Cheese

Bouchon Bakery makes delectable macarons that can be sent anywhere in the world. These cookies are the quintessential French melt-in-your mouth classics. They come in chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and pistachio as well as special holiday fillings of peppermint buttercream, rum and eggnog buttercream, and gingerbread. Large macarons are $3 each while a package of six mini are $12. To make a big hit, order at least 25. They can then be piled up in a tower in different colors and flavors to make a great holiday centerpiece; www.bouchonbakery.com; 212-823-9357.

Few foods are as versatile and universally appealing as cheese (who doesn't love it?) and rare is the holiday gathering that doesn't include it in some way. Impress your guests by featuring cheese front and center on a beautiful homemade cheese platter you assembled yourself.

Aim for variety
A good cheese plate offers a variety of styles and milk types, and has something for everyone from beginners to connoisseurs. Three to five cheeses per platter is plenty, allowing 1-3 oz per person as an appetizer, and if the options are overwhelming consider narrowing the field by choosing a region and going all local, all French, or all American, etc.

Ask the Cheesemonger
When buying cheese it can be easy to get overwhelmed by all the choices but a good cheesemonger will be happy to offer samples and help you make selections based on your preferences, type of guests, and other food you plan to serve. For more advice on selecting cheeses watch this Luxist interview with Taylor Cocalis, Director of Events & Education at New York City's Murray's Cheese.

Toting shopping bags up and down Manhattan's Madison Avenue can become tiring. After wearing out your elbow signing credit card slips, you'll find yourself with a daunting appetite, and you'll want to take care of it without deviating from your upscale excursion. There aren't many dining options, and most will lead you to a side street where the fare is mundane at best -- it's Midtown, after all. You can keep your luxury momentum going without having to trot far from your fashion binge at Obika, a mozzarella bar on the corner of Madison Ave and E. 56th Street.

The setting may strike you as strange -- nobody would expect to find a chic establishment in the IBM building's public atrium. Well, you'll have to suspend disbelief for a moment, because the bufala that awaits you is worth it. Popular with the local business crowd because it's easy to get in and out while still indulging, managing partner Anthony tells me that he sees plenty of visitors to New York come through.

October has fast become the pink month with more and more products taking on a rosy hue to benefit breast cancer. Beemster is the only official cheese sponsor and it will be going pink for the second year in a row by partnering with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to help raise money and awareness for breast cancer research.

The limited edition Pink Ribbon Vlaskaas cheese will be available from September 15 through October 31, and for every pound sold, Beemster, will donate 50 cents to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. After donating $23,308 in 2009, the Gourmet Dutch company is pledging a minimum of $25,000 in 2010 and has set a goal of $40,000.

Beemster Vlaskaas is a gourmet Dutch cheese with a long history. Vlaskaas translates to flax cheese-- the sweet and creamy cheese was made only during the harvest festival of the flax for the workers to eat on thick slices of bread and with porridge while they worked and celebrated. In 2004 the harvest festival celebration was recreated as a community event. While digging through archives for information on the exact way to recreate the harvest festival, the recipe for Vlaskaas was discovered and Beemster was asked to make the Vlaskaas recipe. The cheese won a Gold Medal in its category and third place overall in the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Competition, one of the toughest cheese competitions in the world.

A nature reserve north of Belgrade, Serbia is home to a herd of 100 Balkan donkeys that earn their keep in an unusual way: they give milk for cheese. The smoked cheese is sold under the name Pule (an unappetizing name that means 'foal' in Serbian) and is priced at €1,000/kg (or $600-$700 per pound), which is apparently about twice the cost of moose cheese and puts it among the most expensive cheeses (if not the most expensive) in the world. Manager of Zasavica Special Nature Reserve, Slobodan Simić, says that no special ingredients are used and the price is based strictly on the value of the milk that goes into making it. Currently Pule is made only on an advanced order basis.

Via Luxurylaunches

Do you really, really, really love cheese? Seattle is home to some surprisingly great locally made cheeses, particularly the famously sharp Northwest cheddars.

Beecher's Handmade Cheeses

Beecher's is as famous for their hand-crafted cheeses as they are for the space they are made in. Located in the famous Pike Place Market near the Seattle waterfront, Beecher's makes all their cheeses in a glassed-in room visible from the street, allowing you to watch the cheese being made in front of your eyes. Beecher's Aged Flagship Cheddar was the 2009 American Cheese Society's 1st place for mature cheddars, and their famous mac 'n cheese is notably indulgent and a must-have.

WSU Creamery's Cougar Cheese

While not strictly from Seattle, Washington State's famous Cougar Cheese is likely to please your tastebuds just as much as it will irritate nearby Husky fans. Ignore the intercollegiate rivalry and pick some up from the Cougar Connections store in the Westlake Mall in downtown Seattle. Cougar Gold is their flagship cheese, a white cheddar that gets deliciously crumbly and sharper with age.

If you're looking for the best local and international cheeses in Chicago, then Pastoral is the place. In fact aside from just an artisanal neighborhood cheese shop, Pastoral is also an amazing wine store, with the layout of the wines in line with the cheeses they compliment, full body wines are across from the aged cheddars and parmesans, medium wines are across from the semi-soft cheeses and light body are across from the young fresh cheeses. On top of all this, add a genuine Midwestern friendliness that takes the snobbishness out of fine cheese, and Pastoral accomplishes what it set out to be, an artisanal neighborhood cheese shop. In November, Pastoral was recognized as a nominee for a Luxist Awards Readers' Choice Award for Best Gourmet Cheese shop.

As with any specialty cheese store, Pastoral has the staples in big name and international cheese, such as Cypress Grove's Humboldt Fog of Arcata, California, Neal's Yard Dairy Cheddars from Britain, and Bucheron from the Loire Valley, France. What truly sets Pastoral apart is the amazing selection of Midwestern cheese. Local farmstead cheese highlights include Prairie Fruit Farms' goat cheese in Champaign, Illinois, Capriole goat cheese from Southern Indiana, and Marieke's Gouda from Thorp, Wisconsin to name a few. Pastoral's relationship with some of these farms is so close that employees from the store will sometimes double as employees representing the farms at Chicago's Green City Market. Aside from selling to the public, Pastoral also supplies top Chicago restaurants such as, avec, Blackbird, The Publican and Perennial with their artisanal cheeses.

In addition to cultivating its strong Midwestern roots, Pastoral aims to educate Chicagoans by offering a comprehensive schedule of classes every season. Topics range from the basic "Cheese 101" to the more specific "Celtic in Spirit – Cheese, Beers and Spirits of the British Isles and Beyond" and "Bubbles and Cheese," a class focusing on pairing champagne, cava and prosecco with cheese. Although the staff is fully knowledgeable in both cheese and wine, the shop does have its own resident sommelier so you can be sure the wines, as well as the cheeses, are top notch.

Pastoral Locations:
Lakeview: 2945 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60657
Loop: 53 E Lake Street, Chicago, IL 60601Chicago French Market: 131 N Clinton, Chicago, IL 60661

This post was contributed via Seed.com, AOL's new platform for freelance writers.

Sake and cheese? It sounds a bit off doesn't it? In the U.S. sake is generally sipped warm from tiny porcelain cups at sushi joints. But what if we've got it all horribly wrong? What if sake should be treated with the same respect we give to fine wines, what if it should be poured into glasses that allow its aromas to gather, its color and legs to be seen and its flavors to be slowly sipped and savored? The offerings from Banzai Beverages make a good case for that. I got to taste some delicious sakes paired with some of Wisconsin's finest cheeses chosen for the occasion by the Barrie Lynn, the Cheese Impresario, at an event hosted by Learn About Wine in Los Angeles.

We started the event with Banzai Bunny sparkling sake, not something I would ever have thought I might enjoy but it has a nice effervescent fizz courtesy of a secondary fermentation. It's not really like a Champagne, I found its slightly citrusy sparkle to be more like a Vinho Verde.

As with any fermented grain beverage the making of the mash forms key importance for sake. Although sake is called rice wine it is really more akin to a beer or a whisky. One thing that makes sake, which is made from rice, different from other beverages is the focus on not just the type of rice but on how much of it is polished away. Before processing into mash for sake, the rice is polished to remove the protein and oils from the exterior of the rice grains leaving a starchy core. The finer sakes have more of the rice polished away, in fact a new ultra premium sake promises to remove a full 91 percent of the rice, making the sake from the remaining nine percent. As you might expect, it has a hefty price tag, $2,000 a bottle, earning it a someday space on my drinking "bucket list."

In 2009, the Luxist Awards has featured several articles in the Cadillac-ipedia that have offered tips ranging from how to serve, pair, store and enjoy a variety of festive dishes and libations, from truffles and foie gras to cheese, sustaiable caviar and of course, Champagne.

Here a few of our favorite tips with links to all of the relevant articles, to help you plan your holiday festivities.

Serving cheese
Remove from refrigerator one hour before serving to guests. Cheese is best consumed at room temperature. Don't slice the cheese until after it reaches room temperature.

Serving fondue
Fondue can be served as an appetizer, dessert, or even a full three-course meal. Traditionally, fondues are created with melted cheese, which is usually a blend of two different varieties of cheese. The fondue is often served with bread, vegetables and fruit. If served as a main course, broth or seasoned cooking oil is heated in the fondue pot, while chicken, beef, seafood and vegetables can be cooked at the table. A variety of dipping sauces can provide more flavor. Fondues consisting of molten chocolate is a delicious dessert, with bananas, strawberries and marshmallows great options for dipping.

Serving foie gras
Foie gras, which is the French word for "fat liver" is a delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery and delicate. It is served as a mousse, parfait or pâté.

Caviar options beyond Beluga
The finest caviar often comes from the sturgeon, a fish that has become endangered in many areas, including the Caspian Sean. There are a variety of other options available to avoid further depleting the ocean's resources. One Readers' Choice nominee, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar, raises its fish sustainably in Northern California. It's online operation offers caviar, roe, smoked delicacies and an array of caviar accessories.

Serving Champagne
The pouring temperature of Champagne will vary depending on the kind you will be serving. Young non-vintage champagne, with no year on the label, should be poured around 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit). Mature wines, on the other hand, such as vintage Champagne, should be poured between 12 to 14 degrees Celsius (54 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit). Champagne goes well with pasta salads, sea food, oysters, shrimps, light fishes and antipasti. It also goes well with a cheese course as well as with many desserts.

For more than a century, Beemster has been hand-making gourmet cheese on its sustainable farm in the Netherlands. The cheese is matured for a minimum of 18 months and carefully crafted by master cheese makers. Michael Blum, Beemster's resident cheese expert, has some tips for holiday entertaining ranging from presentation to accompaniments and wine pairings:

1. Consume at Room Temperature: Cheese is most flavorful to consume at room temperature. All cheeses are best stored below 7 degrees Celsius/45 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Make the Cut: allow cheese to sit at least one hour at room temperature before cutting. Remove the rind by cutting back into the cheese half an inch before grating. Cut small snack-sized squares for cheese-plates or salads and grate cheese into small slivers for pasta or pizza.
3. Go Nutty: Cheese pairs excellent with nuts. Spruce up your cheese plate by including pecans, walnuts, macadamias or cashews. If you or your guests have a nut allergy, other snacks that go well with cheese are apples, grapes, pears, figs, dates, olives and picles.
4. Old and Sweet: Older cheeses, such as Beemster X-O, pair well with sweeter wines like Rieslings and ports.
5. Get Fresh: Young and fresh cheeses taste best with lighter beers. A good rule of thumb is the more mild the cheese, the lighter the beer.

Farmstead is the Readers' Choice winner in the Best Cheese Shop category.

The company was founded in 2003 by the husband-and-wife team of Matt and Kate Jennings. They're a well-qualified duo: Matt graduated from culinary school in Vermont in 1995, worked for artisan cheese stores and producers across the country, and studied with master cheesemongers in the U.K, France and Italy. Kate is a classically trained pastry chef.

As co-owners of Providence, R.I.-based Farmstead, Matt and Kate develop close relationships with producers and hand-select fine foodstuffs, specializing in small production, limited release cheeses. As an extension of this hands-on approach, Farmstead aims to educate its customers on the subtleties and history of cheese, offering product tastings, cooking demonstrations, and cheese and beverage pairing classes.

Farmstead's signature cheeses include "Sarabande," co-designed with Dancing Cow Farm of Vermont and boasting hints of hazelnut, sherry, and fresh farm cream at its peak ripeness. Another, called "Drunkin' Providence," is flavorful cheddar washed with Thomas Tew Rum from Rhode Island's Newport Distilling Company.

The Jennings founded Farmstead's sister restaurant, La Laiterie, in 2006 to augment their offerings. Located next to the cheese shop, the bistro serves seasonally influenced meals with fresh ingredients from local sustainable farms; the menu sometimes changes daily. Matt and Kate designed the restaurant themselves, accenting their rustic cuisine with hand-made rust colored paper lights and an interior made from reclaimed barn wood, forged iron and Vermont soapstone.

For those who can't make the trip to Wayland Square, the historical shopping district Providence, to inspect Farmstead's cheeses in person, the company offers a comprehensive website along with speedy delivery options. Rest assured, the cheese will still be just as stinky when it arrives.

Neal's Yard Dairy is a nominee for a Luxist Award for Best Cheese Shop.

Neal's Yard Dairy was founded in 1979, offering Greek-style yogurts, crème fraiche and, of course, cheese. Initially a distributor of lackluster wholesale cheeses, the Dairy began to evolve into a world-renowned specialist when owner Randolph Hodgson drove his rickety Citroen to a countryside farm and returned to London with a load of delectable Devonshire Garland cheese.

By sampling more cheeses and talking to customers, Hodgson grew his palate and his business--and outgrew the physical location of Neal's Yard. In 1992 the company moved to 17 Shorts Garden, where it still has a shop. The Dairy also expanded to include maturing rooms under the brick railway arches that support the main line from London Bridge to Dover, as well as a Neal's Yard Creamery located on Dorstone Hill, overlooking the Wye Valley in Herefordshire.

Hodgson still keeps close ties with cheesemakers and customers--he hand-picks cheddars by visiting England's West Country every eight weeks, sampling young cheese to select which batches will be matured for Neal's Yard Dairy. His Citroen has been replaced with a fleet of climate-controlled vans that shuttle cheeses around London, where mature cheese is sold through his two shops.

For those located outside the British Isles, goods from Neal's Yard Dairy are available in restaurants around the world, and by direct order from the company's website. Though the original batch of Devonshire Garland is long gone, there are still plenty of similar West Country cheeses available.

Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.

Farmstead is a nominee for a Luxist Award in the Best Cheese Shop category.

The company was founded in 2003 by the husband-and-wife team of Matt and Kate Jennings. They're a well-qualified duo: Matt graduated from culinary school in Vermont in 1995, worked for artisan cheese stores and producers across the country, and studied with master cheesemongers in the U.K, France and Italy. Kate is a classically trained pastry chef.

As co-owners of Providence, R.I.-based Farmstead, Matt and Kate develop close relationships with producers and hand-select fine foodstuffs, specializing in small production, limited release cheeses. As an extension of this hands-on approach, Farmstead aims to educate its customers on the subtleties and history of cheese, offering product tastings, cooking demonstrations, and cheese and beverage pairing classes.

Farmstead's signature cheeses include "Sarabande," co-designed with Dancing Cow Farm of Vermont and boasting hints of hazelnut, sherry, and fresh farm cream at its peak ripeness. Another, called "Drunkin' Providence," is flavorful cheddar washed with Thomas Tew Rum from Rhode Island's Newport Distilling Company.

The Jennings founded Farmstead's sister restaurant, La Laiterie, in 2006 to augment their offerings. Located next to the cheese shop, the bistro serves seasonally influenced meals with fresh ingredients from local sustainable farms; the menu sometimes changes daily. Matt and Kate designed the restaurant themselves, accenting their rustic cuisine with hand-made rust colored paper lights and an interior made from reclaimed barn wood, forged iron and Vermont soapstone.

For those who can't make the trip to Wayland Square, the historical shopping district Providence, to inspect Farmstead's cheeses in person, the company offers a comprehensive website along with speedy delivery options. Rest assured, the cheese will still be just as stinky when it arrives.

Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.

Formaggio Kitchen is a nominee for a Luxist Award in the Best Cheese Shop category.

Formaggio Kitchen has been an institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts for over 30 years. It is a gourmand's paradise doubling as a neighborhood grocer. Visitors go to Formaggio Kitchen to stock up on cheeses, cured meats and baked goods, always leaving with something they've never seen before that is sure to become a new house staple. Chefs, both professional and amateur, rely on Formaggio Kitchen for that special ingredient they can't find anywhere else.

Each year, Formaggio Kitchen staff travel to the far reaches of the planet in search of the world's finest artisan products. Their shelves are brimming with products made by individual artisans, each as wonderful as the next: honeys from Sardinia & Piedmont sit aside farmhouse jams from Pays Basque & l'Ardeche, while spicy organic tomato sauce from Liguria neighbors briny Brittany fleur de sel.

Marble slabs support cuts of cheese artistically arranged each morning. Its cheese selection is from cheesemakers around the world, from North America to Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Italy. At any given time, there are more than three hundred cheeses available to Formaggio Kitchen customers.

But it is Formaggio Kitchen's cheese caves, built out of an old office deep in the nether-reaches of the basement beneath Huron Avenue, that makes it most proud. Constructed in 1996 (as the first of its kind in this country) with all the damp, musty, chilly characteristics of an Alpine hillside, the caves now hold its precious stock at their ideal temperature and humidity, creating both a place to age young wheels and maintain moisture in older ones.

Formaggio Kitchen has locations in Cambridge, Ma., in Boston and New York City. Each store carries a similar selection of imported and domestic delicacies, but each has its own flair. The Formaggio Kitchen website offers an overwhelming selection of cheeses from around the world, in addition to an abundance of oils, vinegars, spreads, chocolate, spices, breads, olives, meats, seafood and antipasti.

Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.

Can you shop online and have your specialty cheeses and fine dining too? iGourmet.com thinks so, and it seems plenty of others agree as it has been nominated for a Luxist Award in the Best Gourmet Food category and was named 'best gourmet food website' by Forbes for five years in a row: from 2003 to 2007. It's a family business that originated from three generations of cheese importers and started as a mail order business (known as "International Gourmet") well before the internet was even invented. With no "brick and mortar" shop, igourmet.com has an extensive website complete with large photos, flavor descriptions, usage ideas, and recipes in an effort to not only offer exquisite edibles but also educate its customers so they really get what they're shopping for.

iGourmet.com offers everything from meats to sweets to oils and vinegars, but they especially pride themselves on their extensive line of gourmet cheeses imported from France, Italy, Sweden, and every other European country that exports it. They also offer a wide array of unique gift options for the holidays or any time of year in the form of luxe and beautifully packaged gift boxes, gift baskets, and cheeseboards plus a selection of 6 different gourmet monthly club options including Cheese of the Month (of course), Tea of the Month, and Connoisseur of the Month clubs.

Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.