Dairymaid Diary

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Nothing Can Change This Love Edition

2012-01-25T18:55:00.000-06:00

One of our favorite things about living in Houston is seeing how much it's always growing and changing. The city's story is still being written and it could go any different way. Certainly the weather is unpredictable.

Cheese is capricious in it's own way too, developing a surprising pineapple undercurrent over here or a strong beefy punch over there. Eagle Mountain's Granbury Gold starts off with a Gouda recipe but has recently took an intriguing turn towards a mild raclette flavor and we like it.

We know, change can be unsettling. Comfort yourself with some cheese while we pour you some tea. Try this week's batch of Barely Buzzed, we know you like that. We'll also have Caveman Blue, Nancy's Camembert and Green's Creek Gruyere at the warehouse for your tasting pleasure. And there is always one thing you can be certain of: Cheese is delicious rain or shine.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Cheese Contains Multitudes

2012-01-19T19:44:00.000-06:00

If there's anything adult life teaches us, it is that a person is not any one thing. A football player can be a poet and a Dairymaid can also be an amateur battle rapper. So it is with cheese. The Dunbarton from Roelli Cheese is a blue, but it's also a cheddar. The mild sharpness improves upon the cheddar's nuttiness and the earthiness tames the intensity of the blue. We debuted the cheese back in September and since then it has become one of our favorites.

Speaking of debuts, Stuart Veldhuizen's new cheese the Dublin Karst is also a bit of a hybrid. A cross between cheddar and Romano, it's made using Bosque Blue molds and has a pretty fluted exterior. Come visit us this Friday and Saturday to try some of its big, earthy bite for the first time.

We also have a new choice from the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company called Kinderhook Creek, made with 100% East Fresian Ewe's milk and our usual selection of mayhaw jelly, pretzel buns and beer. Because like you, our warehouse also contains multitudes.

“Just Plain Good” Macaroni & Cheese

2012-01-12T20:17:00.001-06:00

At last, the mother of all comfort foods makes an appearance on our blog: Macaroni and Cheese. There are restaurants, blogs, books and t-shirts devoted entirely to the celebrated dish. I even know of a pair of pet gerbils named after it, but I digress.

This recipe is a “sensible” three-cheese variety. It contains no heavy cream or eggs and only a modest amount of butter. I believe a good mac and cheese is unpretentious and simple, honest and reassuring. It should also cure insomnia.

2 cups large elbow macaroni, uncooked
2 cups low fat milk
* if needed, additional 1/4 cup milk for final cooking
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon Coleman’s mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 generous dash of nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 cup Sand Creek Gouda, shredded
1/2 cup SarVecchio Parmesan, shredded
1/2 cup Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used leftover Slow Dough ciabatta)
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced

Quickly rinse macaroni in a colander and let drain. Combine milk, uncooked macaroni, salt, 1 tablespoon butter, mustard powder and nutmeg in a 4 quart pot. On medium heat, slowly bring milk/macaroni mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. You want to keep the macaroni from sticking together and allow the milk to come to a boil very slowly, so you have to babysit the stove. Once mixture comes to a simmer, turn heat to low. Continue to stir frequently, remember you’re babysitting. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until milk has fully absorbed. If macaroni is not done to your liking, add a little more milk and continue to cook. When milk has absorbed, stir in shredded cheeses, reserving a little for the top. Stir to combine evenly and remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a sauce pan. Add rosemary and bread crumbs. Cook on medium until breadcrumbs are crispy. Once cooled, use your hand or the bottom of a glass to break crumbs into finer pieces.

Place macaroni and cheese in baking dish or individual soufflé dishes. Top with cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn oven to broil to brown for about 5 more minutes. Serve immediately. If you’re feeling gluttonous, garnish with fried chicken. Yes, I’m serious.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Who Lives in a Pineapple Under the Cheese?

2012-01-11T20:29:00.001-06:00

Pardon the extremely esoteric Spongebob Squarepants reference, but one of our cheeses this week really calls for it. You see, the Appalachian from Meadow Creek Dairy in Virginia has a natural molded rind and a supple paste. Modeled after Tomme de Savoie or Toma Piemontese, the flavor starts off mild then gets complex at the end. We swear we taste pineapple.

Come see for yourself this Friday and Saturday, during normal warehouse hours. We'll also have CKC Farm Baby Blue, a luxuriously creamy goat milk blue from Blanco, Texas and some Bellwether Pepato. The Pepato is an Italian-style sheep's milk cheese studded with peppercorns, which add a nice kick to cut the richness. [Insert Occupy Houston joke here.]

Acerbic political humor aside, we'll also have Bellwether Carmody for those of you who don't enjoy pepper, and Veldhuizen Paragon Reserve, an extra-aged take on the original. And if you haven't had a chance to try it yet, we also highly recommend the Taza Mexican chocolate, which comes in a bunch of intriguing flavors like guajillo and salt and pepper (my personal favorite). No pineapple flavor yet, but at this point that would just be redundant.

The Cheese Lover’s Brunch Casserole

2012-01-06T19:50:00.000-06:00

Post holiday depression? Need another reason to get family and friends together? Cheese, of course, is the cure-all remedy. For maximum indulgence: what better setting to enjoy cheese and good company than Sunday Brunch! I’m hard pressed to think of anything better than waking up late, enjoying copious amounts of breakfast foods and drinking champagne before noon.

This dish is easy and versatile, but above all, it is super rich! Melty layers of Carmody and Gruyere compliment the salty bacon and fresh herbs baked into the casserole. Accompany with mixed greens and toasted croissants with jam. Life is good!

1 lb bacon

1/2 cup shallots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

8 large eggs

1 cup half and half

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup Bellwether Carmody, grated

1 cup Greens Creek Gruyere, grated

1/2 teaspoon salt

Unsalted butter

Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Cook bacon on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes. Chop cooked bacon and set aside. (Can be made ahead)

Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a medium sauce pan. Add shallots and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes. Add sun-dried tomatoes and herbs; stir for 1 minute. Add chopped bacon to pan, mix to combine and remove from heat.

Whisk eggs, half and half, whipping cream, cheese (reserving some to melt on top), and salt in large bowl to blend well. Combine egg mixture with the bacon mixture and pour into buttered baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese and parsley over top. Bake until top of casserole is golden brown and knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Keep on Truckin' Edition

2012-01-04T14:37:00.001-06:00

We're only a few days into 2012, but it turns out that it's pretty hard to maintain an optimistic, motivated outlook now that we're back to the same old workdays and coffeeshops have stopped serving peppermint hot chocolate. But we have to keep on truckin'.

With that in mind, this week's cheese plate features Cowgirl Creamery's first firm cheese, Wagon Wheel. The cheese is made with organic milk and aged for two to three months. It's a versatile everyday cheese, but melting it really brings out the subtleties of flavor.

Also on the plate this week are two choices from Pt. Reyes. The Toma is a classic, Italian-style table cheese with a buttery flavor and subtle, grassy tang finish. The Pt. Reyes Blue is rindless, similar in format to Maytag, and both crumbly and creamy with gorgeous teal striping.

We also have Hoja Santa and Harbison on deck and the usual breads from Slow Dough. If we're not truckin, at least we're cheesin'.

Cheesy Collard Green Wontons with Black Eyed Pea Relish

2011-12-31T16:32:00.002-06:00

What can I say… I’m a sucker for traditions, especially when food is involved. Eating collard greens and black eye peas on New Year’s Day is said to bring good luck and wealth.

This recipe is a fun twist on the traditional Southern dish. From the south or not, people usually turn their noses up at collard greens. Add some SarVecchio and mozzarella to the recipe and you will be welcomed at any party! Enjoy & cheers to a prosperous 2012!

Collard Green Wontons

1 head collard greens
3 strips peppered bacon
2 bay leafs
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1/3 cup half and half
4 oz SarVecchio Parmesan, finely grated (about 1 cup)
1 ball fresh mozzarella, diced to small cubes
3 dashes Cholula
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
1 package medium wonton wrappers

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add bacon and 2 tablespoons butter. Allow bacon to cook for 5 minutes or so. Meanwhile, wash collard greens thoroughly. Cut out the thick stem in the center of the leaves. Stack leaves, roll up and slice into 1 inch thick strips. Add greens to pot. Cook at medium heat, stirring occasionally, until greens are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove collard greens from broth and transfer to a strainer. Press juices out, set aside. Discard bacon and bay leaves. I know, throwing bacon away makes me sad too.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small sauce pan. Caramelize the sweet onion. Remove from heat, add milk and cheese to pan. Reserve some SarVecchio to top wontons. Combine this mixture with the collard greens in a mixing bowl. Add Cholula, salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a muffin tin with olive oil. Place wonton wrappers in muffin tin, forming bowls. Brown wonton wrappers only for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, scoop one heaping teaspoon of collard green mixture in wonton bowls. Top with SarVecchio and bake for 10 additional minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

* Yields 3 dozen wontons

Black Eye Pea Relish

1 16oz can black eyed peas
1/2 cup Cipollini onions in balsamic vinegar, diced (found in the olive bar)
1 yellow pepper, diced
Oregano, basil, parsley, salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a medium sauce pan. Add yellow pepper and spices. Cook just until tender, I like them more on the al dente side. Add onions and peas, cook until heated through. Serve with wontons.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: The Year in Review

2011-12-27T16:25:00.001-06:00

The past year has been good to the Dairymaids. We got an AC unit, a bright orange awning and shelves of beer and wine. We started cooking more and threw some excellent parties. We also celebrated our fifth birthday and we couldn't be more happy and grateful. We hope you'll come by and see us on this last week of 2011 to say hello and pick up any cheeses for the New Year's parties you're going to. Cheers to an equally amazing 2012! We have to make it count before the Mayan calendar runs out.

This week on the plate, we have some Mountaineer from Meadow Creek Dairy in Virginia. It's similar to Comté or a cave-aged Gruyere in its firm texture and caramel-rich nuttiness. Rick and Helen ensure that their Jersey cows get the best grass by using rotational grazing methods that keep the land and the cows well-nourished.

We'll also have the lovely, soft-ripened Sofia from Capriole in northern Kentucky. The dense, fudgey cheese has a layer of delicate vegetable ash and a white, bloomy rind. The plate's big finish will come from Bayley Hazen Blue, a bold American Stilton from Vermont. We're all about big finishes this weekend.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Blue, Blue (Cheese) Christmas

2011-12-21T16:00:00.001-06:00

Only two days from Christmas, your friendly Dairymaid elves will be toiling in the cheese fridge, readying you for the holidays. It doesn't smell quite like the Keebler tree, but such is the nature of working with a food sometimes described as "barnyard-y." That's right, we're open this Friday and Saturday for our usual tastings.

Come for the Teahive, stay for the Rogue River Blue. Teahive is Beehive Company's newest addition, rubbed with a blend of black tea and pure bergamot oil. The soothing qualities of tea and bergamot combine to produce a creamy cheddar with rich fragrances of orange blossom. If you're doubtful, remember that you didn't sound convinced about the Barely Buzzed before you tried it, either.

The Rogue River Blue is a great celebration cheese because all parties require alcohol, and the grape leaves around this creamy blue have been soaked in pear brandy. The leaves keep the cheese moist and creamy while imparting a flavor both sweet and woodsy. Also on the plate will be San Andreas, a sheep milk cheese from California, and Truffle Tremor. Come by to grab any last minute gift boxes and say Merry Christmas!

Ginger Snap Sandwiches with Chevre Frosting

2011-12-18T12:11:00.013-06:00

Every year I receive a wonderfully tacky metal tin of fudge and divinity from my Aunt in the mail. You may have a family member that sends you a similar cavity-gram. It’s a love-hate relationship.

With all this beautiful cheese at our disposal, it’s time we go beyond Crisco and corn syrup! These Ginger Snap Sandwiches are unique, but still festive. When filled with chevre frosting, they take on the texture of a whoopie pie. Enjoy with some hot cider and you just might find yourself chiming in as the family quotes A Christmas Story.

3/4 cup natural vegan shortening from palm oil
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 whole nutmeg, about 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated
1/2 cup natural turbinado sugar

Frosting:
4 oz Pure Luck Chevre
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, beat together shortening, brown sugar and molasses, gently beat in the egg; set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger,
cinnamon and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, stirring carefully to fully combine. Dough will be fairly stiff. Shape dough into teaspoon balls and coat top in turbinado sugar. Transfer to baking sheet, arranging 1 inch apart. Bake 8 - 10 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. When cookies are completely cool, frost and assemble sandwiches. Store in an air tight container.

For frosting: Cream cheese and chevre should be at room temperature. Combine cream cheese, chevre, confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth. Adding zested lemon or a spot of honey is great too.

* Yields: 2 dozen sandwiches

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Sharing is Caring Edition

2011-12-14T12:41:00.001-06:00

Overheard in the Dairymaids warehouse: "I was considering hoarding them, but probably should share." The identity of the speaker shall remain a mystery, but she was referring to a secret stash of Rush Creek Reserve, which is "among the best things I've ever tasted" and reminiscent of well-done bacon. The cheese is inspired by the French Vacherin Mont d'Or and wrapped in spruce bark before being aged for 60s days. The paste is silky and easily eaten with a spoon--that's right, bacon by spoon! It's like space food but actually tastes good. The catch is that we only have 20 in stock, so show up early to claim one.

This weekend happens to be our Big Cheese holiday celebration so we'll have a number of other impressive occasion cheeses including Caveman Blue, Tarantaise, Dunbarton Blue and Cremont, a mixed cow and goat milk double-cream. As usual, we have a selection of beer and wine to go with your cheese plus all the hazelnuts, olives, cornichons and chocolates a gluttonous person with impeccable taste a person could ask for. Be the big cheese and stock up for your parties and presents.

If you're looking for a gift box, we have five different combinations (and beautiful handmade boxes) to choose from, or you can swing by this weekend to put one together yourself. Bonus: We'll be open on Sunday from 10am-2pm. See you then!

St. Jorge Gnocchi Soufflés

2011-12-11T21:26:00.003-06:00

American chefs are riffing on this Italian classic far beyond its humble beginnings. And I’m happy they are, because scratch-made gnocchi seems a little daunting at first. Watching youtube videos will glean very little tips for success.

No worries though, this recipe does not require fancy tools or dying anything with squid ink. St. Jorge Gnocchi Soufflés are matched up with my personal favorite: SarVecchio Parmesan and the versatile: Matos St. George. Be fearless and have fun!

6 Soufflé or gratin dishes (4 oz)
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 oz SarVecchio Parmesan, finely grated (1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz Matos St. George, thinly sliced
White truffle oil

Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan, bring milk and butter just to a boil, stirring until butter is melted. Reduce heat, when mixture is at a simmer add flour all at once. Keep on low heat and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, until mixture forms a ball in the center of pan, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in SarVecchio Parmesan, salt, nutmeg and garlic. Add eggs 1 at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition until mixture is smooth. Transfer dough to pastry bag. If you do not have a pastry bag, use a large zip-loc bag with a 1/2 in hole cut.

Center oven rack and preheat to 375.

Working in batches, pipe 1/2-inch lengths of dough directly into a 6-quart pot of boiling salted water. Use a paring knife or kitchen scissors to cut off dough at tip. Cook gnocchi until they rise to surface, carefully transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice water to stop cooking. When all gnocchi are cooked and cooled, drain well in a colander.

Divide cream among individual dishes and arrange gnocchi in 1 layer over cream. Top with thinly shaved Matos St. George. I use a vegetable peeler; I’ve never been a fan of cheese planes. Place dishes in a shallow baking pan and bake until golden and bubbling, 18 to 20 minutes. Turn oven to broil the last 2 to 3 minutes to brown.

Drizzle a dash of truffle oil over baked soufflés and serve immediately. Enjoy with sautéed collard greens and baked fish.

* Want to learn more about gnocchi, or soufflé, or how to even pronounce it? On Food and Cooking is a riveting source for any food lover. Fallen soufflé will rise again!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: The Vintage Edition

2011-12-08T01:36:00.000-06:00

When a food or brand of watch gets a special designation like "deluxe," "reserve" or "a la mode," you know you're in for a super treat. The Granbury Gold Vintage is a cheese on another level. Dave and Matt Eagle age batches of Granbury for over six months to get to the Vintage's firmer texture and bolder flavor. With their high-quality milk and distinct methods, the Eagles have made Granbury into something unique and delicious: a smooth-textured cheese with the slightest Swiss-y funk, similar to a Raclette.

Similarly, the Pleasant Ridge Reserve Uplands is also an exceptional cheese. An Alpine-style cow's milk cheese from Wisconsin, this is an artisan American cheese that can hold its own against any European rival. In fact, it has twice been recognized as "Best in Show" by the American Cheese Society. Several big studios are looking to purchase the movie rights to the cheese.

Also on the tasting plate are Carmody, Tilston Point and Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert. As for booze, because we're super into that now, we highly recommend the La Maialina Gertrude Toscana. Lovingly referred to by Dairymaids everywhere as "the pig wine" due to its adorable label, it's a lively blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Cheers to that.

Marinated Goat Feta

2011-12-04T18:18:00.001-06:00

It’s that time of year, when one cannot enter any retail Mecca without fighting the droves of crazed shoppers. Not to mention the feeling of guilt if you don’t put at least 38 cents in the Salvation Army Red Kettle. Why not make gift giving easy and something that will make your friends and family salivate? The dairymaids have got you covered! This marinated goat feta recipe makes a superb gift and is perfect to take to a holiday party.

1 500 ml Mason jar
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 oz Pure Luck Goat Feta
3 cloves garlic, cut in half
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary

Directions:
Make sure your jar is thoroughly cleaned. In the bottom of the jar, pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Take one portion of feta, pat dry and cut into three cubes. Add feta, garlic, peppercorns, crushed red pepper and rosemary. Add olive oil to fill the jar, be certain all of the cheese is covered. Seal jar tightly. Keep refrigerated. Use within 2 weeks.

Serve with toasted Slow Dough baguette, olives and cured meats, all of which is available at the warehouse!

* Also try using coriander seed, different colored peppercorns, thyme or sun dried tomatoes. Really, whatever your cheese-loving heart desires.

* Extra-virgin olive oil will solidify when it is refrigerated. When ready to serve, set jar out at room temperature for 20 minutes or so: it will be servable and pleasing to the eye once again.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Winter Pairings Edition

2011-12-01T14:25:00.001-06:00

Even though the holidays don't have quite as much shine as they did when we were young, there are certain things about the holidays that we always look forward to: the smell of Houston air below 65 degrees and apple cider. We like the peak season Gala blend, and the alcoholic kind as well.

Now that we are fully stocked on beer and wine, we just so happen to have bottles of Leprechaun cider on hand. The founder of the company is a 22-year old Houston native who began his business before he was even old enough to drink. If self-doubt about your life's accomplishments didn't just inspire you to stake a swig of something, perhaps the dry, subtley sweet apple flavor will.

To go with this delightful winter beverage, we recommend Buttermilk Blue Affinee from Wisconsin. The cheesemakers at Roth Kase aged this rindless blue over six months to enhance its complexity and intensity. We'll also have Marieke Cumin Gouda, which is likewise from Wisconsin. Midwesterners know how to enjoy both their cheese and their winters so we're emulating them this week.

If you've melted any sandwiches recently--wait, of course you have--then perhaps the smoked habanero Cheddar from Beehive will appeal to you. Less well-suited to melting, but a wonderful substitute for Pecorino, the San Andreas is a farmstead sheeps milk cheese from California that will also be in stock.

Redneck Pie

2011-11-18T12:43:00.003-06:00

Can you believe it’s our 5th birthday? To celebrate, we decided to skip the cake and enjoy a savory slice of Redneck Pie. It’s my version of Shepherd’s Pie with the Veldhuizen’s Redneck Cheddar lovingly melted on top, and it’s pretty darn good.

At the risk of sounding like the archetypal Betty Crocker commercial, this recipe is stupid simple and has a great shortcut for the modern Dairymaid on the go. Forgive me, but the holidays tend to be hectic.

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
6-8 oz Redneck Cheddar, shredded (about 1 cup)
1 16 oz package instant mashed potatoes

Directions:
Generously salt and pepper the beef, onion, carrots, celery and garlic and cook in a large pan until done: no traces of pink and veggies tender. Stir in the ketchup and Worcestershire. While meat mixture is cooking prepare the instant mashed potatoes per the instructions. Spoon meat mixture into a round 2-quart casserole dish. Spoon potatoes on top in an even layer. Lastly, top with shredded cheese. Cover and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Turn the oven to broil, remove cover and brown cheese for about 5 minutes.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: The Birthday Sale Edition

2011-11-16T11:46:00.005-06:00

We're getting excited for our 5th Birthday/Customer Appreciation sale this weekend! You may have seen the details on our newsletter, but just in case you missed it, we'll be bringing in a few exclusive cheeses including Hook's 15-year cheddar, truffle-studded Sottocenere, Rogue River Blue wrapped in brandy-soaked grape leaves and more Harbison. Yes, these cheeses are rather impressive but just look at us. We're an impressive bunch.

We'll also have all your Thanksgiving staples stocked, including Lucky Layla butter and Sarvecchio Parmesan. B.Y.O pumpkin. The Pure Luck classics will be available, including the chevre and Hopelessly Blue, but this will be the last batch of St. Maure for the season so alert your St. Maure-loving friends. You're probably already in a Google group for this, making that task a piece of cake.

And, because what is Thanksgiving without wine, we'll also be sampling some of our new stock. That's right, we now have actual booze at the ready. Dairymaids do not party without wine.

Sale details:
Fri., Nov. 18 (10am to 6:30pm) and Sat., Nov. 19 (10am to 4pm)
$5 off $25 purchase
$10 off $50 purchase
$20 off $100 purchase

*Discount does not apply to wine and beer purchases.*

Toasted Baby Caprino with Greens

2011-11-11T14:12:00.003-06:00

Eating seasonally after Labor Day doesn't mean packing away the salad bowl with your white pants. Arm yourself with the right ingredients and you can create a toothsome salad that is hearty enough for a main course.

With warm salads you want to think contrasts. Earthy greens collide famously with the creamy, yet bold, Baby Caprino. The salad acts as the stage for what is basically a big, cheesy crouton. Please calm yourself.

2 leeks (white and pale green parts only), cut into 1/4-inch dice

1/3 cup olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Unsalted butter

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 Baby Caprino, cut in 4 pieces, horizontally and then in half

4 slices Slow Dough baguette, about 1” thick, cut at an angle

Mixed greens (such as swiss chard, arugula, tat soi and baby spinach)

4 vine-ripened cocktail tomatoes, cut in quarters

Directions:

Wash, pat dry, cut and toss leeks with a splash of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sauté leeks in olive oil, over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Allow leeks to get just golden on the edges, avoid mushy at all costs. Remove from heat and add olive oil, mustard and balsamic vinegar directly to the pan and whisk until mixed well. Poor warm dressing over greens and toss with tomatoes. Watch your timing at this step. You can go from beautifully wilted to limp in a matter of moments. I dressed the salad just as the Baby Caprino was finished toasting.

Butter both sides of each baguette piece. Put a medallion of the Baby Caprino, rind facing up, on each baguette piece and place under the broiler until the cheese is soft and just bubbling. The rind and edges should be golden (about 2 to 3 minutes). Serve immediately over mixed greens and tomatoes.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: The Cheese Poetry Edition

2011-11-10T11:27:00.005-06:00

A cheese by any other name would taste as sweet, but some cheesemakers are exceptionally talented at naming their products. We're talking Keats-level artistry here. Our cheese plate this weekend at the warehouse is going to be so pretty, a sunbeam has volunteered to shine down on it just for the tasting.

We have two new cheeses, the first being the Teahive (pictured). It's from Beehive Cheese Co. in Utah, purveyors of the Barely Buzzed and smoked habanero cheddar that was so popular two weeks ago. This particular cheddar is rubbed with a blend of black tea and bergamot oil, which results in a rich citrus fragrance.

Our other new cheese is the Truffle Tremor from California. The classic flavor of truffle meets the velvety perfection of a soft-ripened goat cheese for a snack that's earthy, elegant and sophisticated. It would be lovely with a glass of dry white wine.

Speaking of wine, we'll also be carrying Cowgirl Creamery's Pierce Point, which gets spritzed with Riesling before getting a roll in dried herbs.

If there isn't a cheese poem in there somewhere, well, we'll also accept a cheese rap. Submissions below, please.

Texas Gold Cheddar & Pale Ale Soup

2011-11-04T20:15:00.003-06:00

The calendar says it is officially fall and surprisingly, it actually feels like fall. Bring on the comfort food please!

This traditionally English recipe has a Texas twist. The Veldhuizens and Southern Star Brewery are together at last, in soup form. I hope you find yourself enjoying pints of ale and warm bowls of soup this weekend, with a little help from the Dairymaids, of course.

2 leeks (white and pale green parts only), cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cup)
2 large carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
2 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
3/4 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups free-range chicken broth
12 oz Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Coleman’s dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 lb Texas Gold Cheddar, grated (4 cups)

Directions:
Cook the leeks, carrots, celery, onion, garlic and bay leaf in 1/2 stick of butter in a large pot or saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Remove vegetables and puree in a food processor or blender. Melt remaining butter in the same pot; add flour and brown on low heat for 2 – 3 minutes. Return vegetables to pot. Add milk, broth, and beer while whisking and simmer on moderate heat for 5 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, and pepper. Add cheese by handfuls, stirring constantly, and cook until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes (do not boil). The whisk is your friend.

Serve with Slow Dough baguette and you may not even need a spoon (seriously, this soup is essentially a big batch of sauce).

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Gouda Bonanza

2011-11-02T14:19:00.004-06:00

What is your tolerance for cheese puns? Low? Probably low. Well, Dairymaids are people-pleasers above all so we'll refrain from unleashing the underutilized cache of them that we've been holding back for years despite having the perfect occasion: a Gouda tasting.

This weekend at the warehouse, we'll have a variety of succulent Goudas to sample including Marieke Gouda and its spiced cousin, the Marieke Cumin Gouda. They're both made in Wisconsin, aged 2-4 months on Dutch wooden shelves and have a nice caramel finish.

Our other Goudas include one from Sand Creek Farms here in Texas that is mild and creamy with a slight tang to keep things interesting, and one from Veldhuizen Farms that has been aged for 8 months (so significantly longer than the Marieke). Come on by and taste the rainbow.

We also have a fresh batch of Pure Luck chevre and St. Maure and we re-upped on Harbison, in case you missed it two weeks ago. Be Stilton my heart.

Greens Creek Gruyere Stuffed Pumpkin

2011-10-27T23:30:00.004-06:00

This time of year you may find yourself doing unscrupulous things with pumpkins. I must admit, I carve goofy faces into a pumpkin every year. On the other hand, stuffing and baking a pumpkin will yield results that are actually sort of whimsical.

Locate your paring knife and get your hands on a nice chunk of Greens Creek Gruyere. This recipe may be easily modified and also makes a beautiful centerpiece.

* Thank you Charlotte for the suggestion to use Gruyere, the subtle nuttiness pairs wonderfully with pumpkin. Also, Nicole, thank you for the inspirational recipes! You ladies are rock stars of cheese purveying.

* Modified from Around My French Table

1 small baking pumpkin, about 3 lbs
4 oz stale bread, cut into 1/2 in cubes (day old Slow Dough baguette
is ideal)
4 oz Greens Creek Gruyère, cut into 1/2 in cubes
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
2 green onions, chopped finely
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
All-spice
Ground sage
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Center rack in oven and preheat to 350. Line a baking sheet or
casserole dish with parchment paper. Using a carving or paring knife,
cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween
Jack-o-Lantern). You want to cut off enough of the top to make it easy
for you to work inside the pumpkin. Clear away the seeds and strings
from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the
pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and place it on the baking
sheet or dish. You are ready to stuff. Mix the bread, cheese, garlic,
bacon, and herbs together and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The
pumpkin should be well filled, but not brimming. Stir the cream with a
pinch of all-spice, sage, salt and pepper and pour into the pumpkin.
You want the ingredients covered, but not swimming. Put the cap in
place and bake the pumpkin for 1 1/2 to 2 hours—or until everything
inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is easily
pierced. Remove the cap in the last 20 minutes to allow the stuffing
to brown.

Spoon out portions of the filling, making sure to get ample amounts of
pumpkin. Serve over a creamy risotto or with a simple arugula salad.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: The Not for Sissies Edition

2011-10-25T21:51:00.005-06:00

Yes, this cheese looks like a Petri dish. Yes, you must be brave! If it helps, Hook's Bloomin' Idiot only has a mild blue flavor to its white interior. The tastebud punch lies in the bloomy rind and there are rumors that consuming it restores youth. It's like the Sword in the Stone though, you have to be the chosen one for that part to work. Otherwise, it's just a delicious snack.

While your nerves are steeled, one of our most controversial cheeses, the Red Hawk, is back at the warehouse this weekend as well. This award-winning cheese is beloved by Dairymaids for its beefy flavor and sweet buttermilk finish, but its potency does have its detractors. Choose your side wisely because Red Hawk lovers will make for a solid team come the zombie apocalypse.

But before that inevitable day comes, you might as well enjoy yourself with some Hoja Santa, the beautiful rounds of goat cheese wrapped in herbaceous Hoja Santa leaves, and smoked habanero Cheddar from Beehive. We'll have both of those available this weekend too, but no bug spray. You'll have to deal with that apocalypse on your own.

Goat Feta and Bacon Guacamole

2011-10-21T12:33:00.002-06:00

Greek and Mexican fare is ever popular in Houston’s culinary scene, but they are not often spotted in the same dish. Our goat feta from Pure Luck has a lovely herbaceous undertone that blends well in a hearty guacamole.

This creative, yet simple snack is sure to impress. I know there is a sense of pride attached to one’s guacamole recipe. Everyone loves their own guacamole! But the question we need to ask ourselves is: how could guacamole with goat feta and bacon be bad?

2 large Haas avocados

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 Jalapeno, seeds removed and chopped

2-3 Limes, squeezed

1 bunch cilantro

Freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

Chili powder and crushed red pepper, to taste

A few generous dashes of Cholula hot sauce

4 oz Pure Luck Goat Feta, crumbled

1/4 lb. thick cut bacon (please see the nice folks at Revival Market)

2 dozen yellow corn tortillas, cut in fourths for chips

2 cups of canola oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Place bacon on a cookie sheet and lay fresh cilantro sprigs directly on top of uncooked bacon. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, flipping half way. Discard cilantro after baking and let bacon cool completely. Coarsely chop the cooked bacon. Combine avocado, onion, jalapeno, bacon, and feta. Add spices and hot sauce and squeeze fresh lime juice over all ingredients. Mix well and enjoy.

For homemade chips:

Heat oil over medium/high heat. Fry tortillas until golden brown. Strain on a paper towel lined plate and lightly salt.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Falling For Cheese

2011-10-20T15:15:00.003-06:00

Compared to the fading of peaches and the influx of root vegetables in the produce aisle these days, cheese isn't as obviously seasonal. But our tastes certainly are and the first gust of wintry promise has ignited a passion for hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches within us. It's desperate, but it looks like you're wearing a scarf. No judgement.

Melting some Reading Raclette over potatoes sounds more appropriate now that we can do so while wearing thick socks at night. Have you been turned off by malodorous raclette in the past? This Vermont cheese from Spring Brook Farms was a regular at the Dairymaids last spring, and we definitely converted some haters with the crispy brown edges of a roasted wedge.

Harbison is back in stock at the warehouse this weekend, though in short supply. This bark wrapped, bloomy rind cheese with a woodsy, savory flavor practically is fall. And you get to sample the creamy paste with a tiny spoon--one of our favorite things about going out for ice cream.

We'll also have customer favorites Marieke Gouda, Nancy's Camembert and Cabot Clothbound Cheddar. If you're thinking about making some macaroni and cheese, ask us for some suggestions and we'll set you up right.

Bosque Beer Burgers

2011-10-14T08:44:00.003-06:00

This is the first week we are presenting recipes that will feature our beautiful Texas cheeses. With that being said, let's not forget about Bosque Blue!

Bosque (pronounced Boss-key) is a Dairymaid essential. It can certainly stand alone or be enjoyed with a generous drizzle of honey (we prefer local… just sayin'). But it made my mouth water when I imagined a burger studded with this golden morsel.

You’re in good company if you grill over flame year-round, but a little spice and heat is welcomed with a nip in the air.

I hope ya’ll enjoy this fall-inspired burger!

2 pounds lean ground sirloin
1/3 pound Bosque Blue, crumbled
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper, more or less to meet your taste
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium yellow onion
1-2 generous pinches of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
6 oz beer (I used St. Arnold’s Amber)
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 Slow Dough Pretzel Buns
Bib or romaine lettuce, for topping
Sliced sweet bread and butter pickles, for topping

Directions:
Preheat grill over medium-high heat. Place the meat in a bowl and add the crumbled cheese. Peel the onion and halve it. Grate about 3 to 4 tablespoons of onion directly over the meat into the bowl. Finely chop the remaining onion and reserve for topping. Add spices, garlic, parsley, Worcestershire and beer. Mix well. It’s best to just get in there and use your hands. Form 4 large patties. I like to use my thumb to make an indention in the center of the patty. A thinner center will prevent burger bulge. Drizzle a little olive oil over the burgers then grill about 4 minutes on each side for medium rare, 5 minutes on each side for medium and 6 to 7 minutes on each side for well done.

Serve patties on a lightly toasted pretzel bun and top with lettuce, pickles, and chopped raw onion. Slather bun tops with mayo or a grainy mustard if desired.

Yields: 4 hearty burgers

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-10-05T23:02:00.004-06:00

There have been many famous Sofias throughout history. Sofia Coppola has made many a fine film about young ladies lounging around in their underwear. Sofia Vergara is probably asked to lounge in front of a camera a lot because she's so good looking. But neither of these women has ever been described as "a lovely brick" with a "white bloomy rind," and for that they're grateful.

That distinction goes to Sofia the goat cheese from Capriole Dairy in Kentucky. It's hand-ladled into molds and layered with vegetable ash to very pretty effect. We'll have it this weekend at the warehouse.

Another lovely cheese in stock this week is the Tarentaise from Springbrook Farm in Vermont. It's styled after a Swiss or French Alpine cheese such as Gruyere or Comte and has a lemon yellow color thanks to grassfed cows.

Come for either of these or our stock of Dunbarton Blue, Matos St. Jorge or Pure Luck Feta. We're also regularly stocked up on pizza crusts now and highly recommend our recently acquired honey spread. To be enjoyed separately, of course.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Down South Edition

2011-09-29T13:26:00.003-06:00

Hey, y'all! This week's featured cheesemakers unintentionally ended up being mostly Southern. Must be all the Paula Deen we're watching.

Of course many great things come from the South, like sun tea and Beyonce, and the cheese is no exception. From Atlanta comes Sweet Grass Dairy's Green Hill, a Dairymaid regular. On their sustainable farm in Thomasville, the folks at Sweet Grass pasture feed their Jersey cows to get the milk that makes this incomparably smooth brie-style cheese.

As for Texas cheeses, we'll have Pure Luck Dairy's Hopelessly Blue and Veldhuizen Parmesan. The Parmesan is the Veldhuizens' biggest cheese in terms of flavor and perfect for grating over pasta or pairing with something sweet.

Our other goat cheese this week is the Old Kentucky Tomme from Capriole. It's 100% goat's milk and bears some relation to a Tomme de Savoie (quelle fancy!) with its natural-mold rind and earthy, mushroomy flavor.

This is our first week back at the Woodlands' farmers market and you'll find us there from 8am until noon. Here is a helpful map.

Aside from our weekly tastings, we have some other awesome stuff in the works including beer and wine licenses and five more cheese classes on the way. We'll let you know as soon as there's booze in the house.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Family Matters

2011-09-20T14:44:00.003-06:00

The family that eats cheese together stays together. This is such a widely accepted fact that scientists are now looking into whether gibbons and prairie voles do, in fact, eat cheese. Indeed, many of America's great cheeses are made by families as well.

The Giacomini family has been making Point Reyes cheese in California for over a decade. The Toma, modeled after classic Italian table cheese and in stock at the warehouse this weekend, is made with the dairy's own certified organic milk. It's semi-firm and straw colored, the subtle, sweet and grassy flavors great for snacking or melting.

Beehive Cheese was founded by brothers-in-law Tim Welsh and Pat Ford, a team that's proved to be good at pairing different flavors. This week we'll have their smoked Habanero cheddar that has a slow-to-surface sweet-to-hot flavor.

Of course, over at Pure Luck Dairy, the Nubian and Alpine goats are practically part of Amelia Sweethardt's family and we'll have lots of fresh chevre on hand.

Remember that wine bath cheese? We'll have Cowgirl Creamery's Pierce Point and Mozzarella Co.'s gooey, slightly tart Crescenza too.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: A Match Made in Heaven

2011-09-15T12:59:00.006-06:00

Among planet earth's greatest food hybrids are the pluot (plum and apricot) and those jars that contain both peanut butter and jelly. Now joining the ranks of the Food Hybrid Elite Squad is the powerhouse combination of cheddar and blue, which you can experience in the form of our newest cheese, Dunbarton Blue. This Frankenstein's monster of a dairy product comes from Roelli in Wisconsin. Although natural rinded cheddar sometimes gets veining unintentionally, the Dunbarton is purposefully inoculated then pressed, which keeps the blue at a minimum and the flavors more approachable. Still, it's a very intense cheese and we're excited to have it at the warehouse for the first time this weekend.

We'll also be fully stocked on Hoja Santa, which is not technically a hybrid , but the combination of the herbaceous leaves and fresh goat cheese is pretty much perfection. Try heating these pretty little packages and serving with sundried tomatoes.

Also on deck: Marieke Gouda, Green's Creek Gruyere and CKC Farms Baby Blue. Hope to see you this weekend! And while we're busy hoping for things, I'd like to nominate naturally occurring chocolate cherries for earth's next hybrid food.

Charlotte's Cheese 101 Class

2011-09-09T13:20:00.004-06:00

Being a Dairymaid is no easy task. There's a lot of training, wind sprints and God telling us we're special. A lot of the time, we're eating cheese. Yeah, your heart goes out to us.

But eating cheese is the best way to learn about cheese--convenient!--as students will soon discover in our upcoming Cheese 101 class, held here at the warehouse on September 22 and led by Charlotte, once voted Only Dairymaid that Looks Good in Braids and a Cowboy Hat (pictured right).

Students will blind taste a cheese at the beginning of class and try to describe it before Charlotte reviews the basics of cheese analysis: types of rinds, milk types, aroma, etc. Another cheese will get the blind treatment and we'll see if any of our descriptions have changed. Oh, and there will be beverage pairings!

Give us a call at the warehouse at 713-880-4800 to sign up for a spot! Class is $30 per person and starts at 6pm.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Winds of Change

2011-09-07T13:00:00.003-06:00

Bad for Good: the Very Best of Landaff.

The future's in the air, I can feel it everywhere -- blowing with the wind of change! The blessedly blustery weather over the past few days didn't just dry the back-of-the-knee sweat from every human, squirrel and bird in Houston for the first time in three months. It also blew a few completely new cheeses into the warehouse.

All the way from New Hampshire comes buttery yet tart Landaff. This smooth and meltable cheese with bright lemony notes was modeled after Duckett's Caerphilly, a cheese out of Somerset, England in the tradition of Welsh farmstead cheese. The Landaff is aged in the Cellars at Jasper Hill, which you might recall as being the source of Bayley Hazen Blue as well.

Also new to the plate, in a way, are the Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert Squares. This creamy, soft-ripened cheese made from a combination of East Fresian ewe and cow milk has been in the shop before but now it's available in a miniature square format. They're perfect for leaving on a cute coworker's desk as a surprise or on-the-go snacking, just like Go-Gurt. Just kidding, we don't eat Go-Gurt on the go. We prefer to savor it.

Also in the line-up for this weekend: Veldhuizen Redneck Cheddar, Buttermilk Blue Affinee from Roth Kase and fresh burrata! And of course we're now open from 10am-6:30pm on Fridays and 10am-4pm on Saturdays.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Labor Day Edition

2011-09-01T10:06:00.004-06:00

History lesson of the day: Labor Day became a federal holiday back in 1894 when President Grover (aka Tha Grove) Cleveland was desperate to reconcile with the working class after some worker deaths and the Pullman strike.

Here in 2011, Labor Day seems to be having the similar effect of throwing us a bone just when the resultant brain boil of record breaking temperatures might make Do the Right Thing look like the Sandlot. But a day off, the final tomatoes of the season and maybe a belly full of cheese sound just right.

Things that like melting other than the chocolate chip cookie accidentally left in the car: Reading Raclette from Spring Brook Farm in Vermont. The solid form cheese features a mild interplay of salty and sweet but once melted, the crusty bits are toasty perfection.

For those sandwiches in front of the TV, we recommend some Sharpshooter Cheddar, the Veldhuizens' Texas Gold aged for an additional two years to give it that extra bite. We'll also have Carmody, the Italian-style table cheese from Bellwether Farm, and Mountain Gorgonzola all the way from Lombardy. It's robust, firm and pairs beautifully with honey.

Three cheers for Grover Cleveland!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-08-25T09:26:00.004-06:00

Some things in life are worth waiting for, and might even be made better because of it. First kisses, rain (sweet rain!) and new cheeses. This week, we'll have Asher Blue from Sweetgrass Dairy on the cheese plate for the first time ever. Made from raw cow milk, the dense, creamy paste is crumbly with an earthy, salty flavor.

Another thing we've been waiting for is our upcoming tasting with Saint Arnold taking place next Wednesday, August 31. The last one we had was in the winter, on what was maybe the coldest day of the year. This will pretty much be the opposite of that. Mitchell Whitley from the Mozzarella Company and Brock Wagner of Saint Arnold will drop some knowledge bombs on us as we sip cold beer and nosh on cheese. You can buy tickets here.

In the meantime, you'll be able to stock up on San Andreas, a California cheese modeled after Pecorino, Pure Luck chevre and CKC Farm's luxuriously creamy Baby Blue at the warehouse this weekend. Here's to no more drought!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Riesling Bath Edition

2011-08-18T13:56:00.007-06:00

You could call what happens to us at the bar every day at 5pm a Riesling bath and we have a valid reason for this. It is very hot outside.

One of our featured cheeses this week also enjoys a good wine bath (honestly, who wouldn't?). It's the Pierce Pt. from Cowgirl Creamery. It's made in California using organic whole Jersey milk from John Taverna's Chileno Valley Dairy. Then, the cheese is spritzed with organic white wine and coated in dried coastal herbs. This summer's mixture includes local field flowers, calendula, chamomile and Thai basil. Pierce Pt. is delicious: as the Cowgirls describe it, the cheese is "semi-firm yet creamy, complex yet never overpowering." Just like we like our men (that joke had to be made at some point).

We'll also have Green's Creek Gruyere, more Del Cielo from Pure Luck Dairy and the show-stopping blue, Tilston Point from Hook's Cheese.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Cheese Meds

2011-08-04T09:40:00.005-06:00

Earlier this week, I was sitting in my bedroom when one of those giant Houston tree roaches scuttled across the wall. I screamed, naturally, and leapt up to find my cat.

"Chairman Meow!" I cried, "Eat the roach!" I scooped her from the bed, jumped off it and my left foot landed with a crack. Now I have a contusion.

Anyways, I was pretty much immobile the rest of the night and the only thing that made me not feel crushing despondence over the state of my life was the round of Pure Luck Dairy's Del Cielo in my fridge and some downy, leftover Slow Dough cranberry walnut bread from the Saturday warehouse tasting. I ate all of it. True story.

The cheese is a creamy, Camembert-style and it's just now reaching the perfect softness. Even though it's delicate and light (nice for summer), it's still super flavorful. So thank you, Amelia Sweethardt, for curing my depression, if not my foot, with your cheese.

Goats produce a lot of milk in August, so we will have a full stock of Del Cielo for the tastings this weekend. We'll also have Mt. Tam, the buttery triple cream from Cowgirl Creamery in California and the coffee and lavender rubbed Barely Buzzed. Come say hi and cure what ails you with some delicious dairy.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-07-27T09:43:00.003-06:00

There's nothing wrong with eating cheese as-is, no cracker, standing in the kitchen at 2a.m. (this is something we tell ourselves, okay?) but of course the real fun is in sharing a pretty array of blues, fresh goat rounds and nutty Goudas at a party or experimenting with new cheese-laden recipes.

So thank goodness we have Nicole, aka "The Queso Queen," around the shop. This week we'll have fresh burrata in once again and Nicole made this beautiful video on how to make burrata and tomato salad for her blog entry "What is Burrata?". It's a super easy recipe, with everything fresh and light for summer, so definitely check it out.

This week, we'll also have a full stash of Carmody, the Italian table cheese from Bellwhether Farm, and one of my personal favorites, Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert. Made with milk from a herd of East Fresian ewes, this cheese is buttery, savory and the main reason I even have friends.

While you're visiting, we also highly recommend Redwood Hill's California Crottin, made with 100% goat's milk, which measures up nicely to its French model. With age, it hardens and its flavor intensifies.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-07-20T14:00:00.005-06:00

We're nearing peak season for Texas goat milk and happily find ourselves awash in light, lovely cheeses that are great for summer. Did anyone read "awash in cheese" and think, nacho cheese bath?

Anyways, we just picked up a big, fresh batch of the much-sought-after Pure Luck Ste. Maure, which is inspired by the French cheese of the same name. Amelia's version is a little different, though. Whereas the French version is molded around a straw and gets firmer as it ages, Pure Luck's is straw-free and softens as it ripens. It's best when it is slightly oozy near the rind and still has a firm, chalky center.

If you're still with us after "oozy near the rind," we're also sneaking in a little bit of Italian cheese with black truffles. There isn't much, so if you're interested come by early! Favorites including the Sweetgrass Dairy Green Hill and Reading Raclette will also be available. See you this weekend!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: The Cheese Experiment edition

2011-07-13T14:44:00.003-06:00

From the Cellars of Jasper Hill, comes the "The Conundrum Project." We hope you read that last sentence with movie announcer voice, because that's how we meant it--full of tense anticipation.

The folks at Jasper Hill are sending us some new cheeses they're making for the very first time, some named, many not, and they want our feedback. The first cheese we received to taste test is the Harbison, which you'll have a chance to sample on the plate this week. The bark around the bloomy rind lends a subtle herbal character and holds the delicate cheese in place. It has a creamy, spoonable paste and a nice balance between sweet and woodsy.

Other than the Harbison, we'll also have Marieke Gouda with cumin. If you love the plain version, you have to try this spiced version--pure snacking delight. As for Texas cheeses, we'll have the Veldhuizen Texas Gold Cheddar (typed God Cheddar at first and almost went with it!) and Baby Caprino from CKC Farm, which emulates soft-ripened goat cheeses owner Chrissy Omo found in Italy.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-07-08T09:42:00.005-06:00

As of the summer solstice, the days have begun to get shorter but warehouse hours at the Dairymaids are only getting longer. Doors continue to be open from 10am-6:30pm on Fridays and 10am-4pm on Saturdays.

Now you have plenty of time to come snag some of Pure Luck Dairy's Del Cielo, pictured above. The stark white interior of this creamy, Camemebert-style round quickly ripens to a delectable ooze.

Another great cheese on the plate this week is the Buttermilk Blue Affinee from Roth Kase in Wisconsin. It's a rindless blue aged for over six

months to enhance its complexity and intensity. Creamy yet crumbly, it's versatile: great in a salad, great on the cheese board.

In addition, we'll also have Bellwether Pepato and Green's Creek Gruyere. We've regularly got macarons from Maisson Burdisso now, too, because this is a cheese world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a little dessert as well.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting (July 4 Edition)

2011-06-29T16:55:00.006-06:00

Patriotism can manifest itself in many forms. The man pictured above chose to show his love for his country through ancestral dress. Here at the Dairymaids, all of our cheeses are made domestically at small dairies. Come celebrate your July 4th weekend the Dairymaid way--with all-American snacks!

This weekend we have a few special items: the SoCal burrata is back and in its honor, we'll also have Slow Dough pizza crusts for the first time ever. Maison Burdisso macarons will be in stock for another weekend (if French fries can be American, we humbly suggest these colorful treats get added to the national roster).

Cheeses include Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, the product of a partnership between Cabot Creamery and Jasper Hill Cellars. The muslin-wrapped cheddar wheels are made by Cabot, then aged in Jasper Hill's special cellars. The special attention during aging and high quality milk are evident in the smooth, yet complex flavors.

Our blue this week is the Caveman Blue, "from the domain of the Caveman," also known as the caves at Rogue Creamery. This delicious naturally-rinded, aged blue is deep yellow in color with the classic blue bite balanced by a smooth, vanilla-like flavor.

Extended hours continue--Friday 10am to 6:30pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting (New A.C. Edition!)

2011-06-22T14:45:00.003-06:00

Bring it on, Houston summer! The Dairymaids' warehouse has just been installed with three new air conditioning units and it is practically sweater, mitten and snowball weather in here. We're even thinking of extending warehouse hours from now on and to start off the experiment, this Friday you can find the doors open from 10am to 6:30pm and from 10am to 4pm on Saturday.

Behind said doors, not only will you experience a blessed, artificial chill, but also some fantastic cheeses. We'll have Bosque Blue, Carmody and Barely Buzzed plus a few you might not see on the plate as often.

From Springbrook Farm in Vermont, the Tarentaise is styled after a Swiss or French Alpine cheese such as Gruyere or Comte. This cheese has a lovely lemon-yellow color--thanks to grass-feeding--a smooth texture, and nutty flavor. We'll also be featuring Mont St. Francis, a special treat from Capriole Dairy. It's a rare, washed-rind goat cheese and earthy with a slight funk.

As always, we'll have classic favorites including Pure Luck chevre, Texas Gold Cheddar and fresh mozzarella available on standby. All you need to do is ask for it.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-06-15T14:50:00.004-06:00

As you can tell from this photo of the extremely strong Stuart Veldhuizen of Veldhuizen Cheese, dairy dads are the best. In their honor, we're featuring cheeses made by some amazing fathers--Pat at Beehive Cheese, Ben at Sand Creek and Stuart, who has 7(!) kids.

We can't think of a more dad (or grill) -friendly cheese than the Veldhuizen Redneck Cheddar. Stuart took his Texas Gold Cheddar and added Texas beer, St. Arnold's to be exact. The result is a subtle yeasty flavor that balances the cheddar tang. A drier-style of cheddar, it is rich in yellow color thanks to all the fresh green grasses the cows eat.

The folks at Beehive once again prove they're great at combining flavors (see: Barely Buzzed) with their Smoked Habanero Cheddar. This cheese makes you think you are sitting by a campfire. Lightly spiced with peppers, it has a slow-to-surface sweet-hot flavor.

At Sand Creek, Ben Godfrey lures us to the fridge late at night with his raw milk Gouda. Made from the Grade A Jersey milk of his small herd, the Gouda is buttery and mild with just enough tang to keep it interesting.

We'll also have fresh California burrata and Pure Luck chevre on the tasting plate, so please come by. We'll have gift boxes available for the big day and, as usual, if you're looking for something different, just ask!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-06-08T14:20:00.003-06:00

Sometimes, on a hot summer day, we long to be cold smoked like a plump, 4 oz. chevre log. Instead, we must settle for eating one. This week at the warehouse we have a fresh shipment of Westfield Farm's Hickory Smoked Capri. This cheese was awarded first place in its category for the past four American Cheese Society annual judgments and is great as a creamy cooking ingredient.

For the hickory-averse (we hear this is a genetic condition much like hating cilantro and being short), we have a line-up of other Diarymaid all-stars. We're bringing back Reading Raclette, the Vermont version of the famous Swiss cheese that's tasty both as a snacking cheese and melted. You can also sample the latest batch of Vintage Granbury Gold from Matt and David Eagle, differentiated from Granbury Gold by a firmer texture and bolder flavor.

All that and more this weekend. Hope to see you!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-06-03T09:07:00.006-06:00

The one consolation of this June heat? This year's first batch of Pure Luck Dairy Del Cielo. It's not often in stock, but when it is this Camembert-style goat cheese round always impresses with its creaminess. This current batch is still young and only starting to cream around the edges but still delicious and amazing with the peaches that are in season right now.

We'll be offering that today at the warehouse alongside a fresh batch of burrata, San Andreas, a sheep milk cheese modeled after Pecorino, and Cabot Clothbound Cheddar.

Our blue cheese this weekend is Tilston Point. A delicious washed rind blue from Hook's Cheese Company in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Tony and Julie Hook started making cheese in the 70s. After mastering Colby and Cheddar, they turned their attention to blues in the late 90's. With its washed rind, the Tilston has an earthy, funky flavor that makes a great counterpoint to the sharp fruity flavor.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-05-26T08:00:00.003-06:00

There are only a few things better than a three day weekend and those are free money and shoulder rubs from Brad Pitt. Of those options, Memorial Day is probably the most realistic thing we've got going for us so we're pulling out all the stops this week.

We've selected a variety of cheeses that we think would be good for picnics or as burger building material. Bosque burgers, anyone?

As for picnic cheeses, it doesn't get better than Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco. The dairy's signature cheese is as buttery as it is elegant and a great sharing cheese since it's such a crowd pleaser.

For your sandwich needs, we're featuring two Texas blue cheeses: Pure Luck Dairy's Hopelessly Blue and the Veldhuizen's Bosque Blue. The Hopelessly is the milder of the two, but both would be fantastic with some caramelized onions on a juicy beef patty. We'll also have Paragon, a sharp, cheddar reminiscent cheese, and Scamorza, which are both delectable on a burger.

Hope to see you this week! As always, the warehouse doors will be open Friday 3pm-6:30pm and Saturday 10am-2pm.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-05-19T18:52:00.003-06:00

All our favorite television shows are winding down for the summer (farewell, Glee!) and the world is in turmoil. We need some cheese. Join us?

While we usually have the Pure Luck chevre on hand, this week we're featuring the dairy's version of St. Maure on the cheese plate. The curd is formed into a cylinder, then coated with ash and a white bloomy mold. Mild at the center but with a distinctive tang, St. Maure intensifies as it ages.

Funny story behind SarVecchio Parmesan: It was born when a group of laid-off Kraft cheesemakers decided to start a cheesemaking co-op in Wisconsin. The best domestic parmesan we've tasted, it is carefully aged until it reaches the right crumbly firmness and delicious nuanced flavor. The co-op has since been bought by a larger company, but the cheese quality remains.

You can also expect the Veldhuizen's Redneck Cheddar, a sheep milk blue and a few others. Hope to see you this weekend!

Speak Cheesy #2: Grilled Cheese at Grand Prize

2011-05-17T14:51:00.004-06:00

Welcome to the Speak Cheesy! We plan on hosting a different cheese-related event every month and would love for you to join our little club. Last month we snacked on Raclette at 13 Celsius. This month--next Wednesday, in fact--we're hitting Grand Prize Bar in the Museum District to make grilled cheese sandwiches.

Choose between Granbury Gold with sliced tomatoes and basil or a triple cream Brie with blueberry sage jam, on challah or Harvest bread. Sandwiches are $6 a piece, the bartenders make some killer specialty cocktails (and open a cold beer with similar ease) and we'll be set up outside so everyone can mingle.

The details, in short:

Wednesday, May 25 8pm-10pm

1010 Banks St.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-05-11T10:37:00.004-06:00

You, too, could be enjoying this melted Swiss classic in your own home! Pictured left, Elizabeth is scraping some toasted Reading Raclette onto bread for an afternoon snack. We used this Vermont cheese at our recent Raclette event, and we'll be featuring it again this weekend at the warehouse. The last time we had it on our cheese plate, people seemed to really enjoy it not-melted but we'll be sure to talk toasting+serving methods with you if you're interested!

Bellwether Pepato, an Italian-style sheep milk cheese studded with peppercorns, will also make an appearance and it's delicious shaved over salad or pasta. We'll also have extra-rich, triple-cream Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery on hand and suggest you BYOSW (Bring Your Own Sparkling Wine) because that makes the cheese divine.

Speaking of wine, now that it's approaching summer we've had a lot more people come by on Fridays for our makeshift happy hour. Feel free to bring lawn chairs, booze and snacks of your own to go with your cheese and spend some time with us in the evening!

Blue Heron Farm French Country Lunch

2011-05-09T08:20:00.009-06:00

Warning: this post might induce cute overload. We celebrated May Day with Blue Heron, the goat dairy where we get our cajeta, by joining up for an outdoor lunch at their farm in Waller, Texas. Revival Market provided a delicious array of cured meats and pate and Slow Dough Bread Co. sent the baked goods. It was a beautiful afternoon and we got to cuddle a lot of baby goats. Check out some pictures below and sign up for our newsletter to hear about all our upcoming events!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-05-04T01:45:00.007-06:00

You know what's great for Mother's Day? Eating cheese in a bubble bath. What? We'd do it. This week we have cheeses both indulgent and pretty, perfect for gift giving.

You may remember the Sweetgrass Dairy Lumiere, a soft-ripened goat's milk cheese with French grapevine ash, from when we last had it around Valentine's Day. This creamy cheese is ideally paired with sparkling wine. It is a gorgeous dusted gray and white--not to mention it's heart-shaped.

The Capricious from Achadinha is another aged goat cheese and was named one of Saveur's 50 favorite cheeses from the U.S. back in 2005. We'll also be offering cut-to-order slices of Barely Buzzed rubbed with ground coffee and French lavender, which means you'll conveniently have flowers and cheese covered in one go. Burrata and Pure Luck Chevre are also in the house, so see you this Friday and Saturday!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-04-28T22:35:00.004-06:00

When the Veldhuizens first sent us the new cheese pictured on the left, Stuart gave us no clue as to what type of cheese it might be so we just had to plug in and taste it. Stuart likes to experiment from time to time and we're lucky he does because his curious nature leads to some delicious and unique product.

The mystery cheese, we're calling it Stuart's Special for now, will be on our tasting plate at the warehouse this week but we won't ruin the surprise for you by describing it. Come by Friday or Saturday to try it firsthand.

We'll also have a special batch of Marieke Gouda with cumin seeds in it and San Andreas, a sheep milk cheese modeled after Pecorino from Bellwether Farms.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-04-20T10:51:00.003-06:00

Photo by Flickr user jbelluch

We've long stopped counting on the Easter bunny to bring us treats so in order to celebrate the upcoming weekend, we're featuring some special cheeses to treat ourselves.

First on the plate will be Pure Luck Dairy's June's Joy, which is a great breakfast cheese thanks to the mix of sweet honey and smokey pepper flavoring the creamy goat cheese. We'll also have Shaker Blue from Old Chatham, a 100% sheep milk cheese in the Roquefort style, luscious with plenty of blue veining. And to crown the selection is a truly exceptional cheese, the elegant Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery in California. This buttery, triple-cream round is made with organic milk and has a mellow, earthy taste reminiscent of white mushrooms. If you've never tried this cheese, well, you simply haven't lived.

We'll be open the usual hours at the warehouse (Friday 3pm-6:30pm and Saturday 10am-2pm) so please come spend some time with us. If you decide to play the big bunny to someone else, we'll have Dairymaids gift boxes available and are more than happy to package the cheese for you.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-04-07T09:37:00.004-06:00

All signs are pointing to spring (and quickly to summer): the azaleas have bloomed, birds are chirping and the Houston Dairymaids are plating seasonally appropriate cheeses.

If you're already a fan of the Marieke Gouda, come try our newest batch that's been aged 18-24 months (that's twice as long as usual), giving it an extra rich caramel flavor. A new release from Sweet Grass, the Greystone, will also be on the tasting plate and it's similar to the Camembert-style Green Hill but made with a blend of goat and cow milk. We're also restocked on Pure Luck chevre and burrata so drop by the warehouse this Friday or Saturday!

Get 'Em While You Can: Fresh Burrata

2011-03-31T09:26:00.003-06:00

We're super excited to announce that at this week's warehouse tastings we'll have a limited and exceptional batch of fresh burrata available--and when we say exceptional, we really mean it. In the words of our friend and Twitter follower @Que_Linda, "I think it's made from baby dreams and unicorn shavings."

Burrata is a relative of mozzarella. In fact, it's basically mozzarella stuffed with mozzarella--the outer skin is the same pasta filata curd, and the filling is a rough mix of unfinished curd and heavy cream. The producer, La Gioia from California, will make a batch for us on Thursday and it will arrive fresh on Friday. Burrata is very perishable. It lasts about five days, but once you try it we don't imagine you'll have any trouble eating it in time.

We got our hands on some samples last week and it would be no exaggeration to say that all the Dairymaids went nuts for it. The play of textures, the salt content, its milky white--all of it was absolutely perfect. So please come by during our normal hours on Friday and Saturday and try it for yourself.

Grilled Cheese Updates from the City Hall Farmers Market

2011-03-29T20:48:00.002-06:00

There are some very easy ways to upgrade your lunchtime sandwich. Add a fancy condiment. Apply some toasted and unusual bread. Or come to the City Hall Farmers Market on Wednesdays and let us make you a grilled cheese.

We've been stationed there for a few weeks now and we wanted to give you an update on how things are going. Pete and Charlotte have been grilling them up to order (they're pros) and although we only have one cheese available each week, we've been swapping them out frequently for variety.

In the past, we've used super smooth Granbury Gold and Sand Creek Gouda and Brick. Back at the warehouse, we gave brie a test drive and this week we'll be using Veldhuizen Green's Creek Gruyere. As always, you have a choice between Slow Dough Harvest or challah and the results are melty and warm like a loving embrace.

Come by for a sandwich and let us know if you have any cheese or condiment requests! We love to hear feedback.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-03-23T08:46:00.004-06:00

Sometimes we get this urge to get dolled up in our nicest clothes but rarely do we have an excuse. So in honor of those unworn ball gowns that we don't actually own, we have some very dressed-up cheeses this Friday and Saturday.

The Cowgirl Creamery's spring cheese, St. Pat, is made exclusively with organic Jersey cow's milk from a single California dairy then wrapped in stinging nettles, which have been frozen to remove the sting. The nettles give the mild, buttery cheese a smoky, artichoke-like flavor.

We'll also be featuring Seahive, the latest from the Beehive Cheese Co., which also produces the Barely Buzzed. The Seahive is a cheddar rubbed with Utah wildflower honey and Redmond RealSalt. The colorful, mineral-rich salt is from an ancient sea bed near Redmond, Utah.

We'll also have Green's Creek Gruyere, Point Reyes Blue and a few more so we hope to see you this weekend!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-03-17T13:15:00.005-06:00

(Photo by Flickr user kre8tiv)

If you grew up a Swiss youth, you very likely spend wintry evenings at home melting Raclette over potatoes with a side of cornichons. If you grew up a hamburger-eating American youth, now is your chance to finally try this culinary treat for yourself. At this week's warehouse tastings, we have a fresh batch of Reading Raclette from Spring Brook Farm in Vermont.

We can tell you all about how to melt and scrape this gooey cheese on your home Raclette set, but we enjoy the simultaneous sweet, creamy and tart, salty notes of this cheese in solid form too.

This Friday and Saturday we'll also be fully stocked on Paragon Reserve and Smokey Blue, a spectacular raw milk cheese lightly smoked over Oregon hazelnut shells.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-03-09T15:00:00.002-06:00

In honor of the fantastic spring weather, we have some delicious snacking cheeses perfect with fresh bread and a picnic blanket at the warehouse tastings this week.

We're still fully stocked on the Pure Luck Dairy chevre, including the Anaheim chile, cracked black pepper and mixed herb varieties. The Sweetgrass Dairy Green Hill, a brie-style cheese, is absolutely heavenly spread on baguette and a favorite among lovers of milder cheese with its rich and buttery paste.

This week we also see the return of the Bellwether Pepato, an Italian-style, raw sheep milk cheese sprinkled with peppercorns (Elizabeth swears it gives off a faint blueberry taste), and another Dairymaid favorite--the pungent Red Hawk washed rind (Lindsey's only true love).

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-03-02T12:11:00.011-06:00

Spring is a season of plenty and this week we're back to fully stocked on some of your favorite items. This Friday and Saturday we'll have our first Pure Luck chevre of the season now that some of the mama goats have had their kids--see above, snuggling with the dairy cat.

We also got a special shipment of Lucky Layla butter so your bread will be dry no more and your egg sandwiches will return to full decadence. Come by the warehouse for that and a tasting of the meltingly smooth and buttery Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert, made from a blend of milk from the Old Chatham Shepherding Company's herd of East Fresian ewes and a neighboring farm's hormone-free cows milk. A wedge of this award-winning cheese, a baguette and some sparkling wine and you've got yourself a picnic!

Swiss Brown Cow's Milk Makes for Great Eagle Mountain Cheese

2011-02-25T10:30:00.008-06:00

This week, Scott met Dave from Eagle Mountain Cheese to pick up the latest batch of Granbury Gold, Vintage Granbury and Birdville Reserve. These cheeses are extra-creamy due in large part to the superior milk of Swiss Brown cows and are born from a partnership between Mike Moyers, the cow whisperer, and cheesemaker Dave Eagle. Mike describes Swiss Brown cows as his "first love," gentle giants that nuzzle him like lap dogs when he talks.

Not only are Brown Swiss docile and elegant, they produce excellent milk. The Swiss have long known this and for generations they've been the Swiss breed of choice for cheesemaking. We don't see them as often in the U.S., and especially not in Texas, but Mike is trying to change that. Once the milk arrives at Dave's cheesemaking facility, he and his son turn it into smooth, gouda-style Granbury Gold which hardens and richly develops into Vintage Granbury Gold. The trappist-style Birdville Reserve is a semi-firm washed rind that tastes delicious with apples.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-02-25T10:04:00.007-06:00

Good news for the Stilton fans out there (for those of you who self-identify especially)--this weekend at the warehouse we are featuring the lovely Tilston Point (pictured above) from Hook's Cheese Company in Wisconsin. With its washed rind, this cow's milk blue has an earthy funky flavor which makes a great counterpoint to the sharp, fruity blue flavor.

We've also got the lovely Lumiere from Sweetgrass Dairy in Georgia, a creamy, layered ash goat cheese that just so happens to be in the shape of a heart. Rich and lemony, it goes beautifully with sparkling wine.

Come try these cheeses and more (including Rodeo-winner Green's Creek Gruyere!) today at the warehouse, 2201 Airline and tomorrow from 10am-2pm.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-02-18T10:08:00.007-06:00

This weekend our cheese plate has a lot of interesting Californian selections. Come in to try the cows-milk Matos St. Jorge, named after a Portuguese island where the cheesemaker's family has been making cheese for five generations. As it ages, Matos becomes delightfully brash, with a texture similar to an aged Manchego.

We'll also be sampling Bellwether Pepato, an Italian-style raw sheep's milk cheese studded with black peppercorns from Sonoma County, and Point Reyes Blue. The four Giacomini daughters credit the Californian climate and the salty coastal air for the great flavor of this cheese, which is rindless and crumbly despite a creamy mouthfeel.

From Wisconsin, we also have the season's last batch of gooey, wonderful Rush Creek!

As always, you can find these cheeses at the warehouse, 2201 Airline, today from 3pm-6:30pm and tomorrow from 10am-2pm.

Cheddar Gougères Recipe

2011-02-14T14:12:00.004-06:00

It's often the case that cheese ends up in our bellies before we've had a chance to cook anything with it (RIP that mozzarella we bought for lasagna) but of course we love finding and sharing good recipes. While thumbing through a Food & Wine spread on predicted food trends of 2011, we stumbled upon a mention of artisan cheese and the very Cabot Clothbound Cheddar we featured at our warehouse tasting two weeks ago. Made by Cabot Creamery and aged at the Cellars of Jasper Hill, this English-style cheddar won Best of Class at the 2010 World Championship Cheese Contest.

There was also a recipe for some extremely cheesy, deeply golden biscuit puffs that sounded, in a word, awesome. Head to the Food & Wine website for the recipe and let us know how they turn out!

Grilled Cheese at the City Hall Farmers Market

2011-02-11T14:20:00.003-06:00

Just in time for the beautiful spring weather this week, we're officially slated to open our grilled cheese booth at the City Hall Farmers Market on Wednesday. We've been testing out tons of ingredients and combinations like brie with blueberry chutney and cheddar with tomato pepper jam but for now we've settled on good old-fashioned Sand Creek Brick on your choice of either seeded Harvest bread or challah, both from Slow Dough.

Please come by and see us for lunch on Wednesday when the market is open from 11am-2pm. Melty cheese, toasted bread, can't lose.

2011-02-07T12:55:00.012-06:00

Yep, we're going to go ahead and say it. Valentine's Day is coming up. You know already! Everyone has been reminding you that you need to pick up the flowers and singing balloon but we have a different suggestion and you can probably guess what it is.

For this week's warehouse tastings, we'll have a seasonally appropriate selection of cheeses that we think are perfectly romantic, even if only between you and your late night snack. We're rolling out some Chocolate Capri, five ounces of semi-sweet chocolate goat cheese, that would be dreamy with strawberries.

We'll also be featuring Old Chatham Sheepherding Co. brie hearts and the eternal fan favorite from Beehive Cheese Co., Barely Buzzed. That cheese gets hand-rubbed with a Turkish grind of coffee and lavender buds, the effect of which is pretty surprising. There will be more cheeses than that and gift boxes so come by and see us! (As always, Fridays 3pm-6:30pm and Saturdays 10am-2pm at 2201 Airline.)

Beer and Cheese Tasting at St. Arnold's

2011-02-05T11:35:00.006-06:00

Thanks to everyone who braved the tsnowami scare for our beer and cheese pairing event at the St. Arnold Brewery on Thursday. We didn't feel a bit of cold hunkered down with all the food and drink.

Brock, the Master of Ceremonies and founder of St. Arnold's, started off the evening with the bold proclamation that beer is better than wine when it comes to cheese pairings and judging from the enthusiastic applause, everyone seemed to agree. We even had Amelia from Pure Luck Dairy, the source for the delicious chevre and Hopelessly Bleu featured at the tasting, come by to talk about her cheese. You can check out the rest of the event pictures on Facebook and if you missed out this time around, keep an eye out here or on Twitter for the next one. We'd love to see you.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-01-28T10:05:00.007-06:00

Here's what we've got on our cheese plate this weekend: Two types of chevre from our adorable friend Amelia Sweethardt from Pure Luck Dairy (that's her on the left and sister Gitana on the right.) Her herd of Nubian and Alpine goats make the creamiest chevre and the June's Joy, named after Amelia's baby, is made with honey, smoked black pepper and thyme mixed throughout for an extra-special spread we love on pita chips.

We've also got samples of the Sand Creek Caerphilly, a buttery and mild raw milk cheese from Cameron, Texas modeled after the English cheese of the same name. It's the cheese we'll be using on grilled sandwiches today, all in the name of finding the perfect recipe for our stand which--drumroll, please--will be opening at the City Hall farmers market on February 9!

Just a heads up that there are about 20 tickets left to the February 3 cheese and beer tasting we're throwing at St. Arnold's so get them while you can! (Amelia will be there so you can say hi.) See you soon.

A Visit to Veldhuizen Family Farm and Eagle Mountain

2011-01-26T12:29:00.013-06:00

Last Monday Elizabeth and Scott made the five-hour drive to Veldhuizen Family Farm in Dublin, TX and even farther up north to Eagle Mountain Farmhouse in Granbury. They were lucky enough to stop in while Stuart Veldhuizen was heating and stirring the curds for cheddar in his 300 gallon vat and he was happy to say that they were getting much more yield (about 1 lb of cheese per gallon) now that they have more Jersey cows in his grazing herd.

The store is open six days a week and when they arrived several people were there buying gallons of raw milk. There's also a viewing window where visitors can watching the cheese-making, which happens four or five days a week, and Elizabeth and Scott even got to see the inside of the aging cave built into a hill on the way into the farm.

Here's a picture of Scott inside the cave with all the cheeses.

Up in Granbury at Eagle Mountain, right next to the Brazos River, Elizabeth and Scott got to see their natural rinded Granbury Gold aging. It's made with milk from Sandy Creek farm in Bridgeport, TX where they have purebred and pasture grazed Brown Swiss cows. Matt Eagle was just sanitizing the equipment post-cheesemaking, which he does with his father David Eagle. Here's a final shot of the aging cave.

Our Hazelnuts Hit the Big Time

2011-01-23T14:08:00.009-06:00

Our hazelnut providers, Barb and Fritz Foulke of Willamette Valley in Oregon, were recently featured in the New York Times magazine Field Report. The article offers a behind the scenes look at all the work that goes into harvesting hazelnuts. Despite the beauty of the moss-draped trees, it's really not easy: "Throughout the year, Barb shells 5,000 pounds on Monday, roasts them on Wednesday and ships them on Friday, so they’re never more than four days out of shell." Eat on!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-01-21T09:59:00.004-06:00

Not to be cheesy, but it's been an exciting week in dairy. Thursday was National Cheese Day (we hope you celebrated) and we're featuring some special, limited availability cheese this week at the warehouse.

For fans of the Pure Luck Dairy chevre, we got another shipment and it will be our last until the spring when the goats have their babies so stock up while you can!

We also received eight wheels of the coveted Rush Creek Reserve, a French-style cheese with a custardy inside made by Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville, WI. Wheels have been very hard to come by and there is only one more batch to be released before the season is over. When we asked a friend if she wanted a wheel she said, “Yes, yes, yes! I can have a party around that cheese.” It’s that good.

As always, we'll be in the warehouse (2201 Airline) from 3pm-6:30pm today and 10am-2pm tomorrow.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

2011-01-13T14:00:00.014-06:00

Each Friday and Saturday we throw a little cheese tasting at our warehouse and invite you to drop by for a beer and to sample five or six cheeses (along with delicious Slow Dough breads and mountains of nuts, honey, crackers and olive oil). Here's a sneak peek at a few of the cheeses we're showcasing this week:

Brazos Valley Brie--This raw milk cheese from Waco is both mild and creamy. It's a crowd-pleaser and great to bring to dinner parties.

Caraway Cheddar--Pictured to the left, this sharp cheddar from Dublin, Texas is sprinkled with caraway seeds. The flavor is similar to rye bread (but well, cheesy) and would be amazing melted over roast beef.

Little Boy Blue--Sheep's milk cheese is hard to find and this one comes all the way from Wisconsin. A rindless blue, it has a sharp, sheep-y flavor with a smooth, yet crumbly texture.

We'd love to see you drop by the warehouse (2201 Airline) Friday 3pm-6:30pm or Saturday 10am-2pm to taste these cheeses and several more. If you can't make it tomorrow, tastings take place every week and the cheeses are always changing.

Convergence @ 13

2010-10-14T15:35:00.008-06:00

Coming up next week!

Cheese from the Houston Dairymaids, wines from 13 Celsius and food from Chef Seth Siegel-Gardner will converge on Wed. Oct. 2oth.

*5 cheese-inspired tastes prepared by Seth Siegel-Gardner
*5 cheeses selected by the Houston Dairymaids
*5 wines paired by 13 Celsius

If you didn't make the Just 8 Project or the 10-10-10 dinner, don't miss this chance to taste Seth's amazing creations.

Two Seatings:
Early 7-9 p.m.
Late 10-Midnight

$70, plus tax (gratuity not included)

Purchase Tickets Here: convergenceat13.blogspot.com

Hurry, space is limited!

Sand Creek Farm Cheese Tasting Today

2010-05-14T11:27:00.010-06:00

Ben and Alysha Godfrey once led urban lives. Their move to the country was prompted in part by their mutual love of horses. In fact, driving up to their farm today you are as likely to see a horse or pony as a cow. You may also see a child – they have five young girls.

Inspired by the agricultural activism of farmers such as Joel Salatin, Ben Godfrey recently gave up his day job to focus on farming full time. Instead of “cheating” with grain, which stretches milk production, he feeds his small herd of Jersey cows exclusively on grass. His cows “harvest” a delicious variety of clover, oats, Bermuda and rye.

With this excellent diet, the cows produce clean, rich Grade A milk. Ben uses the milk raw to make his favorite cheese, Gouda. Aged for over three to four months, Sand Creek Gouda has become one of our favorites too.

Come by today and try Ben’s Farmhouse, Gouda and Colby.
2201 Airline, 3 to 6:30 p.m.

Sweet Grass Dairy Tasting Today at Dairymaid Warehouse!

2010-04-02T11:08:00.010-06:00

Lately we've been opening our warehouse in the Heights on Friday afternoons for those of you who want to try and buy cheese before the weekend. On hand we have excellent baguettes from Slow Dough bakery and other foodie treats.

Come by today to taste cheeses from Sweet Grass Dairy in Georgia. Like all good cheesemakers, the Wehners believe great cheese comes from fresh grass and happy cows. Escapees from the traditional dairy industry, in 1993 Desiree and Al decided to buy a farm in southern Georgia and practice New Zealand's rotational grazing methods. By 2000, with a healthy herd of Jerseys, they started making cheese in earnest.

They have now expanded to two farms: Sweet Grass, which focuses on goats, and Green Hill, which handles the cows. With the help of their daughter and son-in-law, their cheese selection continues to increase and improve, earning them repeated recognition from the American Cheese Society.

We love their delicate, bloomy-rinded Green Hill. The size of a Camembert, it has a buttery, straw-colored paste that tastes of fresh cream.

We also have two of their raw milk cheeses: the understated and elegant Thomasville Tomme and the deliciously brash Asher Blue. We are very excited to try a new arrival made from goat's milk, the precious heart-shaped Lumiere.

Join us!

Friday, April 2 (3-6:30)

2201 Airline Drive (At Nadine, Next to Tampico Seafood)

Check us out on Facebook and Twitter

2010-03-05T18:35:00.005-06:00

Keep up with the latest Dairymaid news & musings by joining us on Facebook snd Twitter!

The Woodlands Farmer's Market

2009-10-08T11:53:00.003-06:00

Starting this Saturday October 10th you can find us at the Woodlands Farmer's Market located in Grogan Mills Center, 8am-12.

This is a seasonal market ending on December 12th.
So, come by and check it out.

And to the T'afia followers, don't worry we will still be at the Midtown Farmer's Market.

June's Promise

2009-09-18T18:56:00.003-06:00

Amelia has done it again! She has made yet another amazing cheese.

June's Promise, named after her 1 yr old son June.

It will be making its debut at tomorrow's Midtown Farmer's Market. Come by and try it!

We think it's great.

Facebook?

2009-08-27T00:08:00.002-06:00

Houston Dairymaids now has a fan page on Facebook!
So, become a fan.

Houston Dairymaids on Facebook

ACS 2009 - Cheese in the Heart of Texas

2009-08-09T20:51:00.030-06:00

The ACS (American Cheese Society) conference in Austin was a great opportunity to show off our state and its excellent cheese. I went early last week to participate in the competition judging.

Some 1300 American dairy products (not just cheese, but also butter, yogurt, and cultured cream) were shipped to Austin for careful critique. Volunteers organized the entrants, making sure they were at the proper tasting temperature when they reached the judges.

Half of the 28 judges were designated "technical" judges. These were dairy and cheese experts and scientists. They were each paired with an "aesthetic" judge, who was closer to the consumer side of the cheese world.

("Aesthetic" judge Edouard Damez of Central Market with "technical" partner, Kate Arding of Culture Magazine.)

I was, of course, on the aesthetic side, and had the "feel good" roll of awarding points for the good qualities of each cheese. My technical partner, Dr. Steve Zeng, is a goat and goat cheese expert from Oklahoma. His job was to look for faults and deduct points accordingly.

(Dr. Steve Zeng and me, in our lab coats.)

Each team analyzed the aroma, flavor, texture, and appearance of about 45 cheeses per day. Despite the heavy workload, everyone was very conscientious in their judging, even with the less-than-desirable categories.
(Stephen Corradini of Whole Foods Market bravely faces a block cheddar category.)

The amazingly efficient organizers tallied the scores on the second day and ranked the winners. We then tasted all 88 first places and cast our votes for "Best in Show."

(First place winners lined up for the final round of tasting.)

Even in this elite group, there were clear standouts. The winner?

Rogue River Blue from Oregon.
A raw milk beauty wrapped in grape leaves.

If you can find it, try it!

Cheese capsule lost in space

2009-07-28T22:24:00.001-06:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/8171619.stm

Amanda's first visit to the Veldhuizen Family Farm and Sand Creek Farm.

2009-06-05T11:15:00.002-06:00

Friday, May 22nd at 6am, Tod and I began our journey to the Veldhuizen Family Farm and Sand Creek Farm. A few noteworthy stops were made along the way. In Hico, we visited the Billy the Kid Museum.

Dr Pepper Museum in Dublin. I bought a harmonica at a super cute boutique in Hico, and practiced it on the long drive.

Perfect day.

Finally we arrived at the Veldhuizen Family Farm around noon.

Stuart, Connie, and their son Jesse met us in the cheese shop, I saw the “blue room” where one of my favorites, Bosque Blue, is made. Once we loaded the van with Bosque Blue, Stuart drove Tod and I around their 180-acre farm.

He told us about the cows and their diets. Each cow eats 50 lbs of dry matter a day, which is about 150 lbs of grass. After driving around checking on the cows we headed over to the cave and packed the van with Redneck Cheddar, Greens Creek Gruyere, Stuart’s Special, Texas Gold Cheddar, and Caraway Cheddar.

Meet the Houston Dairymaids mascot, armadillo Sheriff Johnny Law.

Next stop Sand Creek Farm in Cameron.

Sand Creek Farm’s primary product is their grassfed/grain-free raw milk. With this milk Ben makes delicious Gouda.

Ben and I.

Back to Houston after a fun, informative day!

Roadtripping with the Dairymaids

2009-04-19T21:42:00.010-06:00

I’ve been waiting for this for months! My first road trip with the Houston Dairymaids. Horrible weather. Very dark and rainy. I was watching for tornadoes on the horizon. Lots of “oreo” cows and bluebonnets.

First Stop: Texas Cheese House in Lorena. A retired man by the name of Scott Simon embarked on this cheese venture a little over a year ago to alleviate boredom. He makes a variety of cheeses, mostly flavored, depending on “what he feels like making that day.” He uses Nesco ovens to make the cheese! Then they’re cryovac-ed and stored in cheese-erators.

He also sells local cheeses including cheeses from The Mozzarella Company and The Veldhuizen Family Farm. Simon says he makes the best grilled cheese- you choose the bread and the cheese.

Next stop, Brazos Valley Cheese House located in the homesteading community of Brazos de Dios near Waco. We were welcomed into the cheese room by Mark, Sharon, and Rebeccah. There we sampled smoked gouda, havarti, jack, muenster, cheddar, blue, and brie. Although I’ve been on a blue kick recently, the havarti and cheddar were my favorites. This blue was young, and just wasn’t as good as the riper BV blue we’ve been selling at the markets. All of the Brazos Valley cheeses have one thing in common- amazing creaminess.

We were running behind due to the weather, so sadly I had the shortened version of the tour. The land was beautiful. We visited the Gristmill and were greeted by a super friendly teenage boy who eagerly showed us the workings of the gristmill. The meaning of the phrase “nose to the grindstone” was explained to us- watching closely as the grains are ground between the grindstone and the steel- if the grindstone touches the steel you will smell the spark. He also explained “rule of thumb”- rubbing flour between your finger and thumb to check for texture.

After our lesson in the production of flour Lindsey, Mark, and I had lunch at the Homestead Heritage Restaurant. We all had burgers, fries, and ice cream. The burgers are made of grass-fed beef raised on the land and topped with Brazos Valley cheese on a homemade bun made of their freshly ground flour. (Lindsey’s first burger in 2 years!) The fries were homegrown homemade sweet potato fries with sorghum syrup. So good!

Before leaving we visited The Barn, a shop that sells handcrafted furniture and gifts made by the Brazos de Dios community. As we were loading the van and saying our goodbyes Mark gave me a box full of a variety of cheeses! (Fresh mozzarella, marinated mozzarella, horseradish pecan cheddar, blueberry havarti, and southwest leicester.) The horseradish pecan cheddar was my favorite. Leaving Brazos de Dios left me with a ton of questions. Hopefully I will have the chance to visit again and stay longer.

Our last stop was La Cuesta Farm. Unfortunately, this is the last pick up the Houston Dairymaids will do. John and Alberto have sold most of their goats and are no longer making cheese (at least for now.) I will miss their fresh chevre so much! I have never had a fresh chevre better than La Cuesta’s. I didn’t get to see where the magic happens or pet the goats. Heartbreaking.

I had so much fun talking to Lindsey and the cheesemakers! I can’t wait for my next invite to tag along.

On the Road with the Houston Dairymaids

2009-03-09T20:37:00.052-06:00

It’s been a while since Lazy Lindsey posted a Dairymaids blog, so she asked me to guest write a post! Last week we undertook a road trip up Waco way to visit a new supplier, the Brazos Valley Cheese Company, and the Dairymaids’ old friends at La Cuesta Farms.

Our journey began early on a misty March morning. First stop:The World’s Largest Teapot in Navasota.

With that out of the way, we continued on to Brazos Valley Cheese, a company run by the Brazos de Dios community. Our trip included a tour of the incredibly beautiful land of Brazos de Dios, a religious community of about 1000 members on 500 acres on the Brazos River outside of Waco, Texas. The community espouses a simple, back to the earth philosophy of life, using centuries old techniques of farming, woodwork, blacksmithing, and fine artisanship. The community is supported by a "traditional crafts village" called Homestead Heritage, which serves as both a tourist destination and classroom for traditional farming and craft techniques.

Our first stop naturally enough was the cheese house, located right at the entrance to the property. We were met by Marc Kuehl, business manager of the cheese company. The cheesemaking operation, like much of the rest of Brazos de Dios, was a mix of modern high-tech machinery and centuries-old techniques and musclepower. Here we see the modern stainless steel, temperature regulated vat in which the milk and other ingredients are separated into the whey and curds that are destined to become cheese. Meanwhile, in the background, we can see the beautiful home made contraption of wood and steel that’s used to press the cheese into wheels.

Hard cheeses are aged in a large walk-in refrigerator.

Marc & Lindsey remove soft cheeses from a smaller refrigerator.

Life as a Dairymaid is not all wine tastings and fondue parties, as Lindsey loads the Cheesemobile with Brazos Valley cheese.

Marc and cheesemaker Rebeccah pose in front of the 150-year-old smokehouse, dismantled in New York and given new life on the Brazos de Dios farm.

Rebeccah loads mozzarella into the smokehouse. What's in a smokehouse? Lots of smoke, as this **cough cough** photographer can attest.

Taking a break from the cheese talk for a moment, the Brazos de Dios property is populated with dozens of 19th century barns and buildings saved from demolition in New England, rebuilt and modernized for daily use on the homestead. This old home conceals a modern commercial kitchen, and was hosting a cheesemaking class when we were there.

This new acquisition is a large old barn, under (re)construction for use as a general store.

An overlook offers an overview of the community's farmlands in the Brazos River valley.

Fields at Brazos de Dios are plowed with horse-driven machinery and hard work.

Grain is ground into flour in this centuries-old mill fueled by windmill-pumped well water.

More centuries old techniques to be seen in the forge & metal shop.

Overall our visit to Brazos de Dios was quite interesting and enjoyable. Although much of the public area of Homestead Heritage was obviously geared towards tourists and school field trips, the workshops are real, working operations that produce products both for daily use by the community members and for sale to the public. The mix of ancient techniques with modern technology was not as contradictory as one might think, and provided an interesting comparison with other communities (such as the Amish or Mennonites) who for the most part shun modern technology completely.

After a delicious lunch at the Homestead Heritage restaurant, it was off to the La Cuesta goat farm, about 20 miles down the road. I didn't take too many pictures here, as Lindsey said she had covered it before. However farm owners John & Alberto were gracious hosts, and you can never have too many cute goat pics (or too much La Cuesta goat cheese!)

Well, that about covers my first trip with the Houston Dairymaids. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to document further cheesy adventures around Texas in the near future!

--Nick DiFonzo

A Visit to Blue Heron

2008-03-25T11:21:00.009-06:00

Last Sunday the New York Times ran an article about a youth movement in agriculture. College-educated 20 and 30-somethings are seeking the outdoors, where, often without any experience, they are starting small sustainable farms. The article pointed to Michael Pollan and his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, as one of many inspirations of this new “back-to-land” idealism and activism.

Reading it I thought, with a smile, of evidence of this “small farm” thinking in our big state of Texas. We encountered it most recently at Blue Heron Farm in Waller County.

Two years ago, Lisa and Christian Seger were living in Houston and working respectively in marketing and country music when they decided contentment lay elsewhere. As Lisa explains it, “my marketing financial services job wasn’t making anyone’s life any better.”

Somewhat impulsively, they made a move that was as much a lifestyle decision as a political stance: they bought a 10 acre farm.

Neither has a direct farming background, but Christian’s family had farmed in Texas for generations. Relying in part on that lineage, he says, “something made me think I was going to be a farmer.”

Starting a farm without farming experience is one thing, but Christian is the first cheesemaker I’ve met who admits he didn’t like cheese. Nevertheless, they bought goats and started making fresh cheeses. Today they have about 16 milkers and have almost completed the building of a fine cheese-making room. Besides the goats, they have a few ducks and guinea hens running around and a couple of hogs fattening themselves on discarded whey.

And their cheese? They are making a variety of flavored chevres, a dry-cured feta, and a rich, creamy mozzarella. Made with the extra-rich milk of their Nubians, the cheeses have a luxurious tongue-coating texture and pure, clean flavor.

These are good cheeses: even Christian likes them.

To be featured soon at Houston farmers’ markets near you. Get there early before the mozzarella sells out. . . .

Rodeo 2008

2008-03-23T11:48:00.006-06:00

This year's Best Bites Competition at the Rodeo was another adventure with the Veldhuizens.

Stuart brought along his cousin, Casey, who is the first vegetarian truck driver I've met, and one of the more effective cheese enthusiasts I've worked alongside.

The massive crowd was as welcoming as last year, and, like last year, got more and more jovial as the evening wore on. It made for a fun night, and gave us thousands of opportunities to answer the question:

"Where is Dublin, Texas????"

Weekend at Pure Luck

2007-10-22T19:25:00.000-06:00

The family trio, Me, Cousin, and Mom

Pure Luck Dairy hosts workshops twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, and I had my turn at it this past weekend. As our business's name implies, we know cheese from start to finish. Only having witnessed the cheesemaking process, I anxiously anticipated my chance to understand it from experience. As I said on the first day of the workshop, during our introductions, I spend a lot of time with cheese AFTER it is made, but desired to know cheese better from its birth...milk to curd. For this cheesemaking expedition, I brought along my mom and cousin, otherwise known as the Dairymaid Assistants. Unsure of how much fun they would have, I was pleasantly surprised when they showed ongoing enthusiasm to learn more about cutting curd, goat life, and cultures throughout the weekend. It probably helped that the teachers of the workshop, Amelia and Gitana, were such warm and engaging teachers.

Tara and Gitana practicing the "Clean Break Test" on our cheese.

We arrived Friday afternoon to get started on our Sainte Maure and fresh Chevre. These two cheeses start with the same base recipe, but differ in what you do after you scoop the curd into the molds. Sainte Maure takes on a cylindrical form, is then dusted with vegetable ash and salt, then sprayed with a white mold. The spraying took place on the third day, and will take a few weeks for the mold to develop.

That's Tara with her Sainte Maure, pre-mold spores.

On that first day, we also milked goats!! It took me a while to figure out my way around a goat teet, but eventually milk did flow. Believe me, there is a technique involved.

Of all the things I learned during the workshop, there is one thing about cheesemaking I'd like to draw attention to -- it is an art. For example, hand-salting. There are several ways to salt your cheese and hand-salting is one way. It is the riskiest option when it comes to consistency, but Amelia and the cheese crew all have what it takes to do the job well. There is quite a bit of science involved with cheesemaking, but so much art as well. After watching Amelia, the other workshoppers, and myself salt our cheeses, I saw just how varied the approach can be. This is only one aspect of the process. Consider the milk source, the food of the goats, their lifestyle, temperature, humidity, timing....there are plenty of variables in the process that turn this science into an art form. Just as in the kitchen, a recipe is only as good as the cook can make it.
So if you plan to make cheese, I highly suggest a visit to Pure Luck, or any of the other artisan cheesemakers in Texas. Glean all you can, then go make it your own. We'll be here ready to take it to market!

Amelia salting a chevre.

Cheese Mania hits Vermont

2007-09-03T20:25:00.000-06:00

Every year cheese makers, mongers, and the similarly cheese-obsessed gather somewhere in the country for three solid days of cheese talk and revelry.

This year the American Cheese Society Conference was held in beautiful Burlington, Vermont.

Days at the conference are filled with sessions. This year's theme was "Achieving Sustainability," and the subject was explored on many levels: on the farm, in business, and throughout the country.

At night, we had opportunities to explore the area. It's hard not to be jealous of Vermonters, not only because they have a lively cheese culture (ha! cheese pun), but because it's just so lovely there. But then again, come February . . .

The first night we attended a mixer in the "Breeding Barn" at Shelburne Farms. A working dairy farm that doubles as an education center, Shelburne's buildings date back to the late 19th century.

With Stuart Veldhuizen, we explored the old barns and fields. Stuart recreated for us a day in the life of a dairy farmer at the turn of the previous century.

The next night was a cruise around Lake Champlain where we were pleasantly wind-whipped alongside Paula Lambert.

The final night was the "Festival of Cheese" where all of the 1200-plus cheese entries are put out for tasting. Needless to say, it's a little obscene, all that cheese, but it was great to see the Texas cheesemakers enjoying their awards (together they took home 13!).

Award-winner Amelia Sweethardt from Pure Luck Dairy with her husband, Ben.

And great to watch this lady carve cheese into sculpture.

Gretchen's Cheese Blog

2007-07-27T16:40:00.000-06:00

It’s never fun waking up before the sun does, but on this particular morning, June 15th, I was leaping out of bed, excited about my first introduction to an actual Texas cheese maker.

My name is Gretchen, and I started working with the Houston Dairymaids about a month ago. I have been helping out at the Farmer’s Markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays, learning from Kendra and Lindsay about the subtle and intriguing nuances of Texas cheeses. Until that Friday morning I had been peddling Blanca Bianca and Baby Caprino to Houstonians and really enjoying learning cheese monger tricks like ‘glass wrapping’ (a sophisticated method of sealing blocks of cheese in cellophane). It has been a thrill exposing market-goers to Texas cheeses.

That morning Kendra, Lindsey, and I drove east out of the city to Sealy to meet with Susan Holle, one of the newest among the growing number of Texas cheese makers. Susan left a career in healthcare with a dream of creating her own variety of vegetarian-friendly cheeses. To say the least, this is an ambitious task to undertake, but Susan had a dream and lots of guts. Cheesy Girl Cheese Co. is the product of her determination, and is bound to be a familiar name to foodies in the near future.

(Photo: Susan Holle in front of her cheese room)

We arrived at Susan’s shop in a Sealy shopping center, located between a Christian bookstore and an empty storefront. At first I wondered if Kendra had the right address. However, as I stepped inside I was awed by what Susan had created in her shop.

At first glance, I imagined I was in King’s Candy Shop in downtown Huntsville: to the left, a refrigerated candy display case, to the right, a salvaged beer cooler ingeniously transformed into a cheese cellar for Susan’s cheesy “girls”--Satin Doll, Sophisticated Lady, and Bella Ragazza. The bright green paint of the entryway showed in stark contrast to the pristine white of the cheese making room, which was visible behind an expansive plate-glass window.

Susan, at once, proceeded to explain the unique processes of vegetarian cheese making, which involves substituting vegetable enzymes in lieu of animal-derived rennet. A tour of the cheese room was impressive, especially so because, at this time, Cheesy Girl is a one-woman operation. A stainless-steel tub, large enough to hold 400 gallons of milk, dominates the room. It’s so large, in fact, and so uniquely shaped that Susan had to design specialized “paddles” to cut the curds. “Making batches so large is hard work for just one person,” explained Susan.

Some of Susan’s “girls” were, unfortunately, not quite ready for consumption. We did, however, get to sample a variety of her chevre spreads. My favorite was the plain chevre, smooth and creamy, without a “goaty” aftertaste, the perfect balance of tart and savory. Cheesy Girl also offers an Italian herb, a fiery jalapeño, and a delicate fresh herb chevre, sure to be popular in Texas. While many of Susan’s cheeses weren’t quite ready, Lindsey’s persuasive-/Jedi-mind tricks succeeded in coercing Susan into opening a Satin Doll (a camembert-style cheese) a month early. Smooth, creamy, and delicate, this cheese showed great potential.

Water temperature, air-filtration systems, and, of course, humidity are all factors that can influence a cheese’s final state. Susan is learning all of this as she goes, through honest and earnest trial and error. Her cheeses truly reflect her vege-centric and holistic approach toward cheese making.

My first introduction to a Texas cheese maker has left me with the desire to meet even more. I was so impressed with the entire experience and so inspired by the new insight I’ve gained form this one morning that I look forward to doing it yet again, and again…even at 6:30 in the morning… or maybe even 5:30.

How I Spent my Mother's Day Weekend

2007-06-01T13:21:00.000-06:00

Pure Luck Dairy in Dripping Springs holds cheesemaking workshops twice a year, and Lindsey asked if I would like to go for Mother's Day.

Would I!

We had been planning a mother-daughter weekend and decided to include the workshop in my visit. It takes place over three days and includes lessons on goat-raising and cheesemaking. Yes, they let you make your own cheese. We made four Pure Luck orginals: basket-molded fresh chevre, feta, an ashed Ste. Maure, and a goat's milk Camembert called Del Cielo.

Naturally, these cheeses travelled back to Sarasota with me. The Ste. Maure and Del Cielo are still ripening in my refrigerator. What great trip souvenirs!

We arrived in Dripping Springs full of questions about the goats and cheesemaking. Amelia (left), who is in charge of production, and her sister, Gitana (right), are wonderful. They were generous with information and praise for our cheesemaking efforts.

We all donned hairnets, aprons, and rubber soled shoes for the class, which was held in the suprisingly small Pure Luck cheese room.

Making cheese is really a science experiment - with a magical, delicious conclusion.

Later, we learned about goat care. Here Gitana holds the bucket while I give milking a try.
(This is not the best camera angle for the goats or me.)

This is their other end . . . The goats eat while being milked twice a day. Talk about multi-tasking!

These are two curious members of the herd. The goats have distinct personalities and were happy to have our attention. Dogs herd them and keep them safe at night. There is a strong working relationship between the caretakers, dogs, and goats. Everyone has a job.

I loved my goat cheese weekend. What's next?

Coveted Cuesta

2007-04-16T20:26:00.000-06:00

We've been coveting the super-fresh goat's milk cheese from La Cuesta Farm in Clifton since we started our little biz back in October. They were one of our first cheesemaker visits, and sweetly apologized for not only not having cheese to sell us (they sell locally and are perfectly content with their size), but also for choosing not to ship due to bad past experiences. It's imperative to understand that the loss of artisanal cheeses carry more value than the dollar that's placed on them. Cheesemakers, like John and Alberto of La Cuesta Farms, cringe at the thought of their cheeses going to waste, as do we. It's one thing for a large supermaket to buy your cheese, and then an entirely different animal to find that it's sitting on the shelves wasting or, even worse, as in the case of La Cuesta, to find that it's sitting on the loading dock at the wrong time, melting in the summer sun. It didn't take long for us to understand La Cuesta's trepidation to selling us cheese way out in Houston. But, we can be a bit relentless when it comes to getting good cheese here in H-town. Not just for our customers, sorry to say, but for ourselves!! Heaven forbid I should be left with our box of samples for one minute. When La Cuesta agreed to sell to us recently, needless to say, we were ecstatic. I haven't been able to get the bright, almost champagne-like flavor of their kefir out of my mouth since last October.

John, an ex-architect, works closely with the goats, all named and doted upon appropriately. "Come on ladies," he says to the herd as I get them to pose for a picture. Alberto makes the cheese, and I finally got to meet him last week. This time, they were ready and willing to provide us with a case of their much-coveted (for us at least) plain chevre and original Suave, an unsalted feta ready to crumble over any drab salad in need of a boost. Although my visit was short, had to make it on to two other cheesemakers afterwards, I got a taste of their chocolate and goat cheese torte that's in the works. John's been working with a local chef to perfect the recipe, and I can't wait--layers of their plain chevre, chocolate mousse, and a soft chocolate ganache over top. Although we've been trying to get John and Alberto to ship to us, I can't help but sympathize with their shipping mishaps. I would love to make the trip out to Clifton each week to gather cheese for Houstonians and, of course, say hello to the ladies.

Travels to the Hill Country and Back

2007-04-08T18:19:00.000-06:00

Last week we finally had a good reason to go west: the Hill Country Food and Wine Festival. It was perfect timing as the wildflowers were in bloom. (We refrained, however, from taking photos of ourselves basking amidst the bluebonnets.)

The festival was in Georgetown, outside of Austin. There we saw two of our favorite Texas originals, Paula Lambert (far left) of the Mozzarella Company and her master manager, Mitchell (center).

(Don't assume from this photo that we were working hard, most of our time was spent in wine tasting.)

On our way back we stopped at Pure Luck, where we didn't find Amelia, but peeked in on her assistant Juana, busy making cheese, and some of their new arrivals.

(Can you believe all of the Pure Luck comes out of this tiny room?)

Our final stop was to visit a new cheesemaker, 18-year-old Chrissy Omo of CKC Farms in Blanco (pronounced Blank-oh, not Blahn-co, as Kendra kept reminding me). Cheesemaking at CKC is a family affair with younger brothers Kenny and Connor (the K and C of "CKC") chipping in and Mom and Dad giving their full support. The inspiration, however, comes from Chrissy, who after visiting cheesemakers in Italy, came back impassioned and determined to start making cheese. Now in her second year of goat-raising and cheesemaking, Chrissy seems as happy and confident as ever, and her efforts are impressive. We loved her Baby Caprino, a small soft-ripened round, and her Baby Blue, a soft blue with a molded rind reminiscent of Montbriac.

After getting up to milk the goats she travels to Texas State where she's studying international business. And I could rarely make a 9 a.m. class . . .

What a cheese plate!

2007-04-08T14:04:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to witness cheese history, the first gathering of Texas's 14 cheesemakers. Jealous? Don't worry your Houston cheesemongers will bring them to you here soon enough. Slow Food of Dallas hosted the sold-out event, which included a tasting of one of each cheesemaker's cheese. We enjoyed our Texas favorites, including Velhuizen's Gruyere, Pure Luck's Ste. Maure, Chateau de Fromage's Truffled Chevre, and Mozzarella Company's Blanca Bianca, but also came across some new finds.

Keep your eye on our blog as we visit the farms of our new discoveries!

The Kids are Here!

2007-03-30T17:36:00.000-06:00

On our way to Dallas last week for the first ever meeting of Texas cheesemakers, we stopped in Ft. Worth to meet the lovely Deborah Rogers and her expanding herd of goats. When I called Deborah the week prior, she had a lot of pregnant mamas, but no kids. When we arrived, the first 7 or so had come onto the scene, the latest only 45 minutes before we arrived.

"I make cheese so I can have more goats," says Deborah. A mostly self-taught cheesemaker and farmer, Deborah operates her farm in a manner that is unconventional and decidedly pro-goat.

On land that was once her grandparents', Deborah feeds the herd on grass and boughs, making her one of a few completely pasture-based American goat dairies.

She's especially generous with the babies, allowing them plenty of milk, even at the expense of her cheese operation.

"Babies are the future of this farm," she explains. And mama's milk is key to their health: "If goats are unhealthy when they're little, they are never quite right. I suppose it's like people."

Deborah's indulgent with her goats in other ways. She keeps ten bucks, instead of the typical one or two. She likes them, for one, and wants to give the herd more genetic diversity. The bucks even get to keep their horns and hang out with the girls most of the time - she gives no credence to the belief that they can make the milk taste goat-y.

And what about her cheese? We're waiting excitedly for our first tastes, as soon as there's enough milk to spare!

You know you're a cheesemaker when . . .

2007-03-01T18:11:00.000-06:00

you travel with your own gallon of milk.

Connie and Stuart Veldhuizen did just that when they came to town this week for their debut at the Houston Rodeo. Monday was the Best Bites event, a wine and food tasting attended by Houston's finest chefs and nearly 4000 guests. The Veldhuizens were invited to bring their wonderful farmstead cheese and were kind enough to let us tag along.

Planning to be beseiged by the crowd, we prepared a bunch of samples ahead of time. In the end though, the hit was Stuart, who enthralled the crowd with tidbits of information about the farm while carving out samples from a half wheel of carraway cheddar.

The reward for us came the next day, when they gave us some of the richest, yellowest butter I've ever tasted and raw cream so thick it should be illegal - oh yeah, it is!

A Lesson on Swiss Fondue

2007-02-04T18:15:00.000-06:00

Having recently returned from her native Switzerland, my friend Anne invited our friend Stephen and me over the other night for a traditional Swiss Fondue. The weather, cold and miserable, set the perfect scene for gathering around a warm pot of melted cheese.

"There are as many recipes for fondue as there are people!" Anne told us. Hers is a family recipe for Fondue Moitie-Moitie (or "Half-Half"). The "half-half" refers to the cheese mix, which is half Vacherin Fribourgeois and half Gruyere. This mix, Anne explained, is not only classic in the region of Fribourg from which she comes, but it lends the dish its perfectly smooth texture and flavor.

She was kind enough to share the recipe below along with some key pointers. It is written for one serving, but, with the exception of the cornstarch, should be scaled up as necessary. It's no fun to eat fondue alone!

Ingredients:
1/4 pound per person Vacherin Fribourgeois, coarsely grated
1/4 pound per person Gruyere, finely grated
1/4 cup per person dry white wine, Swiss if you can find it
1 scant tsp cornstarch (optional)(scale up conservatively, ie. use 2 tsps for 4 people)
1 whole clove garlic, cut in half

Technique:

1. Rub a caquelon*, or heavy pot, with halved garlic and discard clove. (For a stronger garlic taste leave clove in pot.) Turn heat on to medium.

*A caquelon is an enameled cast iron pot with a stubby handle that is especially suited to fondue. If you don't have your own caquelon, use a pot heavy enough to distribute the heat evenly.

2. Mix cornstarch and wine and add to pot.

3. Add grated Gruyere and slowly mix in. When nearly melted, add Vacherin in small amounts, stirring constantly.

4. Continue stirring over medium heat for three to five minutes until thickened and smooth.

5. Take pot to table and place over a low heat source. Serve with large bites of crusty white bread (day-old works best) and freshly ground black pepper. (To answer Kendra's earlier question, the Kirsch may be added directly to the pot, or kept aside in a glass and dipped into on the way to the fondue pot.)

6. The rest is pretty self-explanatory: with a long fork, dip into the pot and stir vigorously until your bread is soaked with cheese. (Careful not to lose your piece in the pot, as by tradition you're then required to buy the next round.) Twist any lingering strings of cheese around the fork as if twirling pasta.

Enjoy with good friends and plenty of dry white wine!

Will work for cheese

2007-01-23T23:11:00.000-06:00

Patricia and Eric Lefebvre, Fromagerie de Paris

My last 10 days in France were to be spent in Paris visiting cheese shops and, with any luck, working in one for several days. Although an unconventional approach to continuing education, I thought it would be worth a try. I'll save you the depressing details of rejection. The conclusion: no work for Kendra. The responses varied from the very abrupt, "No one enters my cave! And no photos!" to the more gentle, "I'm sorry, but I have too many appointments already." Dommage. For those shops not allowing any photos, I took the liberty of lingering a while so as to create a memory. I'll refrain from bitterly naming the shops offering the more coarse rejections (although I will say they are among the more famous.) On a brighter note, however, there was one gem that made the entire Parisian sejour worthwhile. La Fromagerie de Paris on rue Charenton is run by the oh-so-friendly and welcoming Patricia and Eric Lefebvre. Upon my first visit (they at least considered letting me work there) they regretted not having an aging cave to show me, but directed me to the fromagerie of Alain and Marie Quatrehomme. It was here that I received the gentler of rejections, although you can't say I didn't try my hardest. While I did not get to see an aging cave or get to work in a shop, I still learned a few things to pass on:

1. Paris changes fast. The majority of recommended and published cheese shops ahd already shut down or moved. I highly recommend a long distance phone call before your trip, if you plan to visit them. This will save you many euros in metro tickets to get all over the city.

2. The verdict on Brie: According to Patricia Lefebvre, and I trust her authority on the matter, Brie is eaten at peak ripeness, creamy and soft, in Paris. Everywhere else in France, it is eaten before this creamy state, firm and, in my opinion, lacking that 'umph' in flavor. This would explain the firm Brie I had in Belfort.

3. Just as Paris's local business climate changes with the tide, so do the EU laws on food. All the "I don't know"s from previous blogs rest as so, since it is so difficult to keep up with them as they change. Why can't our American cheese laws change?! Bring in the fresh raw-milk cheese please!

All in all, the trip afforded me many surprises--disappointing and equally exhilarating. If you plan to take a trip to Frane in the future, feel free to contact me for suggestions on restaurants, sites, cities, and other things. And if you ever need an interpreter to accompany you of a French food extravaganza, my bags are packed!

Cheers!

A Visit from the Veldhuizens

2007-01-21T15:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a great day at the market because we were joined by Stuart and Connie Veldhuizen, the cheesemakers who make all of those fine raw milk cheeses in Dublin, TX.

Having just stepped off a cruise ship in Galveston, they looked tan and happy, and repeatedly mentioned that they still felt the waves rocking the ground beneath their feet.

Since they arrived in the middle of a rush, all I could do was hand Stuart a hunk of Paragon and a knife. He immediately jumped into cheesemaker-mode, offering samples to the crowd along with all sorts of interesting information about cows, raw milk cheesemaking, and the importance of good grass. A number of Veldhuizen loyalists were there to show their appreciation, and first-timers stood in thrall. I wish we had pictures of the action, but we were frankly too busy to take them.

As they were leaving I told them that I hoped they felt loved, and Stuart explained how when they were just producing milk for the co-op they would only get feedback if there was something wrong. As cheesemakers, they get to hear how much their hard work is appreciated.

Thanks to all of you who came out to let them know that it is!

And thanks also to a world-class stand-in Dairymaid, Doris Scott (aka Kendra's Mom).

Old School Production

2007-01-19T04:25:00.000-06:00

A Lesson in Slow Food:

The last day in the mountains led us to an even smaller production facility. Marion, the ever generous and knowledgable hostess, arranged for us to tag alongside and elementary school field trip of one of the only cheesemaking facilities still adhering to the age-old hand and teeth tradition. When we arrived (late of course) at La Combe Laisia, Thomas, an ex-wine-seller from Dijon was already busy cutting the curds in a large copper cauldron for gruyere. After trekking past the barn, mounds of cut grass for fodder, and piles of mud, we entered the cheesemaking room and also travelled back in time a few hundred years. In an effort to bring back the missing human link one sees nowadays with technology, La Combe Laisia has stuck with tradition quite impressively.

After about 30 minutes of hand-churning, Thomas set up the mechanical churner--the kids were getting a bit ansty, so it was time to change things up a bit. All milk here is pasteurized, for the facility does not exactly meet the EU's modern standards of production. La Combe Laisia was given the green light to continue making and selling cheese thanks to Monsieur Pasteur. For the pasteuriwation, the cheese is brought to 52°c by way of wood fire. This takes a good while, so the kiddos are sent to see the cows. I linger to talk with Thomas.

My questions about pasteurization and EU laws seemed very American to hm at first, as he, and just about every other cheese person in France, think Americans possess an unfounded and "idiot" fear of raw milk. I tried to explain that I and others in the U.S. did not agree with FDA laws in place. I guess in countries where voices are heard and votes count, it might be hard to understanc the disparity between U.S. laws and certain American thought. Understandable. Once Thomas understood my position, things eased and information flowed with less hostility.

In an effort to truly educate people of the cheesemaking process, La Combe Laisia--also organic--keeps things slow and simple so as not to miss a step. Excellent for me as I even have difficutly explaining where vegetable ash comes from to inquiring customers. When I asked Jean-Paul at the previous fruitiere, he responded with a dumbfounded, "We buy it." Yes, I know, but how is it made? It remains a mystery, as he did not have an answer for me. At La Combe Laisia, I saw everything, including the source of rennet, the enzyme added to the milk to make it separate. Thomas told me that they might buy the rennet (let me clarify: buy the baby cow's stomach to then make the rennet), but a neighbor that had recently slaughtered a calf for consumption was kind enough to give them the stomach. He pulled a plastic shopping bag off the hay-laden floor in the hallway and showed me the fresh stomach. He then showed me a dry stomach that he would cut into 30 1" x 1" pieces to add to a jar of whey, which would then ferment and become, voilà, rennet. Whew! This is slow food folks.

Thomas cutting the dried calf stomach for rennet

When the kids returned, it was time to finish the cheese. Thomas took the caldron off the fire, prepared the wooden mold and cheese cloth, and proceeded to drain the whey with a sieve and pump.

Once most of the whey had been drained, Thomas took the cheese cloth, one side held above whey and curd by his teeth, and slid it under the curd at the bottom of the pot. Teeth and fists, he lifted the curd, put it on a pully, and moved it to the mold. Through this whole process, whey drains into a bucket. After one turn of the cheese, the tour was over. After we left, there was still more turning, draining, and salting to do, as well as months of aging before it would be edible. And the taste? Delicious.

Medium Scale Production

2007-01-19T03:59:00.000-06:00

Organic Production in the Jura:

On a much smaller scale, I found (Marion took me to) an organic cheesemaking facility--fruitière biologique. For this visit, I'm sure mostly due to having Marion with me, I was able to have a closer look at the production facility. Arriving after 5 p.m., there was no cheesemaking to see and I was too early for the 7:30 p.m. delivery of milk. For this facility in Chapelle du Bois, all milk comes from the farmers in the town, all of which meet the guidelines for earning not only the AOC distinction, but also that of being organic. Jean-Paul Blandot, one of the farmers, gave me a detailed and humble tour of the facility. It harkened memories of our small, dedicated Texan cheesemakers. Jean-Paul continually insisted that I would not be interested in seeing the facility, no production to see, no innovative technologies, nothing of interest to me. It was all I could do to express that every bit of worn-and-torn secondhand vats, chipped tile, and fluorescent-lit caves brought more excitement than ten Eiffel Towers. I think he got the point eventually. More than anything, I was happy to meet Jean-Paul and see the facility for I could sympathiwe and get behind the operation. I've got a special place in my heart for the small guy persevering from passion and integriy. I also gfelt a bit at home, pulling for our small production facilities in Texas offering a product of quality rather than convenience.

However, even the small producer is still pretty big. They had 4 caves, one of which was being phased out for it consisted of plastic walls, which do not allow for proper control of air flow or huumidty. Farmers did not want their milk-turned-cheese in there, and stores did not want it either. Hence the three new caves, which housed Comté and Morbier. Due to a lack of space for the amount of cheese they produce, not all of the cheese is aged to the point of sale here. It might stay for a few months, after which wheels are sold to stores and arffineurs throughout France where they will finish the aging process.

The new cave for Comté

After the tour, Jean-Paul invited me back to his farm to see the cows and witness the delivery of the milk. I regrettably had to decline as the dinner hour had arrived and I had about an hour drive to the bottom of the mountain to find food before the stores closed. Despite the missed opportunity, I'm still willing to sacrifice convenience for quality.

Me and Jean-Paul