cheesemonger's Profile
Calling all cheese experts...
HI- thanks for reporting back- I'm sorry it curdled- was it curdled before you raised the temp?
Anyway- it tasted good, and that's important because you now know that you can pull this off, with some modifications, and it will at least taste good. Gratins seem to work out best if cooked a little early and rested, I've found.
Do also keep in mind the fondue and fromage fort (below) ideas.
Just as a thought of FF: I make 2 kinds, a mild cheese one with white wine and herbs and sometimes garlic (ends up kindof like Boursin), and a more pungent one with stronger cheeses, sherry or port. This is great on brown bread.
Dan Dan Noodles in Boulder/Denver?
aledm- where did you hear that they had closed, and why do you keep posting this question? Mountain States is a small board, once would have been plenty.
Calling all cheese experts...
Hi- that's why I recommended turning down the heat- but you can certainly make a bechamel, just keep you heat low, and add the cheeses a handful at a time, stirring them in, and use that sauce between layers of taters. add the harder cheeses first, then the softer ones. You'll be fine!
Report back, please!
Calling all cheese experts...
Sure- it's easter, so any lighter red that'll go with ham. A younger Bordeaux, Loire Valley wine. (sorry, my francophile is showing)
Calling all cheese experts...
thanks! Sometimes experiments work, sometimes they don't, but the cheesyblend, to me, always works if you keep in mind the differences in water content and meltability. As for the experiments that don't work...... better kept to myself. :)
Calling all cheese experts...
Don't be scared! It really does work fine- use the same amount of cheese, just use the mix instead of the just gruyere, and since the meltability of the various cheeses differs, that's why you want to lower the temp. Gruyere can take a higher temp, your other cheeses might need a little more gentle heat.
I really can't tell you how many times I've done this. BUT- if you're nervous, toss all this in the freezer- yes, the freezer. Because if you're going to cook with it eventually you're going to "ruin" the texture of the cheese, so freezing accomplishes the same thing. Make the gratin that you know, and then make 100 cheese fondue when you feel more experimental.
Calling all cheese experts...
DO IT! Any of it. I always advise my customers to make "100 cheese fondue" with leftover bits. ALL of them- brie, blue, goat, cheddar, gouda- it really doesn't matter.
I've made gratins with a mix, and everyone clamored for the recipe- guess what? I have no proportions, just a mix of bits. Cut off the rinds or any icky parts, grate them, toss them together, and enjoy. I promise it will be the best gratin that you will never be able to replicate!
added: I'd turn down the heat a bit to 350, to keep the cheeses from breaking into a curdy mess + oil.
American Cheese Society Conference this week!
The cheese sale is most definitely open to the public- remember that a LOT of cheese was sent to the event, and it's not going back, so they need the locals to come and take it home- good for you to get really great price on great cheese, good for ACS to make a little (read: a very little) money on the sales.
The volunteering for the event is labor intensive, but rewarding. You are working to set up the cheeses for the festival- sometimes it's just cutting cheese into cubes, but creativity is rewarded! I've made giant "boats" of carved out cheese, built steps into a large block- it's fun.
When the event starts, and you can get to the venue, you'll find a volunteer office- anyone will point you there, and they will be able to sign you up and explain further, if you can't get info online. Since everyone at ACS is there already, there may not be anyone updating the website.
American Cheese Society Conference this week!
The festival is a showcase of 1600 artisan producers from all over the americas. It's not processed cheese, I think (hope) that snackhappy was being sarcastic.
Is it worth it? Depends on how much you love cheese. Here's a tip, however: If you volunteer to prep the fest, you get admission- check with ACS about this at cheesesociety.org to confirm this. The prep is pretty hard work, but you will have experienced cheese people to help guide you.
Also, the day after the fest, there is a TON of leftover cheese. When this has been held in the States, each piece, regardless of size, is $5 USD. A lot of it won't be labeled, but some of it will- breaking down the fest is a hectic time, and not all things get a chance to be properly labeled, but you can get great deals, and make an awesome fromage fort, fondue, gratin, mac n cheese with anything you get. Knowing what characteristics appeal to you will help you narrow down the options.
Enjoy!
Seeking Bar/Restaurant Recommendations for Denver
My Brother's Bar. SW corner of 15th and Platte- no sign, FYI. I love this place- it's hard to categorize, but it's a good old bar, with pretty good burgers, and great bartenders.
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My Brother's Bar
2376 15th St, Denver, CO 80202
Denver Vegan
Watercourse is a wonder vegetarian restaurant with many vegan options. It's definitely a cab from the Hyatt, but not a long one. What's good about Denver is that most restaurants are very veg-friendly, and will have vegetarien and vegan dishes that are inspired, rather than as afterthought.
recommend me some CHEESE
montrealeater- get ye to the American Cheese Society website. The ACS conference will be held in Montreal this summer, and there are lots of volunteer opportunities, which result in lots of great seminars and chances to taste some great cheeses. 1700 entries into competition this year, an all time high. www.cheesesociety.org will tell you all you need to know to get involved. If you can't volunteer, there's a massive cheese sale on the last day, super cheap.
Beijing/ Northern Chinese food in Denver?
Don't know- looks like that whole end of the strip is undergoing some change. The sign was hand written, and actually said "close for repairs" on pink paper. The workmen were going in and out, but I didn't ask about the nature of these fixes/changes.
Beijing/ Northern Chinese food in Denver?
fyi- before you drive all the way out there (unless you live there) OFC has been "closed for repairs" recently (tried to go again just 2 days ago), so call first.
Best non-beverage use for leftover champagne?
If I have leftover champagne (rare), I'll reduce it and freeze it to use in sauces in the future. I have a recipe for Chardonnay Cream sauce for fish that's awesome. I can dig it up if you like.
How to Cut a Commercial Sized Parmesan Cheese Wheel
ditto this. But we also need to consider age in this equation. PR should be aged at least 24 months- and in this aging, Tyrosine crystals form- the crunchy bits in an aged cheese. Many people think these are salt crystals, and assume that it's a super salty cheese. They are informed by the texture, but have made an incorrect assumption.
The other side is that domestic parms are much younger, so steps must be taken to firm them up and boost flavor. The answer to both of those issues is to add more salt.
Chicken Stock "Etiquette" Question
Since I always want the bones for stock making, I always carve the bird and serve- Keep the "unshared" parts for stock.
Restaurants should never, ever re-use any food that's gone out to a table for any reason.
How to Cut a Commercial Sized Parmesan Cheese Wheel
Hubert.com has the set, be sure to get the Boska brand, they are the best quality. Here's a pic of the set: Here's the link: http://www.hubert.com/pres56088/Specialty-Cheese-Knives.html
How to Cut a Commercial Sized Parmesan Cheese Wheel
It's a lot easier and more stable to make the first cut vertically, I think. I have cut the wheel horizontally before as a first cut, but only for presentation purposes (i.e. to make a big bowl).
Also, surface area- a vertical cut exposes less surface area that a horizontal one, less surface area means less area to potentially get moldy.
How to Cut a Commercial Sized Parmesan Cheese Wheel
1. score the rind
2) use parm knives to work the wheel apart along the score.
3) keep dividing.
these are my pics of halving the wheel. I have pics down to eighths.
I Don't Like Cheese - Am I Alone?
To the OP: You are not alone. Don't sweat it, and don't let others pressure you. Obviously, from my moniker, I love it enough to make it my career.
But the world turns 'round on our differences. The worst thing is when people genuinely do not like it, but keep trying to force themselves- don't do it.
Ask me to eat an oyster, and I'm right there with you in distate level. :D
Top Chef All-Stars - Ep. #8 - 02/02/11 (Spoilers)
Did anyone else think- during Mike's gnocchi-making segment.... "why didn't he make gnocchi, if it's such a strength?" Hand made gnocchi is wonderful, and the dish we saw him plating (briefly) looked great.
______ cheese bake?
If you feel pressed to use the cheese before it spoils, do this: Throw it in a ziploc and freeze it. Then you can use it for any cooking application later. I keep cheese in my freezer until I am ready to make "100 cheese" fondue, gratin, mac-n-cheese, whatever.
The caveat with freezing cheese is that you are changing the texture by doing so. But you will also do so by cooking- so you can realistically only cook with cheese that you have frozen. Just thaw completely before using.
what is your ideal cheese plate/board?
ines rosales tortas- they are indeed fabulous.
Any of the Istara cheeses- P'tit Basque, Etorki, would be fine.
I'm loving our great american cheeses, however- Pleasant Ridge Reserve for a pressed cheese, any of the beautiful aged cheeses from Vermont Butter and Cheese (Coupole, Bonne Bouche, Cremont) and a blue from Rogue Creamery (such as Rogue River Blue, Caveman or Oregonzola). Green Hill from Sweet Grass Dairy in GA is a buttery, delightful bloomy cheese.
The real question is- do you have access to a good cheese shop?
Rescuing seized chocolate
I know I may be too late- but the answer is room temperature coffee. My baking mentor gave me this advice when I seized up my chocolate, and it worked perfectly.
Spiral Cut Ham: Trader Joes, Costco or Sam's Club
Smithfield is a brand that I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.
Niman Ranch pigs are humanely raised, and are darned good hams! If you can find them at Costco, then all the better.
Soggy skin on braised chicken
Here's what I do to avoid this problem- I pan fry the chicken, skin down until mostly cooked and skin is crispy. Remove, prepare the rest of the dish, depending on whether you have other vegetables, etc. Let it braise in the oven, etc.
Later...., place the chicken, skin side up atop the other items in the braise, and let chicken cook the rest of the way through, while the skin isn't in the liquid. I do the same with chicken thighs in dishes like Paella. Works fine, and the chick picks up the flavors of the braise, and the skin stays crisp.
But I digress. My general rule is- don't eat things that you don't enjoy. If you end up with soggy skin and you dont' like it- don't eat it :D
Chez (aka Chez Pierre)- Tallahassee.... in a word: awful.
Thanks to both of you for the recommendations. I have also head good things about Cypress. The sad thing was that we always want to support local, non-chain places, but this was just pathetic.
The good thing is that we've been laughing about how absurdly bad the manager was all day.
Chez (aka Chez Pierre)- Tallahassee.... in a word: awful.
Let me start by saying that I don't do this- in that I don't post negative reviews of restaurants. I leave that to others, and I just don't go back when I've had a bad experience. But Chez, aka Chez Pierre http://www.chezpierre.com/ was very likely the worst restaurant experience I've had since I can recall.
We arrived, and nice hostess arranged a table for our party of five- thank you! Very attractive space. Also, very nice waitress came over to take a drink order, and we ordered a bottle of the St. Hilare sparkling wine. We shortly received the wine in the bucket........ no glasses, bottle unopened.
After 15 minutes, one of us went to the bar to ask for glasses. Glasses were brought, and the bartender who delivered them left..........
So, we took matters into our own hands, which went unnoticed. Opened and poured the wine, and carried on.
FYI- there was one waitress on the floor- she was really running hard. I don't blame her for the mis-steps that follow.
Ordered the appetizers for the table: The Oui Oui Shimp (with the phonetic "Wee Wee" spelled out, which is both a little gross), and the Calamari Fries. The Calamari was okay, but obviously grabbed in handfuls from a bag and dropped into the fryer, because that's how it arrived- large amorphous blobs of fried something. Few separate "fingers", lots of conglomerates. But interestingly, not poorly cooked. Tender, and while devoid of seasoning, edible, but not worth finishing between 5 people. We were reminded of that phrase "the food was terrible, but at least there was plenty of it!"
The shrimp were completely flavorless. Underseasoned, and no salt and pepper on any tables. Occasional shells helped with the gummy texture. Please understand the sarcasm there.
We wished, at this point, that we had not ordered main courses, because we had little hope for what was to come.
Mains fared not much better- they were out of frites for the steak frites. Needless to say, this means "out of the frozen potatoes that we pass for frites". Two of the party ordered the lamb burger. One came raw. Not rare- but cold, raw meat paste with slight cooking on the outside, and completely un-warmed more than a millimeter from the surface. The other lamb burger was cooked as ordered. huh.
Also, to be fair, the med-rare steak of the aforementioned steak frites was pronounced to be perfectly cooked. But no frites meant a sub of soggy house-made chips which went un-eaten. My trout almondine was pretty good- browned butter, almonds.... no complaints from me on this.
But back to the rawburger. Waitress offered to take back, and the diner was generous- just toss this one of the flame for a few more minutes, don't bother with a new one, etc. She took the burger and left the sides.
15 minutes later, she returns with the burger in a basket. Yes, a plastic open-weave basket like you get at a place where you bus your own table and leave the basket on top of the trash can. And this burger, while cooked, is not conducive to being eaten from a basket. We were told that the kitchen was "out of plates". Really? A half-full restaurant is out of plates?
This is where I got angry. I walked back to the kitchen. I saw PLATES of many shapes stacked in the kitchen ready to have food placed upon them, and my friend has been cutting up a messy burger IN A PLASTIC BASKET.
I ask for the manager. He comes over, and passes the buck on everyone, but never once claims any responsibility for anything. He had walked through the restaurant while we were there, and despite frantic hand-waving for his attention, had paid us no heed while he examined the ceiling while poor Renee ran ragged. I asked him why we had this stupid basket served as a replacement. He blamed others.
This manager finally, and angrily, comped the basket burger. This was not the point at all.
The manager, Santos, was hostile, argumentative and unfriendly. He kept saying "I'll have your check brought out and you can leave".... really? You'll let us leave? How generous. We can't bloody wait.
This whole experience was dismal and frustrating. I felt bad for the over-worked and under-supported waitress, and completely ticked at the useless and terrible manager, who's job is, it seems, to stroll the room without looking at customers, and then blame problems on the taxed staff.
So where is a person to eat in Tallahassee? Good food and pride in what you are doing required, attitude not. :D
