The Cheese Course [Hardcover]

Janet Fletcher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2000

Nothing complements a good meal with friends like a rustic oak table laden with an exquisite selection of fine cheeses: a grape leaf-lined platter of ricotta with honey, red pears, and roasted chestnuts, or a decorative Spanish tile topped with sheep's milk cheeses, toasted almonds, and oven-dried tomatoes, or a simple Italian salad of crostini dripping with melted fontina and white truffle oil. The elegant tradition of the after-dinner cheese course is rapidly gaining popularity as a part of home entertaining. Written by best-selling author and award-winning food writer Janet Fletcher, The Cheese Course decribes the wonderful array of artisanal cheeses now available, offering suggestions for presentations as well as wine pairings and fruit and nut accompaniments. The Cheese Course is rounded out with 50 sweet and savory recipes for salads, breads, and desserts that match deliciously with cheese.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The popularity of restaurant cheese platters, offered after the main course and before dessert, leads many of us to consider a similar home presentation. But how to go about it? Part guide, part recipe book, Janet Fletcher's The Cheese Course offers a deft introduction to choosing and presenting cheese for mealtime enjoyment. The book doesn't pretend to be comprehensive; you won't find cheese-by-cheese descriptions, for example. But it does offer a sensible survey of the issues involved in choosing the best cheeses--domestic and foreign--for home entertaining. Beginning with a discussion of the cheese course itself, the book then explores cheese purchasing, platter composition, cheese accompaniments, and complementary drinks. This latter discussion, which offers pairings based on cheese age and type, is particularly well handled and offers interesting suggestions such as serving rich triple crèmes with sparkling wine or pungent cheeses with fruit brandy. After the sections on cheese etiquette and storage (Fletcher is against plastic wrap for all but the hardest cheeses), the book offers 40 recipes for cheese accompaniments, organized by milk type. These include Fresh Ricotta with Chestnut Honey, Chestnuts, and Pears, Marinated Pecorino with Orange Peel and Herbs, and Grape Focaccia with Homemade Goat Fromage Blanc. A concluding recipe section on themed cheese platters offers such delights as American Artisan Cheeses with Figs and Field Greens Salad. Illustrated with color photos throughout, the book is a small treasure of information and good taste, and should appeal to all who love cheese and want to share it with friends and family. --Arthur Boehm

About the Author

Janet Fletcher is a food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, a frequent contributor to magazines on wine and food topics, and a past president of the San Francisco Professional Food Society. She is the author of a number of cookbooks, including Chronicle Books' Pasta Harvest.

Victoria Pearson is a Los Angeles based photographer. Her photographs have appeared in several books including Sangria (0-8118-4290-8), Party Appetizers (0-8118-4292-4), and The Cheese Course (0-8118-2541-8).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (July 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811825418
• ISBN-13: 978-0811825412
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Title as bit of a misnomer, September 17, 2000

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cheese Course (Hardcover)

This is a book carefully produced, the photographs and the introductions to the recipes add to the fun of using the recipes. The book begins with a personal introduction including information on buying and storing cheese, on the selection and presentation of cheeses on a cheese platter, instruments for cutting cheese etc. This introduction is followed by four chapters of recipes using cheese: cow's milk cheeses, goat's milk cheeses, sheep's milk cheeses, and mixed milk cheeses and cheese platters.

While the recipes are excellent, they are why I take exception to the title - many of the recipes are for the salad course. Other recipes are for breads or cookies to accompany the cheese course, some are for excellent marinades for soft cheeses, some for marinades fruits to accompany the cheeses - items like goat gouda with roasted hazelnuts and sherried figs with five alternative cheeses listed make this volume well worth owning.

This is not a book that will introduce you to a wide variety of cheeses, however, it will provide you with many excellent pairings of cheese and fruit, as well as many salads for which a cheese is a necessary ingredient.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Brie en Croute, August 28, 2000

By 

Hilde Kaiser - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cheese Course (Hardcover)

This book, beautifully photographed and in the attractive format typical for Chronicle books, is a thoughtful, modern guide that will inspire you to serve cheese. The recipe for the classic party favorite, brie en croute (brie wrapped in pastry) may be missing, but maybe it doesn't even belong in a book that is guided by a love for artisanal cheeses from all over the world that would be smothered by such a preparation. I've tried two recipes from this book so far this summer, the marinated bocconcini (they're miniature balls of mozzarella marinated in oil, oregano, red pepper flakes, capers, parsley, and garlic) and the arugala salad with watermelon and feta, and both were wonderful and easy. If you've looked at your local cheeseshop's selection longingly, wondering how to confidently serve everything from goat cheese (such as the recipe on the cover), to an aged sheep's milk cheese, to trying something new with ricotta, then this is the book for you. It's a good starting point for learning about cheeses, or a good addition to a cook's library that already contains Steven Jenkin's encylopedic Cheese Primer.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoying Cheese at Your Table, January 5, 2005

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Cheese Course (Hardcover)

Case of subtitle should have been title. "The Cheese Course" as other reviewers have pointed out does not adequately describe the contents. The subtitle: Enjoying the World's Best Cheeses at Your Table" does.

This is about utilizing cheese in more than macaroni casseroles or nachos et al. This is about nice pairings with salad, torta, galette, etc.

While there is nice section on storing and purchasing, I refer those wanting to know more about this and various cheeses consult two fine sources such as: "The Cheese Primer" and "The Cheese Plate." These will provide more thorough info on cheese shopping and more detail on world's fromage wealth.

This little book (just over 100 pages) provides a much different yet important reference, ways of utilizing cheese from cow's milk, goat's milk, sheep's milk, and mixed milk sources.

There are some great opportunities here for presenting new tastes, the likes of: Three French Cheeses with an Apple, Fennel and Walnut Salad; Cabecou with Honey and Walnuts; Aged Gouda with Apple Galette;

What's nice about these offerings is that with each she suggests where in the menu this recipe might be offered, what accompaniments would go well, plus options such as wine/beverage.

Nice format and color photos.