Cheese

The perfect hack for the holidays!

Stock your fridge with these cheesemonger-approved picks.

All you need is just a spoonful of this beloved ingredient.

Queso fresco may rival goat cheese, feta, and ricotta as one of the best cheeses to have on hand during hot summer months, when lighter, fresh cheeses make the best accompaniment to grilled food and summer vegetables. Here’s what you need to know about this versatile cheese.Queso Fresco is a soft, fresh Mexican cheese traditionally made from raw cow milk or a combination of cow and goat milk. In the U.S., pasteurized versions are the most common.

Fresh mozzarella and burrata are two types of semi-soft Italian cheeses. They’re both creamy, white, and utterly delicious. With just a quick glance, these cheeses look similar, but they are different in all the best ways. Fresh mozzarella cheese is made from cow’s or water buffalo’s milk with a firm but elastic texture. You can slice and it will hold its shape.

This method makes so much sense.

One cheese I always try to keep in the refrigerator is feta, and the most important reason for this is taste. Feta is a complex cheese that manages to be rich and creamy but also tangy and bright. It has much more character than other creamy cheeses, so on taste alone it wins my heart. But there is one other reason why feta should have a permanent place on your refrigerator’s shelves: how long it lasts! Feta can last up to several months if well-wrapped or submerged in a brine.

Sur La Table, French for On the table, first opened in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1972, selling gourmet cooking paraphernalia. 42 years later the store is as active as ever, with over 100 retail locations around the country and an impressive online store. With the high quality of brands and merchandise, and their emphasis on cooking classes and special events, Sur La Table remains a great place to browse for high-end tools and cookware.

If you think you make the best grilled cheese, think again!

The perfect sub-in for those times you're in a crunch.

You can officially say bye-bye to crumbly and dry leftover mac and cheese.

You'll wonder why you didn't do this sooner.

They're always right next to each other at the store, in nearly identical packaging. Here's the real difference between these creamy cheeses.

It all started with a tip from Chrissy Teigen.

Sorry to be the one to have to tell you.

I don’t have kids. But I’m an aunt. And the other day, I decided to involve my twin niece and nephew in a tasting designed to gauge their openness to so-called grownup cheeses. Because while I can’t blame my busy sister for feeding her kids quesadillas with pre-shredded cheese, I’ve always wondered if she doesn’t give their palates enough credit.Here, the results on how various cheeses fared, plus other ideas for gateway cheeses to feed the kiddies.

You really can't have too much of a good thing.

Even that crazy prickly side!

Make snack boards a no-cleanup meal!

Making such a basic pasta seems like it should be easy, but there’s a lot that can go wrong.

See you later butter and cream.

You can buy it at select Whole Foods.

It's gut friendly, it's tasty, and it's *not* Greek yogurt.

Welcome to Snapshot Cooking, the home of Kitchn’s easiest recipes. These mini recipes are so simple you can practically cook from the before-and-after snapshot itself.My kids are more likely to eat their packed lunches if there’s some sort of DIY component involved — and frankly I am too. It’s much more fun to get to assemble a pepperoni pizza or a shredded chicken taco than open up a lunch box to find a sad and soggy sandwich.

The easiest, tastiest way to eat a bunch of snacks for lunch.

This is a tip for anyone who has ever made a complete mess while trying to spread crumbly goat cheese on baguette for a quick appetizer. No extra fuss, no strange tricks, just one secret ingredient that will make all the difference in the world.The key to a soft and spreadable goat cheese is simply mixing it with a spoonful or two of milk or cream. Mash them together in a small bowl, and within seconds, the goat cheese will be just softened enough to be spreadable.

Last weekend, our resident cheesemonger journeyed North, in search of cheese. What the Green Mountain State lacked in sunshine it made up for with roadside farmstands galore, support of local food producers (even at a Mobil station, where they were selling muffins from a nearby bakery), and most of all, numerous cheesemakers with innovation on the brain.

Get ready for a charred, crispy crust and bubbling, caramelized cheese.

The Cheesemonger will be in France next week, eating lots of delicious cheese. Because of this, there will be no Cheesemonger post. I’ll be returning the following week with lots of new cheese posts for the Francophile in all of us.Name: FlixerProducer: Rolf Beeler/Mario Cotto (Graubunden, Switzerland)Milk: Raw Sheep Age: 80 days+Price: $28.00-$31.

Name: TronchonProducer: Various (Tronchon, Spain)Milk: Raw/Pasteurized Raw Cow’s, Goat’s & Sheep’s MilkAge: 2 months+Price: $11.99-$23.00 Few cheeses are as readily identifiable at Spain’s Tronchon. Produced in a small village of the same name, Tronchon has a distinct crater in the center and a raised ring around the outside, giving it the look of a very large doughnut whose center has not been completely removed.

Ever wonder about the whitish spots of crunch in your cheese? People have a wide variety of theories on those little crystalline bits. No, it’s not salt, it’s not something deliberately added during cheesemaking, it’s not that the cheese is old and it’s starting to dry out, and it’s not a cheese mite.Today we’re setting the record straight in a big reveal of the little known component in some of your favorite cheeses.

Many times, the best way to end a meal is not with something sweet. And luckily, the European trend to serve cheese as dessert is catching on more and more everyday in this country. We see it in restaurants everywhere, but how can you create your own dessert course at home?Read on for some of our favorite after dinner cheeses and the accompaniments we love to serve alongside.The best part about serving cheese for dessert is that it’s fast and easy.

It’s hard to believe we’ve never spoken — not even once — of this cheese, with an appearance almost as arresting as its flavor. It carries a hefty stink and an equally substantial creaminess, an ideal pick for the fall and winter. But what’s that name all about, and why does it have a brown band around its middle?

Milk is white, so why is some cheese orange? What is the culprit responsible for this color change in cheese and why would some cheesemakers choose to rob their cheese of its natural tint in the first place? (It’s not as devious as it sounds.)Cheese can be colored with a coloring agent called annatto. It’s a natural food coloring that comes from the Annatto (also known as Achiote) tree, grown in the tropical regions of Central and South America.

They’re the stinkiest of any cheese you’ll find behind the counter. They’re the ones that make you search your refrigerator for something that’s gone bad. In this week’s Cheesemonger column, a profile on the washed rind family of cheeses: how to pick them out, some of the best even for the non-converts, and understanding the difference between a bad stink and a good one.

It snowed all day yesterday, and now New York is peppered with a downy white coating of fresh snow. So it seems only appropriate to talk about the family of cheese that is most apropos — aesthetically speaking — for the weather: bloomy rinded cheeses. These are the most popular cheeses of all: the bries, the camemberts, and the triple cremes. And after last week’s complete primer on one entire category of cheese, we thought we’d stick to that theme, too.

What’s been largely a dairy belt phenomenon is now steadily making its way to a wider audience of eager eaters. The humble cheese curd is gaining in popularity, with culinary applications that go way beyond the deep fryer.Never had them? Now’s a good a time as any, especially considering their price…Maybe you’ve seen them around, looking much like the picture above, perhaps at street fairs or amusement parks.

When cooking with cheese, there’s nothing much worse than choosing the wrong cheese for the wrong application. Mozzarella’s not great as a finisher atop pasta in the same way that parmesan is, for example, because it becomes clumpy and stringy, while a harder cheese like parmesan can become a more cohesive element of the dish. Understanding why cheeses melt in different manners can help keep your fontina on your paninis and your fetas in your salads.

I remember my years behind the cheese counter distinctly. But around the holidays, my days would blur together, with endless hours and perpetual lines of people needing cheese. One question was consistent, anxiety-ridden and almost deja vu-like in its repetitiveness: “I’m flying. I want to bring cheese. But can I?” The simple answer is yes.

Look at legendary English cheddars and they all have at least one thing in common: a cloth rind. In recent years, the technique has caught on among a creative handful of domestic cheesemakers, and we couldn’t be more supportive.Why make a particular point of highlighting these types of cheddars in particular? Binding a wheel in cloth makes for a cheese that’s decidedly more rustic, with an almost dusty, pleasantly cellar-like aroma and more pronounced cooked milk flavors.

We took a trip to one of our most trusted sources for cheese in Manhattan the other day, looking for a great cheese for beer. What we found did the trick, but it could just as easily stand all by its lonesome, without the aid of any pairing beverage. It’s now officially this cheesemonger’s new favorite cheese. And the story behind it ain’t bad, either.

Without knowing it, we all probably have a ploughman’s lunch pretty regularly. It’s basically a deconstructed cheese sandwich: a hunk of cheese, a knob of rustic bread, sometimes some greens, sometimes some meat, a tangy pickle of sorts or some kind chutney-like condiment, and an apple. And a beer on the side. Imagine a kid’s lunchbox, and it’d probably contain a lot of the same components. Well, except for the beverage.

Does your cheese do this? If you’re a big cheese eater, tear-like dew drops on the surface of your cheese probably look pretty familiar, especially if your cheese has been sitting out for awhile. What exactly is happening and is there some way to make your cheese behave? Cheese is made up primarily of coagulated milk solids, or curd.

You may be surprised. And the answer might even help justify your spending a lot on really nice cheese; more raw material goes into making cheese than you think. Here’s betting that you’ll start appreciating each morsel just a little bit more. Get the answer, plus other cow, sheep, and goat milk musings, after the jump. 1 pound of cheese requires 10 pounds (or about 5 quarts) of cow or goat milk and about 6 pounds of sheep milk.

When it comes to cooking, it’s not unusual for Parmigiano Reggiano to factor disproportionately into your arsenal of recipes. Especially now, when everything seems to be gratin-ed, casserole-ed, or pudding-ed, anything that can act as a sub is more than welcome, especially if it comes with not only a lower price tag, but also an equally amazing taste.

After last week’s post on cheeses that make you cringe, it was clear from some comments that one style of cheese has particular ability to inspire the heeby jeebies: blue cheese.And so, I thought a recommendation was necessary for a starter blue of sorts, one that’s very available and pretty reliable, if you can find it from a good producer. If you’re willing to take on the challenge to leave your old taste buds in the dust, the rewards have huge potential.

I often look through my cheese drawer for cheese column inspiration. If it’s full, I’ve got a lot to draw on. But it’s often the same couple of cheeses that I’ve already written about, my absolute favorites or my personal staples.Last night, I scrounged around, and quickly overlooked a certain cheese that falls into both of those categories, convinced that I’d written about it before.

For all of my talk — and sometimes preaching — about blue cheese, there’s one specific kind that I tend not to mention. I never buy or recommend this particular cheese, and I’ve thought for years that fact supported my bias against it.Needless to say, it never ceases to amaze me just how frequently a cheese epiphany crosses my path.The other day, a coworker bought a wedge of gorgonzola for a recipe she was testing.

Say it: “Yay-toast.” Have you tried this cheese?It’s Norwegian, and although the name translates directly to “goat cheese,” chances are that this cheese tastes just about as far from any you’ve had before. Gjetost is as sweet as caramel, with the texture of a dense, buttery fudge. Until this week, I’d really only thought to use Gjetost as part of a dessert course.

If there’s one ingredient I like to have stashed in the fridge at all times, it’s creamy mascarpone cheese. I mentioned it being my ‘secret weapon’ earlier this week and here’s why.Mascarpone is a rich cow’s milk cheese that is deeply buttery and soft. It has the sturdiness and body of cream cheese, but has a more nuanced tang and a softer feel. It’s extraordinary stuff and is sure to wow, in a variety of settings.

Burrata means “buttered” in Italian. It’s that rich. What it really is, though, is fresh cheese at its best. At first glance, burrata resembles a ball of mozzarella. But upon further scrutiny, it’s clear that this round of cheese is softer, and indeed, when cut, has an interior that spills out, revealing soft, stringy curd and fresh cream. If you’re a lover of mozzarella, ricotta, or really anything that’s straight-up creamy, this cheese is so what you want.

Might you be close-minded to the thought of cheese for dessert? People tend to be pretty split on the matter: either they’re on board, or they’re not. For us believers, there’s nothing better than ending a meal with a hunk of cheese and a sweet accompaniment. All that could improve the scenario would be a pour of some delicious dessert wine or sherry. If you’re a skeptic, though, you may need some more convincing.

First things first: Real goudas — that is, cheeses that are made in Holland, aged for years, and that taste sweet, nutty, and complex — are worth seeking out. They’re different than those red-wax, semi-soft pucks, often of the smoked variety. I’ve had the fortune of witnessing many people taste real gouda for the first time. These are very grateful people.

We talk a lot about what makes a great pairing when it comes to cheese, wine, and food. And since cheese is so rarely— really, too rarely, in our opinion— enjoyed just entirely on its own, it’s especially important to know what foods will heighten your experience of the cheeses you serve. Equally vital is knowing what not to do. (Oranges and carrots, for example, are just a preview of two things that just won’t make your cheese sing.

How’s a cheesemaker to know when a cheese is done aging, without breaking into the entire wheel? To ripen properly — never mind evenly — cheeses need to remain whole, so it’s pretty wasteful to remove an entire test slice for the sole purpose of tasting how it’s coming along.But cheesemaking isn’t guesswork, and sometimes it’s necessary to figure out what’s going on beneath the rind. Luckily, there’s a tool that does just this.

I’ve been proven wrong again. By myself.For some reason, I’ve always — for years — overlooked Grana Padano. I regarded it as a pedestrian, somewhat boring cheese. And maybe it’s because I likened it to a lesser version of Parmigiano Reggiano, which is a cheese that I’ve always felt gets too much attention, anyway.I’ve been just about as wrong as a cheesemonger can be.

Paneer is the reason why many of us are addicted to dishes like palak paneer and shahi paneer korma. This fresh milk cheese is a true staple in Indian cooking, which is no surprise given how well it’s mild flavor and chewy texture goes with spiced up curries. Do you ever cook with it?Paneer is made by curdling warmed milk with an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. The curds are then drained and pressed into a solid block.

Q: I just bought “bread cheese” at Whole Foods, thinking it would be like halloumi. But after doing a bit of research, I found that maybe it is not like halloumi at all. Does anyone know a great way to use this cheese? Thanks!Sent by XelaEditor: If this is the same cheese I’m thinking of, bread cheese is a Finnish style of fresh cheese. In Finland, it’s called juustoleipa.

We’re spending some time this week with European food, and so I decided to inflict some serious pain by looking back on my photos from a month-long jaunt to Europe I took last summer, just to see what cheese-related lessons I could share. Or reshare. With hundreds of photos to choose from, I had a hard time picking, but here are my top five European cheese takeaways.1. Eat cheese plain. Eating cheese without bread is the best way to appreciate cheese.

A few days ago, my mother took me by the wrist and led me towards the Weirauch Farm & Creamery stand at the Healdsburg, California, farmers’ market. All of their offerings are delicious, but one in particular blew me away: Carabiner.Weirauch (pronounced “why-rok” or “vhy-rowk”, meaning sacred-smoke or incense in German) Creamery has only been making cheese for a year. It’s impressive to be turning out such delicious wheels as a one-year-old.