Murray's Cheese Blog

September 3, 2014October 27, 2014

We DO Know Cheese: Murray’s Associates Pass Exam with Flying Curds

Kroger and Murray’s Cheese Associates Named Certified Cheese Professionals

CINCINNATI, September 3, 2014 – The Kroger Company announced today that 13 Kroger associates and 4 Murray’s Cheese associates have been named Certified Cheese Professionalsâ„¢ by the American Cheese Society.

These Kroger associates have joined the ranks of an elite group of individuals who have passed the Certified Cheese Professionalâ„¢ Exam. The exam was created by the American Cheese Society to promote the large and comprehensive world of cheeses and encourage food industry professionals to master the knowledge. Before taking the exam in Sacramento this summer, the associates participated in a rigorous 3-month training course led by Amanda Parker, Director of Kroger Programs at Murray’s Cheese. Parker has also been tapped to co-chair the American Cheese Society’s annual conference in 2015.

“This is only the third year of this certification program, but it is already bringing the cheese profession to a whole new level,” said Rob Kaufelt, owner and President of Murray’s Cheese. “After studying everything from milk chemistry to aging techniques to pairing and serving cheeses, these mongers are now even better equipped to educate and delight our customers.”

“We are proud of our associates for working so hard to earn this important recognition, which reflects their commitment to gourmet cheese craft,” said Margaret McClure, Kroger’s vice president of deli/bakery. “Kroger’s unique partnership with Murray’s Cheese continues to inspire our associates to share their passion for cheese with our customers every day.”

Through an exclusive partnership with New York City’s Murray’s Cheese, the Kroger family of stores features more than 140 Murray’s counters in stores from coast-to-coast. Featuring more than 175 cheeses and specialty goods from all over the world, the Murray’s counters are staffed by associates who have been trained by the Murray’s experts in New York. For a list of Murray’s in Kroger locations, please visit www.murrayscheese.com/locations.

For more information about ACS CCPsâ„¢, please visit www.cheesesociety.org.

Alicia Ball – Seattle, WA QFC
Walshe Birney – New York City Murray’s Cheese
Adam Burstein – Scottsdale, AZ Fry’s
Iris Busjahn – Seattle, WA QFC
Elizabeth Chubbuck – New York City Murray’s Cheese
James Danforth – Denver, CO King Soopers
Jill Davis – Atlanta, GA Kroger
Jeff Johnson – Denver, CO King Soopers
Sue Kargl – Louisville, KY Kroger
Lauren Lafontaine – Denver, CO King Soopers
Tess McNamara – New York City Murray’s Cheese
Beth Peterson – Portland, OR Fred Meyer
Jessica Reichert – Denver, CO King Soopers
Laurel Ross – Seattle, WA Fred Meyer
James Stahl – New York City Murray’s Cheese
Shannon Strom – Seattle, WA Fred Meyer
Kate True – Cincinnati, OH Kroger

August 27, 2014August 28, 2014

What’s Up With Roquefort: Help Us #RescueRoquefort

The cheese world continues to be rocked by the FDA’s overreaching on bacteria counts in cheese production. Andy Hatch at Pleasant Ridge is halting Rush Creek production for the year to avoid the possibility of devastating product loss due to arbitrary shifts in the FDA’s rules, and several beloved imports – Roquefort! Morbier! – from respectable producers are under scrutiny for levels of bacterial activity that have left exactly nobody sick in Europe.

We will continue to share information with you as we learn more, but for now, we’re going to celebrate the good stuff while we can – reducing the price of Roquefort to an unheard of $19.99 per pound (that’s more than 30% off the regular price of $29.99) – don’t let these cheeses disappear from American caves and shelves before you’ve had the chance to enjoy them at least one more time.

Want to help us keep this cheese on American cheese counters for years to come? Help us spread the word using the hashtag #RescueRoquefort! If cheese lovers coast-to-coast make enough noise, we can hopefully put enough pressure on the FDA to take a better look at their policies. Just a few months ago we were faced with a ban on aging cheese on wooden boards, a traditional and safe practice that has been used for centuries. The cheese community came together without a loud enough voice to convince the FDA to reverse its decision. Let’s come together, make a stink, and tell them that we want our Roquefort!

August 15, 2014August 15, 2014

Salad Days of Summer: Ripe Tomatoes & Fresh Mozzarella

There’s nothing like a ripe, still-warm tomato plucked from the garden, sprinkled with a pinch of coarse sea salt. We’re all for this method of consumption, and highly recommend it. But if you want to kick the experience up a notch and create something that you can share with friends on a Sunday afternoon, add layers of fresh mozz and basil for a classic Caprese salad. We’re into a variation on this classic that’s a little more chunky and rustic.

Supreme Summer Tomato Salad with Mozzarella (or Burrata)

2-3 lbs of garden fresh/ heirloom tomatoes
sea salt and ground pepper
pinch of dried oregano
red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 grated clove of garlic
1/3 cup basil, sliced thin
pinch of red pepper flakes

Slice tomatoes into bite-sized chunks and wedges. Place in a colander and sprinkle toms with a few pinches of coarse salt, which will help draw some of the moisture out, and will bring out that bright, acidic tomato flavor.
Toss and sprinkle and let the colander drain into a bowl or the sink for 10-ish minutes.
While they drain, blend dressing ingredients together: oil, vinegar, oregano, red pepper and garlic.
In a separate bowl, coat tomatoes in dressing and add ribbons of basil.
Slice up a 1lb ball of Mozzarella or Mozzarella di Bufala, and cut the round pieces into smaller, bite-sized morsels that can be placed on a plate beside the salad, or scattered on top and mixed in.
Option 2: pour salad around a ball or two of Burrata, that can be opened and dipped into with pieces of fresh, crusty bread.

Recommended sides: assorted olives, prosciutto, salami

Dig in!

August 14, 2014

Chocolate & Cheese: A Pairing to Please All Your Senses

By Rainer Burrow

“I don’t like to be gratuitous with chocolate. I like for it to be meaningful.” Chef Sarah Langan explained her philosophy on cooking with chocolate to a full tent as she and her assistants gracefully whipped up a 3 course cooking demo on a beautiful Vermont summer day. The theme for the tasting: chocolate and cheese; what 2 things are easier to love?

Chef Langan is the chef and educator at South End Kitchen in Burlington, Vermont. South End Kitchen is a café located in Burlington Vermont owned by Lake Champlain Chocolates, a chocolate producer that has been in operation on Lake Champlain since 1983. Lake Champlaign Chocolates is a top- quality producer, and a true gem in the state of Vermont. The company uses local Vermont products to make their chocolates, doesn’t add preservatives or additives, are committed to sourcing non-GMO ingredients, and are champions of fair trade. These factors combine to make high-quality chocolates, which are featured in various ways at South End Kitchen.

For the first course, Chef Langan chose to do a very simple chocolate and cheese pairing using Lake Champlain’s Blue Bandana 70% Guatemala Chocolate and Vermont Creamery’s Bonne Bouche. Both products are beautiful and intricate on their own, married very well on the palate to completely enhance the flavor experience. The chocolate was chalky, fruity, and initially sweet with a solid acidity. The Cheese Was acidic and moldy, mild with a great funk presence. Eating them together brought me back to Ratatouille swirling colors around his head as he is pairing scraps on the yard of his farm. Together the acidity and mold went down, the fruit notes really shined through, and both products mellowed out a little bit. It was an excellent pairing and an excellent start to the demo.

As Chef Langan segued into the second course, she introduced a reflection on how we as humans react to the five tastes (sweet sour salty bitter and umami). She stated “When you can have all 5 tastes in one dish, you will satisfy yourself. When your palate is missing one, you will crave more.” It was with this philosophy in mind that she created her second course, a rustic tart consisting of arugula, pancetta crisps, Vermont Creamery’s Cremont, Fig & honey spread, lemon vinaigrette, and a chocolate emulsion all over a tart dough. With sweet from the fig and honey, salty from the Cremont and pancetta, bitter form the arugula and chocolate, acidity from Cremont and the vinaigrette, and umami from the pancetta, it was perfectly complete. I felt distinctly happy and satiated after consuming it.

Finally, for the third course (and dessert), Chef Langan severed a Chocolate Chevre Cheesecake. It was a beautiful conclusion to the cooking demo: woodsy, tangy, fatty, soft, great in acidity, and rich in chocolate. Of the three courses, this was definitely my favorite, but I have a sweet tooth and I love chocolate.

I left the tasting feeling educated, satiated, and happy to be alive. There’s nothing better than great cheese and expert culinary execution. If the food at South End Kitchen is anything like the tasting, it’s definitely worth a visit.

http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/

http://southendkitchenvt.com/

http://www.vermontcreamery.com/

August 11, 2014August 12, 2014

Turophile Heaven: The Festival of Cheese

by Walshe Birney

The American Cheese Society’s 2014 conference in Sacramento was a whirlwind of fantastic panels, networking events, and, for some of us, the CCP exam, a difficult test of all that we’ve learned throughout our years in the cheese business. On the second to last day, these experiences culminated in the Awards Ceremony, where the best American cheesemakers were honored for their outstanding products. As exciting and emotional as the Ceremony was, the real fun occurred on the last day of the conference, the Festival of Cheese. Here, every entry to the Awards Ceremony was available to taste, not just those that won a ribbon.

Stretching as far as the eye can see, the conference hall was filled with towers of Alpine-style cheeses, smorgasbords of oozy bloomy-rinds and mountains of meaty, pungent washed rinds. Entire rows devoted just to flavored cheeses, smoked cheeses, hispanic-style cheeses; the Festival was truly a turophile’s heaven. As a buyer at Murray’s, I am lucky to have the opportunity everyday to try all manner of tremendous cheese from across the globe, but it’s staggering just how many fantastic new and established American cheeses were present, especially when seeing them all in one place. There is no doubt that our domestic industry is robust and healthy, and leading the way globally in innovation and quality.

After being presented with a plate and wine glass (everything one needs for a successful cheese tasting), our first stop took us to the Alpine-style table to taste the winner for best-in-show, Spring Brook Farm’s Tarentaise Reserve. Modelled after the Alpine cheeses of eastern France, such as Abondance and Beaufort, Tarentaise has long been a staple on Murray’s counter, and the 2-year extra-aged version is a thing of beauty: a pronounced and lingering sweetness, an underlying current of roasted hazelnuts and brown butter, and satisfying crystallization. Truly a world-class cheese, on par with the best extra-aged Comtes and Gruyeres. Look for a special Tarentaise aged in our caves to hit our counters at the end of August, with a profile between the reserve and the original, exclusive to Murray’s.

After refilling our glasses with some terrific dry cider from Oregon’s Aengus Ciderworks, we visited our own Murray’s award winners, Hudson Flower (our collaboration with Old Chatham Sheepherding Company) and Torus (our collaboration with Vermont Creamery). These cheeses mark our first ribbons at the festival, taking second place in their respective categories. While we’ve long been known for our cave-aging, this marks the first time that affinage-specific collaborations have been honored at the festival. These partnerships with some of our favorite creameries have been very successful, and we can’t wait to roll out more Cavemaster Reserve cheeses soon. And hopefully we’ll have wins for Greensward, our collaboration with Jasper Hill, and Barden Blue, our collaboration with Consider Bardwell, next year!

With the multitude of choices on offer, at this point we started bouncing around from table to table, trying whatever caught our eyes. Some of the best cheese new to me were the amazingly nuanced washed rind goat cheeses from Briar Rose Creamery, and Bleating Heart’s stunningly sheepy tommes and blues. We also had a chance to nibble on goodies from some of my favorite charcuterie purveyors, Olympic Provisions and Fra’mani, whose cured meats provided perfect counterpoints to mountains of dairy products filling the conference hall.

As our stomachs grew full and the conference wound down, I began to reflect on all the amazing experiences our team had at the conference this year. We had our wills and knowledge tested in the CCP exam, learned a tremendous amount from the stellar panels, and had a lot of fun relaxing and hanging out with our colleagues from around the country, but what will stick with me the most is the incredible talent, passion and love that American cheesemakers and retailers have for these amazing products, and the change they are affecting across the American culinary landscape. The Festival of Cheese was the perfect encapsulation of this, and a fitting end to an unbelievably successful American Cheese Society conference. I can’t wait for next year’s in Rhode Island!