Long, long ago, in a prelapsarian time some cheese lovers call “the Before Times,” a certain cheese graced our case. Ask any of our senior staff (we’re talking 7+ years) about this cheese and they’ll turn misty eyed and sentimental. “Abbaye de Belloc,” they’ll mutter wistfully, like the memory of some forgotten dream. But now, Abbaye de Belloc is back!
As summer winds down and the leaves begin to turn, autumn's food and beverage traditions begin to take center stage at France 44. In our Wine & Spirits shop, customers grab seasonal cider pressings, richly spiced beers, and more robust white and red wines. In our Cheese Shop, our customers begin to crave the most iconic cheese of the autumn season: cheddar! This year, to ease our way back into the autumnal state of mind, we dedicate the entire month of September to cheddar cheese, its accompaniments, and the traditions surrounding it… Welcome to Chedtember!
As Minnesota summer seems well on its way, we turn towards refreshing, lighter culinary options that keep us out of the kitchen and enjoying the evening air. In other words, it’s the season for fresh cheese. Good fresh cheese is a straightforward representation of beautiful milk. Simple and satisfying, these lactic, white, creamy cheeses are the perfect accompaniment to the warmer weather
Have you ever had a bite of cheese you’ve just wanted to keep eating over and over again? This is that bite, scaled to the size of a cheesecake. It’s at the intriguing intersection of a cheesecake, icebox cake, and your favorite cheeseboard. This is the perfect unique dessert to serve this Mother’s Day.
One of our longest relationships in artisan cheese has been with Neal’s Yard Dairy in London. For the past 15 years, we’ve bought British farmhouse cheese from their selections. Each week we correspond about what is tasting good and what they think our Minnesota customers (you!) will enjoy. So, of course, I jumped at the opportunity to travel with them on their April “northern run,” a regular trip taken by the team at Neal’s Yard to visit cheesemakers and select the specific batches they’d like to buy. Details were sparse, I only knew that the trip would be packed with visits and that cheese might be our primary source of sustenance.
It is with much happiness that we can report…Burrata is back! The truth is, all the cheeses which we sell in our Cheese Shop are delicious. They each have their own personality, unique flavor profiles and textures which speak to palates of all sorts. But there are a handful of special items which we don’t have all the time, and which when they return are met with joyful abandon. Burrata is one of those.
Burrata, Italian for buttered and pronounced “boor-ah-tah”, is a luscious jewel box made of mozzarella on the outside and filled with cream and tiny shreds of mozzarella on the inside. Need I say more? It’s the Fabergé egg of food. It looks like what Gucci would make if they made drawstring purses out of cheese.
These beautiful, bright white balloons of mozzarella, when popped, exude an oozy, cream-filled center. If you already like fresh mozzarella, you’re going to love Burrata. It’s wonderful as a topping for crusty bread or dotted on top of a pizza, but really shines as the star in a Caprese Salad in place of standard fresh mozzarella. When the creamy contents are mixed with a drizzling of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar, the dressing it makes for heirloom tomatoes is out of this world!
Originally Burrata in Italy was made with the milk of water buffaloes; these days it is more often made with cow’s milk. After working with several brands both domestic and imported, we decided our favorite was Luizzi Angeloni Cheese, from North Haven, CT. A multi-year American Cheese Society award winner, Luizzi Cheese is a fifth generation artisanal cheesemaker utilizing rBST hormone free milk from dairies in Vermont and New York.
Jump into warm weather now with a container of fresh Burrata. You can enjoy it by itself or by using it with any of these recipes: http://www.finecooking.com/ingredient/burrata 8oz $8.99
Here’s an interesting etymology: the word “manage” comes from the Italian “manèggiare,” or, “to put a horse through its paces” on the “manège,” a training area particularly for racing horses. What’s it been like managing a meat shop? I feel like I’ve had to learn the rules of horse racing, the regulations of horse training, the basics of horse physiology, and the philosophy of what it means to race horses, all while on horseback (though I’ve had lots of help). It’s been invigorating and fun, though I’d be lying if I told you my head wasn’t spinning. I think I like the way the horse training etymology works as a metaphor. Managing a meat shop, training a racing horse—mostly, what you are being asked to do is to take care of something that is important.
The role that I play as the general, day-to-day manager of the St. Paul Meat Shop is one of ensuring the soundness of its operations, and the delivery of the highest-possible quality of customer service. This latter item is something that I, personally, have cared about for a long time (of course, we are nothing—we are less than nothing—without being really, really on top of our day-to-day basic stuff!). I remember as a child growing up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, walking into Zingerman’s Delicatessen, being greeted by workers there who treated my family as if they already knew us, and then being given transcendentally delicious food to eat—the kind of food that, after the first bite, you just know is better than almost everything else you’ve ever eaten. The completeness of that experience is rare and special. I think we offer it at our cheese shops already: you can walk in, have somebody who is really nice in a basic human way offer you an artisanally-crafted, mind-blowingly tasty piece of cheese, and then be transported somewhere else by way of your taste buds.
The vision we have for the Meat Shop is very similar. We believe that you can raise animals for meat in an artisanal way—this goes beyond buzzwords like organic, local, sustainable, grass-fed, although these are all awesome principles and necessarily a part of what we do. The big idea is that there are some producers nearby who are really passionate about delicious meat, and have the know-how to make it happen. In theory, it’s not so different from affinage, or the art of aging or finishing a cheese. “Finishing” an animal on grass is an art, and “grass-fed,” on its own, simply isn't a guarantor of taste. We’ve found four farming partners who are doing great stuff, and we’re proud to be a market for them.
Returning to our horse racing metaphor, I’m only a trainer. The Meat Shop is the product of the passion of many people, starting with the farmers who raise their animals the way they believe is right, even in the face of a market that doesn’t always reward that conviction; continuing to our management and butchering team, whose collective belief in what food should taste like and what a retail experience should feel like is what animates our existence; and our amazing owner, who cares about good food, good wine, and about creating special opportunities for people to pursue these passions.
My part in this is to ensure we’re a reliable and friendly place to get awesome meat, but much of our shop’s functionality and personality is owed to our high-functioning and personable group of jockeys behind the counter, whom I would gladly buy meat from, but would also, were I in the neighborhood, perhaps just pop in to say hi to and maybe even consult for general advice. Managing a meat shop has been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work so far—now that we’re off to the races I hope you’ll come by and say “what’s up” to us soon!
--Nick Mangigian, Manager of the St. Paul Meat Shop
