Cheese 101

Last semester, the preceptorial gods decided to throw me a bone. It has been nearly four years of being slighted, after all, so I assumed it was about time. They granted me access to no, not the Wine Tasting preceptorial (I wasn't nearly favored enough for that) but the less famed Cheese Tasting preceptorial. And to hold the class the week before finals was so kind of them! I procrastinated studying finals by attending this preceptorial and this is what I learned:

Cheese: A Penn/Tria Rundown

The Fromager, Jenny Harris, from Tria came. The room smelled rank. She apologized.

She distinguished between styles of cheeses -- the first being fresh. To be classified as fresh, the cheese has to have no rind and be less than 60 days old. Examples include feta, mozzarella, and goat. They are often acidic and pair beautifully with beets. Goat cheese pairs well with white wine and wheat beers.


Then she further differentiated cheeses by their rinds. They can be bloomy (white on the outside). Camembert would be an example. These pair well with sparkling wines. The rind is formed by washing the outside of the cheese with penicillin. And yes, the rind is edible. This question was asked multiple times. And every time she said yes.

You can also have a rind washed with fortified wine, which would be termed an epoisse. They are often pungent. They pair well with honey and dessert wine. She also informed us that you could wash your own cheeses at home with beer! Cool! She recommended washing a Camembert with a Porter. Apparently the results are phenomenal. I might give this a go and report back.


Uncooked and pressed cheeses often have a nutty, olive oil flavor and are not nearly as pungent as those with a bloomy rind.
A cooked press cheese, on the other hand, is aged longer and tends to be more dense and sweeter. They pair well with bold red wines. Examples include Gouda, Parmesan and Cheddar. (Side note: the only thing that makes cheddar orange is dye. There is no difference in taste between white and orange cheddar.)
(Side note 2: "to cheddar" refers to the process of cutting curds into blocks and stacking them).


Then we got to the good ol' Bleu cheeses. These are fantastic paired with honey. It brought out a whole new flavor when the two were combined. To get the bleu in bleu cheese, the cheese is punctured with needles so air is introduced throughout the cheese which produces mold -- the bleu. She noted that you can tell a commercialized bleu cheese because the bleu/mold will be in perfect rows throughout the cheese. Rather than let the mold grow naturally, manufacturers inject the mold directly into the cheese. Sick, I know.
Bleu cheeses should be paired with something sweet (I highly recommend honey) and with dessert wines or a chocolate stout.


She was very adamant that cheese should always be tasted at room temperature.

Inspired by this knowledge, my roommates and I threw an informal cheese tasting party with cheeses from Winter Harvest. We had a grand time but couldn't say our palates were refined enough to speak knowingly about the flavor complexities. See the picture above for an idea of the cheeses we tried. We tried Birchrun Hills Farm "Fat Cat" -- a raw milk cheese aged a mininmum of sixty days. The "Birchrun Bleu" we all agreed was our favorite. It was peppery with hints of floral. Paired with honey and apples, it was a true delight. The final cheese was a "Highland Alpine" that none of us cared for. That's still sitting in our fridge. It tasted little better than store bought Swiss. But overall, the cheese tasting was a huge success. Next time, we hope to accompany the cheeses with wine pairings.

-Marianne O'Brien

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Trail Mix

Wandering through the aisles at my local Target, I stumbled upon a remarkable discovery – an entire wall of assorted trail mixes. There were bags with ingredients that ranged from the generic mix of peanuts, raisins, and M&M's to the more exotic dried apricots, yogurt covered raisins, and cinnamon glazed pecans. I stared in wonder at the variety and creativity of the differently themed mixes. I have always been a lover of nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit, so the endless possibility of combining these delicious flavors intrigued me.

After trying countless varieties of trail mixes from organic grocery stores and even airport newsstands, I have found that there is nothing that beats creating your own blend. I tend to favor mixes that are loaded with nuts, especially almonds, peanuts and cashews. Cereal, often Cheerios or Chex Mix, is also a common staple that provides a foundation for this tasty treat. The sweet flavorful bursts from the dried fruit and chocolate make the mix thrilling for the palate.

I usually start with M&M's -- a staple in any trail mix. Raisins pair wonderfully with the saltiness of the peanuts and also cut the sweetness of the milk chocolate. Yogurt covered raisins are even more delicious and add a hint of vanilla to the mix. I like to add dried apricots, pecans, and sometimes hazelnuts, which when paired with M&M's create a taste reminiscent of Nutella. There are some other decadent ingredients that I have been known to add to my trail mixes, including white chocolate chunks, banana chips, cinnamon chips, and dark chocolate covered peanuts. Creating your own trail mix is an experiment in trial and error and it often takes a few tries to come up with a mix that has the perfect balance of sweetness and saltiness, but whatever your blend may be, trail mix is truly the perfect snack for any occasion.

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The Meeting of Two Cultures...via Fruit Salad

In an age of food that emphasizes the quick and easy, fruit salad is a dessert that fulfills these requirements to a "T". All you have to do is cut up whatever fruit you have at hand, throw them in a bowl, mix it around if you're like me and need things to be evenly distributed, and enjoy. There have, of course, been a number of variations on this idea, some involving the use of berries only or the addition of Amaretto liqueur. But the image that comes to my mind when I think of fruit salad does not resemble any of these.

Instead, I picture a creamy mixture laden with cut-up pieces of fruit. Often, the creamy base is composed of milk and sour cream; other times, mango pulp or even vanilla ice cream is used to give it additional flavor and richness. The fruit is diced, if possible, and is from both fresh and canned sources-the presence of cream in the salad allows you to get away with using some canned fruit. Types of fruit used include peaches, pomegranate pears, green grapes, bananas, applies, and pineapple.

This kind fruit salad is typical of many regions of India. As I myself am Indian, this was the only fruit salad I had tasted until I was about seven years old. You can imagine my surprise, therefore, when I was served something quite different at a picnic with a group of friends. A blend of watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, and assorted berries, it was refreshing, delicious, and very different. The idea that a dish with the same name could be so different in two separate cultures was a revelation to me at the time and it piqued my interest in the versatility of food. Both fruit salads fit the bill of what a fruit salad "should" be: quick and easy to make; yet they are, in fact, 'worlds apart'.

Recipe for my family's Indian fruit salad: (to prepare, simply mix together the fruit, add in the sour cream, milk, and sugar, and then top with saffron)

1 28 oz. can of mixed fruit (diced peaches, pears, grapes)

2 bananas, sliced

8 oz can of mandarin oranges

1 apple, diced

1 pomegranate (seeds only)

8 oz. sour cream

2 to 2.5 cups of milk

4 teaspoons of sugar

pinch of saffron

Photo by Rachel Stone

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One Block

South 8th Street, from Dickinson to Greenwich. I won't say that this block comes close to being the best block of food in Philadelphia, but it's a delicious one and a great way to experience South Philadelphia. On this block, there are two well-known food places, Cosmi's Deli and Termini Brothers Bakery. Cosmi's, a family owned place which has been sitting on the corner for 77 years, won the "Best Cheesesteak" award from Philadelphia magazine in 2004 and 2008, and Termini Bros., which has been there for 88 years, is a highly regarded bakery. While this block isn't easy to get to by public transportation, if you're willing to make the journey out to Pat's and Geno's, you might as well walk an extra few blocks and try these places instead.

My friend and I went to these two places towards the end of winter break. We each ordered cheesesteaks with provolone and fried onions, however, while I got mine on a crusty seeded Sarcone's roll, my friend got his on a normal, Amoroso-like Aversa roll that held up as well as mine did to the grease of the cheesesteak. Both of our steaks were made to order, and while they were cooking, we walked over to Termini Bros. and were greeted by assistants in spotless white pastry coats. We knew what we were getting before we got in, but looking around with a server carrying a silver tray behind does want to make you fill it up with tasty-looking eclairs and biscotti, to name a few . However, we just got our cannoli (and asked for chocolate chips and a dusting of pistachio), and they brought the crunchy shells back behind the doors and filled them with cream. We asked for the cannoli to go, and so they put them in a box and tied it up with string.

When we got back, our cheesesteaks were ready, and since there's no seating, we brought all of our food up to Pat's and sat at the back, where no one at the counter could see us. The steaks were sizable, containing a hefty amount of seasoned, juicy, yet well-chopped beef, and cheese in every bite. The onions were golden perfection, adding a little crunch to the sandwich. Afterwards, we easily polished off the delectable cannoli. The shell was still crispy by the time we got to the cannoli, and the cream wasn't heavy, but it was still rich, and was complimented nicely by the chocolate chips. Overall, if you're not too worried about calories and have the time, this combination will provide you with an awesome, highly satisfying, fairly cheap Italian meal. ($3 cannoli, $6.50 cheesesteak, though an extra $1.50 for the seeded roll)

A short note: This wasn't the first time I have gone to Cosmi's and so some friends and I have had the opportunity to try other sandwiches from their menu. Their chicken cutlet sandwiches (which have great names, such as Bobby Gags' or Vinny Riz's) are also quite savory, and my friends let me know that they also have great hoagies.

Photo credit: Comradechu

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Something Fishy

Last weekend, as I sat at home huffing and puffing with a sinus infection, munching on a bagel with cream cheese and lox, I experienced a sudden revelation. Within the past week alone, I had eaten lox, grilled salmon, spicy salmon rolls, and had even eyed the coulibiac, a Russian salmon loaf, in the fridge (though I was too scared to actually try it).

Everywhere I turned, salmon was on the menu, whether poached or grilled or steamed. I roamed the freezer aisle in the supermarket and was legitimately surprised not to find a salmon ice cream flavor.

Why was this fish stalking me? I sat down and did some research.

As it turns out, I wasn't the only one preoccupied with salmon. The red-fleshed fish plays a role in Norse mythology, Celtic folklore, and is a prominent character in Native American tradition. The Nez Perce tribe held annual ceremonies in honor of the salmon return, and in Irish legends, the fish grants wisdom to those who eat it.

Furthermore, salmon inspires ethnic cuisine worldwide. You've got your lox, influenced by Eastern European Jewry and popularized in New York; there's Indian tandoori salmon, flavored with an assortment of spices and slathered with yogurt; and in another corner of the world, Japanese sashimi is a huge hit (though it is actually only a recent success, with the advent of refrigeration).

It's really no surprise that salmon is such a citizen of the world. Its natural territories span from the northern waters of Canada and Norway to the southern shores of Chile, making it as versatile in the water as it is in the kitchen.

Photo Credit: Max Hass

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Intrepid Chefs

"Quick! While no one is looking, dump the cheese into the water bottle!"

Since we weren't technically doing anything illegal, the hushed tones and ninja-like movements were probably unnecessary, but the amped up anxiety is all part of the sport my roommates and I make of dinner sometimes. Besides, taking cupfulls of maple syrup is likely frowned upon.

The practice of bringing Tupperware for yogurt, water bottles for milk, or weighing your backpack down with apples from the dinning halls to get your "swipes worth" ($15 for dinners!) is not uncommon as college students learn to stretch their meal plans. But the occupants of 1511 Harnwell College House have taken this thriftiness one step further by having a night of Iron Chef where the secret indigent is Commons Dinning hall cuisine.

Our goal is simple: to create the best meal possible using (almost) entirely ingredients found at the dinning hall. We make it a "family" dinner night - all three of us chipping in to "gather" the ingredients, cook, clean and invite friends to sample to results. Is doesn't stretch the swipe like a bag full of apples will and sure, we could all eat together at the dinning hall and not have to worry about the clean up. But, if you're like me, and you the meal plan you purchased for convenience knowing how stressful your life would get hear makes you miss cooking (I almost went to culinary school) then knowing it's possible to whip up a meal without a trip to Frogro is comforting.

This week we made entree nachos and "bread pudding" for dessert.

The Nachos are almost self-explanatory once you've gotten the ingredients and figured out a few tricks. For example, the pita put out by the Mediterranean station makes great chips if you peel apart the pockets and toast them on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes. Top them with cheese from the salad bar, suateed mushrooms and onions also from the salad bar and chopped tomatoes located in bowls around the room. For protein, we sauteed shredded chicken breast from the burger station and beans from the salad bar with an assortment of spices we keep in the room - paprika, chili powder, or any mixed meat seasonings will work. After everything was piled on the "chips" we put the tray back in the oven for about ten minutes and voila! delicious, dorm-made nachos that garnered rave reviews (if you've got a little money to spare buy some salsa from the store to make these even better).

The intended bread pudding started with a few slices of think bread with the crusts cut off and cut into cubes. The "pudding" part was a mixture of melted vanilla ice cream (to compensate for heavy cream), syrup from the waffle station, and eggs and cinnamon that I had in the room. Soak the bread, pour the whole mixture into a baking dish and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees. Since I realized last minute that we didn't keep a baking dish in the room, we poured the whole thing into a frying pan and made a cross between bread pudding and french toast. The mixture will have a lot more liquid than usual french toast but cook of medium heat for a few minutes and the bottom will get caramelized and crunchy and the top will stay soft and gooey. Spooned out onto plates, it was a lot like bread pudding - and a lot quicker to make!

At the end of the night, we all agreed it was the best meal we've had from the dinning halls in a while. And the chef in me was satiated - for now.

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Victory HopDevil Review

Happy Super Bowl Sunday, and in honor of this great American holiday of sorts, I thought we should look at a local brew, the Victory HopDevil. It is an India Pale Ale, has 6.7% Alc/Vol and is brewed not too far away in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. And I don't like it. Just need to get my personal biases out of the way before people start to get angry.
Victory claims that HopDevil is "menacingly delicious," but I really think it is just menacing. Before coming to this conclusion, I did give this beer a fighting chance. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to find all the flavors in the complex taste. I sipped, swished, gulped and cringed my way through one bottle, and not finding any of the sweet malt or citrus floral flavors I was assured that this beer contained, I thought I should give it another go. Maybe the overwhelming bitterness that sticks in the back of my throat after each swallow making me cringe for an extra 10 seconds, would grow on me, so I drank another one, with similar results. Half way through the third bottle, which I was swallowing as quickly as possible just to make the misery end faster, I dumped a cracker in the beer....because I thought it would absorb the bitterness, obviously. Then, because that didn't work, I threw some frozen raspberries in it, because they have a way of carrying cheap champagne,  and I thought the raspberries would do similar things for this horrible beer. Needless to say, they did not.
What I did next was really an appalling waste of beer, and I am ashamed of myself...but not really.
I decided I would do an experiment to see if anything I could put in this beer would make it taste better. I tried some more frozen fruit, a piece of chocolate, and some candy corn. I of course waited a set amount of time to let the flavors meld and mix, and to let the fruit thaw out, and then tasted each in a very scientific manor. The results were disappointing. The fruit did nothing, the chocolate did less than nothing, and the candy corn made it worse, which in fairness to the beer, is probably not its fault.
The bottom line is, to me, this beer tastes the dregs of another beer, a Guinness more specifically, and I never want to drink it again. Ever. I am just not a fan of the very "Hoppy" flavor. But that is just me, maybe you like hops, and if so, this beer is for you. If you have tastes like mine though, and you want to try something from the extensive Victory offerings, I would go for the Victory Prima Pils. It is much lighter, and will not interfere with the taste of the nachos and any other snack food you are sampling during tonight's game.
Photo Credit: Victory

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Yo-reka!

When Jamba Juice was unexpectedly replaced by Hershey's over the summer, the vast majority of the Penn community - including myself - was appalled. What was the school thinking? Thankfully, they got the message soon enough. A few weeks into second semester, word got around that there was a new kid in town - Yo-reka! (And yes, the exclamation point is part of the name).

Around the country, Yo-reka! is actually a frozen yogurt chain. The bad news: our Yo-reka! is not. The good news: it's a healthy alternative to those who want to skip the burgers and fries at the neighboring station, or the long line at Subway.

What exactly is Yo-reka!? It's a buffet-style bar featuring a variety of yogurt and toppings, from which you can mix and match according to your personal preference. The toppings range from fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries) to dried fruit (mango, figs, blueberries, and cranberries), from fruit preserves to plain honey, from nuts to other extra bits and pieces. But the best part is the granola. You can choose one - or more! - out of six different granola flavors, all with appealing names like "strawberry vanilla hempseed" and "maple pecan dream." And trust me on this (because I've tried them all), they're all really good, whether you like the extra crunchy kind, the kind with dried fruit mixed in, or the "super nutty" (another flavor!) kind.

What Yo-reka! prides itself on is the yogurt itself: organic Greek yogurt. We're all familiar with the term "organic" and how the label prods us to open up our wallets in favor of something that's healthier (or so we hope). But not many people may understand the difference between Greek and regular yogurt - or may not have even heard of Greek yogurt until now. In short, Greek yogurt is much creamier and richer than regular yogurt, because the production process involves a straining method that removes all the liquid from the yogurt. Using roughly three times the amount of milk needed to make regular yogurt and a variety of live active cultures, Greek yogurt is all-natural, has double the protein, is gluten-free and fat-free. It is no wonder that Greek yogurt is all the craze these days, with a whole range of brands available at Fresh Grocer (including Fage, Greek Gods, Chobani, and Oikos - the preferred brand for Yo-reka!). Even Starbucks offers a Greek yogurt parfait at various locations. I myself am a Greek yogurt fan, although I admit, it did take me a while to convert.

For those who are tentative about trying out new things, no worries. Yo-reka! offers the ever-familiar flavors of blueberry, peach, and low-fat vanilla along with the Greek. Besides, the Greek yogurt offered here is vanilla-flavored, which is more friendly to the palates than plain.

So take things slow, try out a whole bunch of combinations, and see whether you can come up with your own special parfait concoction.

It's not Jamba Juice, but at least Penn is trying to keep up with the trend.


Photo Credit: Madeline Miller 

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Restaurant Week: Le Bec-Fin Edition

Luckily for Penn students, the beginning of each semester perfectly coincides with Restaurant Week in Philadelphia, a time when many elegant restaurants open up their doors by offering a reduced price menu. I thought, how better to celebrate my arrival back in Philadelphia with a three course lunch at Le Bec-Fin, one of the area's most infamous dining establishments, at the unheard of price of $20?

A friend and I made the trek out to 15th and Walnut on a Thursday afternoon between classes. We were promptly seated in the restaurant's main dining room, complete with hanging crystal chandeliers and gold-accented crown molding. The tables were rather close, likely to accommodate more patrons during Restaurant Week. Only a few minutes after placing our order, the first course came out. I ordered a salad of mixed greens adorned with a white balsamic and walnut oil vinaigrette. It was quite refreshing. The balsamic definitely had a kick to it, which I appreciated, and the walnut oil imparted a light, fruity flavor. We were served our main course quite quickly as well, which consisted of a filet of salmon cooked medium-rare topped enhanced with ground pistachio and coffee all over a parsnip purée. The salmon was wonderfully cooked and tasted very fresh. However, to my disappointment, the coffee and pistachio were barely detectable. The final course, Gâteau le Bec-Fin, was a delightfully fudgy layer cake made of a rum-soaked chocolate génoise. It was a great way to cap off a nice meal.

Service was prompt – almost too prompt – as if they wanted to churn customers quickly for Restaurant Week, which is perfectly understandable. The food was well executed and tasty, but certainly not inspiring. I'm certainly glad I went, if for no other reason than to say that I dined at Le Bec-Fin, which at one point was one of the nation's most influential restaurants.

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A grape transformation

When I think back, I am amazed by how vastly different my sophomore year diet is from my freshman year diet. Mostly, the changes are for the better since I now cook for myself and can even make or buy whater I so choose. However, one change for the worse is that there is considerably less fruit in my diet. Freshman year, I could never nab enough oranges, apples, or peaches to eat. But, now, I barely touch any fruit -- that is, with the exception of grapes.

Grapes are the ideal fruit for dorm room eating. They are easy to wash, easy to eat, and easy to pack. Simply stated, they are the best snacks. If you ever are bored with grapes, I am also privy to a new and exciting method to treat and eat grapes.

Freeze them!

The idea came to me from my lovely Minnestoan friends who mentioned that the Mineesota State Fair sold bags of frozen grapes. After their suggestion, I promptly moved my grapes to the freezer. After an hour or two there, the grape still maintains its outward appearance. However, as you bite into the fruit, instead of its standard crisp and juicy texture, each grape tastes like a mini slushie or Italian ice. It is a refreshing difference. So if you are ever tired of eating a traditional grape, stash a bunch of grapes in the freeze. Your body and your senses will thank you for it.

-Anne Wang

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