Artisanal” is not a catchword to attach to a rustic-looking piece
of food to give it a trendy
sound. In the case of those
making and serving artisanal
cheese, it’s a genuine skill that
is experiencing a renaissance
in the U.S.
in Providence, R.I. “We are
developing that sense of history,
place and flavors that emerge
from different parts of America.
Artisanal is alive and well.”
Farmstead was founded as a
cheese shop in 2002, with La
Laiterie, a 40-seat new-American
bistro, added on a few years later.
We are developing that sense
of history, place and flavors
that emerge from different
parts of America. Artisanal
is alive and well.
—Matt Jennings
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Young culinarians are lucky to
begin a career in foodservice
at the same time that artisanal
cheese is taking its place in the
forefront of all that’s handcrafted,
sustainable and world-class in
freshness and flavor.
A more refined subset of
artisanal cheese is farmstead
cheese, in which the animals
used for milking and the
cheesemaking operation are
located together.
coming
to terms
At its core, experts agree that
artisanal cheese is made by
hand in small batches by an
artisan. Some would add that no
machinery is used in the process,
but that’s a background issue
that should not take the focus off
the art. “Large-scale equipment
would never be involved,
but some use smaller-scale
equipment or machinery, using
technology through temperature
control or scales, things
like that,” says Jenny Harris,
executive chef/fromager (cheese
expert) for Tria Commissary,
Philadelphia, which prepares
food for two Tria wine, cheese
and beer cafes, and Biba Wine
Bar, also in Philadelphia.
Many cheeses are made with
heat-treated pasteurized milk to
eliminate bacteria, while others
are made with raw milk. In that
case, it is required by law that the
cheese be aged for a minimum
of 60 days. “That way, whatever
bad bacteria exists because of
not being heated all the way
gets eaten up by good bacteria,
and after 60 days, it’s perfectly
fine to eat,” says Steve McKeon,
chief executive officer for cheese
producer Emmi Roth USA Inc.,
Monroe, Wis.
Only in the past decade have
American cheesemakers
developed their craft and
product to the point that they
export their cheeses to European
countries, which themselves are
leaders in fine cheesemaking,
says Matt Jennings, executive
chef, co-owner and master
cheesemonger at Farmstead
The restaurant draws on the
emerging ideal of “food being
locally sourced, made by hand
in small quantities and really
seasonal, as an honest reflection
of food we love,” Jennings says.
As a former gourmet retail
cheese buyer with additional
experience working for a cheese
producer and wholesaler selling
to restaurants, Jennings has spent
his career involved in the cheese
revolution, which, he says, really
started to explode the same
time farmers markets started to
take off. “People got interested
in that California mentality of
purchasing from their farmer
buddy down the street, and it
spread from west to east,” he says.
The passion for artisanal cheese
relates to the convergence of
unique flavors related to time
