Burrata cheese

At the RAS Cheese Show I was introduced to cheese I had never heard of before, Burrata. 

Burrata is an Italian cheese made from cows milk originating from the Puglia region. What makes it so interesting is that it looks like a money bag or pouch made from stretched curd  mozzarella and inside is cream and mozzarella. When the pouch is cut the cream oozes out. Traditionally the pouch is wrapped in asphodel leaves which can be used as indicator of the freshness of the cheese. Burrata can also be sold in plastic bags.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org.

The Burrata exhibited in the show today was from Vanella Cheese Factory. The taste was sweet and creamy and totally yummy.

So, having tried the cheese, it got me thinking. How do you eat or use Burrata? A quick search on google produced a couple of recipes. The recipe that interested me most was from the  At Home with Kim Vallée website. Kim combined the Burrata with vine tomatoes, olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar and basil.  Although I would not normally provide a cheese recipe, Burrata in my opinion is the kind of cheese that needs to be used in a dish rather than eaten independently. 

I think a click to http://athome.kimvallee.com/2009/10/simplest-way-to-serve-burrata-cheese/ is going to inspire you to head out to the deli and grocer to try this cheese and the recipe. (Vanella’s website list of distributors)

Cheese Tour of Southern Tasmania

Last year I was excited to join Claudia McIntosh from McIntosh and Bowman and several other cheese and food enthusiasts for a tour of Southern Tasmania. We left early on a Friday and spent the weekend touring around Hobart and it’s surrounds enjoying cheese at Grandvewe Cheeses and Bruny Island Cheese. 

For me the highlights were cheese related of course! I had been dying to meet the cheesemaker at Grandvewe as I love their cheeses. Nick Haddow from Bruny Island Cheese is renown and I was looking forward to tasting his cheeses in their prime. Often the tyranny of distance was not kind to Bruny Island cheeses after their trip up to Sydney.

This weekend in the Sydney Morning Herald, Carli Ratcliff’s article recounting of our trip was published. Even more exciting for me was the use and credit by SMH of my photo of Rodney Dunn from The Agrarian Kitchen.

After bonding over a common passion, we had a fun packed weekend of whisky, cheese and food.

Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Cheese Show 2010

The RAS holds it’s Cheese & Dairy Show in February each year. Entries are from both small farmhouse cheesemakers as well the big industrial cheese companies like King Island. There are hundreds of exhibits every year from all over Australia.

This is the second year that I have stewarded at the RAS cheese show. Stewarding is hard work but so much fun. Stewards are responsible for fetching the cheese from the fridge, unwrapping and then cutting the cheese. Stewards support the judges as they assess and mark each cheese. It means that you need to stand next to the cheeses and judges as well as run back and forth to the fridge alot.

Maybe this isn’t sounding like too much fun but the best part in my opinion is to watch, listen and learn as each cheese is judged. Although judging is independent (and silent) at the start of each class the judges confer on the first three exhibits to ensure that no judge is being too severe or too easy in their marking.

In the breaks I like to discuss the different exhibits to understand why certain defects or flaws occur. Sometimes it is packaging, sometimes it is past it’s prime. Other defects can occur if the cheesemaker has not stored or aged the cheese carefully.

The judges are from all over Australia and most have worked in the cheese or dairy industry in Australia for many years. A lot have judged internationally. Some judges are from the food media or in the sale or distribution of cheese. (Of course judges cannot have conflicts of interest with any exhibitors).  This year we had an international judge from France. As the French judge was in my panel of judges I was fascintated to learn some of the differences both in the presentation of cheese and in the judging process between our show and France. French cheese judging seems very strict from what I understood from his comments.

From 7:30am until 4pm each class and it’s exhibits were tasted, judged and marked. A full day devoted to cheese. Totally my idea of heaven!

Cheese as an ice breaker

Yesterday my mum and I met with my brother’s parents-in-law. Although my brother and his partner have been together for quite some time we had not had a chance to meet up her family until now.

Taking matters into their own hands, rather than relying on the couple involved, her parents invited us to dinner.

As well as bringing the traditional bottle of wine and flowers, I decided to bring some cheese. I had just received my monthly McIntosh and Bowman cheese club cheeses and decided to bring a sample along.

This month’s cheeses were:

• Chabichou du Poitou AOC: a goat milk cheese from Poitou in France
• Jannei Chevre Cheddar: a young goat’s milk cheddar from Lisdale NSW
• La Roche Mini Bleu: a cow’s milk cheese from Rhone-Alpes in France

I also brought some Heidi Farm Gruyere (Australian) and Quickes Cheddar (aged muslin wrapped cheddar from England) as my brother’s partner is pregnant (yay, I am going to be an aunty!!!) and can’t eat the other cheeses.

It turned out to be a great idea to bring the cheese. Everyone could focus on the cheese, ask questions or offer comments on which they prefer. The most popular was the Chabichou and the Gruyere.

Photos from Will Studd talkeatdrink @ Simon Johnson

Here are a couple more photos from the day…

Brie de Meaux

Gorgonzola

Roquefort

talkeatdrink – Will Studd

Simon Johnson have a regular schedule of chefs and food celebrities over the course of the year called talkeatdrink.  Last year and even earlier this year Will Studd (my cheese hero!) presented but it always seemed like the fates were conspiring against me and I wasn’t able to attend.  Finally in March this year I was able to book my seat for the presentation for August 22. I have been waiting 6 months for yesterday’s class!

Risking a parking fine (there are only maximum of two hour parking meters close to Simon Johnson), I arrived eager and early.  We were able to potter around the store and stare longingly at the Cheese Room (ok that might have been just me!) while we waited for the class to start.

All the yummy cheeses Will brought

The 6 month wait was worth it as soon as I saw the cheeses all displayed and of course Will Studd.

The two hours flew as Will took us through the classes of cheese from fresh cheese to blues.  We were able to sample some amazing cheeses including:

• Buffalo Mozzarella – both Italian and Australian
• Barrel aged Feta – totally different to any feta I had tasted before
• Haloumi from Cyprus – also so different to rubbery examples we get at Supermarkets
• Brie de Meaux – oozing on the plate
• Brillat Savarin – scooped from the box and oh so yummy
• Normandy Camembert – not raw milk of course (sadly)
• Chabichou du Poitou – a goats milk cheese that uses the Geotrichum mould which gives cheeses that wavy white mould exterior
• Alpage Gruyere – difficult to get as it made in a traditional way between July and September and only 200 cheeses a year
• Spoonable Gorgonzola – so much oozier and gooey than regular Gorgonzola
• Roquefort
  
• cave ripened Taleggio

Cave ripened Taleggio

I stayed to the very end to get my Cheeseslices dvd signed and to get a photo.

The biggest take away for me from the talk was the importance of preserving cheese making traditions. With fewer and fewer cheese makers using age old recipes and methods we run the risk of losing cheeses that have been made for hundreds and even some thousands of years.

Support artisan cheese (worldwide) even though it might seem more expensive. It’s worth every mouthful!

Will Studd & me

Something sweet…

Today I met up with a bunch of other Sydney food bloggers at Adriano Zumbo to sample his new collection of cakes.  Yummo! They set out for us essentially four of each delicacy for us to purchase and try. Just looking at the dazzling array gave you a sugar rush.

Lots of cakes for everyone!

Chocolate cheesecake... I will return for you!

In  keeping with my obsession with cheese I should have selected the amazing looking chocolate cheesecake but I couldn’t resist the cola can shaped cake. It was filled with a slurpable cherry cola jelly.

That little baby had to come home with me!

I also couldn’t resist these two cakes as well. I have brought them all safely home and plan to consume them tomorrow. I just can’t fit any more in today!

In totally gluttony I also bought some of his chocolates. The one I am keen to try is Raspberry and Parmesan (yup back to cheese !)

Brazilian style cheese?

Last weekend my friends and I went to Churrasco in Coogee. It is a Brazilian style BBQ restaurant.

All you can eat meat.

Which for us turned out not to be too much! We had stuffed ourselves silly within half an hour.

Note to others thinking of going…. go early. We were there at 6:30pm and had lots and lots of choices served really quickly. The people who came later into the sitting had long waits and often watched food go by and come back past them again empty.

The food was great. Tasty and flavourful and lots of choices. Beef, chicken, Chorizo, sausages, lamb, pork, ham and even chicken hearts.  Another favourite, which my friend swears will ensure no ill effects from eating your body weight in meat, is the grilled pineapple.  The pineapple is dusted in cinnamon and grilled until caramelised. Yum! I could eat my body weight in that except my tongue started to get shredded.

But of course the one choice that had to be made was the barbecued bocconcini balls. Luckily small and “wafer thin”, they could easily be squeezed in with all the meat.

Herbed Bocconcini

Tales of the Quick Trip to Paris (TQTP) – Day 1

I arrived in Paris early on Saturday morning.  I was picked up from the airport and then immediately tagged along on the weekly shop to the markets. Pontoise is a little village at the edge of Paris (really a suburb) and it has a fresh market every Saturday in the square and parking lot in front of the town hall.

Although there were a couple of stalls selling cheese I was determined to visit the Fromagerie proper. As soon as we had the normal weekly shop done I dragged them to the cheese shop ready to buy the lot (especially raw cheeses!).

I made sure I bought a Camembert and Brie de Meaux for my little test but I also bought my friend’s favourite Saint Nectaire and a raw ewes milk called Cant’Auriol (I think).

That night, as one does in France, when we had dinner we had cheese before dessert and tried the cheeses I had bought. (Well I tried and they enjoyed again. For them it’s no big deal!)

The verdict on Camembert versus Brie:

OMG they are totally different cheeses!!! True raw milk Camembert is very strong and almost meaty. Brie de Meaux is creamy and mushroomy.  I liken them to a pampered Siamese cat and feral cat – both are cats but their temperaments are totally different!

Cant’Auriol (Bergerie de Cazes-Haut):

This was beautiful cheese. Strong with a hint of lanolin often in sheep milk cheeses. It was so runny. As it came to room temperature it melted like the Wicked Witch of the West, leaving a pool of goo and the paper label. Yum – I would eat this cheese again.

Saint Nectaire:

A new favourite to add to the very long list of favourite cheeses. How does one choose just one cheese to pronounce favourite? I just can’t do it.

Day 1 got off to a great cheesy start!

French Radishes

Sardines

Bread from the Boulangerie

All that was left was the rinds

TQTP – A nibble of Day 1

Pontoise Fromagerie window

Saint Nectaire

Cant’Auriol: Raw ewes milk cheese