Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Cheese: Burrata
Country: Canada
Type: Mozzarella/Bocconcini

Today we have an amazing treat, it's a fresh soft mozzarella style cheese from Canada called Burrata, made by Santa Luchia. This version was made here in Canada, but I'm sure there are local versions all over the place. Normally I consider mozzarella something like cottage cheese, boring and useful for a crispy toping on something flavourful. Burrata though was a surprise, it had the typical chewy mozzarella outside but buried in the middle of the cheese was this amazing creamy slightly salty slightly sweet creamy awesomeness.

This cheese would be awesome melted on anything, and I ate it straight paired with some tiny olives and some sausage. Great for a salad, great for pasta. A really excellent cheese.

Wednesday January 30, 2013

Cheese: Monte Enebro
Country: Spain
Type: Goat

Today's photo courtesy of Mr. Peter Smith, because my phone was dead after playing Ingress in the freezing cold all lunch break.

The "Man With The Keys Tattoo" basically pushed this cheese into my hands. Enebro is an interesting goat cheese, the rind is pretty funky, a combination of ash and blue mould. The cheese itself is fairly neutral, the typical salty-sweet you get from most goat cheeses. The rind on the other hand is pungent, strong, and earthy. This one isn't for the feint of heart, but if you are into blue cheese and goat cheese it's a unique combination of the two.

I had some caper berries with it, probably not the ideal pairing.

Wednesday January 16, 2013

Cheese: Morbier
Country: France
Type: Cow

Cheese: Migneron de Charlevoix
Country: Canada
Type: Cow

To celebrate the Government of Canada losing track of 2% of Canadian's personal data I'm having an extravaganza of treats from Janice Beaton today. Up first, Morbier, a lovely cheese from France, with a washed crystalized rind and a layer of ash in the middle. It is one of my favourites, mostly because of the rind which has a bit of crunch to it and a slight tang of grass. Also on the plate today is a close cousin to Morbier, Migneron de Charlevoix, which I've had before as well. It has a wonderful rind and the flavour reminds me of pastures and impressionist paintings (I know, an odd thing for a cheese flavour to bring to mind).

I paired both cheeses with a game hen terrine with pistachio and black truffles and a big pile of cornichons, and a handful of almonds. Both cheeses are excellent for eating, I would recommend them on any fork, but I'd avoid melting them or cooking with them - they have subtle flavours that you'd lose in any dish calling for cheese even though they'd melt nicely. They'd be great additions to a tasting plater since they are a bit adventurous with the rinds and ash layers, but flavour wise mellow.

Thursday January 10th, 2013

Cheese: Vigneron
Country: Switzerland
Type: Raw Cow

After a bit of a holiday hiatus JBW is back, though a day late this week, sort of. I had a coworker pick up some cheese for me yesterday as I was out of the office, and am enjoying it today. He snagged a chunk of Vigneron, sort of a Swiss version of cheddar. It's fairly mild, the rind is no where near as gnarly as the picture makes it look, it's wrapped in a thin black foil/paper. There was a slight grassy hint to the cheese which I think would go nicely with some apricot or plum preserves, and possibly one of the more bitter nuts (walnut maybe). Over all a pretty decent cheese.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Cheese: Cornish Yarg
Country: England
Type: Raw Cow

At Christmas time the fine folks at Janice Beaton's get in a bevy of seasonal cheeses, this year one of their tasty treats is a Cornish Yarg. Yarg is more or less a slightly sweet cheddar wrapped in nettles. The rind is surprisingly mild, I had expected something sharp but the nettles are well cured and aged and just added a grassy undertone to the cheese. I ate some with a salad, and also melted some over chili. It held up nicely to a moderate bit of melting, and was just slightly stringy with a nice texture when warmed. I would say it is good for both eating and melting over foods, but it won't hold up to punchy flavour companions. For fun I had a bit with Rooster Sauce, and the cheese lost the flavour battle.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Cheese: Double Gloucester
Country: England
Type: Cow - Raw

Cheese: Linconshire Poacher
Country: England
Type: Cow - Raw

Double cheese day! There are all these seasonal cheeses showing up at Janice Beaton's right now, so a co-worker and I shared. Up first is the Double Gloucester - a straight forward cheddar with a cloth wrap for curing. It's middle of the road in terms of sharpness, slightly dry, and sort of what one would expect from a cheddar. The Linconshire Poacher has a more robust flavour, slightly caramel in undertone, certainly more exciting an eat than the Gloucester. Both are excellent eating cheeses and I wager would go good with wine. I ate mine with some Elk terrine and olives.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Cheese: Bleu d'Auvergne
Country: France
Type: Cow

Today is a lovely mild blue from France, Bleu d'Auvergne. I wanted something that wasn't super strong and melted nicely, and this was the cheese recommended by the fine people at Janice Beaton's. I melted it over a giant pile of cabbage and roast beef. Delightful. The tangy blue goes so very well with beef.