Day 969 : Epicerie Boulud Cheeses!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to make it to checking out the Saxelby curated cheese counter at Epicerie Boulud considering as it is less than a 5 minute walk from my apartment. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

But yesterday afternoon I stopped in to grab some cheeses for a family dinner. The selection as I knew was a mixture of small production local American cheese wonders and certain select French greats.

Looking for Pave du Nord? Or perhaps a Herve Mons aged ash ripened goat's milk cheese? Then definitely grab Ovalie Cendree. This long oval shaped cheese is just the cats' meow -- classic flavors of chalky, bright, milky, grassy citrus abound but with a warm earthy rusticness and hints of mushroomy ash. Sure your mind goes to cheeses like Valencay but don't let it stop there, Ovalie Cendree has the most unique depth to it. Looking for a straight forward morsel of 2 year aged Comte or an ooey gooey bite of Brilliat Savarin, you can find it here!

And what of our American selections? There's one of my favorite winter-time cheeses crafted by Spring Brook Farm, Reading Raclette. Rustic and earthy yet buttery and rich, perfection with a nice warming ale or medium bodied red. Staying in the firm cheese arena, there was Grafton Village's Shepsog, a cow and sheep's milk firm Vermonter of a cheese or Cumberland from Tennessee, a newish discovery for me. Maybe you are more in a washed rind mood, well then definitely pick up a morsel of Hudson Red, my favorite Hudson Valley washed rind fellow.

Albeit small, the selections are excellently curated and affordable - you cannot go wrong with any choice you make here. However, I will caution, you should know what you are looking for when you approach the cheese counter as surprisingly so, the knowledge of the cheesemongers was not very apparent nor was their usage of the right cheese knives or wrapping procedures. It is a shame as the selection is awesome but that won't stop me as I know what I want. I look forward to returning to explore other cheeses and their ever changing selection.


Epicerie Boulud
1900 Broadway

Day 911 : American Cheese Celebrations - Part One - Grafton VIllage Cheese

Last night I hosted a fabulous tasting of American cheeses and over the course of the next few days - I thought we'd highlight each one of them and tell you all my dear Fromagical readers why they are so fabulous.

Let's start with Grafton Village Cheese's 3 year aged Cheddar. This my friends is a cheddar with roots -- Grafton's history dates back to the 1890s when a co-op of farmers got together to begin producing cheese with their excess milk. This was somewhat of a short lived operation as in 1912, a large fire destroyed their facilities. It was not until the 1960s, that the Windham Foundation came along and rebuilt the operation and restored a sense of cheesemaking life into Grafton which continues to this day. The Windham Foundation is centered around helping stimulate and promote agricultural, economic, societal and cultural growth in the rural communities of Vermont. A portion of your purchase of any cheese crafted by Grafton Village Cheese goes to benefit the Windham Foundation.

Fast forward to 2012 -- Grafton Village Cheese is a big deal operation making hundreds of pounds of cheese on a yearly basis. Experts in Cheddar -- Grafton crafts young and old cheddars, infused cheddars, and pretty much anything in between.

My absolute favorite of their Cheddars is their 3 year. It's fantastically biting and robust yet rustic, farmsteady and creamy. With hints of grassiness and a honest raw roundness -- it is a superstar of a Cheddar. Intensely crumbly in the most wonderful of ways -- those morsels manage to coat every crevice of your mouth. Great on its own or paired with dried apricots and roasted walnuts or sandwiched between two pieces of bread with sliced tomatos and toasted to make a grilled cheese -- it sure is a versatile cheese!

Best enjoyed either with McCall's 2010 Pinot Noir hailing from the North Fork if you're in the wine mood or Brooklyn Brewery's Pennant Ale if you're in a beer mood. McCall's Pinot Noir is all elegance -- full of dark cherry and red berry notes with hints of spice and notes of vanilla -- medium bodied and the perfect Fall local wine to bring out the flavors of the cheese. Not feeling wine -- then grab a Pennant Ale, Brooklyn Brewery's traditional English style pale ale. Bright honey colored with a toasty, crisp hoppy, maltiness and fruity smoothness. A great pairing partner for our Grafton 3 year aged Cheddar.

Here's to the beginning of our American Cheese Celebrations with the wonderful Grafton Village Cheese 3 year Cheddar!

Day 896 : Fall into Beer Pairing Number 3 - Bengali Tiger & Ewe's Blue or Grafton

There’s something fantastically mysterious and uniquely dynamic about IPA’s – they are infused with the romantic notions and nuances of far off lands. Developed in the 18^th century in Britain solely for export to India due to the supposed sustained beer quality and even improvement in flavor profile from the trans-oceanic journey.  Without getting too wrapped up in the story of the British Empire, the East Indies Trading Company and a world of tall ships and colonies, let me just say that in the 18^th century when refrigeration was not available, the only manner in which to maintain the taste and quality of a beer was from increased alcohol content and a higher concentration of hops. Hence why the flavor profile in IPAs is big, bold, bitter and beautiful.

Bengali Tiger, Sixpoint’s IPA style ale is such a beer – full of floral hoppiness, hints of caramel maltiness, with a nice citrusy yet sweet bite. Sure there’s that classic spiced bitterness with a nice earthy, pine-y rustic finish as well. A beautiful autumnal orange in color with a nice thick creamy head and a wonderful lacing on the sides of your glass. Light yet flavorful with an excellent hoppy dynamism – this is a beer that allows your mind to wander to far off worlds of magic carpet rides and fantasies. Majestic and striking, like its namesake.

Quite the story and style of beer for a cheese to measure up here! But what I think is most fun about pairing with IPAs is the fact that it is the perfect example of big flavors necessitating big flavors – no opposites attracting here. If one chooses a dainty, young, fresh cheese to go with an IPA, it simply will be lost in the bold brassiness of the beer. Think spicy blue cheeses or sharp aged cheeses or spice infused cheeses or even stinky washed rind fellows that will be nice and salty with a round rich piquance that will be able to tango with your IPA’s flavor profile.

My favorite local blue cheese that I think works wonders with Bengali Tiger is Old Chatham Shepherding Company’s Ewe’s Blue. Crafted in the Hudson Valley, this sheep’s milk blue is made in the traditional Roquefort style. It is big, bold, rustic, earthy, and spicy with a nice moist creamy roundness and a lovely bright citrusy sweet finish. The piquant notes in the cheese will complement the floral hoppiness of the beer and the creamy roundness of the blue will find its counterpart in the caramel malty notes and brassy bitterness of the brew. The earthy and rustic notes of each will create the most wonderful balance of big and in your face flavors, just what you are looking for in an IPA and cheese pairing.

Not in the mood for a blue, why not try Grafton Village 3 year aged cheddar with your Bengali Tiger? Hailing from the great cheesemaking of Vermont, this raw cow’s milk cheddar is bold with a dynamic flavor profile and that classically fabulous cheddar bite. The creaminess of the cheese will find its complement in the crisp bitterness of the beer and the honest round milkiness will find its counterpart in the earthy, rustic floral hoppiness in the most wonderful of manners.

Bengali Tiger and other IPA’s are an excellent cheese pairing partner because there is such a versatility in terms of pairing options. So here’s to the big and bold flavors of the Bengali Tiger!

Day 862 : Matchmaking Vermont Style Recap...

No awkward silences here, no turning of the cheek to avoid a first date kiss, instead an informed pairing of Vermont wines and cheeses led by Sean Buchanan and Alice Feiring as part of the seminar series at the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival. Buchanan was an executive chef at the Middlebury Inn  and then at the Stowe Mountain Lodge and currently is a business development manager for Black River Produce -- a local produce and speciality foods distributor. There he helps chefs maximize their use of local and sustainable ingredients focusing on stimulating the region through direct usage of local products. Buchanan is all about the locavore movement -- growing the local agricultural community to in turn stimulate the socio-economic climate of the Upper Valley. Feiring has been writing on many topics, most notably wine since 1988 and has a wine blog (www.alicefeiring.com) since 2004 wining the James Beard and Louis Roederer Wine Writing Awards for her penmanship. Feiring is a big proponent of natural, biodynamic and organic wines.

So what did Buchanan and Feiring put together for the pairings?

Pairing 1: Vermont Butter and Cheese's Bonne Bouche and Lincoln Peak's Black Sparrow with an under ripe peach - 

VBC's ash ripened aged goat's milk cheese that is bright, tangy, citrusy and chalky with a crisp local white wine - the harmony of terroir working perfectly!

Pairing 2 : Grafton Village Cheese's Bismark and East Shore Vineyard's Frontenac Rose with pickled red cherries -

Bismark is a semi-firm aged sheep's milk cheese full of nutty, buttery, creamy and sweet notes. The perfect snacking sheep's milk cheese whose depth increases as it ages. Frontenac Rose, despite its dark color, is light and fanciful and full of red berry notes. Each great on their own but I was not sold on this pairing until I introduced the fabulous pickled red cherries which were just the cat's meow.

Pairing 3 : Spring Brook Farm's Reading and Shelburne Vineyard's Marquette

Raclette style cheese made in Vermont? Well yes, since 2010 Spring Brook Farm has been crafting this raw Jersey cow's milk semi soft cheese. Fruity and nutty, yet buttery and round, this cheese is great on its own or melted and sandwiched between two pieces of bread as the best grilled cheese sandwich. Marquette is a dynamic yet approachable medium bodied red wine -- full of dark cherry notes, this is a lovely pairing.

Pairing 4 : Consider Bardwell's Pawlet and Snow Farm Vineyard's Vidal Ice Wine

Modeled on an Italian style toma, this raw Jersey cow's milk cheese is approachable and easy to love -- full of sweetness, with hints of butter, grassy-ness, and a nice floral finish. A great pairing partner for almost any beverage and a huge crowd pleaser of a cheese. Classic ice wine done well -- sweet with a syrupy floral bouquet. I'm not necessarily a fan of pairing ice wine with cheeses especially here but if I had to, I would perhaps pair the ice wine with a nice spicy piquant blue cheese not the Pawlet. The Pawlet begs for a medium bodied red or a range of beers. 

Pairing 5: Shelburne Farms Smoked Cheddar and Snow Farm Vineyard's Vidal Ice Wine

Raw cow's milk hickory wood smoked cheddar that is round, buttery and rustic with the most fabulous hints of campfire paired with the same ice wine as the prior pairing. Here I think that the sweetness and thickness of the wine actually plays off of the smoky notes of the cheddar and forms an interesting and dynamic pairing.

Pairing 6 : Shelburne Farms 2 year aged Cheddar and Eden Ice Cider Company's Newhall Ice Cider

Farmstead aged cheddar that's crumbly, caramelly, crystallized, nutty, and buttery is paired with the sweetness of the ice cider. Notes of apples and honey find their home with the flavor nuances of the cheese and the tasting is rounded out with a wonderful final pairing.

Overall a really fun Vermont matchmaking experience -- highlighting the brilliance of the local terroir. 

Day 794 : New arrivals in the Saxelby Cheese caves!

I always get excited when new cheeses get introduced to the New York City market -- opening up consumers' palates and expanding their options. So it is exciting to report that one of my favorite NYC cheesemongers, Saxelby Cheese has two new Northeast cheeses -- Berleberg and Shepsog. What names right?

Berleberg is an aged washed raw cow's milk cheese hailing from Berle Farms in Hoosick, New York. Stinky, buttery, and barnyardy with a rustic roundness and a slight hay nutty finish, this is a dense firm snacking cheese. Complex yet approachable -- it is great with an IPA.

Shepsog meaning sheep in Native American Algonquin is a mixed raw sheep and cow's milk cheese from one of my favorite Vermont producers -- Grafton Village Cheese. Its got the perfect mixture of round, rich, and buttery with a nice nutty, butterscotchy, caramelly finish. This is a big cheese perfect for a nice glass of red wine.

The entire New cave aged vintage cheese selection from Grafton Village Cheese - http://graftonvillagecheese.com