Cheeses of the Field

This is a scene from Friday's tasting at the home of Sue Miller, maker of some of the finest raw milk cheese in Pennsylvania. I've bought Sue's cheese for several years -- her Birchrun Blue and Red Cat are household favorites. Usually, I eat them at my dining room table. What a treat it was to eat at Sue's table, in the meadow behind her pasture.

Her house in Chester County is the kind of place that makes you want to abandon your laptop and curl up with a book on her porch. Or in the swing across the road.

I wanted to do just that, but I had cheese to eat. And candied bacon. Paul Lawler of Fair Food Philly (right) and Sue Miller (left) know how to plan wicked schemes.

Plus, Jean Broillet IV was on the scene, pouring something called Blood Root.

It was a great pairing, alongside Sue's cheeses. Then someone pulled out a jar of brandied cherries. You know how I have a thing for cherries and blue.

I don't think I have ever been to a more convivial gathering. Or a prettier one. Just before solstice. With Holsteins grazing at sunset. And cheese lovers carrying on like children who have just discovered fireflies.

Many thanks to Sue and her family for so much hard work. For the milking. For the planning. For walking through the mud to make good cheese happen.

Wild Cat Dinner, May 12

If you recognize this cheese, you probably know Sue Miller, one of Pennyslvania’s farmstead cheese pioneers. Sue has been making cheese at her home in Chester Springs for a long time, and she is rocking the washed-rind world with her spunky Red Cat and Fat Cat -- variations on the same cheese, but they're washed differently. Her Birchrun Blue is already a classic.

On Thursday, May 12, 2011 Di Bruno Bros. is hosting a special 5-course dinner that will incorporate Birchrun cheeses along with craft beer from up-and-comer Tired Hands Brewing. In fact, Birchrun and Tired Hands have collaborated on a new cheese, and I suspect a wheel of it just might make it to the table on Thursday night. Fingers crossed.

I’ll be there, along with cheesemonger emcee Rich Morillo and Di Bruno’s new king of the kitchen, Chef Rob Sidor. A few seats for Thursday's dinner are still left. Tickets are $45 now and $50 at the door. To reserve, just email catering@dibruno.com. The celebration starts at 6 p.m. on May 12 in the Upstairs Café at Di Bruno Bros., 1730 Chestnut Street.

Here are two sample courses…recently leaked from an unknown source:

• Guillemot-washed "Proto-cat," Fried Tomatillo Ice Cream
• Braised Birchrun Hills Veal Neck, Fresh Milk, Oatmeal, and Rhubarb

Note: I suspect that “Proto-cat” is the ghoulish micro kitten that Birchrun and Tired Hands created during a surly brawl of creative mind-melding. Sue Miller tells me this dream wheel is washed in Flemish Black. You can expect a full report later this week.

(Below, Sue Miller at the Head House Square Farmer's Market)

Cheese and Cherry Blossoms

Outside my window, our street looks like the night after an Indian wedding. Pink petals hang thick in the gutters, and every breeze is heavy with confetti-like blossoms. I am happy to say that Monsieur Camembert and I have a royal view of this party scene, since we have the one cherry tree on the block. It is, in fact, the only tree on the block. When it blooms, we throw a party.

This weekend, we held our third annual Cherry Tree Festival. It’s a dinky affair – just the neighbors, some wine, some cheese. But every year around this time, we look forward to celebrating our one bright blot of natural beauty in what is otherwise a rather gritty setting.

To celebrate, I purchased a wedge of Fat Cat, a washed rind stinker from Birchrun Hills Farm. It seemed like just the right note for an airy-fairy festival, which is often attended – distantly – by lurking alley cats and winsome teens. I like how heady this cheese is. It reeks of locker room, but it tastes like yeast and onions. That’s my kind of cheese. An urban cheese. Even the rind looks like it was marked by claws, or pressed against a rusty fence.

We set out the folding chairs and poured some Prosecco. A goat cheese tart with fiddleheads proved to be the hit of the night, thanks to Gil Ortale of Market Day – a vendor at Headhouse Square Farmers’ Market.

But mostly, it was just nice to catch up with the neighbors after a long winter, to learn who had developed secret alliances with the squirrels (Monica) and who had mastered the art of baked tofu (Antoine). There were babies -- the one below attended the first Cherry Festival in utero – and dogs in sweaters. And there were petals, everywhere.

Happy May!