If a hobbit had a lumberjack to dinner…

by foolofacook

There are three great breakfasts in the world. In the U.S., it is fluffy waffles, scrambled eggs with hot sauce, and sausage. In Japan, it is miso soup, rice, pickles, and seaweed. And in culinary school, it is cheese. I walked into the bakeshop and ten cheeses stared me in the face, with ten more to come. There was imported Comté and Colby with cumin made by students in the program. There was Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue, one of the most bizarre cheeses I’ve eaten. It was the wide consensus that Roth Käse’s Buttermilk Blue was the best, with its long veins of Penicillium roqueforti and its tang and crumble. It was also agreed that it would make an excellent wedding cake, tall and round and white.

Roth Käse Buttermilk Blue

As part of the pastry program, we also learn about cheese. The pastry chef in a restaurant is usually expected to put together the cheese menu. Our assignment in our theory of fermentation class was to assemble a cheese menu, complete with food and beverage pairings. We had to be specific in our cheese choices. A pairing of Cheddar and apples was not acceptable, but a Cabot Clothbound natural-rind Cheddar with Jonagold apples would be excellent. A theme also added to the fun.

It may be obvious from the title of this blog, but I am a fan of Lord of the Rings. After I selected my cheeses I needed a way of binding them together. Naturally, hobbits came to mind. Hobbits surely appreciate the earthiness of cheese, and know how to pair it. I took my cues from them. It also didn’t hurt that Chef A is a definite Lord of the Rings fan, and would like the approach. (In the narrow pathway between the kitchen and the freezer that nobody is allowed to walk through, there is a still from the first Lord of the Rings movie of Gandalf, shouting “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”)

Cheese Menu

The first cheese is Pluvius by Willapa Hills Creamery. It is produced in the same way and with blue cheeses, but is not inoculated with the blue mold. As it ages inwardly, the outer portion has the tang and flavor of blue cheese, but without the moldy deliciousness. The interior has a similar texture and flavor as a mild feta.

Willapa Hills Pluvius

The next cheese is the Sleeping Beauty from Cascadia Creamery. It reminded me of an adult version of the cheese I had on turkey sandwiches as a child. While it has a bit of a gritty texture, the flavor is pleasant and subtle and very hobbity.

Cascadia Creamery Sleeping Beauty

The third cheese is Mt. Townsend Creamery’s Off Kilter. It is a medium soft cheese that is washed regularly in Kilt Lifter Ale from Pike Brewery. The flavor is good, but it is the smell I love. It was described as “tasting like a lumberjack smells”, but I think it also smells a bit like a recently washed lumberjack, or maybe a cigar in a pine forest before it’s set everything on fire. In pairing it, I imagined what a hobbit would feed a lumberjack after a long day’s work.

Mt. Townsend Creamery Off Kilter

The fourth cheese is Point Reyes Farmstead Creamery’s Original Blue. It is a very blue blue, not restrained in any way. The cheese begins production no more than three hours after the cows are milked, so it retains an extraordinary flavor. It is not for blue cheese wimps, and the flavor can linger for hours, but it is absolutely worth it. The Original Blue is also far less crumbly than most blues, almost as spreadable as a chèvre. Blackberries and blue may sound absurd, but try it.

Point Reyes Original Blue

My final cheese is a heavenly Camembert-style cheese named after the first cow that made the milk for it. Kurtwood Farm’s Dinah’s Cheese is oozy and sweet and salty and beautiful. About three hundred wheels are produced a day by Kurt Timmermeinter, by hand and by himself. The result is so great I licked the plate, several times.

Kurtwood Farms Dinah’s Cheese

The week of our cheese presentations was a week of the best breakfasts of my life. Most of my classmates brought in at least one sample of a cheese they were presenting. Despite the occasional sandy-rinded or bitter as pith cheese, most were at least good and at best revelatory. It’s hard to beat a culinary school breakfast.