Ask and you shall receive…

2 cups granulated sugar

½ cup water

1 stick unsalted butter

1/3 cup light corn syrup

½ teaspoon sifted baking soda

1 lb. Wasabi Peas (can be found at your local Asian or Health Food market)

In a large saucepan combine the sugar, water, butter and corn syrup. Bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the caramel is light brown and registers 300° on a candy thermometer. Do not over-stir. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda, making sure the baking soda is thoroughly mixed in.  Be careful! The baking soda will cause the mixture to bubble. Scrape the brittle onto a large rimmed, nonstick baking sheet or onto a baking sheet lined with Silpat. Using the back of a large spoon (oil it lightly if it sticks), spread the brittle into a thin, even layer. Sprinkle with Wasabi Peas.  Press peas into brittle, if necessary. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Break the brittle into large shards.

Brittle can be stored in an airtight container, each layer separated with wax paper, in a cool, dry place and at room temperature , for up to 1 month.

(adapted from a recipe by Karen Demasco)

cheesenotes:

I know, I posted about Murray’s Cheese Bar just a couple weeks ago, but last night found me there again, this time to say goodbye to Carlos Yescas of Lactography, who is moving back to Mexico City full time (for now at least: we hope he’ll be back soon!). Tia Keenan (@KaseKaiserina) wowed us as usual with her amazing cheese platings, inspired pairings and tasty dishes. 

Buena suerte!!! Come back to visit soon, Carlos. Oh, and AMAZING DINNER!!!!!

cheesenotes:

Thursday saw New York City hit by a massive storm — aka a Derecho — with ominous warnings of tornadoes and extreme rain and winds, arriving right around the dinner hour. That wasn’t enough to keep me from venturing out, useless $3 umbrella in hand,  to Murray’s Cheese Bar, Murray’s new cheese-focused space a few doors down from their store on Bleecker street. Fortunately, the storm’s power was far less than expected — although it did leave one dining companion a little wetter than they might have liked, and produce some astonishing photos — and Murray’s did not disappoint on any level. 

Helmed by Tia Keenan (@kasekaiserina) — formerly of Casselula and now “Director of Food Service” for Murray’s and self-described “Mother Hen” of the restaurant — the Bar offers a menu that takes full advantage of the amazing cheese caves at its disposal. You can see the full menu in my previous post.

The menu  offers a carefully selected array of cheeses at their peak for ripeness, aging and seasonal availability— organized into Fresh, Soft-Ripened, Washed Rind, Semi-Firm/Firm, and Blue — available both a la carte and as “Cheesemongers choice” flights of three or five cheeses. In addition there’s a large selection of meats, also a la carte or as flights, and combo cheese/meat flights. The cheese menu includes many of Murray’s own “cave-aged” projects, such as the Hudson Flower (previously tasted at the New Amsterdam Market) and the Petit Eric and Gabietou. 

For our cheese plate we went with a Cheesemonger’s flight of cheeses (Up in Smoke Chevre, Hudson Flower, Pecorino Ginepro, Zimbro, Colston-Basset Stilton, as well as an a la carte order of Nocciolo) with three meats and an accompaniment of pickles, jams candied nuts and wasabi brittle. The board featured many sheep and goat’s milk cheeses; as Tia told us, this was a reflection of the fact that mid-late summer is peak season for these. The Zimbro in particular was a delightful discovery, a thistle-renneted, cloth-wrapped pudding-like cheese, lacking in the bitterness that often marks these cheeses and with a wonderful pudding-like consistency. We also tried the recommended pairing of the Up In Smoke with a Kim Chi, which worked surprisingly well.  The Hudson Flower is a collaboration with Old Chatham Sheepherding and is Murray’s spin on the classic Fleur de Maquis, and is worth seeking out. 

The menu also offers a selection of cheese-centric spreads, appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts. We enjoyed the Gruyere Malakoff, Murray’s version of a Swiss specialty that is essentially a cheese beignet, light and crackling on the outside with a molten, nutty core; Spreads including a Southern-inspired Pimento, Bavarian Obatdza, and Greek Kopanisti; a bubbling Mac ‘n’ Cheese made with Tickler Cheddar, Caved Aged Gruyere and Mozzarela di Bufala; and for dessert, we shared a luscious Coeur de Creme parfait made with Vermont Butter & Cheese Creme Fraiche, Ben’s Cream Cheese and Red Currant Curd. 

From the wine and beer list we were recommended one unusual choice — the Mava Roka alcoholic Kombucha. Made in Queens, this is an unusual version of the fermented beverage with a higher alcohol content and less of a vinegary bite, about which we were admittedly a little bit dubious, but quite enjoyed. 

So if you’re looking for a night of cheese, whether drinks with a flight or a full meal, get yourself to Murray’s Cheese Bar! And hopefully you won’t have to race any Deracho’s to get there…

(Also, make sure to check out the painting in the back, signed by none other than Anne Saxelby. Anne got her start in the cheese world at Murray’s; this work was created during her time in the caves there.)

Murray’s Cheese Bar
264 Bleecker St
Open Daily 5pm-1am
646-476-8882 
map 

YUM. so glad you braved the storm! 

cheesenotes:

It’s almost here! Murray’s new cheese bar has a site (http://www.murrayscheesebar.com/) and a Twitter account (@MurraysCheezBar),the official opening can’t be far behind! 

oh yes, this is happening.

cheesenotes:

More information about Murray’s long-rumored (and now confirmed) Cheese-focused restaurant, and it’s very promising. Eater.com reports that Tia Keenan (on Twitter as @KaseKaiserina), formerly head cheese at Casellula, will be Director of Food Service and bringing her acclaimed turophilic skills to the job:

Rob Kaufelt, owner of Village staple Murray’s Cheese, is bringing in the big guns for his now confirmed wine and cheese bar in the former Bar’rique space at 264 Bleecker St. Reps reveal that Tia Keenan, the cheese obsessive who made a name for herself at Caselulla over in Hell’s Kitchen, has been brought on as the Director of Food Service for the Murray’s group and calls herself the “mother hen” of the upcoming cheese-centic restaurant.

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this stuff is all true! we are REALLY excited for the rarebit burger, an open faced patty melt smothered in a liquid beer and cheese mixture table-side. srsly.

Eric Asimov wrote a great piece for The New York Times on red wine and cheese, featuring some advice from the pairing pros at Murray’s. Boils down to: RELAX, it’s just cheese and wine.

“I tell people not to be afraid,” said Tia Keenan, who recently became the first director of food services for Murray’s Cheese, and whose first job is to develop a cheese and wine bar for Murray’s near the flagship store on Bleecker Street. “The worst-case scenario is that you have a wine with a cheese that doesn’t really go so well together, nothing more tragic.”

Recently, with a 2010 Côtes du Rhône Brézème from Eric Texier, the sort of excellent but modest red wine that I’m happy to drink on any given night, I sampled a few different sorts of cheeses and found many of them to be enjoyable, even unexpected matches. Up in Smoke, a smoked, fresh, creamy goat cheese from Oregon, was delicious with the savory Brézème. So was Jasper Hill’s Harbison, an oozy, soft, bloomy rind cheese from Vermont with a pronounced fruitiness.

Best of all was one of my favorites, Ossau Iraty Vieille, a hard raw sheep’s milk cheese from the French Pyrenees. This pairing was brilliant, the earthy qualities of both wine and cheese enhancing and amplifying each other.

The point is not to obsess over the specifics of food and wine pairings, but to feel free to explore different matches. Seeking perfection is daunting and more often than not will disappoint. Looking for the good rather than the perfect allows more flexibility and fewer inhibitions, and opens one up to the quality of versatility.

“Pairing is about process as much as about results, and that’s scary,” Ms. Keenan said. “The important thing is the journey, not the destination.”