Chapter 1 A Hard Look at Soft (And Blue) Cheese In This Chapter ▶ Covering the basics of soft cheeses ▶ Noting the difference between fresh, surface-ripened, washed-rind, and blue cheeses ▶ Discovering a variety of soft cheeses to try e have an, ahem, soft spot for all of the cheeses in this Wcategory. Their beauty lies in their seeming simplicity. They’re often meant for eating as-is and are only enhanced by the addition of an accompaniment or two (and yes, a glass of wine or beer counts!). Many soft and blue cheeses are perfect for a cheese plate. In this chapter we walk you through the basics of soft cheese and then get into detail about some of the kinds of soft and blue cheeses available. Soften Up: Understanding the SoftCOPYRIGHTED Cheese Basics MATERIAL The main thing you need to know about soft cheese is that this category refers to various styles (which we list shortly) that are meant to be consumed fairly quickly because they have a short shelf life. Soft cheese can be made from all kinds of milk, but the common denominator for these cheeses is their texture and the fact that they’re high in moisture. Soft cheeses aren’t pressed to expel excess whey, nor are they made to be aged long term. (They’re also not ideal if you’re traveling 004_9781118539019-ch01.indd4_9781118539019-ch01.indd 5 110/23/120/23/12 11:59:59 PPMM 6 Creating the Perfect Cheese Plate In A Day For Dummies or throwing a big party in a hot climate because they don’t hold up well in extremely warm temperatures, so if you do set them out on a cheese plate, make sure it’s not too hot.) Following is a brief breakdown on the different styles of soft cheeses. We get into more detail in each individual section, as well as provide a list of varieties and serving suggestions. ✓ Fresh: An unripened cheese, not designed for aging. Fresh cheeses may be as young as a few hours old (ricotta, for example) or preserved in brine (such as feta) after they’re made, for a shelf life of no more than a couple of weeks. ✓ Surface-ripened: This term refers to all cheeses that are ripened from the outside surface inward. The terms surface-ripened, soft-ripened, and mold-ripened are often confusing because there’s no clear-cut defini- tive or regulatory term to define them. Some cheese pro- fessionals use the terms interchangeably, while others prefer to use each term to refer to a specific type of cheese. In the following list, we outline the three subcat- egories of the surface-ripened style and explain the terms and definitions we use throughout this book: • Bloomy rind: This name is pretty self-explanatory: bloomy refers to the soft, velvety white mold that covers Brie, camembert, and other cheeses. This mold also works its magic on the delicate curd within, forming a paste that may range in texture from soft to oozy. • Washed rind: Salt brine, wine, beer, and spirits are all used to “wash” this style of cheese so that spe- cific bacteria (B.linens) form and flourish, often — but not always — resulting in a stinky cheese. The rind is usually reddish or orange and sticky with a distinct sulfurous, meaty, or “footy” odor. The interior is less intense smelling and, when aged, becomes soft and gooey. • Mold-ripened (with a wrinkly rind): Cheeses with a rumpled rind and a tangy, floral flavor, like many French goat cheeses, are surface-ripened by the addition of Geotrichum mold (see the later section “Surface-Ripened Soft Cheeses” for details). 004_9781118539019-ch01.indd4_9781118539019-ch01.indd 6 110/23/120/23/12 11:59:59 PPMM Chapter 1: A Hard Look at Soft (And Blue) Cheese 7 Take a few minutes to think about the last soft cheese you ate: What was it called? Which category did it fit into? How did it taste? (We love reminiscing about cheese.) Okay — back to the book! Getting Fresh If you’ve ever had fresh cottage cheese or mozzarella — the kind that comes packed in water, rather than wrapped in plastic — you’ve already sampled fresh cheese. The style simply refers to cheeses that are not destined for aging. Fresh cheeses are perishable, so you need to eat them quickly after purchase. At their best, they’re just days or hours “out of the animal,” and their color, flavor, and, to a certain extent, texture, reflect that. Because they’re so minimally aged, and the molds and bacteria haven’t had adequate time to develop true rinds, fresh cheeses range in color from snowy white to ivory or the palest yellow. Some of the most notable fresh cheeses include the following: ✓ Chèvre: Chèvre means “goat” in French. It usually refers to soft young goat milk cheese that’s the consistency of whipped cream cheese. You can find chèvre at any gro- cery store or cheese shop. ✓ Cottage cheese: At once tangy and sweet, with rich, clumpy curds, this cheese is usually made from cow milk. ✓ Cream cheese: Artisanal cream cheese is made by adding a starter culture and coagulant to cow milk and a touch of cream. It’s not as rich as mascarpone, but it’s quite thick and spreadable. Its flavor is more tangy and sour than sweet. ✓ Mascarpone: Technically, this Italian dessert favorite isn’t a cheese. It’s a cultured (acidified) dairy product, but it’s often categorized as a cheese. Mascarpone is satiny, sweet, and thick but spreadable. ✓ Crème fraiche: Like mascarpone, crème fraiche is a cul- tured dairy product, but it’s often found in the cheese department. It can be made from either cultured butter- milk or sour cream made from whole milk. 004_9781118539019-ch01.indd4_9781118539019-ch01.indd 7 110/23/120/23/12 11:59:59 PPMM 8 Creating the Perfect Cheese Plate In A Day For Dummies In addition to the specific uses already outlined in the list, these cheeses are wonderful paired with fresh fruit, spread over good-quality toasted bread, or (if you’re like us) eaten shamelessly by the spoonful. ✓ Mozzarella: A good-quality fresh mozzarella is a thing of beauty: sweet, rich, and delicate. It’s usually made from water buffalo (mozzarella di bufala) or cow milk (fior di latte) and is a specialty of Campania, Italy — though there are many excellent domestic producers. The best way to enjoy mozzarella is to eat it just after it’s been stretched; some restaurants make hand-pulled mozza- rella to order, which is worth seeking out. But even with nothing more than a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, fresh mozzarella will turn you off the rubbery mass- produced stuff forever. ✓ Burrata: This southern Italian cheese from Puglia hit the U.S. radar less than a decade ago, and it’s now in great demand and made domestically (by Belgioioso, Di Stefano, and Gioia brands) as well as imported. Burrata is a combination of mozzarella, stracciatella (“the pulled curd”), and cream. Slice through the edible exterior skin, and you’ll be rewarded with a decadently rich filling. Serve burrata as you would mozzarella, or with fresh summer fruit and honey. Surface-Ripened Soft Cheeses All cheeses ripened from the outside surface inward are surface-ripened . On the outside, surface-ripened cheeses can be fluffy, velvety, reddish orange (or other shades coming from the bacterial growth of the washed rind), or wrinkly in texture. The interior is rich and rewarding. The paste of surface-ripened cheeses can be oozy, creamy, dense, or chalky, with flavors ranging from fruity, yeasty, or earthy to mushroomy or stinky. Some surface-ripened cheeses can be cross-classified. For example, Langres has a wrinkly rind and is also a washed-rind cheese, meaning it has both the addition of Geotrichum and the B. linens bacteria. Remember that it’s the species of mold and rind treatment that makes the difference in a cheese’s 004_9781118539019-ch01.indd4_9781118539019-ch01.indd 8 110/23/120/23/12 11:59:59 PPMM Chapter 1: A Hard Look at Soft (And Blue) Cheese 9 classification. Just because a cheese is made in one style doesn’t mean it can’t also be classified as another. In the following sections, we break down surface-ripened cheeses into their three main categories. Bloomy-rind soft cheeses: Fluffy, furry, velvety rinds When a cheese is described as earthy, that doesn’t mean you’re eating the equivalent of a mouthful of soil. It just means the dominant flavor is reminiscent of what clean dirt, mushrooms, or a forest floor smells like. Other flavors you might find in an earthy cheese include beefy, tangy, grassy, herbaceous, goaty or sheepy (depending on the milk used), or musty. Bloomy rind and soft-ripened are used synonymously through- out the cheese world for a similar style of cheese. It can get confusing, but it’s not all that hard to grasp if you focus on the basics. Expect a soft, white rind and interiors that range from soft and oozy to malleable and dense. For our purposes, we prefer to use only the term bloomy rind. If bloomy-rind cheeses sound appealing, try these: ✓ Camembert: Slightly mushroomy, with a satiny, creamy, off-white interior and an edible, bloomy white rind, this French cow milk classic is from the mega-dairy region of Normandy. ✓ Brie: Brie, which comes from Île-de-France, a region adja- cent to Paris, is a bit more sweet, fruity, and feminine than its earthy cousin camembert but possesses a similar creamy texture and bloomy rind.