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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.