrange watermelon on a serving platter and top with tomatoes. Drizzle with remaining sweet pepper vinaigrette. Top with torn slices of country ham, queso fresco crumbles, and chervil leaves.

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RECIPE S

Grilled Zucchini with Cilantro Buttermilk, Queso Fresco, and Pine Nuts

Serve as a vegetable side or use as a main course—this zucchini would make an excellent filling for a taco.

Serves 4 CILANTRO BUTTERMILK: Yields about 1 cup 1 cup packed cilantro leaves ½ cup full-fat buttermilk 2 tablespoons sour cream ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Green Chili and Queso Fresco Frittata

Queso fresco is a favorite cheese to use in Mexico on the breakfast classics huevos rancheros and chilaquiles. Try it on your favorite egg dish, too, including this classic frittata.

Serves 2 4 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 tablespoon heavy cream 1 teaspoon kosher salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper Small handful of arugula, chopped ¾ cup queso fresco, crumbled 1 tablespoon butter 1 cup green chilis, such as cubanelle or poblano, diced ¼ cup onion, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 teaspoon parsley, minced 1 avocado, pitted and diced Pinch of flaky sea salt Pinch of red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, black pepper, arugula, and queso fresco. Set aside.

TO GRILL: 3 medium zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 4 tablespoons crumbled queso fresco 4 tablespoons toasted and crushed pine nuts Pea tendrils for garnish

In a medium nonstick pan or wellseasoned cast iron skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Add green chilis, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, pour in egg mixture, and stir to combine. Allow the eggs to lightly set before gently moving around with a rubber spatula, being sure to scrape the bottom and sides of pan. Continue this process until eggs are fluffy and set but still a little runny on top, about 3 minutes. Top with parsley and transfer to oven. Cook until eggs are fully set, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Slide frittata out of pan onto a serving platter. Arrange avocado on or around frittata and top with sea salt, red pepper flakes, and a drizzle of olive oil.

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RECIPE S

CILANTRO BUTTERMILK: Place cilantro and buttermilk in a blender and purée until smooth.

Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the sour cream and salt. Any leftover cilantro buttermilk can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days.

Sustainable Meat at Every Meal PAGE 46

TO GRILL: Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

Toss zucchini halves with the olive oil, salt, cumin, and coriander.

Place zucchini cut side down on grill grates and grill until charred, about 4 to 5 minutes. Flip zucchini over and cook for an additional minute. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature before cutting into bite size pieces.

To serve, spoon a generous amount of cilantro buttermilk onto a serving platter. Arrange the zucchini on the platter and top with queso fresco, pine nuts, and pea tendrils.

BREAKFAST

Spicy Ground Beef Breakfast Casserole

This easy, cheesy breakfast casserole takes a little stovetop preparation, but it’s a great way to serve a hungry crowd in the morning (or the afternoon for brunch). Leftovers also reheat well; simply cover with foil and cook at 350ºF for 20 to 25 minutes until warm throughout.

Serves 8 2 tablespoons olive oil ½ large white onion, finely chopped 1 pound ground sirloin Cayenne pepper, to taste Crushed red pepper, to taste 6 eggs 2 cups milk Kosher salt, to taste Freshly ground pepper, to taste 6 slices white bread, cut or torn into ½-inch cubes 1½ cups grated cheddar cheese Sliced jalapeño to garnish, optional Sour cream to garnish, optional

Heat oven to 350ºF then grease or butter a 2½- to 3-quart baking dish or cast-iron skillet and set aside. In a large skillet over medium-low heat, sauté onions in olive oil. When onions begin to brown, about 5 to 8 minutes, add the ground sirloin, then add cayenne pepper and red pepper to taste (at least ¼ teaspoon each, but more if you like it spicy). When meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs and milk. Salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the bread, 1 cup of cheese, and cooked beef. Pour mixture into the prepared dish or skillet, then bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Remove and cover with the remaining cheddar cheese. Bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until brown and bubbly.

Cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then slice and serve with or without jalapeño and sour cream garnish.

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RECIPE S

LUNCH

Tri-Tip Steak Sandwich

Texture-wise, tri-tip is one of the best steaks you can get. But if you don’t cook and cut it properly, things can go bad quickly. Tri-tip is technically two different muscles, and the grains run different directions in each. To ensure each bite is tender and juicy, cut the tri-tip in half where the two different grain patterns meet, then slice each piece against the grain.

Both the steak and aioli should be prepped the day or night before you plan to make the sandwiches. The tri-tip yields enough meat for four sandwiches, plus leftovers.

Makes 4 sandwiches

SMOKED PAPRIKA AIOLI: 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 heaping teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 3 cloves of garlic, minced

STEAK SANDWICH: 4 ciabatta rolls 1 tablespoon butter 1 pound tri-tip (cooked and sliced) 8 slices provolone cheese ½ cup fresh baby arugula 4 to 6 tablespoons smoked paprika aioli

TRI-TIP STEAK: 1 2-pound tri-tip steak 2 tablespoons Santa Maria–style seasoning (or your favorite steak rub) 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

SMOKED PAPRIKA AIOLI: Combine all ingredients in a bowl or jar. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, preferably overnight.

PREPARE STEAK: Rub all sides of the tri-tip with seasoning and drizzle with olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.

COOK STEAK: Set up your charcoal grill with coals under half the grate (or if you have a gas grill, only turn on half the burners.) Sear tri-tip directly over the fire for 8 minutes, 4 minutes per side. Move tri-tip to the side of the grate without coals and cook indirectly for 20 to 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 130ºF. Transfer to a plate or cutting board and tent with aluminum foil. Let the meat rest for 15 minutes before cutting, then slice against the grain.

ASSEMBLE SANDWICHES: Butter one side of the top half of each ciabatta roll, then add 4 ounces sliced tri-tip to the bottom half of each ciabatta roll. Top steak with 2 slices provolone cheese. Add both (separately, top piece buttered side down) to the side of the grill without coals, and cook for 45 to 90 seconds until cheese is melted and bread has just browned. Remove from grill, add equal amounts arugula to each sandwich, and equal amounts aioli to each top bun. Replace the top bun and serve immediately.

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RECIPE S

Leftover Steak Salad with Fresh Cheese

Steak salad makes for a hearty lunch and is a waste-free option for leftover cooked steak. A versatile balsamic vinaigrette dressing and fresh, unflavored goat’s or sheep’s milk cheese play well with any type of steak, no matter how it was seasoned. The dressing can be made ahead and stored in a mason jar or other sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week, just be sure to bring it to room temperature and whisk or shake well before serving.

Serves 4 BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE: cup extra-virgin olive oil cup balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon honey ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard Kosher salt, to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

SALAD: 4 cups fresh baby arugula 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half ½ red onion, thinly sliced 1 avocado, thinly sliced (optional) ½ to ¾ pound leftover cooked steak, thinly sliced 2 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette 4 to 6 ounces fresh goat’s or sheep’s milk cheese BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE DRESSING: In a large measuring cup or Mason jar, vigorously whisk oil, vinegar, honey, and mustard until emulsified. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, and whisk until combined. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. This dressing recipe yields about 1 cup.

TO ASSEMBLE SALAD: Divide arugula among four salad plates or bowls, then top each with equal amounts tomato, onion, avocado, and steak. Drizzle each salad with dressing then top with equal amounts sliced or crumbled fresh cheese. Serve immediately.

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RECIPE S

Ribeye Steak with Gorgonzola Butter

Grilled ribeye steaks topped with flavorful Gorgonzola cheese compound butter make for a delicious dinner. After grilling the steaks and topping with butter, be sure to rest the meat.

This allows the steaks to retain their juices and the butter to melt beautifully onto the steaks.

Serves 4 GORGONZOLA BUTTER: 1 stick butter, room temperature 3 tablespoons Gorgonzola cheese ⅓ cup fresh parsley leaves ½ tablespoon kosher salt ¼ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

DINNER

Stuffed Meatballs

Mozzarella-stuffed meatballs make a great appetizer, snack, or spaghetti topping with red sauce. Mixing the meat and seasoning works best if you use your hands (just be sure to wear gloves).

STEAK: 4 12-ounce ribeye steaks 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon salt ½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

GORGONZOLA BUTTER: Add all ingredients to a food processor. Pulse until incorporated. Roll butter in parchment paper, approximating the size of a stick of butter, and refrigerate for at least one hour until hardened.

GRILLED RIBEYE STEAKS: Remove steaks from the fridge 30 minutes before grilling to rest at room temperature.

Season all sides with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper and set aside while preparing the grill.

Grill steaks directly over high heat for 8 minutes, 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and top each steak with a ½-inch slice of the compound butter, then loosely cover with tin foil to rest for 10 minutes. Serve with buttery mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans, or your favorite side dishes.

Yields 16 meatballs 1½ pounds ground beef ½ cup panko bread crumbs 1 egg 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced or grated on a microplane 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 16 squares Heat oven to 450ºF and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat, and set aside. Combine everything but the mozzarella in a large mixing bowl until incorporated and smooth, then divide into 16 equal portions (about 1.5 ounces each). Form each portion into a ball around a cube of mozzarella. Bake uncovered for 13 to 15 minutes, taking care to not overcook (otherwise the cheese will ooze out).

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S H O P TA LK

Shop Talk writ ten by

ROSEMONT MARKET & BAKERY FALMOUTH, MAINE

1d

1b 1a

DANA FERRANTE

1c

1. ROSEMONT MARKET & BAKERY PORTLAND, MAINE Rosemont Market & Bakery takes its role as a neighborhood market seriously. Since its original store opened in 2005, Rosemont has taken a “local first” approach, looking to neighboring farms, bakeries, and—of course— cheesemakers, before turning to purveyors outside the community. “As our company has grown from one store to six, our local cheesemakers have grown with us, [providing] more variety and greater supply,” says Director of Operations Erin Lynch. From charcuterie to fresh herbs and cornichons to craft beers, each location provides an ample playground for the board-building enthusiast or pairing aficionado.

The Rosemont team highly recommends Winter Hill Farm’s camembert-style Frost Gully with Turtle Rock Farm Strawberry Basil Spread, or Balfour Farm’s slightly sharp Cotswold cheddar with a Coffee Porter from Portland’s Rising Tide Brewery.

1A. ROSEMONT BRIGHTON AVENUE 580 Brighton Ave., Portland, ME 04102 207.774.8129 Mon.-Sat. 8 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

1B. ROSEMONT MUNJOY HILL 88 Congress St., Portland, ME 04101 207.773.7888 Mon.-Sat. 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

1C. ROSEMONT WEST END 40 Pine St., Portland, ME 04102 207.699.4181 Mon.-Sat. 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Additional locations in Falmouth (1D), Yarmouth, & Cape Elizabeth, ME

2

3

THE CHEESE SHOP OF PORTL AND PORTL AND, MAINE

THE CHEESE IRON SCARBOROUGH, MAINE

2. THE CHEESE SHOP OF PORTLAND PORTLAND, MAINE

3. THE CHEESE IRON SCARBOROUGH, MAINE

“Our number one focus is quality,” explains Mary Sissle, who co-owns The Cheese Shop of Portland with her partner Will. “Sometimes that’s cheese from overseas, sometimes [it’s from] as close as twenty minutes away.” After about a year in the Portland-based Black Box business incubator, the couple has now set up permanent shop. Aside from offering a wider selection of cut-to-order cheeses, charcuterie, preserves, and sweets, Will jokes that the biggest difference customers will notice about the new space is they won’t “be packed like tinned fish.” Now, Will says, “Customers are welcome to hang out, talk about life, family, food, recipes, wine, all while trying the most cared-for cheese in the area.”

With almost three decades of experience in the cheese industry, The Cheese Iron owners Jill Dutton and Vincent Maniaci are seasoned veterans when it comes to adapting to customer tastes. “Our customers are American artisan-focused these days,” says Vincent. “[Jasper Hill] Oma, [Hahn’s End Farm] City of Ships, and [Arethusa Farm and Dairy] Arethusa Blue are a few of the cheeses we stock yearly.

Our customers demand it!” Beyond European staples and locally-made jams, breads, and chocolate, the shop also sports a windowed cheese cave where local, green (a.k.a. fresh, unaged) cheeses ripen on-site. Stop by for a custom-ordered cheeseboard, savory afternoon snack from their lunch counter, or a quick peek at the cheeses ripening in the cave.

Vincent’s only rule: “No licking the glass!”

107 Washington Ave. Unit 1, Portland, ME 04101 207.747.5241 Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. , Mon. Closed

200 US-1 #300, Scarborough, ME 04074 207.883.4057 Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. Closed

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RUMIN ATIO N S

Hold the Nuts IT’S TIME WE ADDRESSED VEGAN CHEESE

writ ten by

MARGARET LEAHY |

illustrated by

I’

m not a vegan. I’ve become an “accidental” vegetarian (acci-tarian?) at times due to limited funds and my general fear of cooking meat. But while I respect the reasons people might electively eschew animal products, I lack the fortitude to pass up late night emergency mac and cheese in favor of ethics.

Physical sensitivity is a different story.

People with lactose intolerance and dairy allergies are living in a golden age of dairy-free alternatives, some of which are quite good—I’m a big fan of coconut creamer myself. Non-dairy “cheese” brands like Daiya, Kite Hill, and Tofutti are readily available in big name grocery stores, and have even become common cheese substitutes at many restaurants.

Some brands achieve their goal better than others, serving the texture, flavor, and meltability that dairy-averse consumers crave with passable similarity.

And yet.

When my mom was stricken with a mysterious intestinal infection a few years back, she was forced to alter her diet drastically. As a child of the sixties, she

ERIN WALL ACE

was accustomed to eating and cooking mid-century staples like American chop suey, meatloaf, and lasagna. Likewise, my dad’s culinary style is dictated by the three Bs of hearty New England sustenance: beef, bread, and beans.

To my parents’ credit, I was force-fed vegetables regularly as a child, but words like “kale,” “gluten,” and “dairy-free alternative” might as well have been another language. So when my mom’s meal options became limited to rice and aggressively steamed vegetables, my parents had to rewrite their entire foodscape.

My mom’s health is much better today, and now she can rattle off her preferred ancient grains, mylks, and sugar-free dessert hacks with ease. As a lifelong lover of grilled cheese, she’s experimented with a few different dairyfree cheeses that mimic the qualities of her former beloved Land-O’-Lakes slices, finally landing on an acceptable variety that maintains a permanent spot on her grocery list. When asked about her evolved relationship with vegan cheese and how it compares to the real thing, she pauses.

“It’s a...reasonable facsimile,” she says, ever the diplomat.

Dairy-free cheese isn’t exactly new. It was produced in China as far back as the 16th century from tofu and other soybean-based products. America saw a surge in vegan cheese popularity in the 1980s, as the diet craze took off and hitherto-alien words like “cholesterol” and “carbohydrate” entered the general lexicon. Dairy-free cheeses have faced a similar controversy to nut-based milks, with dairy stewards registering outrage at the words “milk” and “cheese” being co-opted to describe products that are anything but. These “reasonable facsimiles” have received mixed reviews over the years, but improvements in food production technology have done good things for texture. However, because vegan cheese does not experience the same aging process as true cheese and is made sans cultures, the nuances of flavor and mouthfeel are gone.

With a bounty of subpar options and so few truly great alternatives, I often wonder if it’s worth the effort. After all, most cheese alternatives are only good enough to remind you that you aren’t actually eating cheese. Burgers can be seasoned accordingly to make up for its absence, antipasti can replace a traditional cheese plate, and what is pizza but a bready vessel for any number of non-dairy toppings?

A friend was recently diagnosed with a dairy allergy, never before having experienced food intolerance in his life.

Not quite thirty and otherwise perfectly healthy, he was blindsided. His incredibly proactive partner responded with gusto, filling their fridge with nut cheeses, tofu spreads, and compiling “cheesy” vegan pasta recipes. At a recent outing to a pizza restaurant, however, the pain on my friend’s face as he watched the rest of us enjoy our cheese-covered flatbreads was visceral, almost comical. I asked why cheese mattered to him so much.

“You just can’t replace it,” he sighed, watching me disengage a gooey slice from its fellows. c

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