Cheese Theater

I attended a seminar yesterday down in Charlotte and got to watch and participate in creating some beautiful cheese displays like this one.  Three wheels of Manchego were stacked on each other and several wheels were cut and stacked in a stair step manner around the wheels.  Then it was dressed up with some fig jam, quince and pear fruit pastes, a real pear here and there and some almonds (that didn’t show up in the photo) and there you have a beautiful display.   On the lower shelves of the butcher block table we had bottles of Spanish wine and beer and some crackers. 

 

        

I never get tired of watching someone crack open a wheel of Parmesan Reggiano.  It takes lots of finesse and muscle along with scoring tools, and chisels to pop it open and once it is cracked open it is a thing of beauty.

 

 

And look at this beautiful display of Parmesan Reggiano.

 

And here is a bit more of what I was calling “Cheese Theater” yesterday.  Two wheels of Parrano (one of my favorites) were stacked and  cut at the same time.  I have to give this a try.

    

I was in a wonderful store yesterday that had an Affinage cheese case.  It’s the first one I have seen.  It’s used to age various cheeses to their perfect ripeness and of course it’s a beautiful way to display some of your best and most unique cheeses.  And lastly, I came across a new product called Brie Brule. ( You can also find it here.)  It’s a dry seasoning mix you can sprinkle on top of your brie before you bake it.  This one was Honey, Orange, with Black Pepper.  What a wonderful sounding combination n’est pas?