Tia Keenan’s new Melt, Stretch and Sizzle is far more than a cheese cookbook; it’s the cheese bible on how to successfully cook using cheese. Every page has at least one tip to guarantee success and make your dishes better and more “polished”. Some tips are almost like throw-away comments (in a good way) and for those of us who enjoy cheese everyday, these throw-aways are the difference between delivering a good dish and an “Oh My Goodness” dish to those we love.
I’m not going to give these tips away; you’ll need to (and should) buy this book. It will keep your family and friends happy. The downside to this book is that it may cause too-often visitors dropping by, hoping you’re cooking with cheese tonight…
Yesterday, Tia and I chatted about cheese, life and cheese. It was a pleasure to listen to her passion and learn about her cheese journey. A journey that was not part of her original life path but not a surprise either.
Like me, Tia grew-up spending a lot of time with her grandparents where cheese was a daily part of life. Kraft Cracker Barrel, that ubiquitous “block cheese” that was an early “specialty” cheese in America, was common in her household. For a treat, her grandfather, a first generation Italian-American, would take her along with him on a Saturday field trip to buy Fresh Mozzarella, which in those days was not as common as today. She learned early that American slices and Velveeta were not “real” cheese.
Tia studied journalism planning to go into publishing, which she did briefly before landing a coveted Server position at the trendy Tribeca Grill. TG had a cheese cart, but no one who knew cheese. Tia, by default, fell into caring for the cart and began learning. From the TG, Tia moved around Manhattan from restaurant and from Server to Floor Manager and each move brought her more and more into loving cheese and loving to care for cheese.
It was when she joined the staff at MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) that her life changed and cheese became a true passion. The Chef announced that their Cheese Cart was to become one of the centerpieces of the menu and asked for staff members to apply for the position. Tia was excited and did her homework to make her a stand-out for the position. To her amazement, she was not only the best candidate for the position, but the only one who applied. And Tia’s cheese passion became her career path.
With the help of Liz Thorpe, arguably “The Queen of Artisan Cheese”, who at the time was the wholesale department at Murray’s, Tia built a respectable cheese cart that featured between twenty and twenty-five specialty cheese both from the US and Europe. Many of her customers were European, in New York for business and pleasure, and accustomed to a cheese course as part of their meals and challenged her to exceed their expectations.
From MOMA, Tia had the opportunity to open Casellula in 2007, a wine bar which recognized early that cheese was the next best thing in the food trend. Tia, so to speak, was ahead of the curve, and helped make Casellula the place to go for a cheese plate and a glass of wine in Midtown Manhattan.
Around this time, Tia and I became Facebook friends but the first time we actually met was while she was running Murray’s Cheese Bar in Greenwich Village; another first for NYC. My friend, Denise Kramer and I sat at the bar while Tia plied us with her unique pairings and creations using the cheeses you could buy down the street at Murray’s Flagship Store – a Greenwich staple since 1940.
After Murray’s, Tia published her first book, pushing the envelope with her own interesting vision of cheese pairings. The Art of the Cheese Plate opened my eyes to new “rules” for finding pairings that emphasize cheese as the star of any event. Whether it’s a simple evening at home with your favorite partner or a party for dozens.
And now, Tia has brought her passion forward with her new book, Melt, Stretch and Sizzle. I have in the last week read the book three times and each time I learned something new to make me love cheese more and, more importantly, learn ways to make my cheese dishes better. For example, I now know how to make my grilled cheese ooze when cut in half and how to melt the cheese inside it without burning the bread. I now know why cornstarch is important in cooking with cheese. I know what Aligot is and can hardly wait to “experience” it…
Tia and I discussed “Cheese Snobbery”, a too-familiar attitude within the cheese community, in my opinion. Tia set out, with this book, to make using specialty cheese accessible to the “everyday” cook, especially Millennials who craze real food, but may have limited budgets for creating those special dishes.
Tia embraces “affordable” cheeses as part of this book; not relying exclusively on $40 a pound, obscure cheeses; cheeses that most of Americans have no access to or ever heard of. With the cheese dishes we all know and love like mac n cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches, Tia mixes in some ethnic dishes that feature cheese as the main ingredient. She wanted her readers to understand that cheese has been a part of many cultures. We, in the US, don’t have the “corner” on cheese in our diets; cheese has been paramount for a long time in cooking in almost every corner the world.
She also wants her readers to understand that as cooks, you don’t need to be embarrassed about your mac n cheese or the grilled cheeses you serve your family. If you are feeding your family and they are happy with your finished food; then your creations are food-worthy and you should be proud. Sometimes, cheese snobbery makes us feel we have to apologize for what we serve. Tia uses this book to dispel that angst.
If you are a Cheese Snob, you’ll love this book. If you are a regular cheese lover, you’ll love this book. And if you want to up your cheese game in the kitchen, you must buy this book.
To quote Tia, “Hot cheese does something to people.”… Truth.
For more Tia cheese love, you can read her regular column in the Wall Street Journal.
Copyright Melt, Stretch & Sizzle: The Art of Cooking Cheese by Tia Keenan, Rizzoli New York 2018. All images are copyright Noah Fecks, but no images may be used in print or electronically, without the written consent from the publisher. Serial rights are available, please contact Jessica Napp at 212 387 3436 or jnapp@rizzoliusa.com.
October is American Cheese Month and I currently have two events planned:
Save the Dates:
Friday, October 12th at Sweet Combs of Honey. I’ll be debuting my new handmade cheese boards for sale at this downtown Lavonia business that promotes the creations of local artists. My dad was a self-taught painter and loved to paint on slabs of wood. He left behind hundreds of slabs. I gave many of them away but as I work my way through his woodworking supplies, I have discovered I still have at least two hundred of these slabs in various sizes. I finished one to use for cheese and showed it to LaDonna Andrews at Sweet Combs and she wanted to sell them in her shop… We will be introducing my cheese boards in the shop on October 12th from 4pm to 6pm. We will also be offering complimentary, light refreshments which will include… cheese. Hope you can attend.
Saturday, October 20th: I am teaming again with Blue Haven Bee Company by creating Artisan Cheese Grazing Tables with the wonderful Award-Winning cheeses of Beecher’s Handmade Cheeses, Beehive Cheeses, Cabot Cheese Cooperative, Sartori Cheese, Cypress Grove Chevre, Jasper Hill Farm, Schuman Cheese, Rogue Creamery, Emmi Roth Cheese, Swiss American Cheeses, Clock Shadow Creamery, Olli Salumeria, BelGioioso Cheese , LaClare Family Creamery, Saxon Creamery and from Germany the cheeses of Champignon. In addition to these wonderful artisan cheeses, Gourmet Foods International is sponsoring the accoutrements that pair well with cheese from chocolate to hummus to peppadews to olives, Kelly’s Jelly is contributing her small-batch, Award-Winning jellies and preserves, 34 Degrees Crisps are sharing their Award-winning crisps and Olli Salumeria and Creminelli Fine Meats are contributing a selection of their Handmade Italian Artisan Meats and Salumis. Our thanks to all for helping with this event. My compensation for the event will be donated to the American Cheese Education Foundation, earmarked for the Cheese Study Group 2019 Scholarship Fund. $40 per person; must be 21 and make your reservations at bluehavenbee@gmail.com or 760 245 6586. Tickets will be limited. Tickets will also be sold for a raffle of some terrific “cheesy” bling.
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
Pardon our dust… we’re remodeling the website and over the next few weeks, you will see old files moved to new places and some old files may be gone. If you can’t find something you need, just send me an email and I’ll locate it and send you a link… the new site should be complete by end of September to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the website. (Marcellathecheesemonger at gmail.com)
Latest updates and additions include: Updated About Me page, a new Availability page, Cheese Menu, Cheese Education Index, Cheese Index, Recipe Index pages. (All of these pages are still “under construction” and will be completed in the coming days.)
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