Interview with Chef Greg Gable on picking a great cheese board and grocery stores

Cheese Board

I recently had the priveledge of questioning Chef Greg Gable formally of Le Bec Fin (one of Philadelphia's finest dining institutions) and whom joined Alouette in 2007 as their Executive Chef regarding cheese and his association with Alouette, a forward thinking leader of specialty cheeses widely available and affordable in most grocer's cases. Alouette is really working hard on bringing elegence to the home consumer and has recently won The Chef's Best Award for Best Taste with their new Baby Brie Wedge.

SS (Stephanie, The Long Island Grocery Examiner)  You were a Chef at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia with access to any high end ingredient you wanted. How does Alouette's cheeses, widely available in neighborhood supermarkets measure up to the premium products a restaurant of that caliber uses?

CG (Chef Gable)  All the Alouette products that we make use the highest quality local milk which provides us a very fresh and consistent product. We use many fresh ingredients to flavor our cheeses and with Alouette spreadables being All Natural this assures our customer they are receiving a very high quality product

 SS   Have you noticed that supermarkets (as opposed to small cheese stores) are beginning to offer higher quality products, offering expert advice over at the cheese monger's counter? What is your favorite piece of advice you can give a customer looking for a delicious piece of cheese?

CG  I have seen some super markets offering higher quality cheeses while a few offer advice, most have not yet begun to offer any advice other than maybe brief notecard descriptions accompanying the cheeses. My advice into picking a cheese is to look for one that appeals to you;  this may mean the type of milk (e.g. sheeps milk, cows milk, goats milk ) used in making the cheese or whether a cheese is a soft ripened cheese, a hard cheese, a blue cheese etc . I would also recommend keeping a diary of cheeses that you have tried and brief notes regarding your liking or not liking of particular types of cheeses .This way you will have your own logbook of cheese sampling adventures

 SS  I am having a cocktail party for 5 couples and would like to present a beautiful cheese platter. Can you direct me towards a couple of cheeses and accompaniments?

CG I would first begin with a mild cheese maybe something like our Alouette baby brie served with sliced apples. My next choice would be one the soft cheeses maybe Alouette Garlic and herb this goes very well with toasted baguettes. I would then choose a semi-soft cheese maybe a Manchego served with figs or fig chutney. A nice goat cheese would be next. Chavrie goat log is a very nice mild goat cheese paired with dried fruits or nuts.I would then complete the platter with a blue cheese such as Stilton; accompany this with some sliced pears or red grapes. GREAT TIP: As far as amounts of each of the offerings a good rule of thumb is to purchase about one and a half to two ounces of each cheese per guest.

SS  A while back, there was some negative press on eating cheese because of the fat content. I love cheese and eat it often in minimal quantities...The "Cheese Police" doesn't come to my house anymore! How often do you eat cheese and what is your favorite way to eat it?

CG  With my wife being a former sommelier and I being a chef we often will have cheese and wine after dinner especially if we are sampling a new cheese we have discovered or there is a wine we would like to sample. I feel as long as you don’t go overboard and get a little exercise you can continue to enjoy cheese and build up your “cheese diary” and slow down and savor life. You owe it to yourself.

SS I would highly recommend La Panzanella crackers sold for approxiamtely $5.99 to go along with a cheese board.  These crackers are crispy and crunchy and fragrantly packed with flavors such as rosemary (my favorite) but come in other varieties such as Whole Wheat, Onion, and Tomato/Oregano.  Plus after years of great success (they won Best New Product (2001), Best Cookie/Cracker (2001 and 2002), Outstanding Best Seller (2002 and 2003), and Outstanding Cracker (2007) at the Fancy Food Show in NYC!) with their Original, Rosemary, Fennel, Sesame, Black Pepper, and Garlic Croccantini, La Panzanella is now responding to customer demand with more delicious choices in the spicy category called Fieri.  Those varieties include Chipotle, Serrano Lime and Red Chili Basil.   La Panzanella crackers are kosher and are available in Waldbaum's, A& P and Foodtown.

I would also recommend serving your cheese on a board along side Prima Brand Grapes.  These grapes are from California, are vine ripened and are unparalleled in quality and taste. Most shippers sell fruit from dozens of different growers, each with their own ideas, practices and standards when it comes to quality. No wonder consistency is hard to come by. At Gerawan Farming (which is Prima), they sell fruit from just one grower: themselves. So each piece of our fruit is grown, nurtured, harvested and handled according to their own strict guidelines for quality, color, flavor, texture and other characteristics. One grower, one standard, for consistent quality you can count on load after load, season after season.  You can find Prima Brand at Waldbaum's, A & P and many other markets in Long Island.

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