Customer Reviews

The Cheese Plate

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Masterpiece of a work on cheese. Eight sections guide one through about all there is to know about the subject from a maitre fromager, cheese master.

The sections begin with a history of the subject, then proceeding into a needful discussion of the difference between "artisanal" (handmade) versus "process" cheeses. Chapter Three breaksdown the steps in cheese making.

Chapter Four is a most profitable read, How to buy, store and serve various kinds of cheeses. Neat features here are "How Much? Per-Person Serving" Calculator and "How to Detach A Stuck Wrapper."

Section Five gets us where we want to grow, Tasting. It is remarkably similar to wine tasting, with descriptors such as color, modifiers, density, texture, flavor, and subjective elements.

Chapters Six and Seven are the meat of the book: Cheese Pairings and The Cheese Course. Here we learn to put all learned to use at the menu stage, be it appetizer, last course, or whole course itself. Here are practical suggestions with different settings and differing levels of expertise suggested.

Finally, a tour of the world of cheese, country by country with the author's assessment provided. What I really appreciate here is the addition of "Recommended Pairings" and "Similar Cheeses" .

This well done book will enhance anyone's delving into the world of fromage, with this expert guide moving us into new areas of exploration.

What I loved about this book is that it takes an in-depth approach to cheese as opposed to the encyclopedia method. From this book you will learn more about how cheese is made, the factors that the raw materials (milk) will effect the quality of the cheese, along with the rather difficult question of wine and cheese parings. The other nice factor is that it is written in such a matter-of-fact way that it is a pleasure to read.

This is a beautiful book full of very useful information, like pairing wines with cheese and how to choose cheeses for a tasting party, and georgeous color photography. This is not a cheese finder, it's a book on how to enjoy cheese. Paired with the Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins, the cheese neophite will have all the information needed for enjoying the world cheeses.

My husband and I liked this book very much. As a reviewer below notes, it is *loaded* with information. It is well written and fun to read.(It is also fairly sparsely illustrated, so the calling it a coffee table book - as one reviewer does - seems pretty far off the mark).

In depth, in tune, and filled with expertise, guidance, and encouragement. This is a gem of a book, and fills me with some of the same enthusiasm about cheeses which the author displays.

The reading is approachable, even though each chapter is stuffed with intriguing cheese facts. I can't imagine there's a better all-around book on cheeses that's been written. Highly recommended.

This book covers a lot about cheese, it is certainly for the dedicated cheese connoisseur and not the amateur. There were 6 different assorted cheese tastings (similar to wine tastings). Each tasting had 6-7 different cheeses on each plate. Out of the 42 cheeses listed I could only find 4 of them. These were specialty cheeses that you'd have to actually purchase online or a cheese store. I live in the mid-west and we don't have such stores. I also wouldn't spend the money to, it was just too high brow for me.

The cheeses listed were Perail, Durrus, Isores, Taleggio, Cedar, Valencay, Coolea, Llangloffan, Monte Enebro, and Reblochon just to name a few. Perhaps see if you can find at your cheese store before purchasing this book. It wouldn't do you much good to have the book and then not be able to purchase the specific cheeses mentioned for all the tastings.

The author considers American cheddar an abomination and says the only real cheddar is Keen, Montgomery or Reade's.

HTH. The book itself has high gloss pages, good pictures, 232 pages. The print is brown text on white pages so some might have trouble reading it.

I am a lover of cheese. I've dabbled in cheese making at home and have even taken a Cheese Certificate Course but still learned a lot from this book. I find it to be quite thorough and approachable and if it had been up to me I would have recommended this as one of the texts for the class.

The book includes sections on the history of cheese, the basics of cheese, the cheese making process, buying, storing, and serving cheeses, tasting, pairing cheeses, and constructing a cheese course. I found the first three sections to be interesting, but the most comparable to other books I have read like Cheese Primer and American Farmstead Cheese: The Complete Guide To Making and Selling Artisan Cheeses, but it's the chapters on serving, tasting, and pairing cheese where this book really shines. What I love about the book is that it's the perfect balance of theory and practical, hands on tips. The author also mentions that he only shares pairings that he himself has confirmed works which I appreciated. Overall the sections are tremendously educational and I felt that even someone like me who has done a lot of cheese tasting was still able to learn things and refine my knowledge. Basically, you'll find a lot of information here that is well written and researched and some of it that I haven't seen elsewhere.

The bottom line is that this is a fantastic book. If you're looking for specific pairing and cheese course suggestions you will find that here as well as a lot of principles, theories, and suggestions to help you craft plates and pairings on your own. I highly recommend it for a cheese lover's library along with books like The Cheese Lover's Cookbook and Guide: Over 150 Recipes with Instructions on How to Buy, Store, and Serve All Your Favorite Cheeses, Cheese Primer and [[ASIN:1931498776 American Farmstead Cheese: The Complete Guide To Making and Selling Artisan Cheeses].

I glanced through this book before giving it as a gift. It was well received and the recipient continues to talk about it. She says she learns something new about cheese every day.

My husband and I have been to both Picholine and Artisanal and am very happy to have this book. Every page has an interesting tidbit about cheese. We used it yesterday to help select cheeses to go with some very special red wines. Highly recommended.

I really am not sure what I was looking for from this book, but I didn't find it. I guess I was looking for a book to give me a full spectrum view of fine cheeses (I don't have any fine cheese experience). Max certainly goes over the entire spectrum of cheeses, however his seriousness and dedication to cheese gets in the way from being able to communicate with a cheese amature like myself. Overall, the book had too much detail and although I wanted to learn about cheese, the book couldn't hold me attention and I didn't get me the education I was looking for.