Hi! My name is…

Jessie Bryson. Sometimes I can be found around the interwebs as Jessie Chien Bryson. And yes, I essentially interviewed myself for this article.

I’m originally from…

San Jose, California. West Coast and Apple Computers, representin’ at the shop.

How I came to find myself at Righteous Cheese:

I majored in art in college, and was always working an extra restaurant job during and post-college either to have some extra spending money or simply because I couldn’t afford rent once I moved to NY. I realized, after working at a major New York art gallery for several years, that the food scene was much truer to who I was than the art scene, and I was much happier working for restaurant tips than I was for a (albeit somewhat glamorous) desk-job on salary. After a brief but supremely glorious stint of unemployment, I returned to working full-time in restaurants in 2009, much to the dismay of my four-year-college-tuition-paying parents. Then my boyfriend-now-husband’s job required us to move around, meaning once again I was searching for my place in the world (it never ends I tell ya). I found a niche in freelance writing, and when we finally moved to DC last year, I wanted to get involved in DC’s rapidly growing food industry so I could hone in on food and culture writing. I found Carolyn and Righteous Cheese on Good Food Jobs, and the rest is, or will be, history….

My current fave from the shop is….

Cypress Grove’s Midnight Moon! Seriously, just try it. That, and Castelrosso. And Monte Enebro. Sweet Grass Dairy’s Green Hill Double Creme is also reallllly good. Ok, I’m done, I promise.

My favorite vendor at Union Market (other than Righteous Cheese!) is…

Neopol Smokery. Their smoked salmon salad is out of this world, and they make the best salads and sandwiches in the market – I’ve been eating their fare for the past six months and still not sick of it. Also I am just slightly addicted to the hummus over at the Mediterranean joint, I pick one up most Sundays to stock up for the week.

On a Monday afternoon, you can most likely find me at…

Either Kafe Bohem or Blind Dog cafe, working on my laptop. I write real good. And then afterwards, either taking a yoga class at Flow Yoga or throwing around weights at kettlebell class at a studio in Dupont. I gotta offset all the cheese I eat, somehow.

My most prominent food memory/memories is/are…

My mom’s dinner parties. Growing up, my sister and I were taught a lot about our Chinese culture, as much as we were provided with our natural American surroundings. My parents are first-generation immigrants and created their own network, their own family, when they moved out here to the States, so we would frequently have dinner parties where any number of my dozens of “aunties” and “uncles” would come over. My mom would spend the whole day prepping for dinner, which were always a mash-up of, say, Farmers Market salads and bowls of Chow Mein. Or, a 20lb. Roasted Turkey and sides of Chinese style long green beans. BBQ short ribs and rice wine pickled cucumber salads. Mapo Tofu (my mom’s is the best) for dinner and cheesecake for dessert.  We did pigs feet and tripe and stuff like that way before it was popular. Anyway, I’d like to think she was into Asian Fusion way before the advent of Momofuku and the Kogi Truck. I learned a lot, culturally, socially, and culinarily, through these dinner parties.

My guilty junk food/fast food/low brow food pleasure is…

McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets!! Seriously, I was sick in India once and chicken nuggets were the only things I could stomach – even though I only ate 4 of them. Everything else (even Naan) came up just as it went down (sorry). Add on some of their hot mustard sauce and I’m set. But, I really only eat chicken nuggets like, twice a year, because I do feel so guilty doing so.

You probably wouldn’t tell by looking at me, but I…

Was the captain of my high school soccer team. Glory days I tell ya! I also pledged a sorority in college. There, now all my secrets are out.

In another life, I think I was…

A warrior princess

If I could start my own business right now or invent something new, I would totally…

Start a regional food & culture magazine, in the vein of Lucky Peach cum Kinfolk cum Edible.  Writing, photography, design, typography, good food, and good styling, these are the things I live for.

My most awesome moment in life was when…

I won a trip to Iceland for myself and 10 friends. Not kidding. I hadn’t won anything up to then, and haven’t won anything since.

Most goats are currently having their kids, and as we move into March and the rest of spring, will be producing lots of milk. Since more milk = more cheese, this makes us happy little cheesemongers. At Righteous Cheese, we like to playfully expand your horizons and show the best of what cheeses and wines can offer, so we’ve put together a spring-inspired, all-goat cheese and wine pairing to prove how complex and nuanced goat cheeses can be. Despite what it may seem, goat cheese is NOT only sold in plastic-wrapped logs, and it’s NOT always super tangy and lemony and chalky, and it’s NOT just crumbled over beet salads (although, we don’t really hate it if it is). In fact, here is a short clip about what goats have to say about goat cheese’s bad reputation:

At the shop, we’re really urging the coming of spring with this wine + goat cheese pairing, which we’ve playfully called the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time), and which includes the following three cheeses:

Garrotxa: (gah-ROE-cha) A 2-4 month old goat cheese from Catalonia, near Barcelona close to Basque Country, hence the signature Basque “x” in the spelling of the name. As goat cheese ages, it tends to mellow in flavor, which is apparent in this cheese. Garrotxa has smooth, milky, honey notes with a bit of nutty/hazelnut characteristics added to the mix. It’s a favorite of all the cheesemongers in the shop, in large part due to its simplicity and versatility as a goat cheese. This is a goat cheese that holds its own on a cheese platter.
Paired with: Ponzi Pinot Blanc, from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. This mellow cheese needs a wine that won’t overpower it, and the honeysuckle notes in the wine accent the honeyed notes in the cheese, without muting the nutty notes in the cheese or accentuating the lactic quality that it can sometimes have.

Bucheron: (BOO-share-ohn) One of the first goat’s milk cheeses to be imported into the US, Bucheron was actually one of the first artisanal cheeses I was introduced to as a young adult – forever cementing my interest in cheese, I gather. Bucheron is a classic soft-ripened goat’s milk cheese from the Loire Valley that is aged for just about a month. It’s the most “traditional” of the three, with tangy, bright, zesty, and mineral-driven flavors.
Paired with: Domaine Chatelain Pouilly-Fume. This is the most classic pairing we have on this flight. These regional buddies are both zesty, bright, mineral-driven, and just goes to exemplify one of our favorite sayings at the shop: what grows together often goes together.

Billy Blue: Located in the rolling hills of central Wisconsin, Carr Valley cheese remains one of Wisconsin’s most traditional cheese makers, famous for its Wisconsin cheddar varieties, as well as a host of more modern cheeses. I like to imagine a big nuclear reactor-like plant puffing out little wheels of artisanal cheese on a conveyor belt – these are the sort of fantasies we cheese industry types have. Aged for 4 months, this cheese is made from the pasteurized milk of pasture-grazed Wisconsin goats. It’s a blue cheese that’s bright, zesty, and a little intense – oh so excellently so.
Paired with: Cesar Florido Moscatel Dorado. The residual sugar in this wine balances the hit of salt in the cheese, and the nuttiness of the Moscatel subdues any gamey-ness in the cheese. I love salty-sweet pairings the best, and this one is an excellent example of such!

This pairing (three cheeses and three wines) is $24.55 at the Righteous Cheese bar. Or, swing by the shop to sample any other one of our selection of goat cheeses – they’re all the G.O.A.T. in their own right!

French food generally involves lots of ingredients, tons of time, and/or fancy techniques: think Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignon, or Crème Brulée. But the French can get lazy every now and again, and Fromage Fort is one of those laissez instances in French gastronomy we are happy to take advantage of.

Fromage Fort is a deceivingly economical spread, made up of a mixture of leftover cheese pieces, some garlic and a healthy swig of whatever white wine you’ve got in the fridge. If you’re feeling fancy, some herbs or black pepper can be added to the mix. Blended together and spread atop a crusty baguette, Fromage Fort is the most delicious solution to being stuck at home on a snow day.

Though Fromage Fort literally translates into “strong cheese”, I prefer to imagine a tiny little shelter made of cheese, one that protects me from the many problems I might encounter when my stomach growls. Fromage Fort is the perfect cover for late night snacks, it saves a hostess during last minute dinner parties, and is the most belly-warming solution when it’s storming out and one just doesn’t have the right boots that will make a trip to the store and back a dry one.

When I make Fromage Fort at home, it’s rarely ever the same twice, but that’s rarely ever a bad thing. I try to limit the amount of blue cheeses, if at all, as they can easily overpower the spread, and usually try to scrape together a mixture of both hard and soft cheeses – though more often than not it’s the scraps of cheese that dictate my recipe more than anything I try to plan.

Fromage Fort

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. leftover bits of cheese, preferably hard and soft cheeses (3 kinds at least, although as many as 6 or 7 will be just fine)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Trim off any mold or very dried out parts from the surface, and remove any rinds. Grate hard cheeses and cut soft cheeses into chunks.
2. Toss peeled garlic cloves into a food processor and process for several seconds until coarsely chopped.  Add cheese, white wine, and pepper. Process until the mixture becomes soft and creamy, about 30 seconds.
3. Remove the mixture from processor and transfer it to a crock or bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate, or immediately spread over toasted baguette. Crackers and crudite are also excellent accompaniments.

On this blustery and cold day, I’m inclined to spread the Fromage Fort over slices of baguette and pop it under the broiler. Fromage Fort, sheltering me from a mighty hunger storm once again.

Don’t be fooled by its name – it’s not the wax brick versions of vacuum sealed Cabot cheddar we are used to seeing in the aisles of the supermarket. This Cabot is made by the same creamery, sure, but that’s the only similarity it shares with its supermarket brethren. This cabot differentiates itself from the beginning, when milk is sourced from a single herd of Holstein cows from one family farm in Peacham, VT. After the milk is curdled into wheels, they are carefully wrapped in cloth – a thick, potato-sack like muslin that little Timmy might be akin to wear. After 5 days, the young wheels are sent to Greensboro, VT to age at the noteable Cellars at Jasper Hill, where they don’t see light for another 10-14 months.

We receive the cheese in a huge, almost 40-pound whole wheel. Though my fingers may be pretty bony and scream Golum-esque, they’re certainly not small. Check out that image above, where you can see how my outspread hand sizes up to the wheel of Cabot.

The wheel barely even fits on our wire cheesecutter, but expert cheesemonger Peter here seems to have gotten the wheel to just fit. After scoring the cloth that covers the wheel – a MUST when cutting clothbound cheddars – we get to splitting the wheel open. An earthy, rustic, buttery smell exudes from the freshly cut cheese, and we smile. After an amusing few moments playing “guess that weight” – a game we like to play a little too often at the shop, in addition to the perennial “cut that cheese to a quarter pound” game- we weighed the half wheel. Any guesses?

Yes, this half wheel comes in at close to 18 pounds. That’s just three small pounds short of the baby that my friend just had.

This closeup is a better representation of the color of Cabot. Not quite white, but certainly not yellow at all. Rather, it represents a creamy pearl color, with the edges clearly showing signs of age. The thin layer of cloth is also visible, almost melded against the edges of the cheese. And although we make our wire cutters do a fair bit of work, they don’t take too well to cutting through that thick cloth. So before we cut Cabot to order for our customers, we always make sure to check that there’s no excess cloth bandaged around the cheese, leaving you nothing but the good stuff.

That’s definitely sexy….right Fred?

Cabot clothbound cheddar goes for $29/lb. at the shop. Swing by the counter and taste the sexiness!

Here at Righteous Cheese we believe a little healthy competition is always appropriate, so we’ve created our own little CheeseBowl for the week leading up to the big game. CA vs. MD both have a solid lineup of cheese and beer producers, so we’re fortunate to have a myriad of options in selecting several to pit head to head. Imagine if the Falcons or Texans had made it through! Representing the Baltimore Ravens is a powerful combo of cheese and beer, a mighty and tasty offense that strikes hard with soft goat cheese and a citrus-y saison. Representing the San Francisco 49ers, we’ve got a big, bold defensive lineup, a strong and hearty pairing of cheese and beer that has the flavor as well as history to knock your socks off. So read on about our offerings, and vote for your favorites today!

Representing Maryland:

Monocacy Ash from Cherry Glen Goat Cheese – Boyds, Maryland

Situated a mere hour’s drive north from Washington DC, Cherry Glen Farm carefully breeds and raises four species of goats, whose milks play an integral part in the farm’s prized cheeses. Founder Diane Kirsch, who sadly passed away early in 2012, was a retired French teacher who often traveled to France, bringing her love of quality cheese and cheesemaking to the creamery. Monocacy Ash, named after neighboring Monocacy River, is a lovely pocket-sized treat of a goat cheese. Cutting it open, you will find a stark and deep blue line of vegetable ash running through the center of the cheese. The ash is in fact for decorative purposes, however the thin coating along the outer rind aides in developing the flavors and rind of the cheese. Monocacy Ash is bright, fresh, and grassy. It is luscious and creamy, with a balanced tang of goat cheese and creamy ripeness from the bloomy rind.

Cellar Door from Stillwater Ales – Baltimore, MD

Stillwater Ales join the increasing popularity of brewing gone rogue. In addition to the innovative names and tattoo-reminiscent labels Stillwater claims for its image, owner and brewmaster Brian Strumke is known for his gypsy brewing techniques – traveling the world, learning about brews, and most importantly, borrowing his friends’ facilities to brew his famous beers. Cellar Door is a brew infused with white sage, which adds an herbal quality to the already bright and floral saison. Saison is a style of brew originating in Belgium, when the men who worked on farms gathered to brew beer in the winters when fieldwork was minimal if at all possible. These brews were aged in cool, dark cellars, kept at appropriate temperatures thanks to the winter weather. During the spring and summers, as days grew longer and warmer, the beers were drank after a long hard day in the fields The Stillwater Cellar Door, a peppery and strong teammate and pairing for the Monocacy Ash

Representing California:

Vella Dry Jack from Vella Cheese Co. – Sonoma, CA

Italian immigrants settled in droves in San Francisco in the early 1900s, and brought along their affinity for cheeses and cured meats. When WWI hit, and many of the imports of aged Italian cheeses became hard (if at all possible) to acquire, so immigrants took matters into their own hands and set off to age the already-ample supply of Monterey Jack, a cheese whose namesake claimed itself to the region. What resulted was a surge in aged, or dry jack – a cheese reminiscent of hard italian cheeses like parmesan and pecorino. Today, Vella Cheese Co. is one of three remaining creameries still producing dry jack – one of the original sixty that were once operating throughout the Northern California Bay. The Vella Cheese Company fights to produce their wheels in the exact manner and process they’ve been using for the last 100 years (not exactly always satisfying for the FDA). Rubbed in oil, cocoa powder, and pepper (the oil to preserve the cheese, the cocoa powder to keep the oil suspended for the cheese to breathe, the pepper to stave away bugs before refrigeration), the youngest Vella Dry Jack ages for eight months year. Intensely piquant and savory flavors are a result of this aged cheese, which can be enjoyed both on a cheese board or over a myriad of vegetables and dishes as an excellent substitute for parmesan.

Smoked Porter from Stone Brewery – San Marcos, CA

Just north of San Diego in a little town of San Marcos, Stone Brewery was founded in 1996 and is the largest craft brewer in California – although an increasing interest in craft brewing in Los Angeles is slowly opening the field for competition. Most of their beers are characteristic of west-coast craft brews; that is to say, most beers have a traditionally ‘hoppy’ flavor. This beer is no different, thanks to the addition of Columbus & Mt. Hood hops. Stone smoked porter is a rich, dark and delicious porter with chocolate and coffee overtones accented by just a hint of subtle smokiness due to the addition of peat smoked malt. Stone Smoked Porter, a mighty bold sidekick that stands up to Vella Dry Jack. Each pairing can be tasted for $7 at our bar this week between Thursday and Sunday. Vote at the bar, or simply click on over to our Facebook poll to vote. Let’s see if your righteous votes will pick the winner!! Also for a limited time, pick up our homemade Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese Dip from the shop. It’s the perfect pairing with some chips and veggies and goes really well with Beyonce.

While Nachos and Buffalo Wings are getting their appropriate amount of spotlight time around the web this week, we here at Righteous Cheese prefer to, naturally, feature something with a little more of a subtle kick.

Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese Dip

adapted from this recipe

1. In a large serving bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper and 2 1/2 cups of cheese. Stir well.
2. For best results, let dip sit in the fridge for a minimum of a few hours and up to 24 hours. The flavors will incorporate and become more bold and flavorful as the hours pass.
3. Before serving, sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese. 

This blue cheese dip is righteously earthy and mellow thanks to the addition of Bayley Hazen. For a more piquant or intense flavor, we’ve got other blues to fit the bill. Come by and ask us about them, we’ll point you in the right direction.