The Cheese Companion: The Connoisseur's Guide (Connoisseur Companions) [Hardcover]

Judy Ridgway (Author), Judy Ridgeway (Author), Ari Weinzweig (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

After a short section devoted to the history of cheese and how it is made, this latest book from prolific food writer Ridgeway (International Vegetarian Cooking, Crossing, 1997) becomes a directory consisting of profiles of over 100 different cheeses. Entries vary in length from one to three pages and provide information on each cheese's name, origin, characteristics, variations, and serving suggestions. Each entry also offers a clever "cheese wheel" symbol indicating the type of milk used in creating the cheese, its maturity period, its pungency, and suggestions of wines to serve as accompaniment. While this work does include a few recipes, serious cooks will gravitate more toward Christian Teubner's The Cheese Bible (Penguin Studio, 1998) or Julie Harbutt's The World Encyclopedia of Cheese (Lorenz, 1998), which focus more on cooking with cheese. Ridgeway's book is perfect for patrons who need practical information about the stuff itself. Recommended for medium to large public libraries.AJohn Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762405007
• ISBN-13: 978-0762405008
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #934,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent compendium of cheese varieties, April 29, 2000

By 

L. Hale (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Cheese Companion: The Connoisseur's Guide (Connoisseur Companions) (Hardcover)

This book does a great job of reviewing cheeses from around the world. It is entertaining to read and very informative. There are good quality photos of each of the cheeses, detailed description with history, anecdotes, wine recommendations, fat composition and occasionally a recipe. This book is more for learning about cheeses than about cooking with cheeses. The size of the book is small enough that you can inconspicuously take it to your local cheese shop and use it as a reference.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful and Informative, January 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cheese Companion: The Connoisseur's Guide (Connoisseur Companions) (Hardcover)

As an American who has travelled Europe extensively and LOVES cheese (and wine!), I was delighted to find this book in English which fills us in on all the background info about all these cheeses. It is very well researched and sophisticated in its selection. This book will make your mouth water.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag which does not cover much of the shoppers needs., June 14, 2011

By 

Gourmet Denis "Gourmet Denis" (East cost) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cheese Companion: The Connoisseur's Guide (Connoisseur Companions) (Hardcover)

1- Editing: A nice little book of 160 pages on coated paper with color pictures in a practical format.

2- Content: after a very interesting foreword by Ari Weinzweig the author attempts to cover cheeses from around the world. The feature is a directory of 100 of the world's best gourmet cheeses. Unfortunately the author does not explain why she chose the featured 100 cheeses (criteria?). I noticed the absence of Canadian cheeses in her list. Even if the Province of Quebec counts hundreds of cheeses dairies, some of which have won prizes year after year from the American Cheese Society and even one "Le cendrillon" won the World Championship.
On the 1200 cheeses of France only 40 are presented. Not even all the French AOC-AOP and IGP are included, which are obviously world renown.
The same remark for hundreds of cheeses from Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, USA, Austria... as only a few are presented without any particular mention of the reason for the choices.
Then a lot of secondary information on cheese production, pairing, receipt, and nutrition are mentioned which are not expected in a directory of 100 cheeses.

The weakest part of this book is definitely the numerous inaccuracies. For example, the Cantal is truly listed from Auvergne. Why not the Fourme d'Ambert, the Comté and Mont d'Or with are labeled from the Northeast not the Jura. The Reblochon is from Savoy not from the Northeast as the French Alps are not in the northern part of France. Epoisses is wrongly spelled without an "s" and labeled from the Northeast not Burgundy, etc. Furthermore, the author tries to explain some differences between pasteurized and raw Chabichou du Poitou. The author claims that the difference lies in the type of milk that is used. In reality that is completely wrong since both types of production (eg. raw and pasteurized) are accepted under the "Appellation d'Origine - AOC" Production code.
Did this book is really a second edition updated???

3- Opinion: Of course any beginner in the field would be more than happy to own this book, but after a short time even the beginner would be wise to buy some really good books such as the World Cheese Book by Juliet Harbutt, Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins or Guide to Cheeses of the World: 1200 Cheeses of the World (Hachette Food & Wine) by Roland Barthelemy. If you want to be more specific then go for the magnificent book Complete Guide to French Cheeses from Masui Kasuko and Tomoko Yamada. For this Cheese Companion, without this good editing job (format, pictures, etc.) I would certainly not recommend this mixed bag which is not very accurate.