Mrs. Kirkham's Tasty Lancashire

Sometimes, a cheese makes its way into my handbag simply because its name is irresistible. So it was with Mrs. Kirkham’s Tasty Lancashire, a mellow raw-milk cheese with a wistful cheddary nature. 

When I sampled it at the cheese counter, I thought to myself “meh.” But Zeke the Cheesemonger was so giddy about it, and I had such a bad case of Indecision that I bought half a pound simply because it appealed to my bookish nature.

Mrs. Kirkham’s Tasty Lancashire – it sounded very much like the sort of cheese one might eat while reading Bronte on a gloomy afternoon.

Two days later, I found myself hosting a harvest soiree, complete with a goat-horn drinking carafe. What luck to have some Mrs. Kirkham’s TL on hand, along with a spot of chutney.  It proved to be the hit of the party. 

“It’s crumbly, like a good muffin,” remarked my friend Tracy, who shares my love of whiffy washed rinds. “If it were a cake, I’d say it had a fine crumb.”

We marveled not just at the taste – which was very delicate, milky and lemony – but also at the texture. The curds of Mrs. Kirkham’s Tasty Lancashire are ground up like sausage. The result is a moist, nearly fluffy cheese that breaks apart like individual snow flakes on your tongue.

“The texture is extraordinary,” commented the Blue Cheese Brit, who has a penchant for aggressive cheddars. Despite his former carefree life in London, the Brit was new to Mrs. Kirkham’s Tasty Lancashire. Curious.

I scoured my cheese library for a bit of history. Wouldn’t you know that Max McCalman had the skinny?

Lancashire is an age-old style of cheese, originally developed by British farm wives who saved the curds from several days of milking and combined them to form a single wheel. Since the curds ripen at different speeds, a unique taste forms. Think of it like pot pourri – lots of bits, assembled to form one lovely scent.

In the ‘40s, production of Lancashire dwindled, and now there is just one maker who still produces traditional Lancashire. That maker is Mrs. Kirkham – well, her sons run the business at this point, but their cheese is named in honor of their mother, Ruth.

One other factor adds to the glory of this cheese. Once wheels are formed, the rinds are smeared with butter. Perhaps this is why Mrs. Kirkham’s Tasty Lancashire reminded our party of muffins. It’s hardly a cheese at all, more like a pound cake – perfect for a Charlotte.

Note:  The U.K.'s Daily Mail just published a list of 8 under-the-radar British cheeses. Worth a glance and a sniffle. I see Lord of the Hundreds listed, a sheepy devil I tried at the Fancy Food Show but never see on shelves. One can only mewl.

New Pairings for Parmigiano

My post for Di Bruno Bros. this week is all about pairing Parmigiano. Until I was introduced to the authentic stuff -- the kind with tiny crystals and a gargantuan flavor spectrum -- I never found Parm that interesting. Click over to the Di Bruno blog to check out the 12 Parm pairings I put together. You'll never think of Parm as a "grating cheese" once you try some of these. 

Also, if you're curious about what's happening in the world of raw-milk legislation, listen to the program that Peter Crimmins put together for NewsWorks on WHYY in Philadelphia. Peter interviewed Al Renzi of Yellow Springs Farm, Emilio Mignucci of Di Bruno Bros., and yours truly. 

For the story, Peter actually came over to my house to sample two kinds of cheddar with me -- one pasteurized, the other unpasteurized. I chose two local cheddars (PA Noble and LeRaysville XXXX Sharp) that were aged approximately the same amount of time. Fascinating. You can hear his response here.

    

Consider the Cheese Mite, Or What I Learned at ACS

Sister Noella, the Cheese Nun, showing a rind up close

The life of every cheese blogger is full of nibbles and pursuit. Pursuit of knowledge. Pursuit of the next delicious bite. Camping out in Montreal amid scores of cheesemakers and cheesemongers as part of last week’s American Cheese Society conference filled the belly and the brain. I hardly know where to start in describing the myriad delicacies and factoid tidbits.

In a sentence: I am still full.

Here are the unforgettable insights from a 4-day binge on North American cheeses and the men and women who make, sell, coddle, and sniff them.

Cheese Mites

Most aging rooms house cheese mites – tiny, near-miniscule creatures that feast on the rinds of hard cheeses especially. In a presentation by the cheese nun, we saw them munching like calves on grass, under a microscope.  If you have a cheese mite problem, consider getting an ozone machine. One gentleman who shall remain unnamed found that this sterilized the mites and prevented them from reproducing.

Scouitch!

This is the French way of pronouncing what cheese curds do when you eat them.

Naming Cheese

Following hipster trends, popular cheese names are derived from fowl. Gray Owl. Birdville Reserve. Hummingbird.

The Blue Cheese Revival

More blue cheese is made in America than in France, the birthplace of Roquefort. So says Will Studd, a man who held a public funeral for Roquefort in Australia when the country banned raw-milk cheese.

Beecher’s Secret

The reason Beecher’s clothbound cheddar tastes so freaking good, my luvs? The wheels are rubbed down with melted better. I also learned why Beecher’s never uses the word “cheddar” in their packaging: the recipe contains cultures also used in Gruyere and Ementaler. It’s a beautiful, butter-lathered hybrid.

Quebec Cheese

No surprise, this French-speaking region produces 350 varieties of cheese and is the original home to the first dairy school in North America (founded in 1889). I sampled a gorgeous cheese plate at Accords Wine Bar in Old Montreal where the cheeses were served so beautifully. Voila! My favorite was Riopelle.

The Life of the Tongue

Did you know that you are born with 10,000 tastebuds? By old age, you only have 4,000 left. I learned this at a flavor session with Christine Chénard, a taste specialist from Cintech. 

Trigeminal Sensations

Flavor is a combination of taste and aroma, but taste itself relates to touch and temperature. Trigeminal sensations are broken down into the following categories:

            Astringency (think green bananas)

            Piquancy (radishes, chilis)

            Metallic (canned pineapple juice)

            Cooling (mint, anise)

Raw Milk Reactions

Will Studd predicts a raw-milk ban for the U.S. similar to the one Australia and New Zealand adopted in 1996 (N.Z. reversed it eventually). Ann Colonna, a researcher from Oregon State University, who has been studying the issue shared evidence that 95% of Americans are not in favor the ban, and 60% said they wanted to see the 60-day rule relaxed.  

Rogue River Lovin’

Judges at the American Cheese Society tasted over 1600 cheeses to select a North American grand champion. I’m happy to report it’s one of my faves, too: Rogue River Blue. Got get a wedge before it's gone. It's great with barley wine (try Blithering Idiot from Weyerbacher).

To check out my post about ACS for Di Bruno Bros., please click here. 

Goes Well With Berries

It’s berry picking season, and that means one thing: cheese and fresh fruit for dinner. I love nothing more than loading up on cherries, strawberries, blueberries, or blackberries and setting out a cheese board to match. Add a plate of smoked fish, a light salad, some white wine, and you’ve got a glorious feast. No fuss. No hot oven.

Haystack’s Queso de Mano is one of my favorite summer cheeses for berries. It’s a raw milk goat cheese – very gentle but nutty and herbaceous – from Longmont, Colorado. To continue reading, please click here.

Full disclosure: This piece is part of a series I write for Di Bruno Bros. The deal is, I choose the cheese, and they pay me to develop a post. This is how I cover the cost of my habit

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.