No denying it, English cheeses have proudly soared to the popularity of The Fab Four, The Beatles.
A recent study shows that British cheeses have outpaced their French counterparts at the rate of about two to one, as buying local has become the dominating ethos for the Brits and their longstanding love of cheese. The rise is also attributed to an evolved palate to make a larger place for Stilton, sheep's and goat's milk cheeses. (Source: The Telegraph.co.uk)
But they're not resting on their own laurels, the French think that English cheeses are worth importing with the latest export figures showing that the demand for English cheese, especially Cheddar and Stilton, has increased considerably. England still imports cheese, but more and more, the taste for their own wins over their love of Brie.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Cream Cheese History and Pumpkin Blatherings
Is cream cheese, "creamed cheese"? And, why do we call cream cheese "cheese" at all? Cream cheese, in fact, is essentially cream that has evaporated into a thicker substance that is no longer liquid. So it's not really "creamed" or whipped in any fashion, or, perhaps not even a cheese at all. Maybe a better name would be "cream spread" or "spreading cream".
Regardless, cream cheese has evolved to become an American staple ingredient in many treats especially around the holidays. Ah, the marketing genius of Kraft...
But is cream cheese really from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? In fact, not at all. Cream cheese history fact: Though fresh "cream cheese" has been around since the beginning of domesticated animals, it wasn't until really 1880 that Kraft started distributing the Philadelphia brand name in tin foil wrappers, as it is still done today. Labeling their product this way conveyed "Philadelphia quality" which was a higher standard in the day. Surprisingly, the Philadelphia brand is still superior in taste and texture compared to the generic brands over 130 years later (references: The WorldWideGourmet.com and The Food Timeline.org).
Cream cheese gets me thinking about pumpkins, October, the holidays, cheesecake and "The Great Pumpkin Waltz". How about you? This year I'm eyeing a recipe called Pumpkin Whoopie Pies on Rachel Ray's magazine, "Everyday With Rachel Ray". They're essentially a cream cheese icing sandwiched between 2 little round pumpkin cakes. Holy YUM.
Living in developing countries for the past several years has taught me to appreciate the conveniences of wild and imaginative recipes like this. I'm not sure Americans pause to recognize how good they have it sometimes, being able to walk down the aisle of their grocery store and pick up pureed pumpkin in a can and pumpkin spices (already pre-mixed) and a just a few steps away, go to a refrigerated case replete with a variety of mass-produced dairy products like cream cheese. Who knows, you can probably buy Pumpkin Whoopie Pies already pre-made these days!
As we strive in the recession, aren't we all... remember there are many many others out there without, and be thankful for cream cheese!
Regardless, cream cheese has evolved to become an American staple ingredient in many treats especially around the holidays. Ah, the marketing genius of Kraft...
But is cream cheese really from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? In fact, not at all. Cream cheese history fact: Though fresh "cream cheese" has been around since the beginning of domesticated animals, it wasn't until really 1880 that Kraft started distributing the Philadelphia brand name in tin foil wrappers, as it is still done today. Labeling their product this way conveyed "Philadelphia quality" which was a higher standard in the day. Surprisingly, the Philadelphia brand is still superior in taste and texture compared to the generic brands over 130 years later (references: The WorldWideGourmet.com and The Food Timeline.org).
Cream cheese gets me thinking about pumpkins, October, the holidays, cheesecake and "The Great Pumpkin Waltz". How about you? This year I'm eyeing a recipe called Pumpkin Whoopie Pies on Rachel Ray's magazine, "Everyday With Rachel Ray". They're essentially a cream cheese icing sandwiched between 2 little round pumpkin cakes. Holy YUM.
Living in developing countries for the past several years has taught me to appreciate the conveniences of wild and imaginative recipes like this. I'm not sure Americans pause to recognize how good they have it sometimes, being able to walk down the aisle of their grocery store and pick up pureed pumpkin in a can and pumpkin spices (already pre-mixed) and a just a few steps away, go to a refrigerated case replete with a variety of mass-produced dairy products like cream cheese. Who knows, you can probably buy Pumpkin Whoopie Pies already pre-made these days!
As we strive in the recession, aren't we all... remember there are many many others out there without, and be thankful for cream cheese!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Macaroni and Cheese Recipe from Sweetie Pie and Soul Food Diva
Must Watch Video: Oh Mama! do I wish I had a soul food diner like this in my neighborhood! Soul food Diva, Robbie Montgomery, has been dishin' out "heaping tablespoons" ;) of her macaroni and cheese for 40 years. Her Southern style macaroni and cheese recipe is a customer favorite at Sweetie Pie's in St. Louis, Missouri. For the rest of us, we'll have to settle on attempting to replicate her recipe in our own kitchens at home (via Helium and The Food Network, with Guy Fieri).
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Cheesy Culture of Kid's Birthday Parties
What do children's birthday celebrations say about us as a people?I can honestly say that I have never been to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, but it seems to be almost a rite of passage for Americans to celebrate another year of life with second rate pizza, turn-in-your-token arcade, and corny Animatronics that beckon you to join them for a number on stage.
For the price of admission, and it's a pretty steep price for the average American, you get an overload of pinball and video arcade machines, the pleasure of singing with oversized mechanical stuffed animals (that are quite scary), and 3 slices of the most forgettable pizza you'll ever taste.
A birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese is loud, artificial, bright or should we say colorful, corny, overdone, sensationalized and excessive.
... And then, we have birthday party in let's say, Western Europe with raclette. Austere and ever-practical... the focus of the party is on the people, the relationships, the conversation.
Who's having the better time? Hard to say, but I think it's a tie. Amusement and entertainment seem to be important factors to a culture that gave birth to Hollywood. Food is only secondary. Doing more than one thing at once, running around wasting money on pinball, going to the table for a sip of a your never-ending soda is perfectly acceptable.
But when it comes to the food, the Swiss children are faring much better. They dine on a few high quality ingredients. The food is as memorable as is the conversation. The food and people sharing the food is prized above other excesses.
One thing though they both got right: Cheese seems to elevate a meal to a celebration.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Swiss Raclette
By: Al Mann, Courtesy of Rocket Articles
Raclette is a signature culinary dish of the Swiss and French Alps. It consists of slices of heated, soft, runny cheese accompanied by small, firm boiled potatoes, gherkins, and pickled onions. Raclette traces its origin back many centuries to cow herders, shepherds, and farmers, who would place a wedge of cheese in front of a campfire and scrape off layer after layer as the cheese heated. The word raclette comes the French "racler", which means to scrape.
One may still enjoy raclette in front of a campfire today, but the modern way of preparing raclette in the home is to use a small tabletop electric raclette grill or broiler. It is self-service as each person places a sliced portion of raclette cheese onto a small tray under the heating elements of the grill. In a minute or two, the cheese is bubbling hot and ready to be retrieved and scraped onto the plate over a cooked potato.
Often thinly sliced, air-dried beef of the Grisons region of Switzerland is served with raclette in addition to the potatoes, gherkins, and pickled onions. Prosciutto also goes well. Today's modern tabletop raclette grills also have heated top grill plate which can be used to grill shrimp, meat, poultry, and vegetables.
The potatoes should be boiled in their skins before the meal. Keep the potatoes warm by placing them on top of the grill in a bowl covered by a small towel. There also are willow baskets with insulated covers for holding the potatoes warm.
Typically hot tea or dry white wine is served with the meal. White wines from the Alpine region are preferred with raclette, but if not available, a dry pinot grigio, pinot blanc, or riesling go well with the raclette. Usually an after-dinner cordial also is in order for the digestion after a hearty raclette dinner! Or maybe two...
The cheese itself is also called raclette. Usually raclette cheese is produced from pasteurized cow's milk and aged. It is characterized by a firmly textured, pale-yellow body with scattered small holes and a smooth, light-brown natural rind. The cheese has a mellow, distinctive aromatic flavor/taste that grows stronger when hot. Raclette cheese can be found in specialty food stores and ordered online. Unless you have a larger cradle raclette grill, described below, it will be necessary to pre-slice the cheese before the meal begins. Quarter-inch thick slices work well with the electric raclette grills.
Alpine restaurants will serve raclette (and portions will keep coming to the table until you say stop/halt). Instead of a tabletop grill, resturants use a larger cheese heating apparatus that holds a cheese wheel wedge in a cradle in front of a heat source, and the cheese is sliced off as it heats.
In Europe, raclette is often served during the winter holidays, and the meal turns into a festive evening with family and friends. The goal in raclette dining is relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. Many families in the United States and other parts of the world also have discovered the fun of raclette.
Readers that are searching through the web for more information about the topic of internet marketing, please make sure to check out the link which is mentioned right in this line.
Raclette is a signature culinary dish of the Swiss and French Alps. It consists of slices of heated, soft, runny cheese accompanied by small, firm boiled potatoes, gherkins, and pickled onions. Raclette traces its origin back many centuries to cow herders, shepherds, and farmers, who would place a wedge of cheese in front of a campfire and scrape off layer after layer as the cheese heated. The word raclette comes the French "racler", which means to scrape.
One may still enjoy raclette in front of a campfire today, but the modern way of preparing raclette in the home is to use a small tabletop electric raclette grill or broiler. It is self-service as each person places a sliced portion of raclette cheese onto a small tray under the heating elements of the grill. In a minute or two, the cheese is bubbling hot and ready to be retrieved and scraped onto the plate over a cooked potato.
Often thinly sliced, air-dried beef of the Grisons region of Switzerland is served with raclette in addition to the potatoes, gherkins, and pickled onions. Prosciutto also goes well. Today's modern tabletop raclette grills also have heated top grill plate which can be used to grill shrimp, meat, poultry, and vegetables.
The potatoes should be boiled in their skins before the meal. Keep the potatoes warm by placing them on top of the grill in a bowl covered by a small towel. There also are willow baskets with insulated covers for holding the potatoes warm.
Typically hot tea or dry white wine is served with the meal. White wines from the Alpine region are preferred with raclette, but if not available, a dry pinot grigio, pinot blanc, or riesling go well with the raclette. Usually an after-dinner cordial also is in order for the digestion after a hearty raclette dinner! Or maybe two...
The cheese itself is also called raclette. Usually raclette cheese is produced from pasteurized cow's milk and aged. It is characterized by a firmly textured, pale-yellow body with scattered small holes and a smooth, light-brown natural rind. The cheese has a mellow, distinctive aromatic flavor/taste that grows stronger when hot. Raclette cheese can be found in specialty food stores and ordered online. Unless you have a larger cradle raclette grill, described below, it will be necessary to pre-slice the cheese before the meal begins. Quarter-inch thick slices work well with the electric raclette grills.
Alpine restaurants will serve raclette (and portions will keep coming to the table until you say stop/halt). Instead of a tabletop grill, resturants use a larger cheese heating apparatus that holds a cheese wheel wedge in a cradle in front of a heat source, and the cheese is sliced off as it heats.
In Europe, raclette is often served during the winter holidays, and the meal turns into a festive evening with family and friends. The goal in raclette dining is relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. Many families in the United States and other parts of the world also have discovered the fun of raclette.
Readers that are searching through the web for more information about the topic of internet marketing, please make sure to check out the link which is mentioned right in this line.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Skiing and Raclette, On the Slow Glide
Danish free-ski fanatics show how slick their tricks are-- their flow like Raclette cheese sliding off the wheel.
Courtesy of Newschoolers.com
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Three Retirees Spread the Mission of Cheese in New Jersey
Ain't no stoppin' them now-- the Big 3: Paul Robinson, 62, Walt Bodkin, 67 and Fred Austin, 72-- three big-hearted, hard-working retired executives not letting a receding economy, or a receding hair line, get in the way of generating income for themselves and the Atlantic City Rescue Mission in New Jersey.
The 3 decided to start a business selling cheese spreads, now 40 in all. With a little help from Bill Southrey, the Director of the mission, they had enough to begin whipping the cheese. When Robinson, Bodkin and Austin saw that the mission was helping to train and employ those in even more dire circumstances they decided to name their company after him: Bill Southrey's Gourmet Mission Cheese.
Currently, the custom-order preservative-free spreadable cheeses are only available to restaurants and stores, but plans are in order to roll them out onto dairy shelves in the local supermarket. Blueberry, raisin and walnut, jalapeno, scallions and crab are some of customers' favorites.
The creamy confections are made right in the Rescue Mission kitchen, and as demand for them "spreads" so will the opportunities by way of providing work for residents of the mission as well as to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission's farm in Cape May. With heart and soul poured into a venture such as this, they'll be reaping profits beyond what they can see or taste and leaving a lasting gift for many more to enjoy. (Source: pressofatlanticcity.com)
The 3 decided to start a business selling cheese spreads, now 40 in all. With a little help from Bill Southrey, the Director of the mission, they had enough to begin whipping the cheese. When Robinson, Bodkin and Austin saw that the mission was helping to train and employ those in even more dire circumstances they decided to name their company after him: Bill Southrey's Gourmet Mission Cheese.
Currently, the custom-order preservative-free spreadable cheeses are only available to restaurants and stores, but plans are in order to roll them out onto dairy shelves in the local supermarket. Blueberry, raisin and walnut, jalapeno, scallions and crab are some of customers' favorites.
The creamy confections are made right in the Rescue Mission kitchen, and as demand for them "spreads" so will the opportunities by way of providing work for residents of the mission as well as to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission's farm in Cape May. With heart and soul poured into a venture such as this, they'll be reaping profits beyond what they can see or taste and leaving a lasting gift for many more to enjoy. (Source: pressofatlanticcity.com)
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