Monday, April 20, 2009

Say Cheese!!

Today after work I attended a Cheese Education class regarding the perfect condiment pairings for various cheeses.

First off, let me just say: YUM!!! This was one of the most delicious experiences!

I wish I would have taken more photos of the spread when I originally arrived, but I was camera shy. In fact, all of these pictures are quick snap shots...

Each table was loaded with bread, water, pears, almonds and grapes. Our instructors handed out a worksheet and we started tasting 9 different cheese/condiment pairings.

Here's a blurry Mary (I turned the flash on after this) - scooping out some pistachio honey to accompany her Malvarosa cheese.

And me with the Guava Paste partnered with the Ossau Irraty. [We also tried it with Quince paste.]

After we reviewed each of the pairings on the worksheet, we continued to pass around the cheeses and various accoutrements for second and third tastings. This allowed us to add a bit of variation to the recommendations and create our own ideal coupling.

Here Mary and I are after the class; at this point we had been eating cheese for 1.5 hours [notice the St. Agur blue cheese directly in front of me - this was also one of my favorites].

As a result of this course, I have decided: I will be having a wine and cheese tasting party and soon. Double Yum!

Here is the complete list of pairings we sampled:
La Tur + Prosecco Jam [one of my favorites]
Malvarosa + Pistachio Honey [another fave]
Comte St. Antoine + Hazelnuts [and another]
Brie Chatelain + Pears
Ossau Irraty + Quince Paste [and another]
Vintage 5 year Gouda + Prosciutto [and another]
Saint Albray + Warm Truffle Honey
St. Agur + Chocolates [another]
Grafton 4 year + French Nugget [and again]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frenchie shirt! m

Jen, a priorfatgirl said...

hello, you can invite me to your wine & cheese party if you want. How's that for inviting myself! Haha!

(ok, just kidding, you don't HAVE to invite me)

Nicole said...

I'll invite you! It's not going to be as soon as I had hoped, but it will happen. Stay tuned...