March, 2005 vol 4 #3

Say Cheese
by Carole Palmer

Cheese Course Wows Les Dames Guests

Recently the Ritz-Carlton Washington was the scene of Les Dames 11th Epicurean Food and Wine Auction, a lavish event raising nearly $50,000 to support local scholarships and grants. Les Dames members worked tirelessly to make this event a success. In the kitchen, Janis McLean and Anna Saint John spearheaded 20 member-chefs through a stunning six course dinner head-lined as “A Tribute to Grand Dame Julia Child.”

What does this have to do with cheese?

For the first time in 11 years, the Les Dames menu planners included a cheese course, specifi-cally an American Artisan Cheese plate. It was a resounding success!

Les Dames cheese course committee had impeccable cheese, bread, and design credentials--Carla Hall, Carol McClure, and Carole Palmer. (Did your name have to begin with “C” to get on the “Cheese” committee?)

The Architects of the Cheese Course
Carla Hall is a stylish and accomplished chef and former runway model in Paris who not only knows how to make delicious food, but also knows how to make food look chic and elegant. After stints in the business world as a CPA and the fashion world as a model, Hall graduated from L’Academie de Cuisine, became Executive Chef at the State Plaza Hotel, and served as Direc-tor/Executive Chef of the tony Washington Club. A true entrepreneur, Hall founded her own ca-tering and private chef firm Alchemy Caterers.

Carol McClure knows bread. McClure is the Academic Dean and Assistant Director of the profes-sional programs at L’Academie de Cuisine. Having studied under the head instructor of the San Francisco Baking Institute, Didier Rosada, she is a bread baking instructor and worked as a bread baker at Best Buns Bread Company in Arlington.

Carole Palmer authors this cheese column for Foodservice Monthly and promotes cheese, pri-marily American Artisan Cheese, through seminars, lectures, and presentations throughout the region. Palmer is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Cheese Society and through her contacts with cheese makers has assembled an extraordinary collection of hard-to-find and award-winning cheeses.

Working Together to Create Cheese Art
“ I think less is more, as far as the cheese plate itself goes,” said Carla Hall. “The plate should be the palette, so the cheeses speak for themselves. We chose a simple white square pedestal plate.” She continued, “Not only were the three cheeses strikingly different in taste, but also in texture and color.”

As for the cheeses themselves, Hall enthused, “I am sold – hook, line, and sinker – on these American artisan cheeses. I am amazed at the freshness and creaminess. I am not a fan of blue cheese but I loved St. Pete’s Select Blue. I was thrilled to be part of the cheese course for the 2005 Les Dames Gala dinner.”

Praise for Cheese Artistry
Michele Jacobs, the president of the Washington chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier and the Man-aging Director of Special Events at Union Station, described the response among her table guests to the cheese course.

“It wasn’t just the artisan cheese that my table raved about; it was the art of the cheese. The cheese presentation was one of the prettiest plates presented at the Gala with the trio of just-enough-cheese set off by tempting accompaniments. The Blythedale Farm Camembert was espe-cially wonderful with the boysenberry jam.” Jacobs reported, “Rickie Niceta, a guest and senior account executive with Design Cuisine Caterers was so taken with the pistachio brittle that she wrapped hers in a napkin to take back to show her chef. And when another tablemate didn’t quite finish her St. Pete’s Select Blue, my husband Joe offered that, while he’d never met a blue did didn’t like, this particular blue was a definite winner.”

Further artistic praise came from Ann Harvey Yonkers, DC Dame and founder and co-director of FreshFarm Markets. “Arranged artistically on a white square plate and served with a pistachio brittle, dried fig with mandarin mostarda, and a swirl of boysenberry jam, the cheeses were a model of understated design and elegance. The white on white presentation enhanced the tex-ture of the cheeses with their palate of colors from creamy gold Tarentaise to chalky white Blythedale camembert.”

Carol McClure handmade all of the artisan bread for the cheese course. She lightly brushed slices of her bread with olive oil, toasted them, and arranged them in the center of the cheeses. The result was a crisp and natural complement to the flavors of the cheese.

Julia Would Approve
Stephanie Hersh, long-time assistant to the late Julia Child and guest speaker, introduced the evening’s menu with a description of how each course was á la Julia. Stephanie noted that Julia didn’t consider a meal complete without a cheese course. Julia Child brought forth a culture of American ingredients.

“Julia Child had a lot to do with crusading against fear of food in general. Eliminating butter and cheese was a phase we went through,” agrees Paula Lambert, owner of The Mozzarella Company and a member of the Dallas chapter of Les Dames. “But now the pendulum has reversed its arc, and we are back to eating and enjoying cheese.”

The three American artisan cheeses selected for the plate are all handmade in small batches us-ing traditional methods. Tom and Becky Loftus of Blythedale Farm in Vermont make their smooth and rich Camembert from their small herd of pampered Jersey cows. At Thistle Hill Farm, also in Vermont, John and Janine Putnam produce Tarentaise, a yellow-gold Beaufort-style organic cheese, using a 200-year old copper kettle and the rich milk from their twenty Jerseys. Jeff Jirik at Faribault Dairy in Minnesota ages St. Pete’s Select Blue in pristine sandstone caves that repli-cate the perfect humidity and temperature of the aging caves for Roquefort.

This trio of exceptional cheeses hit just the right note, after the entrée of Coriander Crusted Duck Breast, Duck Confit, and Foie Gras and before the dessert of Chocolate Mousse Hazelnut Cornu-copia with Crème Chantilly.

The Cheese Course Is Here To Stay
Cheese courses are on the increase. The American public is well-traveled and is becoming more sophisticated and food savvy. Television shows add to our knowledge as does the growing avail-ability of American artisan cheeses.

Listen to Geraldine Pain-Hussein, general manager of La Chaumiere in Georgetown and a DC Dames: “I am a cheese lover. As a child of French parents, cheese was and still is part of our daily meals. I am most impressed with the inclusion of a cheese course to the Dames Gala menu. I have attended three Les Dames d’Escoffier Gala dinners, and this was the first time cheese was presented as a dinner course. Fantastic! The presentation was inviting and creative. I loved the pairings of the dried fruits, fruit compote, and the nut brittle which allowed people to mix and match the cheeses with these accompaniments. I believe Americans in general are learning more about cheese making, cheese pairings, and thus eating more cheese. Bravo!”

And we say “Bravo to Les Dames d’Escoffier and to America’s cheese makers!”

Carole Palmer is the president of Good Taste Marketing Services, a Bethesda-based sales and marketing firm specializing in bringing artisanal foods to the marketplace. She is a charter mem-ber of the Washington chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier. Carole can be reached via cpalmer@goodtastemarketing.com or at 301-654-5887.

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