Quality over quantity
The variety of cheeses entered in the New Zealand Champion of Cheese Awards provide a dilemma for cooks in how to best use them. Rebecca Fox talks to cheesemakers and a chef about how they use the dairy goodness in their cooking.
‘‘QUALITY over quantity.’’ That is the single message from cheesemakers and chefs about using cheese in cooking.
While many people may use the everyday cheddars and parmesans for everyday cooking and save the ‘‘good stuff’’ for a cheese platter, there are other ways.
The recent New Zealand Champions of Cheese trophy list is a showcase of the diversity of the country’s cheese from the organic cumin seed gouda, the buffalo milk ricotta, brick cheese to sheep milk camemberts and goat parmesans.
Dunedin chef Andy Aitken has been a ‘‘cheesaholic since he was a wee man’’, so devising a menu showcasing cheese — especially the awardwinning champion cheeses — is his ultimate job.
‘‘New Zealand produces a lot of wonderful cheeses.’’
The Emerson’s head chef’s soft spot for cheese often shows in unusual ways — such as a blue cheese semifreddo. Yes, Aitken likes to surprise people with cheese desserts.
The key is to not use too many cheeses in one dish, especially if trying to showcase a particular type.
‘‘Use the good stuff; quality over quantity.’’
That is not to say he does not enjoy an airy cheese souffle or the creaminess of feta in a salad.
‘‘I’m a sucker for a cheese scone.’’
He has also been known to infuse the rind of a good parmesan in olive oil to pour over ice cream, watching the syrup solidify as it hits the cool ice cream.
Cheese can either be the foundation or a subtle flavour touch to a dish.
Blue cheese brings out the flavour in wild food dishes, adding a rich creaminess and balancing the flavours.
In a simple cheese sauce, it adds a smooth silkiness to the finished product.
The opportunity to work with this year’s top cheeses had given Aitken an opportunity to get out of his ‘‘bubble’’ and learn more about cheese varieties.
He is a great fan of Whitestone’s Ohau Goat’s Blue and says the nearer most cheeses are to their best before date the better.
‘‘In New Zealand, we are so cautious, but for me cheese has to be oozing, almost walking.’’
That ageing process gave different cheeses different flavour characteristics and required different uses in a dish.
Aitken likes to store his cheese wrapped in parchment and in a container in the chiller, but it has to be served at room temperature.
To see
New Zealand Cheese Lovers Dinner Series, Emerson’s, Dunedin, May 16.