Cheese courses are always terrific (it gives you an easy course to put forward with minimal prep).

The Europeans always have cheese as the final course:  dessert course, cheese course, then coffee.Americans always want:  cheese, then finally dessert with coffee.  For my money, how can you eat pie or cake without a cup of JOE???  But when we’re in Paris we do it their way!

Typically, cheese tastings go from the most mild to the strongest, around the plate or cheese board, like the face of a clock.  We always serve at least 3 to 4 selections.  We try to vary the taste and texture of the selections:  Serve a soft creamy type (like a brie, or our homemade mozzarella); a mainstream cheddar (for those that like a familiar favorite); a hard/aged cheese (like a Parmesian Reggiano); and a blue cheese (Stilton, Danish blue, Maytag).

We never serve only strong-flavored cheeses (the ones that are indelicately referred to as “stinky feet cheeses”), but vary the flavor profile for a more satisfying and interesting tasting experience (unless you know your entire crowd LOVES stinky cheeses).

Looking for a variety of color in your selections is also visually more interesting.  A Sage Derby has green veining, an traditional orange cheddar, a highly veined blue cheese, etc. all provide varied eye appeal on the cheeseboard or plate.

Often we’ll also mix in a chevre (goat cheese), or a sheep’s cheese for the tang and variety (roll a log of chevre in fresh chopped herbs from the garden).  Offering a smoked cheese can also add variety to your selection.

Sometimes it’s fun to feature local cheeses that are new to your guests and allow them to sample something unique to your area.  Or feature all regional cheeses to go with a menu theme, like all Southern Italian, all Provencal, all Nappa Valley.  For the record, Velveeta, Cheez Whiz, or Kraft Singles don’t go on a cheeseboard!

To shake things up, we will create a little cheese dish, like a baked cheese puff with olive, a petite cheese ball, a tiny cheesy biscuit, stuff dates with a soft herbal cheese, or make a savory cheese panna cotta (a recipe I created for the American Dairy Association) to go with some of the sliced cheeses.

Other Components:

• Fruit, or dried fruit (bunches or grapes, sliced pears, or dried apricots or cranberries)

• Nuts like walnuts, almonds, or pecans

• Olives are great with the cheeses

• Pickles, or cornichon are also great

• Sometimes jams — like fig jam, tomato jam, etc. are fun to put in a little tub or crock on a cheese board with a spreading knife

• Plus small crostini, homemade crackers, or a flat bread, typically accompany these. Usually folks are getting full by the time the cheese comes around, so we try not to serve too much bread, or make the cheese course carb-heavy at that point of the meal.  Light crackers or breads are best.

• We typically garnish the plates or cheese boards with flowers or rose petals for color

• Port Wine served in small glasses with the cheese course is heavenly.  Although some folks prefer Claret, or Champagne/bubbly with cheeses.

We either make up individual portioned plates for each guest, or we will take a large wooden cutting board and use that for cheeses and put it in the middle of the table, or pass it around.  Sometimes I will have a small stack of plates and bring the cheeseboard to the table and then I portion each plate based on the guests’ preferences (“no blue cheese” “lots of brie”).  This customizes each plate, and it avoids having to pass a heavy, cumbersome cheeseboard.

Typically, a portion of each cheese is about 1 to 2 ounces (that’s about a small 1 1/2- to 2-inch square of each selection).  Also, a couple of 12″ by 12″ marble or granite tiles from Home Depot or Lowes are cheap and make great cheese boards (beware they do crack and break if dropped, and you must hand-wash them, but they are pretty cheap to replace and look beautiful on the table).  For a long table with many guests, we may do two or three cheeseboards for the table, so that the boards are within easy reach of each guest.

The traditional way to serve cheeses is at a cool room temperature.  If cheeses become too warm they can melt or they will start to “sweat” or leach droplets of fat on the slices and it’s not very appetizing.  But the cheeses shouldn’t be served cold.

Technically the experts tell you that you are supposed to have a different knife for each type of cheese.  And make certain they are knives that are up to the job.  Don’t use a dinner knife for heavy, dense, aged cheeses!

For cheeseboards, we typically cut half the wedge of cheese up into slices for the convenience of the guests and put the remainder of the wedge on the board.  If it is a cheese known for its unique rind, such as the chevron zig-zag pattern of a Manchego, or the pinpoint writing on the Parmesan Reggiano, we make sure the rind is on the wedges, with enough of the rind stripped back for clean slices, but enough rind left to show the pedigree of the cheese.

We always include a few forks on the cheese board to easily pick up slices of cheese.  For crumbly cheese like blue cheese, we will crumble up a pile of the cheese in front of the wedge for easy portions.

So for your next fancy dinner, blow your guests away by adding a cheese course, it doesn’t take a lot of effort and it seem so civilized to savor some wonderful cheese and fruit at the end of a wonderful meal.

Yours,

Chef David

They’re wonderful for parties and very easy to make.  And, the extra kick of horseradish adds that extra surprise to every bite!

Watch the video here:

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S2972880.shtml?cat=10127

Of his 50+ appearances on the show, this is the recipe that was re-tweeted more than any other.

Take a look:

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S2909830.shtml?cat=10127

The specific class topics are:

• Grains of Gold: Grains, Rice, Beans and Wild Rice
• In the Soup
• Get Saucy
• Breads and Spreads: Baking Basics, plus Tasty Toppings

Please click on the “Upcoming Appearances” tab for complete details and reservations.

As cucumbers are in season, these crunchy and satisfying pickles are perfect on their own, on burgers, or as an accompaniment to any fall lunch or dinner.  And, the recipe is as simple as they are delicious!

Also included is a special birthday surprise and “shout-out” to WNYT weatherman, Tim Drawbridge.

To watch the complete video and learn how to make these tasty treats, click here:

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S2757499.shtml?cat=10127

For your copy of Learn How to Cook (and eat your mistakes!), visit the “Buy it Now” section of this website.

Blending the best of Chocolate-Covered Strawberries with the classic Strawberry Shortcake, this recipe is the perfect summer dessert given the plentiful bounty of strawberries across the country.

Hosts Dan Bazile and Tim Drawbridge loved it so much that they took their desserts back to the anchor desk and finished out the broadcast eating them.  You’ll love it, too!

To view the complete segment, click here:

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S2666267.shtml?cat=10127

Woodruff and her husband, television journalist Bob Woodruff, have a keen interest in helping returning vets as Bob was seriously injured by an IED while covering the Iraq War.

They are the founders of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, whose mission is to ensure our nation’s injured service members, veterans and their families return to a homefront ready to support them.

To read all of Chef David’s blog and see photos from the inaugural culinary training program, click here or paste this into your browser:

http://www.leewoodruff.com/food-for-thought2/

While he jokingly commented that the title implies something you might find as part of hospital food, this simple dessert is actually delicious and a real crowd-pleaser.

To view the entire segment, click here or paste this link into your browser:

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S2521712.shtml?cat=10127

Why do you cook?  What drives you to prepare delicious food?

They say you either become a chef to feed yourself, or you become a chef to feed others.  I think my motivation as a cook is a little bit of both.  I love to eat, but I also love to cook for folks.  In fact, I’d honestly rather be behind the scenes preparing a meal than actually sitting at the table eating it.

In the kitchen powering the proceedings, I feel like the unseen motor humming under the hood of a car and making everything move, taking everyone to their final destination of dessert, coffee, and great conversation.  I love an evening that ends with walking guests (with full stomachs) to their cars and standing in the driveway waving goodbye to them.

About a minute-and-a-half after we start to cook on a regular basis, we start to ask ourselves why we cook.  Thought comes in, self-examination begins, and we turn to introspective staring at our belly-buttons to figure out what ties us to food and our desire to prepare it.  We’re looking for an answer beyond just cooking to survive.

Why do you cook?  Did it start out of necessity to feed yourself or your family?  What is the gravitational pull that keeps bringing you back into the kitchen?  What makes you carefully purchase items, or grow special ingredients, or spend time at a farm stand?  What motivates you to take those building blocks back home and turn them into a creative and memorable meal?

Certainly in my instance I wasn’t a born cook.  Not by a long shot.  I grew into being a cook.  Sometimes I was praised for something I cooked and realized I might have a knack, an aptitude, an ability to prepare food.  In between the praise, I ate a lot of mistakes!  Often I was the brunt of jokes born from some culinary fiasco.  For me, every time I failed in the kitchen I kept returning to try to correct the failure – attempting to make the recipe better – becoming more efficient and savvy in the kitchen.  I wanted to take charge.  The kitchen was mine!  And frankly, no one was fighting me for it.

For me, embracing cooking helped me fight loneliness and eased me through a really tough time in my life.  The act of cooking continues to help me negotiate rough patches in life.  It gives me a productive activity that allows me to think things through.  I am so grateful at my core to be able to cook.  Why do you cook?

Yours,

Chef David