We’re doing a lot of driving to research this book, and it’s really driven home just how much nicer it can be to tool around on county highways and country roads. There’s just something soulful about seeing where people live, rather than just hurtling at 71 miles per hour down a fast-food studded artery of [...]
Archive for February, 2008
John Steinbeck on Highways
Posted in General on February 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Green Bay and the Environs
Posted in General, Photos, Travel Log, tagged Arla, Demeter, Krohn, Lensmire, Metzig, Peterson, Stearns, Trega, Union Star on February 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
We returned from our first major foray to eastern Wisconsin late last week, just ahead of one of the year’s seemingly incessant bouts of nasty weather. Green Bay (within sight of Lambeau Field) was our home base; from there, we roamed east, west and south as needed.
Our most rustic foray brought us to the tiny [...]
Tasting Notes: Union Star String Mozzarella Cheese
Posted in Tasting Notes, tagged cheese tasting, Metzig, mozzarella, string cheese on February 16, 2008 | 2 Comments »
On our way out of the charmingly old-school Union Star cheese plant, we couldn’t help but pick up some of master cheesemaker David Metzig’s sharp cheddar and string mozzarella cheese. Becca’s a string cheese fiend, so we were looking forward to trying a different incarnation of the American snack favorite. We were in no way [...]
Kroll’s East of Green Bay
Posted in Travel Log on February 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Becca and I are in the Green Bay/Fox Valley area to interview an ambitious slate of seven master cheesemakers. Today we talked to half of Trega’s four masters — Jim Demeter and Daniel Stearns — and toured their massive feta and cheddar-making plants. If memory serves, Demeter presides over a daily production of 80,000 pounds [...]
Tasting Notes – Carr Valley Bread Cheese
Posted in Tasting Notes on February 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Carr Valley has recently started making Bread Cheese, a firm cheese based on the Finnish cheese Juustoleipa. The thing that sets this cheese apart is that like a halloumi or paneer, it doesn’t melt when heated. You can throw it on the grill or microwave it and have little squares of delicious warm cheese.
When warm, [...]
Carr Valley, Take 2
Posted in General, Photos, Travel Log, tagged Carr Valley, cheese plant, Mauston, Thomas Jenny on February 4, 2008 | 1 Comment »
This past weekend, Becca and I took a drive down to Carr Valley’s Mauston plant, where we met with Tom Jenny, one of the company’s two master cheesemakers.
If you know Carr Valley, you know that they’re a company on the cutting edge of cheese innovation — multiple milk cheeses, cocoa-rubbed cheeses, cheeses impregnated with all [...]
