In this installment
Spanish cheeses
About hard cheeses
Artisanal Manchego Cheese
Zamorano Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Spanish Salad Recipe
Farmhouse Mahon Cheese
Other Spanish cheeses
Six steps for selecting superior cheeses
Spanish cheeses
Like all other farmhouse cheeses, the flavor of Spanish cheese reflects the land (terroire), what the animal eats, and the methods employed by the cheesemaker. Perhaps nowhere else in the world is the type and breed of animal so influential as it is in Spain. A large percentage of Spain’s one hundred or so different varieties of cheese are made from ewe’s (sheep) milk. Perhaps this is linked to the fact that Spain boasts more than 1,500 endemic species. This diversity in breeds can be linked to Spain’s size (Spain is the second largest country in the European Union), and more importantly, countryside–which ranges from Alpine to desert-like conditions.
All three cheeses are hard cheeses. So, sit back and enjoy, and if you’re partial to sherry, definitely try it with these incredible cheeses.
About hard cheeses
I call a cheese hard if it is easy to grate and when cut, doesn’t leave any “goo” on the knife. A few examples that spring to mind are cheddar, parmesan, pecorino romano, manchego and gouda. Hard cheese comes in three styles, hard, semi-hard and cooked curd. Pretty straight forward. The cooked curd is such a fascinating style, the next installment is entirely devoted to it. Unlike mold-ripened, washed-rind and blue styles, where mold plays an essential role in ripening and flavoring the cheese, it is solely the cheesemaking process that makes hard cheese hard. Originally, hard cheese was made in the summer or fall while there was surplus milk and was meant to last through the winter and early spring when cheese couldn’t be made. It had to be “sturdy” enough to go the distance and, perhaps more importantly, remain palatable. In essence, hard cheese is the traditional way of preserving milk (protein) for the winter months, similar to canning fruits and vegetables.
How is hard cheese made?
The goal in making hard cheese is to expel as much moisture (whey) as possible, while retaining as many milk solids (fat) as possible. When we talked about mold-ripened cheese with French cheeses, I explained how important it was to retain moisture by cutting the curd as little as possible. Well, hard cheese is the opposite extreme.
There are all manner of ways a cheese maker expels moisture–cutting the curd, heating the curd, milling the curd or in the case of cheddar, a combination of all three. The most important of these is the cutting. The curd for hard cheeses can be cut anywhere from pea size to rice grain size–the smaller the curd is cut; the more moisture is released. Once the curd is cut, it is gently heated in a vat to force out more moisture, then drained. Cheese makers, being the resourceful people they are, turn this full-flavored whey into butter and ricotta–or feed it to fortunate local pigs. Rest assured, nothing is wasted.
The cut curd is then placed into a mold. The size of the mold depends on the size of cheese being made—anywhere from 9 inches in diameter for Manchego to 20 inches in diameter for Parmigiano- Reggiano. Once the curd is in the mold, it is left overnight to drain. Sometimes, as in the case of traditional cheddar, it is placed in a cheese press or weighted down and left overnight. The press helps to (can you guess?), drain even more moisture from the cheese.
The next stage of making hard cheese is tending the rind. In England, hard cheeses are usually wrapped in cloth and rubbed with lard. In Europe, they are soaked in a brine (salt-water) bath. Either way, the objective is to seal the outside of the cheese, creating a rind. This rind acts as a barrier to protect the cheese inside, but unlike waxing or sealing the cheese in plastic, the natural rind allows the cheese to breathe and allows moisture to evaporate. Some natural-rind cheeses will lose up to 15 percent of their weight during the aging process.
The length of time a hard cheese is aged can be anywhere from three to 24 months (in some rare cases even longer). The length of time greatly depends on how good the initial flavor is. (Note: longer aging does not necessarily make a cheese taste better. Like wine, some wheels taste better when they’re a little younger.) Some people liken hard cheese to making a good stock; the more water that evaporates the more intensely flavored the stock. If fresh cheese is the bouquet of the field, hard cheese is its concentrated essence preserved in a rind.
P.S. Last installment, I talked about mold-ripened cheeses being lower in fat. As you may have guessed, hard cheeses are some of the highest (because of all that expelled moisture). However, since traditional hard cheese has so much flavor, a little piece of cheese goes a long way.
Artisanal Manchego Cheese
Manchego is to Spain what Cheddar is to England—a near legendary cheese, oft-chosen by both connoisseurs and novices alike. Manchego cheese is made from the milk of Manchega sheep, which graze on the La Mancha plains in southern, central Spain. The name La Mancha is derived from the Arabic word manhsa, meaning, “land without water.” It can get pretty hot in this part of the world, so the fact that Manchega sheep can produce milk under these conditions is extraordinary. The Manchega’s milk capacity is pretty impressive, especially considering they graze mainly on dry pasture and grain stubble fields. One would think under these conditions the milk would be low in fats, but quite the opposite is true. Manchega milk is very fatty, which results in a rich, full-flavored, fragrant cheese with a subtle, salty tang in the finish. Today, Manchego is one of the best-known ewe’s milk cheeses in the world.
After years of effort, we’ve come up with a source for traditionally-made, hand-crafted Manchego that lives up to its reputation as Spain’s greatest cheese. You don’t have to know anything about cooking to enjoy this great cheese. It’s delicious simply cut into wedges and straight. It’s also lovely in the kitchen—you can grate Manchego and add it to casseroles, soups or salads. It will bring a taste of the Spanish heartland and a swirl of Spain’s colorful cuisine to your table.
Zamorano Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Although few Americans have heard of this cheese, I think it’s one of Spain’s tastiest table cheeses. Many Spanish cheese lovers consider it one of the most important Spanish sheep’s milk cheeses–a long and prestigious list to be at the head of. The quality and flavor of the milk contribute greatly to the final flavor of the cheese.
Zamorano is made from the milk of Churra sheep, a breed that first appeared in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. They are found grazing in the northern plateaus that border Portugal. The province is called Zamora and there are only 14 farms that make Zamorano–truly a local cheese. Aged for just over a year, this cheese is incredibly smooth. It is similar in style and shape to Manchego. It has a delicate, lightly fruity flavor, with the mildest, lovely tang at the finish. If you ever thought cheese couldn’t be both mild and full-flavored, you’ll change your mind after tasting this.
Spanish Salad Recipe
Having eaten it regularly for the last three or four years, I will whole-heartedly vouch for this salad.
Leaf lettuce torn into bite-size pieces
1 ripe tomato cut into 1” cubes
1/4 lb. Zamarano cheese cut into 1/2” cubes
1/8 lb. toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
2 piquillo pimientos (roasted peppers), coarsely chopped
Spanish extra virgin olive oil
Sherry vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Fill individual salad bowls with the lettuce. Add tomatoes, then the cheese, almonds and pimientos. If you like, add a few olives, too (but absolutely not the ones from the can). Dress with olive oil, sherry vinegar and black pepper to taste. Be sure to have some good bread on hand to soak up any leftover oil and vinegar.
Farmhouse Mahon Cheese
I far prefer the farmhouse versions of this cheese. Unfortunately, they’re rarely seen off the islands. You can spot them from their darker, dusty looking rinds, the color of the pastel orange sunsets you’d savor from the western shores of Spanish islands. (Factory cheeses have a bright orange, waxy looking rind.) The interior is the color of well-worn ivory.
This pillow-shaped cow’s milk cheese is made on the island of Menorca, off the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Menorca is blessed with temperate weather year round. From the fall through early spring, this tiny island transforms into one huge lush meadow. During this time of year, most cheese making slows down considerably due to lack of feed, but this is when Menorca–a virtually flat island–kicks into high gear making cheese. The unique shape of this cheese comes from the curd being piled in the center of a cloth, square corners are knotted and twisted together and the cheese is pressed and twisted for a few days before being aged. Mahón is not flashy, just incredibly flavorful. The texture is wonderfully smooth with a sweet and fruity aroma. It is at its best at about ten months, when it’s developed the texture of aged Gouda, and a nutty, slightly smoky flavor.
Other Spanish cheeses
Although Spain makes some of the world’s finest cheeses, it’s only lately that they’ve become available outside the Iberian Peninsula. Consequently, few Americans have had the chance to really sample them. A Frenchman I know who’s been working with traditional cheeses for over 20 years, confessed to me that, “there is much more passion for great cheese in Spain than in France. The cheeses of France are famous,” he said, “but the cheeses of Spain have the flavor.” It’s true. There’s an enormous amount of flavor in every bite of Spain’s best. If you find these in your local cheese shop, taste for yourself–you’ll find a phenomenal amount of personality in every bit of these hand-crafted cheeses.
Torta del Casar
An outstanding local specialty from the region of Extramadura in the far west of Spain, bordered on the west by Portugal, on the east by the Sierra de Gredos and to the south by the province of Andalucia. Aside from its fantastic flavor, Torta del Casar is noteworthy to cheese lovers for another reason: it’s one of only a handful of cheeses in the world still made using local thistle instead of rennet to begin the separation of the milk into curd and whey. Of still greater import to cheese eaters is the fact that Torta del Casar tastes incredibly good. It ripens up to a soft, creamy state, after which you can cut off the upper crust of the cheese, and scoop out the inside. Great flavor with a mushroomy, milky, silky texture. Torta del Casar goes well with almost anything from roasted piquillo peppers, to a grilled vegetable sandwich, or a nice bottle of Spanish red wine.
Majorero
The Canary Islands are known for their beautiful beaches, but cheese lovers might choose to visit just to get their hands on this incredibly good cheese. I tried it for the first time a few years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. It has the semi- firm texture of an Italian Fontina, with which it shares a comparable complexity of flavor. Both have an appealing taste the Spanish call “toasted.” Majorero is unlike any other goat cheese I’ve tasted. Eating Majorero makes me want to take a trip to the Canary Islands just to learn more about it, and eat a lot more of it.
Valdeon
A delicate and delicious blue cheese from the northern Spanish region of Asturias. Valdeon is wrapped in maple leaves, then aged in caves. It has a nice bit of butterscotch in its flavor, and is sweeter, mellower and moister than Spain’s better-known blue cheese, Cabrales. Asturias is the heart of apple country in Spain, and Valdeon is a very good match for a couple of crisp apples and a crusty loaf of bread.
Cabrales; Spain’s special blue cheese
Authentic Cabrales is a walk on the wild side that blue cheese lovers won’t want to miss. Cabrales is in short supply even in Spain. You can be sure you’ve got the real thing by checking its wrapping—real Cabrales arrives exclusively in a forest green foil wrap. Made from raw cow’s milk, it’s one of the last blue cheeses left in the world that is still allowed to “blue” independently. No blue mold is ever introduced into the milk or the curd of the cheese. Instead, newly made cheeses are put into caves where they naturally develop their indigo veining all on their own. Real Cabrales is not for those who have mixed feelings about blue cheese. It has a rustic, robust flavor that hints of the caves and the wildest of wild mushrooms. It’s great melted over grilled steak, spread over toasted farm bread, or served with a fine Oloroso sherry.
Tetilla
Tetilla is a mild, yet still delicious cheese from Galicia in the northwest corner of Spain. (Originally settled by Celts, Galician traditionalists still wear kilts and play the bagpipes!) It has a milky, clean, buttery flavor with a soft texture. In fact, the number one after-school snack for Galician school kids is a sandwich of Tetilla cheese and membrillo. Adults who like fine flavors are likely to appreciate it as well.
Queso de la Serena
Okay, so you’ve never heard of this cheese. But you gotta start somewhere, right? This cheese has a unique flavor that begs to be brought home. Made by Juan Sanchez in Extramadura in western Spain, this cheese comes from fresh raw sheep’s milk. Like the above-mentioned Torta del Casar, this cheese is started with traditional thistle instead of the usual rennet. It is soft, lively, almost wild, creamy and very almond-y. I like it a lot.
Idiazabal
A treat of a cheese from the Basque country. Raw sheep’s milk cheese, smoked over beechwood (the same wood that gives its smokiness to piquillo peppers), then given a good bit of aging. Its firm texture makes it eminently sliceable for sandwich- es or for pre-party snacking. Find it at zingermans.com!
Suspiro
Unlike any other goat cheese I’ve ever had. A superb creamy cheese that does for goat’s milk what Torta del Casar can do for cow’s milk. Rich and lusciously creamy on the tongue, it has a smooth, almost spreadable texture.
Balanchares
Fresh logs of hand-ladled goat cheese from the Baena district of southern Spain. Marinated with an assortment of local herbs and the region’s top grade extra virgin olive oil. Spread on toasted farm bread and enjoy it with a cold glass of dry Fino sherry.
Garotxa
This was probably the best cheese I ate on a trip to Spain in 1999. A traditional goat’s milk cheese from Catalunya, it’s rarely seen outside its homeland. Don’t be put off by its powdery gray rind. This is old-style artisan fare, and when people first started making it over 500 years ago, no one was worrying about how consumers would respond to such a dull and dusty-looking exterior. The main point then (and now) is that Garrotxa tastes great. (If your Catalan is a little rusty, it’s pronounced “Gah-rote-cha,” with the accent on the last syllable.) It’s got a firm texture, ivory white interior and a deep-down, deliciously earthy, goat flavor. Great with a loaf of warm crusty country bread, a handful of toasted hazelnuts and a ripe pear.
Six steps for selecting superior cheeses
Trying to make your way through the myriad cheeses on the market these days can be more than a little intimidating. What’s the right cheese to buy? Of course, there isn’t a single proper selection, but since I’m no stranger to this world of wild opinions, let me seize this opportunity to share my own strongly-held views before we go any further. As with almost any other food group, you’ll find a plethora of cheese products offered for sale these days, most with confusingly similar names or labels. Almost any place with a dairy case sells something called “Swiss” and “Parmesan”; many stock seven choices of cheddar, maybe a dozen different blues. For most shoppers, finding themselves faced with such a tremendous cheese selection, the word “intimidating” would be an understatement. Here’s a quick take on what I look for when I’m out shopping.
1. Go for flavor first
For me, flavor comes first. I want the stuff that’s so savory and so delicious, I can’t help but shake my head with amazement after eating even the thinnest sliver. Why would anyone offer sub-par stuff? A fair enough question. But the answer is, sadly, all too simple: how the cheese actually tastes gets surprisingly short shrift on most lists. Most retailers seem to think that convenience and cost are much more important to consumers than the way the cheese actually tastes. Sometimes I’m stunned by how much mediocre cheese is out there for sale. Unknowingly, the majority of what makes it into most shops is rather boring, often unpleasantly bitter, underage cheese. For every really fantastic, flavorful wedge on the market, you’ll find a few thousand more that don’t even come close.
So what’s a cheese lover to do? Just keep looking and tasting ‘til you find cheese that hits the high end of the flavor scale. I’ll almost always buy great cheese, regardless of cost or convenience. Is this reckless spending? I don’t think so. It’s just that I’d rather savor a small bit of a great-tasting, full-flavored cheese than a huge hunk of some bland commercial alternative. By the pound, the latter is likely much cheaper. But per ounce of flavor, even the most expensive farmhouse cheese is a great deal compared to inexpensive industrial stuff.
2. Stick to traditional cheese
These days, when doing things the old-fashioned way is hardly the norm, finding traditionally made cheese is often a challenge of significant proportions. But hey, it’s a challenge I relish. What I’m talking about is cheese that was made much like it was a hundred years ago, long before fancy looking factories messed with old-time flavors and textures. Let’s face facts, while most of what comes from the big factories today isn’t inedible, it definitely lacks the depth of flavor, the character and the complexity I’m after. “Pasteurized,” “processed” and “pre-packed” are all fine scientific concepts, but they’ve almost nothing to do with what great cheese is all about. To the contrary, the key is to find the cheeses that–both in flavor and in production–have been altered as little as possible from their old-fashioned best.
How can you tell which cheese is traditional and which is industrial? Tight plastic seals and slick packaging are often–though not always– signs of factory “improvement.” How can you spot the traditional stuff? Although not easy, there are some signs to watch for.
The best cheeses often look unappealing, at least to the uninitiated. On the outside, you may be confronted with dusty gray, cloth wrappings, unevenly folded paper enclosures, asymmetrical shapes, well-worn rinds and a bit of blue mold here and there–these are often signs of a traditional cheese. Labels may reveal some “secrets” as well: watch for words like “fermier” (farmhouse), “artigianale” (artisan), “lait cru” (raw milk) and D.O. (denomination of origin). I wish I had an easier formula for flavor success, but ultimately, the best way I know to track traditional cheese is to find a retailer who knows his or her stuff and sticks to cheese that has been made the old-fashioned way. There aren’t that many of us out there–it’s a lot more work to wheel and deal in traditional cheese than to just order up long-life, plastic sealed stuff from big importers. But the flavor differences make it worthwhile.
3. Take home handmade cheese
Ninety-nine percent of the cheese you see on North American store shelves these days is made in factories using modern, hands-off, cost-saving techniques. Though the results may look fine, the flavor of these commercial candidates is almost always severely lacking. While I’m not a total Luddite (a 19th century Swiss group of anti-technology advocates), I do whole-heartedly believe that handmade cheeses are almost always going to be more flavorful. Now, handmade doesn’t always mean better; well-made factory cheese is better than bad cheese made by hand. But more often than not, if someone has taken the time and trouble to create an artisan cheese by hand instead of just investing in more machinery, the flavor of the finished cheese is going to be more interesting.
What does it mean to say that a cheese is made by hand? Pretty much just what it sounds like; most all of the work from adding rennet to cutting curd and setting the mold is done by hand. Why is that better? Making traditional cheese is a craft of the highest order, work that requires a special insight, a subtle feel, and a knack for knocking out great cheese that you just can’t achieve with automation. That’s right, real people with a pair of imperfect human hands, hefting and happily turning freshly-made curd into carefully-crafted cheeses. Of course, when you’re working with handcrafted foods, each wheel will be a bit different in flavor, appearance and texture. But as with any other artisan food, the variation in the cheese–the personality, character and unpredictability–is exactly what you’ll find so rewarding.
4. Request raw milk
A hundred-and-fifty years ago, all cheese was made from raw (un-pasteurized) milk. Today, it has become a real rarity. Less than 20 percent of France’s cheese is still made from raw milk. The stats decline from there as you move through the rest of Europe and North America. Instead, most modern cheeses are made from milk that has been pasteurized–heated to kill bacteria. The process was a boon for liquid milk sanitation, but it’s a real problem when it comes to crafting flavorful cheese.
While there are some exceptions, the most flavorful cheeses are still those made from un-pasteurized, raw milk. To my taste, it’s still the best way to make the best tasting cheeses. How do you find raw milk cheese? You may be buying it now, but just don’t realize it. All Swiss Gruyère and Emmenthal, Parmigiano-Reggiano and authentic French Roquefort must, legally, be made from raw milk. Beyond those few, ask your retailer, and/or check the labels on the cheese. Depending on country of origin, look on the label for the words “lait cru,” “leche cruda,” or “roh milch,” all of which mean “raw milk.” To quote Veronica Steele, one of Ireland’s best traditional cheese makers, never known for her subtlety, the contrast between raw milk and pasteurized milk is “the difference between a real sheep and a plastic one.”
5. Choose cheese from the right region
Call this geographical correctness if you like. Unlike the excesses of our counterpart in correctness (political), this isn’t just about language. A source imposes its mark on the ultimate flavor of a cheese. Look at it like this: as an agricultural product–the flavor of a traditionally made cheese is completely contingent on the area in which it was made: the soil, the minerals and the geology are all unique to each area. The plants–which grow in that same soil–are being eaten daily by local dairy herds. Consequently, if you fly a herd of cows from Normandy to North Dakota to make “authentic Camembert” you’ll end up with a different cheese. Not necessarily bad, it just won’t be the same.
Travel wherever you like, but when you’re buying cheese, stick to the right region. For example, there’s cheese called “fontina” made in Sweden, Denmark, America and all over Italy. But none of them can hold a culinary candle to the flavor of the real thing–Fontina Val D’Aosta–that only comes from a single mountain valley in the northwest corner of Italy. The diffe ence between the original and the faux-fontinas is the difference between real, freshly squeezed orange juice and canned, frozen concentrate.
6. Get it cut to order
I’m not against convenience or anything. It’s just that I know I’m more likely to get a tastier piece of cheese if the person behind the counter cuts it especially for me. Hey, everybody likes to feel special, right? But seriously, the bigger issue is that cut-to-order cheeses will almost always taste better than a wedge from the same wheel cut and sealed in plastic for longer than you want to know. Some of the prepackaged stuff you see in stores has been sitting in plastic for weeks, even months. While I won’t say prepackaged is always evil, I can assure you that the cheese isn’t improving while it’s sitting sealed in its plastic protector. It may take you a little longer to get what you want and head for home, but freshly-cut usually means finer flavor.