Cheese Heads United

I admit it, I was surprised by the huge turn-out for last Saturday’s cheese cook-off. As much as I love cheese, the thought of preparing 200 stringy bites for strangers didn’t turn me on, so I went to the Philadelphia Cheese Experiment as a spectator, as a sniffer outer and spy. There were 16 contestants – all amateur chefs – and within an hour, the venue was jammed.

“We’re trying to create a curated food party,” Nick Suarez, one of the organizers, told me. Nick comes with a row of cook-off trophies to his name; he won “Best Dog in Show” at the 2009 Great Hotdog Cookoff and went on to drop his day job at Wine Spectator to become a professional organizer. Of cook-offs.

“In Brooklyn, there’s a whole cook-off community,” he told me, appraising the Philadelphia crowd with a smile. “I always say winning is fifty percent logistics and fifty percent seasoning.”

Word. The best nosh I tried was a subtle but surprising bacon-goat-cheese-ball dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in graham crackers. The Smorgasm. It didn’t win any prizes, but it was a great example of balance and invention: faintly salty and tangy with contrasting textures. Hats off to Dave Glowka and Baylen Linnekin (below) for that.

I’ve posted more shots below but first, here are a couple more opportunities for cheese and camaraderie:

Meet the Cheesemaker, Friday, June 17, 4-6 p.m.

A State-wide Happy Hour

Cheesemakers across the state will throw open their barn doors for tours and tastings on Friday, June 17. A map of the farms can be found here. Participating cheesemakers include Birchrun Hills Farm, Yellow Springs Farm, Doe Run Farm, Stoudt’s Wonderful Good Market, Dove Song Dairy, Calkins Creamery, Dean Farms, Keswick Creamery, Clover Creek Cheese Cellar and Pipe Dreams Fromage. Note: I'll be hanging out with Sue Miller at Birchrun Hills Farm, then attending her tasting (see below).

Local Cheese+Local Beer Tasting, June 17, 6:30-8

A Night at Birchrun Hills Farm

Enjoy pairings of six local cheeses and beers at Birchrun Hills Farm in Chester County. Birchrun is home to Sue Miller, one of the area's premier raw-milk cheesemakers (Red Cat, Birchrun Blue). We'll taste her cheeses along with libations from Tired Hands Brewery, Victory, and Sly Fox. Sue Miller and Paul Lawler host (along with yours truly). Tickets are $25. To reserve a seat, email birchrunhillsfarm@verizon.net or call Sue Miller at 610-827-1603.

Fair Food Farm Tour, June 26, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

A Field Trip to Two Cheesemakers

Hop in a van with Paul Lawler of the Fair Food Farmstand and drive out to bucolic Chester County to visit two star cheesemakers, Sue Miller of Birchrun Hills and Kristian Holbrook of Doe Run Dairy. Holbrook makes that luscious Hummingbird robiola I wrote about last month. This day-long tour includes transportation and lunch for $40. Reading Terminal Market is the pick-up and drop-off point. Tickets are available at eventbrite.

Where's my robiola?

My local cheese column in the June issue of Grid Magazine focuses on this little bunting of mixed-milk cheese. It's a wonderful local robiola called Hummingbird, which has a bloomy rind and creamy interior at about 3 weeks. 

"You don't see many robiolas in the States," cheesemaker Kristian Holbrook (Doe Run Dairy) told me when I interviewed him for the story. That got me thinking. I've only seen one other artisan robiola that I can recollect, and that was in Iowa. Why don't more cheesemakers produce it?

"I like Robiola Bocina," Holbrook told me, referring to a popular Italian import, "but it's too thick for me. Too pasty. I wanted something with more lactic character that would be good at a young age."

When I wrote my column for Grid, the only Hummingbird I could find was very young -- two weeks old. It was lemony in taste and springy in texture. My friends and I ate it with homemade raspberry jam and nearly passed out from joy on the living room floor. 

A few weeks later, I clammed onto a couple older specimen that were exceedingly ripe (beyond 6 weeks, I'd guess). The downy surface mold had turned wheat-colored, and the center pooled onto the counter when I cut into the rind. Oh, momma! That robiola was strong! Hot and sharp. 

It was interesting to see a cheese change so dramatically after just a few weeks. From lemon sponge to peppery satin. Here is my plea if any cheesemakers are listening: Pssst, make some robiola! It's so dreamy. I fear that once Hummingbird catches on, it'll disappear in a razor-whirr just like the bird.

Hummingbird is produced in Chester County, Pa. at Doe Run Farm, home to 16 cows, 30 sheep, and 19 goats. In Philadelphia, it makes appearances at Di Bruno Bros. in the Italian Market and at the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal.

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More Hot Bits

Check out the current issue of Culture Magazine for the spread on cheese-related tattoos. You saw a few of them here first, but there are a slew more, alongside new photos of Ezekial Ferguson and Ian Peacock of Di Bruno Bros. 

The Philadelphia Cheese Experiment takes place on June 5 at World Cafe Live. It's part of Brooklyn Brewery's national tour of food experiments, where amateurs compete for prizes...like a free trip to the brewery. There's still time to sign up or get tickets to attend. I hope somebody makes a goat cheese brownie to blow my mind.