Cheese: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best [Hardcover]

Max McCalman (Author), David Gibbons (Photographer)

Book Description

Release date: August 30, 2005

Filled with indispensable information from America’s foremost authority, Max McCalman, Cheese: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best is your road map to exploring the world of fine cheese. As the maître fromager at New York’s acclaimed Picholine restaurant (the first in the country to offer a serious cheese program) and author of the widely acclaimed The Cheese Plate, McCalman has selected, tasted, and studied hundreds of cheeses, serving them to thousands of cheese lovers. And now he has created the definitive reference on the subject. Cheese profiles about 200 of the world’s best cheeses—and only the best—complete with all the practical information you could need and all the fascinating details you could want.

An incredible variety of real cheeses from around the world—including right here in the United States—are becoming more widely available. From distinguished Cabrales to oozing Reblochon and buttery Fontina d’Aosta, real cheese can rival the most spectacular creations of chefs, and all you have to do is buy the good stuff and serve it properly. Cheese is the ultimate guide to doing just that. Profiles of the cheeses include not only McCalman’s evocative descriptions but fascinating information on how each cheese is made, who the best producers are, similar cheeses to seek out, and even tips on what time of year the cheese is at its peak, how to store it, and how to serve it for maximum enjoyment.

Of course, wine is cheese’s favorite companion, so McCalman taste-tested thousands of wine and cheese combinations to offer unprecedented guidance on exactly which wines are most compatible with each and every cheese.

From the A of Aarauer Bierdeckel to the Z of Zamorano, Cheese is an illuminating, seductive guide to the very best that the world’s cheesemakers have to offer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Domestic production of quality artisanal cheeses is on the rise, and the recent opening of the Artisanal Cheese Center in New York has helped make these and traditional European farmstead cheeses even more widely available. McCalman takes credit for spearheading this American cheese revolution through his work at the New York restaurants Picholine and Artisanal. While his and Gibbons's first book, 2002's The Cheese Plate, was highly regarded by industry professionals as a practical guide to serving European-style cheese courses and selecting astute wine pairings, this new work aims to be what the Parker Guide is for wine—complete with a numeric rating scale—for would-be connoisseurs. It provides detailed notes on producers, taste and appearance, stages of ripeness and seasonal availability, as well as pairing suggestions on nearly twice as many unique and wonderful cheeses as the previous book. Unfortunately, the cheeses are arranged alphabetically rather than regionally, limiting the book's utility as a reference. Granted, Cheese does not profess to be comprehensive like Steve Jenkins's unrivaled Cheese Primer, but rather an elite selection, or cheese "Hall of Fame." In the end, it succeeds more as a beautiful glossy catalogue to the Artisanal Cheese Center than as an introductory text. (On sale Aug. 9)
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Review

“The best cheese lover’s guide . . . by the most passionate and knowledgeable cheese master in America.” —Eric Ripert, executive chef/co-owner, Le Bernardin

“This is a terrific guide to understanding the world's finest cheese.” —Robert M. Parker, Jr., The Wine Advocate

“As a child in France, I watched my father savor a small piece of fine Roquefort every day. When I first met Max at Picholine restaurant, I recognized his great passion for cheese at once. He has combined this passion with a serious and extraordinary sense of the ceremony of cheese, and in doing so has taken cheese to another dimension for New York diners and now for his readers.” —Alain Sailhac, executive vice president and senior dean of studies, The French Culinary Institute

“This long-awaited book is a welcome addition to the cheese lover’s library. Filled with essential information, Cheese is a must have.” —Ihsan Gurdal, Formaggio Kitchen

“How truly delicious to have finally arrived at a time when the great pleasures of cheese are accessible to so many Americans. This enticing, refreshingly clear, and insightful book is a gem and a must-read for both the knowledge-thirsty amateur and the true connoisseur.” —Karen Waltuck, owner, and Adrian Murcia, fromager, Chanterelle restaurant

“This is definitely a book that anyone with a serious interest in cheese—both professionals and consumers—will want to own. Cheese has a wealth of helpful guidelines about how to buy, taste, and store cheese, as well as descriptions and background on the great cheeses of the world, some classics, some little known outside their own neighborhoods.” —Ari Weinzweig, author of Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating and co-founder of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1st edition (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400050340
• ISBN-13: 978-1400050345
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 1 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Cheese & Dairy

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Course on Cheese June 1, 2006

By Garrett M. Mccord

Format:Hardcover

I love a good piece of stinky cheese. I enjoy taking it out of the fridge and letting its nasty old stank peel the paint off my walls, knockout my cat, and make the local children cry. It's how you know you gots yerself sum quality cheese right there.

Unfortuneatly, I must admit, my cheese knowledge is limited to about, oh, whatever I might have picked up from a cookbook or Food Network. Thank heavens for Max McCalman, may chiors sing his spoiled milk praises! For those who don't really know this guy, he is the man and fromager (cheese brainiac) who pretty much single handedly spearheaded the idea of presenting true artisinal cheeses, cheese courses, and giving cheese the kind of credit we give to wine here in America. He has become well known for his work in the New York restaurants Picholine and Artisinal, and luckilly for those of us not living shibby in New York, has gone out of his way to create a wonderful guide to the best of the best in his second book, Cheese: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best.

While McCalman's first book, The Cheese Plate, co-authored by David Gibbons, was a chic everyperson's guide to wine and cheese pairings, Cheese simply gives us 200 of the world's best cheeses. Listed in alphabetical order, each cheese is described beautifully and concisely noting where it is produced, how it is produced, how best to enjoy it, and the underlying flavors you should expect when experiencing it. I use the word experience, because after trying some of these selections, it really is the only appropriate word that the English language can offer me. McCalman also goes ahead to offer with each cheese a variety of different wines (red, white, and blush) and even some sparkling wines that should help you wow your party guests' palates.

McCalman, also understanding our blind kitten approach to cheese, also guides you through various aspects of cheese. Early chapters deal with how to select, store, prepare, serve various kinds of cheese. Later on we are given a thurough lesson on how to pair cheese with various breads, fruits, and nuts, or how to simply lay back and enjoy a piece unmolested by any other food. Basics for how to create and serve a cheese course or a cheese tasting party will inspire you to host your own (I know I plan to have a truly stinky one shortly!). Lastly, of course, an extensive, though maybe a bit too much so, course on how to pair wine and cheese. The watchful and caring teacher, he does this in a simple, plainspoken manner, allowing any reader to understand not only how to preform each task, but the why behind it as well.

I have to say, I would not have discovered my love of Lancaster, my passion for Prattigauer, my desire for Doddington, and how I give resounding praise to Roaring 40's Blue!

Overall, I give Cheese a 5 out of 5. This book is a wonderful addition to any food lover's bookshelf. It's susinct, informative, and covers a wide variety of cheeses you can find from California to Italy.

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Cheese Bible September 30, 2005

By P. M. Basta

Format:Hardcover

This newest addition to Mccalman's offerings is by far the best and most comprehensive, timely reference to the cheeses of the world. It is the new "bible" as far as I'm concerned. He elaborates and builds upon his first book in a way that is illuminating and interesting, and , if even a bit constrained with his list of great cheeses , manages to present his picks in an assessible way. His chapter on wine parings is the best I've read. Truly this is a must have for anyone that has a passion for spoiled milk of the world.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Cheese graded on a 100 point scale? NO! May 31, 2009

By Chambolle VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

UPDATE -- I strongly urge those considering this book to take a look at McCalman's newest work, "Mastering Cheese." It is far more comprehensive and informative. It does not utilize the "100 point" rating scale that I found such an unnecessary distraction in this volume. In short, "Mastering Cheese" is truly McCalman's magnum opus and a book I recommend without any reservation. Granted, this "Connoisseur's Guide" is an attractive book in some ways. For cheese lovers, its close up color photos of the featured cheeses will verge on soft core dairy porn.

But if you are going to buy just one reference work on cheese, the "Connoisseur's Guide" would not be it. I urge you to look instead at McCalman's "Mastering Cheese" -- which is his masterwork.

The "Connoisseur's Guide" reviewed here is a useful, albeit somewhat limited reference guide, as it highlights only a handful of the many cheeses of the world -- McCalman's hand picked selection of "The World's Best." There is reasonably good introductory advice about cheese selection, caring for your cheese purchases, ideas for matching with wine and combining for a cheese plate.

However, where McCalman runs off the rails is his seemingly unnecessary and certainly inappropriate use of the dreaded "100 point rating scale." This is a silly exercise when applied to wine -- it is even more ludicrous when applied to cheese. On what basis is Laguiole a "91 point quality" cheese; Rogue River blue a 93 pointer; Humboldt Fog a 75 pointer; Pecorino Toscano 81 points; Soumaintrain an 80 pointer; Selles sur Cher an 89. To begin with, every one of these cheeses will vary wildly. A particular piece of Soumaintrain may be fabulous or fabulously boring -- and ditto any other cheese. Spend ten days in France, for example, and after the dinner cheese cart has come and gone ten times you will have learned, if nothing else, that every cheese will be different from restaurant to restaurant and from one night of the week to the next.

Furthermore, these "quality ratings" seem to reflect nothing more or less than McCalman's personal preferences or a particularly wonderful example of cheese X he may have stumbled across at some point. How else would Gouda, a wildly variable cheese that appears in a wide range from dull uninspired commercial to mature and complex farmhouse forms, merit a "96" without further elaboration, while Brin d'Amour, potentially fabulous stuff, pulls an 80, Chaource a 74? A good piece of Sbrinz is a smash with old Bordeaux -- but is it really a "99 point cheese"? I have no idea what the basis for these "quality scores" might be -- and unless I missed it, the book doesn't explain the scoring method either. Even if it did, that would not make the practice any more justifiable.

I can see it now. Just as there are those who fill their wine cellars strictly by the numbers, who will buy nothing but WS or WA "90 point and up" wines and refuse to look at anything at 89 and points south, there will be folks who will not touch any cheese rated under 90 -- and who will also put anything on a platter that scores 90 or over, no matter how terrific or abysmal the reality of the cheese in front of them may be. Rather than develop their own sense and sensibility about cheese (or anything else), they will color by numbers, encouraged by the likes of Robert Parker and now Max McCalman. "Parker gave the wine a 92 and McCalman says this cheese is a 96" -- "the wine" being some flaccid oak chipped, micro-oxygenated, acid and alcohol adjusted Australian shiraz and "this cheese" being a low fat, underripe, spongy and bland Gouda bought in a plastic vacuum pack at the corner Jiffy Mart.

The 100 point scoring thing is utter stuff and nonsense -- a holdover from grade school. While McCalman has done much to get Americans to start paying attention to cheese -- the endpapers call him "the unofficial spokesperson for fine cheese in the United States" -- his use of the 100 point scale here does a terrible disservice to the cause of fine cheese and to the readers of this book.

Buy the book, IGNORE THE SCORES.