Ricotta cheese: Easy to make at home

Posted on June 1, 2012 by bilrob

Ricotta cheesecake

Ricotta cheese: Easy to make at home

(CBS News) Ice cream, pasta, granola, ricotta…all of them taste better fresh.

This simple truth has been hard for me to ignore since starting class.

Most of these items, admittedly, I still buy from the grocery store – the convenience factor is a big pull. However, I’m now completely aware how much better all of them would be if I took the time to whip them up from scratch.

Video: Make fresh ricotta cheese at home

I know, I’m starting to sound like a broken record. I talk about the difference between store-bought and homemade a lot in this blog. But, taste buds don’t lie!

Why else do you find long lines at small delis that make their own hand-pulled mozzarella? Or at hole-in-the-wall restaurants where you can get fresh pasta?

I admit that sometimes it’s hard to argue for spending the time and effort to make an item from scratch – especially when it tastes just fine from the store. But when you come across a recipe that’s just so simple and makes such a superior product – why not, right?

This is the case with homemade ricotta cheese. I love this stuff, and with only three ingredients and 10 minutes to spare, I can have fresh ricotta in my fridge. It’s hard to find a downside here!

To learn to make ricotta at home, watch the video above.

Ricotta
Adapted from The International Culinary Center

4 1/2 lbs milk (about 10 cups)
3-4 tablespoons acid (lemon juice or white vinegar work well)
1 teaspoon salt

1. Place the milk, acid and salt in a pot and heat to 195F, stirring often to avoid sticking and scorching. When the curds start to form and separate from the whey, turn off the heat and let the mixture rest undisturbed for about 10 minutes.

2. Carefully, ladle the curds and whey into a strainer linked with damp cheesecloth (you can also use a fine dish towel or a thick paper towel for this). Gather up the ends and tie into a knot, and let it hang in the fridge for 1 hour. What I would do: let the cheesecloth sit in a colander in a bowl and weigh it down with a few cans to help push the whey out.

3. A bit of cream may be mixed in for a richer product, along with some salt according to taste.

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Cheese Caves Are The Newest Hot Hotel Amenity

Posted on May 31, 2012 by bilrob

cheese

Toca’s cheese cave. Photo courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto.

Cheese Caves Are The Newest Hot Hotel Amenity

Fully stocked wine cellars are old news—cheese is the newest focus at luxury hotels. Caves and cellars are filled with wheels of cheese that range from stinky to imported and aged, plus varieties made in the hotels themselves. Forbes Travel Guide rounded up five top hotels where you can sample ripe, creamy due latte and maple-and-whiskey-infused cheddar, including properties that take a locavore angle and focus on regional cheeses. Read on for our some of the best luxury hotels where the cheese stands alone—then visit Startle.com, Forbes Travel Guide’s new online home to learn more.

Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tenn.

Twice a week, farmstead manager Dustin Busby and cheesemaker Adam Spannaus head into the creamery at this Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star country inn outside Knoxville. Inside, they transform fresh milk from their flock of East Friesian sheep into a handful of artisan cheeses, such as the washed-rind Trefoil or the Singing Brook—which is wiped down with olive oil as it ages in the basement cheese cave. The creamery and cave are just a small part of the hotel’s culinary operations—Blackberry Farm also produces organic vegetables, charcuterie, honey and preserves. Most of the cheese heads straight next door to be served at Four-Star restaurant The Barn at Blackberry Farm, but guests can visit the creamery and take home a few varieties—try the Brebis, a sheep’s milk chèvre.

The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto

A glass-enclosed cheese cave inside this Four-Star hotel’s Toca restaurant is filled with upwards of 200 cheeses for guests to sample. The collection offers plenty of local varieties, fitting the restaurant’s focus on sustainable Canadian cuisine. Between three and four cheeses are offered nightly at the tables, but true cheese lovers can taste their way through the 50 varieties that are ready to eat at any given time, including a Valencia goat cheese or a five-year aged cheddar that Toca’s chefs infuse with maple syrup and whiskey. The cellar’s marble shelves also hold cheese for residents of the hotel’s condos—some buy wheels and age them to perfection in the cave.

Park Hyatt Chicago

cheese

Caprice’s cheese cellar. Photo courtesy of Markus Gortz.

Last year’s renovation of NoMI Kitchen on the hotel’s seventh floor included the addition of a wall-sized cheese cellar at the lounge’s entrance, where executive pastry chef Meg Galus displays her unique cheeses and housemade charcuterie and olives. As you enter the dining room, you’ll spot the fresh ricotta she makes from Illinois’ Kilgus Farmstead milk and the rich goat’s milk Robiola from Iowa—it tastes like a rich brie, with a tart, chalky center that turns soupy as it ages, Galus says. She hopes to add her own washed-rind cheeses to the cellar in the future, but for now the marble-wrapped wooden shelves mainly store local cheeses that can be ordered on a tasting board—made up of cheeses and charcuterie plus accompaniments such as pickles and marinated olives.

Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

Small-batch cheeses have long been popular at Caprice, the Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star hotel’s French restaurant, spurring the manager to build a walk-in cheese cellar and chef’s table. The backlit shelves hold wheels of cheese—including 25 unpasteurized options from small producers throughout France—plus wines to accompany them. Caprice has the help of a French affineur—a dedicated cheese selector—to choose its varieties, importing novel flavors from Normandy, Burgundy, Provence and the Pyrénées each season. Tables of up to eight can reserve the cellar and try a range of fresh, pressed and aged cheeses, including the Saint Nicolas de la Dalmerie, a goat’s cheese that has been produced since 1695 by monks near Montpellier, France.

Hotel del Coronado, San Diego

The three floor-to-ceiling cheese refrigerators at the hotel’s Eno wine bar make for easy browsing, but we recommend relaxing by the outdoor fire pits on the ocean-view patio and letting your server select the cheese for you. Eno serves just three indulgences—wine, cheese and chocolate—and the entire staff is certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers and is well-versed on the local cheese highlighted on the menu. The eatery showcases cheese from California’s Central Coast, including aged Fiscalini bandaged cheddar and a food-friendly Sonoma dry jack that wine director Ben Kephart likes to pair with Sonoma Valley pinot noir (meal-worthy cheese flights also come with mostarda, jam, cornichons and bread). Don’t leave without trying Eno’s most popular cheese—the three month-aged Pondhopper is a firm, sharp goat’s cheese from Oregon with an acidic finish.

Cheese with Bill & Sheila

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Earthquake hits cheese production in northern Italy

Posted on May 24, 2012 by bilrob

Earthquake hits cheese production in northern Italy

* Italy’s famous hard cheeses hit hard by quake

* Some 400,000 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana
Padano damaged

* Farmers lobby says more than 200 million euros damage to
food industry

By Philip Pullella

ROME, May 22 (Reuters) – The earthquake that struck northern
Italy will affect production and export of some of the area’s
most internationally famous culinary delicacies – Parmigiano
Reggiano and Grana Padano cheeses.

National farmers’ group Coldiretti has estimated damage to
agriculture in the area, one of Italy’s most fertile and
productive zones, at more than 200 million euros.

Some of the worst damage was to the production of Parmigiano
Reggiano, also called Parmesan cheese, and its eternal rival,
Grana Padano.

Both of the very hard seasoned cheeses are grated over pasta
dishes, thinly sliced on salads or served in small, irregular
pieces at fashionable parties worldwide.

Their respective passionate devotees can be compared to fans
supporting different sports teams in the same town.

Some 300,000 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano and 100,000 of
Grana Padano, each weighing about 40 kg (88 pounds), were
damaged when they fell off shelves in warehouses where they were
undergoing the two-year-long seasoning process.

Coldiretti said some 10 percent of the production of
Parmigiano Reggiano and two percent of Grana Padano was affected
by the quake.

At a retail price of some 25 euros a kg ($15.00 a pound) in
Italy and more abroad, Parmigiano Reggiano is one of Italy’s
most expensive cheeses. The area produces 3.3 million wheels of
Parmigiano Reggiano a year.

Many Italian newspapers on Monday ran pictures of hundreds
of big wheels of cheese that collapsed from seven-metre (23
feet)-high shelves piled like books on the floor of a bombed out
library.

“We’ve lost two years of work,” said Lorenza Caretti, whose
family runs the Sant’ Angelo cheese cooperative in the town of
San Giovanni in Persiceto.

“We may be able to sell some of it for use in melted cheese
products but that has only 20 percent of the value of the real
thing,” she said by telephone.

She said 22,000 wheels of hard cheese fell over in their
warehouse during the quake.

“We still can’t see the floor in many places,” she said. “We
will be lucky if we can somehow save half of it.”

Production of milk used for cheese making in the area was
also affected because many cows died in the collapse of stables
or were left traumatized by the quake and its aftershocks,
affecting the output and quality of milk, Coldiretti said.

Production of the Emilia-Romagna region’s famed Prosciutto
di Parma (seasoned Parma ham) was not believed to have been
affected by the quake, an official of the Prosciutto di Parma
consortium said.

While some pig farmers in the quake area saw their herds
killed or injured, most of the pigs come from other parts of
northern Italy and only the production process itself takes
place in the Parma area, which was not hit, she said.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Italian Cheese Valued at 250M Euro Ruined by Earthquake

Posted on May 22, 2012 by bilrob

Italian Cheese Valued at 250M Euro Ruined by Earthquake

Northern Italy is rich in a lot of things, from art to agriculture to cuisine. Along with its world-renowned wines and cured meats, the country’s northern region is famous for unique cheeses like the Parmigiano-Reggiano of Lombardy and Grana Padano of Veneto. But this past weekend dealt a serious blow to northern Italy’s cheese industry – a 6.0 magnitude earthquake ripped through regions from Emilia-Romagna to Veneto, leading to the collapse of historic buildings and factories alike. Among the casualties: massive amounts of northern Italy’s famous cheeses.

The UK’s Mirror reported on the wreckage, along with painful photographs of toppled shelves and cracked cheese wheels from a Parma-based Parmigiano-Reggiano factory:

The region’s cheese industry has been devastated by the magnitude-6.0 earthquake, with tonnes of Parmesan and Grana Padano lost. A single wheel of cheese can weigh up to 90 pounds.

“The earthquake was very strong and heavily damaged the structures of many warehouses as well as thousands of tonnes” of the two cheeses, said Stefano Berni, head of a consortium that protects the Grana Padano designation.

“It’s a very heavy loss, but there have been no casualties, which is a great relief at this worrying time,” he told the ANSA news agency.

Reports continue that the initial estimate of 250 million Euros’ worth of damage may be a rather conservative estimate – what’s more, any aftershocks could make matters worse if still-intact wheels are made unsalvageable.

But while the loss of so much delicious cheese is obviously devastating, Berni also noted in the report that no lives within the cheese industry were lost as a result of the earthquake. The Mirror article points out that three hundred were lost in a similar earthquake that hit Italy in 2009. With that considered, losing a few tons of dairy is a very small price to pay.

[SOURCE: Mirror]

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Young teens need more cheese, please

Posted on May 22, 2012 by bilrob

Young teens need more cheese, please

The suggestion that cheese cannot be advertised on television during children’s viewing hours has sparked controversy.

It’s seen by many as taking the “nanny state” approach to tackling obesity a step too far.

But the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland believes most cheeses are too high in fat.

However, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has come up with a compromise.

It points out that calcium intakes are crucial for bone development in children during puberty (aged 9 to 18 years).

“However, research shows up to a third of this age group in Ireland has inadequate calcium intakes. During puberty children need at least five servings of dairy foods every day in order to meet calcium requirements.”

Its own research found children entering the pubertal growth spurt (9 to 13 years) have the greatest difficulty achieving an adequate calcium intake.

“This is because, compared with older, bigger teenagers, their capacity to consume large volumes of milk and yoghurt is limited by their small body size. Cheese can be invaluable in bridging the calcium-gap for this age group.”

It said ideally low-fat milk and yoghurt were the ‘best’ dairy foods to choose because they provide calcium without excessive amounts of saturated fat but certain types of cheese can also form part of a healthy diet.

Its solution is to allow calcium-rich cheeses that are lower in fat /salt to be advertised during children’s programmes but these would not include all cheeses.

So which cheeses should be allowed to be advertised? The watchdog’s list includes:

low-fat cheddar; cheese strings; brie; light cheese triangles. Cheeses which would not be included are: cheese slices; edam; feta; gouda; cheddar; parmesan

There would be an incentive on the makers of cheeses to reformulate their products by lowering fat and salt content if they knew they would be allowed adverterising time during children’s programmes.

The Broadcasting Authority’s draft code suggesting the ban is open for submissions until the end of this month.

Originally published in
cheese

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Mary Jane Toth teaches people how to make cheese

Posted on May 15, 2012 by bilrob

Mary Jane Toth teaches people how to make cheese

A Coleman woman who has picked up lots of tips and tricks during 30 years of cheese making has published a book aimed at taking readers along the same journey she has followed.

Mary Jane Toth’s book is titled “A Cheesemaker’s Journey” and is her third. It costs $19.95. Her odyssey began in 1982 when she and her husband Ed moved their family into Ed’s family farm. She moved from “in town,” Mount Pleasant, to the “boonies,” she said. Her uncle had bought a goat for his daughter and was annoyed that it didn’t mow the lawn, drink water or eat. He called Toth because he wanted to find a home for the animal.

“I took pity on it, so we took it in,” Toth said. “I called somebody who’d put an ad in the paper, selling goats. I said ‘I don’t want to buy one, but could you tell me what they eat?’ That woman (Toni Krause) ended up being my friend and mentor for life.”

Toth, 61, said making cheese doesn’t require a gigantic kitchen, lots of specialized equipment or even dairy animals. The type of cheese depends on the processes, the herbs and flavors she adds and the type of cheese culture, which may be purchased in the form of a powder.

After years of teaching classes around the country and having her hosts pay her flights, Toth decided to have a local class and rent a township hall. She chose Midland County’s Geneva Township and scheduled an all-day class for April 28, charging $100 per participant.

“This is the closest to home that I’ve ever had one,” she said. She might try this format in other places.

Toth said cheese making is a bit like a science experiment. It all depends on the type of culture used, the temperature to which the ingredients are warmed and how the curds are handled. She loves to see the amazing transformation of the milk and other ingredients from a liquid into a rich, smooth solid.

Over the years, she met other cheese makers, began teaching classes around the country and, most recently, began working for a major provider of cheese-making equipment and supplies. Four or five years ago, when she took a full-time job – not the job she has now – her goats went to live with Krause because Toth traveled too much to care for them.

Krause encouraged Toth to write a book. But before that part of the journey began, Toth honed her craft. She bought a cheese-making book but found the book wasn’t very helpful.

“If you knew anything about cheese making, there were a lot of things missing from the book,” she said. Already a good cook, she decided to investigate and study, and eventually wrote her own recipes. They worked, and people liked the food she made.

Her first book, which she termed “ugly” because she produced it at a quick-printing shop, was titled “Goats Produce, Too: the Udder Real Thing.” The idea was that cows’ milk wasn’t the only kind of milk that can yield good foods. Then came “Caprine Cooking.” Caprine refers to goats, the way “equine” refers to horses. The book was about 485 pages of recipes using goat meat, goat cheese – “everything,” she said.

Toth now works as the cheese specialist for Hoegger Supply (pronounced Hay-ger) in Fayetteville, Ga., just outside Atlanta. She can continue to live in Coleman and do much of her work virtually. The company has published her latest book and gave her $50,000 to create a work of professional quality. She’s not ashamed to call the illustrations “gorgeous” and said the book, which came out in January, is selling well. Altogether, she has sold 100,000 copies of her books so far.

Key pieces of equipment for the cheese-maker’s kitchen are stainless-steel pots. The average person makes a gallon or two of cheese at a time, but Toth has a five-gallon pot so she can make a bigger batch. Toth said cheese makers don’t have to spend a lot of money on fancy gadgets. There’s no need for a curd knife to reach down to the bottom of the pot to cut the curds. A long spoon or knife work, too. When it’s time to hang up the curds to drain, Toth makes a square piece of cloth from a pillowcase with the sides cut open. She ties the “curd bag” up with a shoelace, sets a dish under the bag and lets the whey – the liquid part of the milk – drain into the dish. Cheese cloth works well for the bag, but a pillow case is something easily available at home.

“It’s not like you have to have a specially built kitchen,” she said. “A lot of cheese-making books make is sound like cheese making is complicated. It’s not as complicated as it seems.

“I think it’s important to start out with a really good book that has good recipes and that gives you some basic information so you understand why you do what you do.”

The process starts with milk that has been warmed to a temperature of 80 to 90 degrees. Whether the cheese becomes cheddar, Parmesan or Gorgonzola depends on the type of culture, a freeze-dried powder, that is added.

The next step is to add rennet, a coagulating agent. “Vegetarian” rennet is produced in a lab, and might come from plants, Toth said. Before such products existed, rennet was made from the lining of a calf’s or a kid’s stomach. Making animal rennet requires killing the animal, saving its stomach and a few other processes that make it a project Toth isn’t willing to take on. The milk is allowed to set for 15 to 40 minutes, depending on the recipe. The result is a solid curd that can be cut with a knife.

But the curd hasn’t released its whey, and that needs to happen in order to make the cheese firm. So, the curd is cooked at a low temperature.

“The whey and the curds separate from each other. Otherwise, you’d have very watery cheese,” Toth said. “When the whey is removed, that causes the curds to harden and join together.

“When you get done, the cheese has shrunk to about one-fourth the size you started out with.”

Some cheeses, such as cheddar, are firm enough that they need to be pressed. A cheese press has a crank and a gauge so the cheese maker knows how much pressure to apply. The whey comes out at the bottom of the press. Mozzarella, on the other hand, is stretchy. Toth likes to stretch the cheese during the classes, the way someone might pull taffy.

“The people are usually impressed with that,” she said.

For the future, Toth might put together a book of recipes specifically using goat meat. People who raise boar goats, used for meat, probably would appreciate goat stew, roasted goat and goat fajitas.

Toth’s face, hands and voice are being preserved for the future on video. A month ago, she spent four days in Georgia making cheese videos for Hoegger. The company hired a videographer and a makeup artist. She also got a new hairdo.

“I look in the mirror and I don’t recognize myself,” she joked.

A talkative person since kindergarten, when her teachers noted that fact on her report cards, Toth said she is a little nervous to see how she looks and sounds on video. She asked not to see herself during the shooting process. With all that gesturing and moving of her hands, “all I’d be thinking about was how I didn’t want to look like that.”

Hoegger plans to produce DVDs and aps so people can see the cheese-making process. The company probably will make links to free Youtube videos, too.

“Sometimes you pinch yourself and say, ‘Is this real? Am I really making money doing stuff I love?’ Isn’t this the ultimate job?” she said.

Toth can be reached at (989) 465-1982; people can order the book through Toth or at hoeggerfarmyard.com

Cheese with Bill & Sheila

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Cheesy quiche recipe

Posted on May 14, 2012 by bilrob

Cheesy quiche recipe

Mary McCartney’s cheesy quiche, a variation of one of her mother Linda McCartney’s recipes.
By Mary McCartney

This is my version of one of my mum’s quiche recipe that I love to pass on to friends and family – it’s a sharing recipe! The secret to making the quiche puff up and rise is to cook it at a high oven heat. I like to serve it with crushed buttered new potatoes and steamed vegetables or a leafy green salad. Leftover quiche can be kept in the fridge for a few days, so it’s great warmed up for lunches or sliced and packed up for picnics.

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry dough, home-made (see below) or shop-bought
flour, for dusting work surface
2 tbsp vegetable or cooking oil
6 medium onions, finely chopped (I like to use 3 red and 3 white onions)
1 tbsp chopped mixed fresh herbs (such as parsley, thyme, etc)
6 large eggs
500ml milk
250g mature cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 30cm diameter, 3mm thick, and then line a metal pie dish (24-26cm) with the pastry. To keep the crust from becoming too soggy once the filling is poured in you will need to blind bake the pastry. To do this, line the pastry in the pie dish with greaseproof paper or baking parchment and then fill it with just enough dried beans or rice to cover the base. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow the beans or rice to cool, then carefully remove them and the greaseproof paper and set aside (the beans or rice can be stored in a container to reuse for blind baking in the future). Put the pie dish back in the oven to cook for a further five minutes. Take it out and set aside.

Now turn up the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

In a medium frying-pan sauté the onions in the oil for 10-15 minutes, until they soften and turn golden, then mix in the herbs. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly.In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs and whisk in the milk, so that the eggs are light and have air bubbles. Stir in the grated cheese and fried onions, and season with black pepper. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling has risen and is well-browned on top. The centre of the quiche should have a spring to the touch when you push it gently in the middle.

Shortcrust pie pastry makes about 500g
300g plain or spelt flour
150g chilled salted butter, cut into cubes
1 large, free-range egg yolk
about 4 tbsp cold water

Measure the flour into a medium-to-large mixing bowl, and add the cubes of butter. Using your fingertips, lightly rub the cubes into the flour until the mixture has the texture of breadcrumbs and no large lumps are left. Tip in the egg yolk and mix with a cutlery knife until the pastry begins to come together. Add the cold water gradually, one tablespoon at a time, just enough so that the mixture forms a dough. Do add more water if it needs more to combine. Knead the dough lightly, shape into a large ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

If using a food processor: blend the flour and butter until the mixture has the texture of breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the egg yolk and then the water through the funnel, until it all starts to bind. Chill in the fridge as above. The pastry can be frozen for up to six weeks.

Wine choice tgo go with the quiche: 2010 Albariño, Fillaboa, Rías Baixas, Spain £15.99,ampsfinewines.co.uk. I was particularly taken with this albariño as it is a departure from the rapier-like style, verging on harsh, now favoured by many. This is all tropical texture and soft, ripe peaches, but still with the variety’s telltale grip of acidity. The extra flesh on this wine is heavenly with the rich, cheesy filling of this quiche.

source: Telelgraph.co.uk

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Plan to ban cheese adverts 'absolutely crazy'

Posted on May 12, 2012 by bilrob

Plan to ban cheese adverts ‘absolutely crazy’

The Irish Times – Friday, May 11, 2012

ALISON HEALY

THE PROPOSAL to ban the advertising of most cheeses during children’s television programmes has been described as “absolutely crazy” and “mad” by members of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture.

The committee has said it will make a “forceful” submission to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland objecting to the plans.

The authority announced a public consultation at the end of March on the regulation of advertising for foods high in fat, salt and sugar during children’s programmes. Its draft code, containing the proposal to ban certain cheeses, is open for submissions until the end of this month.

National Dairy Council interim chief executive Maeve Guthrie told the Oireachtas committee the authority’s proposal was based on a “fundamentally flawed” model.

The model used to categorise food as healthy or less healthy was several years old and had been criticised by independent organisations and experts.

“It could be argued that the model does not sufficiently acknowledge the role of calcium.”

The council’s nutrition manager, Dr Catherine Logan, said 37 per cent of Irish girls and 28 per cent of boys aged 5-12 years had an insufficient calcium intake. That rose to 42 per cent and 23 per cent for girls and boys aged 13-17 years.

Dr Logan said just 1 per cent of the total energy consumed by Irish children and teenagers came from saturated fat in cheese.

She said obesity rates had broadly doubled among young people in the past 15 years yet their consumption of cheese remained relatively static.

Ironically, the code would categorise diet cola as healthier than cheese, yet the drink had “little or no nutritional value”.

Ms Guthrie said the categorisation of cheese as less healthy would cause “huge confusion” in people’s minds. The Department of Health’s food pyramid advised three servings from the milk, cheese and yogurt food group a day as part of a balanced diet.

Fine Gael deputy Tom Barry said the proposal was “absolutely crazy”. He pointed to the risk of osteoporosis due to insufficient calcium and said it had to be avoided at all costs.

Mr Barry said the banning of cheese during children’s programmes would also “sabotage” the Irish dairy industry, which was world-leading for quality.

Chairman Andrew Doyle said the committee would make “a forceful and commonsense contribution” to the authority’s consultation. “We will shortly submit a concise report, pointing to the dangers in how cheese has been classified in the draft advertising codes in the BAI document.” A copy of the report would be forwarded to the Minister for Communications and the Minister for Agriculture.

Earlier the committee met Siún Ní Raghallaigh, chairwoman designate of the board of Irish language station TG4. She said the station had embraced web technology and its online player had streamed 2.8 million programmes last year.

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Cheese that pairs well with beer

Posted on May 12, 2012 by bilrob

Cheese that pairs well with beer

Editor’s Note: Emiliano Lee is the Artisan Market Manager at Farmshop in Los Angeles, California. He also serves as a judge for the American Cheese Society.

One of, if not the most, frequently asked questions I field on the cheese counter is, “What’s your favorite?” To which I almost always reply, “Well, that depends.”

What’s ripe? What’s tasting particularly good at any given moment? What am I in the mood for? What’s the weather like? What am I drinking? Ah, yes, the age-old pairing question.

In the end, it really does boil down to personal taste, but there are certainly some combinations that work better than others.

Many people want to pair wine and cheese, and while I can dance to that, I’m personally more of the malt and hops persuasion. For me, beer is a more natural choice, and as many others will attest to, it plays tremendously well with cheese.

Looking at my cheese case right now, here are a five wheels that are tasting particularly nice along with some of their best drinking buddies.

1. Extra Mature Bandage Wrapped Cheddar by Fiscalini Farmstead Cheese (Modesto, California)

This traditional, farmhouse-style English cheddar speaks to the passion and skill of its cheesemaker, Mariano Gonzalez. This raw milk beauty has won the top spot twice at the World Cheese Awards in London, beating the British on their home turf.

Its dense texture crumbles and melts creamy on the palate, bringing out various sweet and savory notes. Think butter and toasted nuts with hints of caramel and pineapple. Its complexity lends well across the board to many types of beverages (it pairs just as nicely with reds as whites when it comes to wine), but what could be more fitting to pair with a good farmhouse cheddar than a nice hearty ale? There are few pleasures more satisfying.

For some fun, one of my favorite pairings is Lagunitas Brewing Company’s India Pale Ale. With the beer’s combination of bold hoppiness and deep malty foundation, the complexity of flavor in the cheddar steps up and sings right in tune. Add a hearty rye bread and some pickles and call it a meal.

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Home-made pork pie and two vegetarian cheese specials

Posted on April 25, 2012 by bilrob

Home-made pork pie and two vegetarian specials

A colleague asked me for a couple of cheese based vegetarian recipes and a good recipe for an Old English Pork Pie. There are dozens of recipes for pork pies and we have tried nearly all of them. The one we show you here, is the best we can find this side of Melton Mobray.

The two vegetarian dishes contain cheese and are a couple of our regular bakes – even though we are not vegetarians – we just love Cheese. Experiment with different types of cheese until you find one that you prefer. Our favourite Cheese is an aged strong chedder cheese.

Vegetarian Cheese and Onion ‘Sausage’ Rolls

These are a lovely vegetarian cheese alternative to our very homely Sausage Rolls. They consist of just cheese, onions and pastry. The pastry has been made with the addition of vegetarian suet, giving the ‘rolls’ a new texture. Some of the filling might ooze out during the cooking, so the rolls might not have a ‘neat’ finish, but the flavour is fantastic.

Individual cheese and onion rolls are very handy to serve as part of afternoon tea or a picnic box.

MAKES 8-10 CHEESE AND ONION ROLLS

For the Pastry
175 g (6 oz) self-raising flour
Good pinch of salt
75 g (3 oz) shredded vegetarian suet
5-6 tablespoons cold water

For the Filling
175 g (6 oz) strong Cheddar cheese, grated
1 medium onion, finely chopped
Salt and cayenne pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7. Sift together the flour and salt. Mix in the suet. Add enough of the cold water to create a pliable dough. Divide the dough into two pieces. On a floured surface, roll into two strips 30 x 10 cm (12 x 4 in). Brush water around the border. Mix together the grated cheese and onion and season with salt and cayenne pepper.

The filling can now be laid onto the two pastry strips up to the moistened edge. Roll up as for two long Swiss rolls, and slice each into four or five slices, giving a total of eight to ten little rolls. Place on a greaseproof or parchment-papered tray, keeping the sealed edge on the base.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crispy. The cheese and onion rolls are delicious served cold but are even better served warm. The cheese is then still soft and sticky.

Note: Lots of other cheeses can be used. The Cheddar can be mixed with half Stilton and the onion replaced with spring onions. Chopped raisins will also eat well with the cheese and onion. Another flavour I like to add is chopped tarragon or just mixed herbs. They all give an extra perfume to the finished rolls.

Gruyére Cheese, Leek and Mushroom Flan

This is my favourite cheese flan recipe, one that’s full of textures and lots of flavours. Cheddar cheese also works well for this recipe. A tasty accompaniment to offer is the Spicy Tomato and Mint Relish

SERVES 8-12
1 large onion, sliced
50 g (2 oz) mushrooms, sliced
40 g (1 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons groundnut or vegetable oil
1 medium leek, shredded and washed
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
150 ml (1/4 pint) double cream or milk
100 g (4 oz) Gruyere or Cheddar cheese, grated
Cayenne pepper (optional)
175 g (6 oz) Shortcrast or Puff Pastry
Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Butter a 20 cm (8 in) flan tin or a flan ring and baking sheet. To start the filling, cook the sliced onion and mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of the butter and ½ tablespoon of the oil for 5-6 minutes until tender. Leave to cool. The shredded leek can now be blanched by plunging into boiling salted water for 1 minute. This will tenderize the vegetable without making it too soggy. After the minute, drain in a colander and allow to cool naturally without running under cold water.

In a basin, beat the eggs and the egg yolk together, then add the cream or milk and leave to one side. Melt the remaining butter and oil together until blended, then leave to cool. Mix the grated cheese with the eggs and cream and fold in the onion, mushrooms and leek along with the cool butter and oil mixture. Season with salt and pepper and a little cayenne, if using. The mixture can be made the day before it’s needed, as it refrigerates very well.

Roll out the pastry and line the flan tin or ring, leaving any excess pastry overhanging the edge; once cooked this can be carefully cut away to give an even finish. Refrigerate and rest for 20 minutes. Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans or dried rice. Bake blind in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes, then allow to cool. Remove the beans and paper.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Pour the filling mixture into the pastry base and cook in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the flan just sets. The tart should colour during cooking. If it starts to over-colour, lightly cover with foil or greaseproof paper. The flan is best left to rest for 20-30 minutes before serving as this will help set the texture of the filling, creating a creamy taste.

Home-made Pork Pie

The British have been making pies since at least the Middle Ages. The raised ‘coffin’ casing was to protect the meat inside from the extreme heat of the fire, and often was not eaten. However, as the art of making pastry developed, many pie recipes did too, and the pork pie is very traditional. It was perfected at Melton Mowbray, and the original recipe used to contain, so I believe, some anchovy essence.

A lot of dishes, such as this one and Corned Beef , sound like hard work, and you might think there is no point in going to all this trouble when there are so many bought varieties available. The reality is that both recipes are relatively simple and there is one thing that eating a bought pie can’t give you, and that is the personal satisfaction of knowing you’ve made it.

The meats I use for this recipe are pork shoulder and back fat. Pork belly can also be used, maintaining the same total weight. The filling must be made before the pastry, as hot water crust has to be moulded while still warm. To finish the pie, a home-made pork jelly can be made using pigs’ trotters. Alternatively, home-made chicken stock can be used and set with leaf or powdered gelatine; 25 g (1 oz) per 600 ml (1 pint) stock will guarantee a good setting consistency.

25 g (1 oz) butter
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon English mustard powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 kg (2 lb 2 oz) trimmed shoulder pork (or pork belly)
175 g (6 oz) pork back fat (or pork belly)
Salt and pepper

For the Jellied Stock
3 pig’s trotters or 2 ham hocks
1 onion
1 carrot
2 celery sticks
A Few black peppercorns
Sprig of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1.8 litres (3 pints) water
25 g (1 oz) gelatine (or 2 leaves), if needed for
1.2 litres (2 pints) stock

For the Pastry
150 ml (1/4 pint) milk
150 ml (1/4 pint) water
175 g (6 oz) lard
675 g (1 1/2 lb) plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

The mould used for this recipe is a loose-bottomed or spring-clip tin 20 cm (8 in) in diameter and 6.75-7.5 cm (2 ½ -3 in) deep. First, make the jellied stock. Place all of the ingredients except for the gelatine, in a saucepan and bring to the simmer. Cook for 3 hours, before passing the stock through a sieve. The stock can now be boiled and reduced to 600-900 ml (1-1 ½ pints). Once at this stage, test a spoonful or two of the stock, refrigerating until cold and, hopefully, well set. If the jelly is still a little loose, 1 or 2 leaves of gelatine can be added to the stock.

Now make the filling. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Once bubbling, add the chopped onions and cook for a few minutes, without colouring, until beginning to soften. Remove from the stove and add the sage, thyme, mace, mustard and mixed spice. Leave to cool. While this is cooling, the pork shoulder and back fat can be chopped into 5 mm (1/4 in) rough dice. The meat can also be broken down in a food processor or minced coarsely. However, dicing will always maintain the maximum moistness in the meat. Mix the cooked onions with the chopped pork, seasoning well with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until needed.

Now, make the pastry. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7. Grease the pie mould and place it on a baking sheet. Bring the milk, water and lard to the boil. Sift the flour with the salt into a bowl, leaving a well in the centre. Pour in the boiling lard liquor and stir into the flour to form a dough. Knead lightly by hand and finish to a smooth dough. Keep a quarter of the pastry warm to one side, then work or roll the rest of the pastry on a lightly floured surface until just large enough to fill the mould and approximately 5 mm (1/5 in) thick.

Sit the pastry in the mould and work by hand, gently pushing it out to make it fill to just above the top of the mould. Trim the edges. Fill the lined mould with the pork filling, packing it in just above the top. Fold the pastry around the top onto the mix and brush with the beaten egg. Roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness and sit on top of the pie, pressing the edges together and cutting away any excess. Using a 1 cm (1/2 in) plain metal piping nozzle, cut a cross in the centre, pressing the nozzle in to create a hole and leaving it in place. The pie can now be decorated, if wished, with any pastry trimmings. The border can also be pinched with a fork to give a simple patterned edge. Brush the pie with the beaten egg.

Bake the pie immediately in the hot oven for 30 minutes. The oven temperature can now be reduced to 190°C/3 75°F/Gas Mark 5 and the pie cooked for a further hour. Once the pie reaches a golden brown stage, gently cover with foil to prevent the pastry from burning. At this point, the pie can be checked, inserting a skewer through the nozzle. The skewer should be hot and clean when removed. If not, continue to cook for a further 15-20 minutes.

Once cooked, lift the pie from the oven and relax for 15 minutes before removing from the mould. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg. Return to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes until the pie has a golden glaze. Remove from the oven and allow the pie to rest for 30 minutes. The pie filling will have shrunk slightly during the cooking process, leaving a space to be filled with the jelly.

Using a jug and funnel, pour a little of the jelly stock into the pie. This will be absorbed slowly by the meat, giving it a moister finish. Repeat this process until the pie has cooled. Now refrigerate before adding more cold jelly, and the pie is full. Any remaining jelly can simply be frozen, ready for your next pork pie. Once you’ve tasted the results, you’ll realize it really was worth every minute you put into it.

Note: It’s best to make the pork pie at least 48 hours before sewing. This will give the filling time to mature, with all the spices impregnating the pork stuffing. For a richer, golden jelly, the pig’s trotters can first be coloured in a hot pan along with the vegetables. Now simply follow the rest of the recipe method.

Cheese with Bill & Sheila

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