Great American Cheese Collection

reprinted from Chef Educator Today — Summer 2002

What Your Students Need to Know about CHEESE

Americans are fascinated by cheese. Here are resources to help your students make the most of this trend in the workplace.

By Giles Schnierle

Some in the culinary business need to have every tool and gadget in the universe. Some are techies, and some are dedicated artists, but I suspect most are procrastinators. They wait until they have enough equipment before they begin. The science and art of cheesemaking is immense, no doubt. But no need to wait until you are a certified expert before introducing your students to the fascinating and profitable world of delicious cheeses.

In the 10-plus years that I have worked with cheesemakers and sold cheeses, I have been fascinated with enzymes, wild cultures, polypeptide chains and the mysteries of culture cocktails composed of wild and cultured molds. I can honestly count on one hand the number of chefs or retail-cheese-department managers who share my enthusiasm for these essential, but esoteric, facts of cheesemaking. Instead, they are more interested in the cheeses, the cheesemakers, the romance, the trends, the magic of pairing them with wines and beers, cooking with them and, most of all, how to sell them and make money and avoid waste.

In years past, independent gourmet shops introduced us to wonderful new cheeses and supplied us with these treasures. Today we learn of them through gourmet food publications and in restaurants by chefs who know the newest and the best. Now more than ever, the public looks to the chef as a source of the wonderful and new in foods.

Protecting the Product and the Profits

Many of the new artisanal American cheeses and the classic imported cheeses can range in price from $10 to $20 per pound. This makes specialty cheese one of the most expensive ingredients in the kitchen and warrants extra care to prevent spoilage and waste.

Learning to care for the cheeses by trimming, scraping or cleaning surface molds with a cloth dampened with vinegar or alcohol is essential in working with cheeses. Wrapping them appropriately in plastic wrap, foil, waxed paper or parchment paper is another important step. Rewrapping them every three days is critical for mold control. Also, it is very helpful to have a specific person designated as "guardian of the cheese," who will manage the care of the cheeses, ordering, rotation of stock and announcing which cheeses are at peak and which need to be used immediately in order to avoid loss.

Note that health codes from state to state vary, so you must research your local codes concerning handling cheeses.

Having what I call "side door" and "back door" plans for cheese usage is an absolute requirement. If you intend to offer cheeses on cheese plates, as a cheese course, as flights of cheese or as part of a buffet, less loss of product will occur if you set up alternate uses of cheese. Consider diverting cheeses to appetizer specials, soups, fondues, spreads to serve along with butter and breads and, well, you get the idea. Ready cheeses can serve as an amuse course or fit into a degustation menu. Staff meals provide an opportunity to utilize ready cheeses. The key is to have a plan in place before launching your cheese program. Create a flow chart for your cheese usage.

Trends and Romance

Artisanal American cheeses are hot, to say the least, and are one of the most exciting areas in American cuisine today. They are the darlings of the media and chefs. Hardly a week goes by that doesn’t see them mentioned in newspapers, food magazines and trade magazines and featured on television programs. Savvy diners search for these cheeses. Customer satisfaction builds business, boosts staff morale and contributes generously to the bottom line. Teach your students to ride the trends in order to reap these benefits.

Prepare your students for this by having them compile databases for current trends in cheese. Draw from news clippings, magazine articles and downloads from the Internet’s almost endless sites on cheese. Build awareness of current market interests, desires and demands. Include recipes, serving ideas, cheesemaker interviews, descriptions for specific cheeses, details on cheese-related events and announcements of new cheeses. Very few customers are interested in the technical aspects of making cheese, but they are fascinated with the romance of the business. They love to hear the stories of the small cheese makers and how they started their businesses and the day-to-day ups and downs and ins and outs of their lives. Stories to help you romance cheeses can be gained from distributors, books and telephone-interviewing cheesemakers directly.

Invite a chef from a local restaurant that features cheese courses, plates or flights and is known for selection and inventiveness to visit your classroom and demonstrate the design and presentation of cheese plates, courses and flights.

Sources and Sourcing

Don't let the cutting edge cut them out. It is essential that you teach your students where to search. Most important, it is vital that they learn how to search. Reinforce this easily built skill by doing. This should be presented as another aspect of education that requires constant updating.

Even if a student has access to the Internet and can construct a database of cheese-related resources, it is still useful to create a hard file with clippings and cuttings as well as brochures and information from cheesemakers and cheese associations and boards.

Prepare a basic list of sources for students and assign each of them the task of adding a minimum of six new Internet entries and six new hard-file items. This will start the foundation of their own databases and will encourage them to stay attuned to the latest products and trends.

Matches Made in Heaven: Cheese and Drink Pairs

Diners increasingly expect chefs and restaurant owners to create (or discover) the ultimate taste combinations, While drinking wine or beer with foods is pleasurable in general, with a bit of extra effort pairings can be established that are truly transcendental!

Work with a wine purveyor to develop a workshop to try wines or beers and cheeses together to discover the mechanics of flavor complementing and flavor contrasting. Occasionally a wine merchant can be coaxed into making a house call. If those options fail, assemble a selection of wines crafted from the main grape types and a reasonable cross section of cheeses and have your own go at it, but make sure to take notes and discover rules and patterns.

Although the topic of cheese is large, don’t get bogged down or paralyzed. Start small and solid and build incrementally. Teach your students to build one menu at a time and to know a few cheeses well before enlarging their programs.

Giles Schnierle is the founder and president of The Great American Cheese Collection, Chicago. Call him for more info at (773) 779-5055 or email to hearttrade@aol.com.

Serving Cheese

In addition to classic dishes that employ cheese, several new trends currently demand attention:

The cheese plate: a selection of cheeses served with crackers, breads and a variety of accompanying elements that is usually offered at the bar, in the lounge or in areas away from the dining room.

The cheese course: a selection of cheeses, usually brief, served after the main course and before dessert. It can be accompanied by greens to substitute for the salad course. Breads, crackers, dried fruits, nuts, olives, etc., can also be elements in this arrangement. In some restaurants this course is a dessert option.

The cheese flight: a selection of cheeses paired usually with wines, but sometimes with beers. This option creates an adventure experience for the diner. Cheeses can be chosen by type, milk type, region, texture, strength of flavor and much more.

The natural state of cheese: in catering there is a gradual move away from the mountain-o'-cheese look to one in which the cheeses are displayed in their natural shapes. This is a little more work for the guest, but is more attractive and results in less waste.

Cheese accessories: cheeses are increasingly accompanied by such elements as: honeycomb, dried fruits, dried-fruit pastes, nuts, fresh fruit, olives, nut/fruit breads and ... the list grows daily. These flavors and textures are meant not only to contrast and complement the flavors of cheeses, but are also intended as flavor bridges to the wines or beers paired with them.

Abundant Resources

In addition to the large body of books available at libraries and the immense amount of information accessible over the Internet, these are a few more resources well worth checking into:

The Cheesecyclopedia Course — available through The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. This combination of manual and video is a brief, but very comprehensive, introduction to basic cheese making and guides you through the processes for most major types of cheese. Available free by calling (800) 373-WMMB.

Tour a cheesemaking facility — you can connect with a cheese producer in your area by contacting:

Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Dave Leonhardi, (800) 373-WMMB.
Midwest Dairy Association. Tracy Baldwin, (847) 803-2000.
Dairy Management, Inc. Christopher Moore, (847) 803-2000.
New England Dairy Promotion Board. Tracy Lynch, (508) 865-6336.
California Milk Advisory Board. (650) 871-6459.
Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association. Deana Rose, (215) 627-8800.

The New American Cheese: Profiles of America's Great Cheesemakers and Recipes for Cooking with Cheese, by Laura Werlin (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2000). This book gives you an excellent introduction to the latest trends and developments in artisanal American cheese making.

Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins (Workman Publishing, 1996). This is a good, all-around book to have in your back pocket when your students hit you with questions.

The Professional Chef Discovers California Cheese — this course can be accessed at www.ciaprochef.com. The curriculum is presented in six modules, each containing considerable information on different aspects of understanding cheese and creating a restaurant cheese program.

Giving Them the Basics

Use the Cheesecyclopedia video, along with the manuals, for a first class on cheese. Let students take the exam as they view and follow along in the manual. (Request extra materials from WMMB.)

Have students take the six module cheese course from California Milk Advisory Board at www.ciaprochef.com.

Have each student make one or two acid-set cheeses to give the basic feel for the cheesemaking process.

Have the students work in small groups to make cheese from kits purchased from New England Cheesemaking Supply, (413) 628-3808.

Cheese tastings are the best way to develop an appreciation of cheeses. Becoming familiar with the textures, aromas, flavors and colors is the surest way to develop the confidence and inspiration to serve and cook with cheeses. Here are a few suggestions for how cheese tastings can be accomplished:

Arrange a field trip to a cheese shop where you can taste a variety of cheeses and ask questions.
Schedule a visit to your distributor's warehouse to select cheeses to bring back to the classroom. Ask your distributor for producer description sheets for each of the cheeses.
If you have enough class sessions to spread the tastings out, select a different cheese type or different cheesemaking region, or concentrate on cheeses made from a particular milk for each session.
Invite a cheesemonger, distributor or cheesemaker to bring a selection of cheeses to your class and conduct a tasting.