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“A
Gourmet’s Guide to Cheese” by Carol Timperly and Cecilia Norman, 1989.
$6-12. An inexpensive little
cheese book that is good for beginners. It
is full of pictures and descriptions, and has some recipes at the end.
“Cheese:
A Comprehensive Guide to Cheeses of the World” by Juliet Harbutt, 2002.
$15. A great list of cheeses
from a variety of countries
including Australia, Portugal, Cyprus, Turkey, India, and the Middle East.
"Cheese: A
Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best" by Mac McCalman and David Gibbons,
2005. $33. Gorgeous hardcover book that just came out in Aug. 2005. Well-written
with a beautiful presentation on the page. For each cheese, there is an eloquent
historical and sensory description, plus a breakdown of all the technical
details, including strength ratings, seasonal availabilities, and wine pairings.
Good for beginners, but even better for seasoned cheese tasters who need an
excuse to travel to foreign lands and indulge.
“Cheese Primer” by Steven
Jenkins, 1996. $17.
A wonderful reference book and a must-have for the cheese library.
It doesn’t have glossy color photos, but informative and entertaining
descriptions of cheeses around the world.
“Cheese:
Quick and Easy Recipes for Elegant Entertaining” by Lou Seibert Pappas,
1996. $10.
A very small gift book with good information on basic cheese types and
cheese with food and wine.
“French Cheeses” by Kazuko
Masui and Tomoko Yamada with consultant Randolph Hodgson, 1996 and 2000.
$19. A beautiful book with
many pictures, maps, wine choices, and details of production.
Included are well-known cheeses along with artisanal rarities.
“Guide du Fromage” by Pierre
Androuët, 1971. $20.
Written by the most famous cheesemonger in France.
This book is available in France, only.
It offers no color pictures, but much information on cheese stats,
history, selection, and pairing with wine.
"Home
Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses" by Ricki
Carroll. $17. This book is geared towards the home cheesemaker.
It tells the history of various cheeses and describes in detail how they are
made -- and how to recreate that process at home.
“Italian Cheese:
A Guide to Their Discovery and Appreciation” by Slow Food Editore,
1999-2000. $20.
A very informative book with pictures and information about Italian
cheeses, obscure and famous. It
tends to be a little technical for the general public and doesn’t go into much
detail about the aromas and flavors.
“Le Brie:
Histoire et Légendes, Fabrication et Gastronomie” by Pierre Androuët,
Yves Chabot, and Gérard Bernini, 1997. $20.
A French-language book about the different varieties of cheese from the
Brie region. It features
interesting pictures of famous Brie connoisseurs as well as shots of life on the
farms in France.
“The Cheese Bible” by
Christian Teubner, 1998. $30-$35.
Somewhere between a recipe book and a coffee table book.
I like this book because it has great information on cheesemaking and
color photos in an encyclopedia format so the reader gets a visual education of
the different types of cheeses. The
second half of the book is recipes.
"The
Cheese Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide" by Judy Ridgway (Updated by Sara
Hill) $20 Small, soft-cover, encyclopedic style of book with lovely pictures and
tons of information. It covers the basics -- in detail. This is definitely a
book I would recommend to a beginner as it is compact and visually enticing. It
is to the point and not weighted down by a bunch of unnecessary cheese recipes.
“The Cheese Course:
Enjoying the World’s Best Cheeses at Your Table” by Janet Fletcher,
2000. $20. Primarily a recipe book.
This small gift book has good advice on wine pairings and cheese
platters.
"Cheese: Selection, tasting, and serving the world's finest" by
Alix Baboin-Jaubert, 2002. $20. The title of this book is
misleading. It is actually a translation from a French book on
cheese. It focuses primarily on French cheese. Nevertheless, it is a
beautiful paperback with well-organized pictures, maps, and even codes for the
best seasons to enjoy each cheese.
"The
All American Cheese and Wine Book: Pairings, Profiles, and Recipes"
by Laura Werlin, 2003. $37.50. This book has great charts on
pairings of wine and cheese (not just American styles) and also has a nice
section with very specific guidelines for pairing wine and cheese. The
second half of the book is recipes and profiles of American cheeseries and
wineries.
“The Cheese Plate” by Max
McCalman and David Gibbons, 2002. $32.50.
A great book for the serious cheese taster. It goes into great detail about the cheesemaking process,
cheese selection, and pairing cheese with food and wine. The photos are good, and the writing, even better.
“The Cheese Lover’s Cookbook
and Guide” by Paula Lambert, 2000. $35. Mostly a recipe book, though the front provides a good
overview of cheese basics. The
author is the owner of the Dallas-based Mozzarella Company.
“The Complete Book of Cheese”
by Bob Brown, 1955. $3, out of
print. An interesting little cheese book from the 50’s.
It is full of anecdotes, poems, and odd recipes.
The second half of the book contains a very good cheese encyclopedia.
“The History of Stilton Cheese”
by Trevor Hickman, 1995. $14.
Definitely a history book. The
pictures of the old cheeseries in England are interesting, but the text is
dense.
"The
Murray's Cheese Handbook" by Rob Kaufelt and Liz Thorpe. 2006. $13. Truly a
handbook, this book is narrow enough to fit into a deep pocket, but it is no
lightweight. It is packed with lively descriptions of cheeses, common and
obscure alike. No pictures, but all the more room for info. It includes cheese
basics, FAQ's, a glossary, and serving ideas.
“The New American Cheese:
Profiles of America’s Great Cheesemakers and Recipes for Cooking with
Cheese” by Laura Werlin, 2000. $35.
A beautiful book about the growing industry of cheesemaking in the U.S.
It offers the history of the American farmstead cheeses along with
recipes for each cheese.
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