Ihsan and Valerie own and run the Formaggio Kitchen family of stores. As is true of any folks passionate about their jobs, work intertwines throughout all aspects of their lives. Their travels – frequent and far-flung – are largely dictated by the food producers they want to meet or to revisit, by rumors of new and exciting foodstuffs and/or food conferences such as “Cheese,” the biennial Slow Food festival held in Bra, Italy. Their larder and wine cellar are stocked with favorite items they have imported or new items they are testing out. Even when on holiday, they are in direct communication with all three stores, coordinating deliveries from Europe and generally checking to make sure everything is on track. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Comté’
Introducing Ihsan and Valerie: Owners of Formaggio Kitchen
Posted in About Us, Cheese, Christmas, Gift Giving, Gifts & Wares, Grains, Rice, Flours & Beans, Hanukkah, Herbs, Spices, Salts & Peppers, Holiday, Jams & Preserves, Meats & Charcuterie, Olive Oil & Specialty Oils, Pasta, Staff Profiles, Wine, tagged Arraya, Bleu des Basques, Comté, food, food gifts, gift ideas, Ihsan Gurdal, rillettes, robiola, Sainte-Maure Belgique, Saveur du Maquis, Vacherin Mont d'Or, Valerie Gurdal on December 12, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Staff Favorites: How We Like Our Mac and Cheese
Posted in Cheese, Pasta, tagged cheddar, Comté, cooking, food, Gruyere, mac and cheese, macaroni, Parmigiano Reggiano, pasta on September 27, 2012 | 7 Comments »
It should come as no surprise that staff members here at Formaggio Kitchen are pretty passionate about mac and cheese. Everyone has a different take on their favorite – affected by how they had it growing up, pasta shapes and, of course, cheese preferences. As with the grilled cheese survey of a few months ago, I took a little stroll around the shop to see just how varied folks’ notion of this classic dish were. Here are the results! (more…)
A Fortified Favorite: Domaine de Montbourgeau Macvin du Jura
Posted in Beverages, Wine, tagged Comté, Domaine de Montbourgeau, Macvin du Jura, Nicole Deriaux, Wine on April 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Time out from cheese for a brief note about one of our new favorite wines, a curious liquid called Macvin du Jura. Ours is made by Nicole Deriaux, the 3rd generation winemaker at Domaine de Montbourgeau, a wonderful little winery whose L’Etoile we have stocked in the past.
The lovely elixir that is Macvin du Jura is made from the juice of a combination of red and white grapes to which the local Marc (“mac”) or grape brandy is added. This addition fortifies the sweet juice with alcohol and stops fermentation. The “wine” is then aged in oak casks for several years to develop and integrate the flavors. (more…)
A Thanksgiving Cheese Platter: Italy, France and Belgium
Posted in Cheese, Thanksgiving, tagged Brebis du Haut-Bearn, Charmoix, Cheese, Chevrin, Comté, food, Palet, Piramide di Capra, Robiola Roccaverano, Strach'in, Tronchetto di Capra on November 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A couple of days ago, we checked in with Kurt, lead cheese buyer at our Cambridge shop, to find out what he was recommending for these chilly autumn days and, more specifically, for Thanksgiving. Always a tough question for a lover of cheese (how to choose?), we managed to eke out the following recommendations. (more…)
Bra, Italy 2011: A Visit to “Cheese”
Posted in Cheese, Italy, Travelogues, tagged Bra, Caggiano, Cantine Ascheri, Caseficio Caggiano, Cheese, Comté, enkir, food, Giorgio Cravero, Italy, Jason Hinds, Marcel Petite, Maria Caggiano, Matteo Ascheri, Mulino Marino, Neal's Yard Dairy, Parmigiano Reggiano, Philippe Goux, Randolph Hodgson, Romano Levi on October 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Every two years, the biggest festival in the cheese world happens in Bra, Italy. The event is known simply as “Cheese.” Cheesemakers, cheesemongers, journalists, food lovers and folks lucky enough to live close by, descend on the small town of Bra to sample, sell and eat literally tons of cheese. This year at the biennial festival it was no different. With one exception. The thermometer hit a whopping 90°F. (more…)
Vermouth de Chambéry: Dolin’s Rouge, Blanc and Dry
Posted in Beverages, Pairings, Producer Profile, Recipes, Wine, tagged Blanc, cocktails, Comté, Drink, Dry, El Brioso, France, gin, John Gertsen, Manhattans, martini, martinis, Morbier, Pompier Highball, Rouge, Tome des Bauges, Tomme de Savoie, vermouth, Vermouth Cassis, Vermouth de Chambéry, Wine, wormwood on July 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Summer is the perfect time to acquaint yourself with the newest addition to our little family of wines from the Savoie: Dolin Vermouths.
Dolin has been making vermouth in Chambéry, France since 1821. Vermouth de Chambéry is actually the only AOC for vermouth in France, and Dolin is the last remaining independent Vermouth de Chambéry producer. Dolin starts with a light base white wine (no more than 10% alcohol) and then fortifies with sugar and infuses it with dozens of the local Alpine plants that grow in the hills above Chambéry. (more…)
Melting Cheese Traditions: Fondue, Fonduta & Aligot
Posted in Appetizers & Hors d'Oeuvres, Cheese, Main Dishes, Recipes, tagged Aligot, Appenzeller, Auvergne, Beaufort, Cantal, Cheese, Comté, cooking, Emmental, Emmentaler, fondue, fonduta, Fontina d'Aosta, Fontina Val d'Aosta, food, France, Gruyere, Italy, Laguiole, melted cheese, recipe, Recipes, Salers, Vacherin Fribourgeois on January 13, 2011 | 4 Comments »
As a child, I was an avid reader of Asterix and Obelix comics and there are a couple of images from the series that made an indelible mark. One was of Obelix furious and red in the face (I was always a little partial to Obelix) after Dogmatix had somehow been threatened. Another was of some poor, pathetic Roman who keeps losing his piece of bread in a large cauldron full of fondue. As the comic progressed (I think it must have been the one where Asterix and Obelix are in Switzerland), the cheese stretches all over the room and all over the partakers of the meal. That was my first image of fondue – it seemed fun, crazy and probably amazingly delicious. (more…)
2010: A Good Year For Cheese
Posted in Cheese, France, tagged Cheese, Comté, fermier, Ihsan Gurdal, Jura, Kurt Gurdal, Pyrenees, Savoie, Tomme Crayeuse, Tomme de Savoie, Valerie Gurdal on December 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This has been a good year for cheese at Formaggio Kitchen. We were lucky enough to visit several producers — both old friends and new acquaintances — who are sending us some incredible cheeses. Throughout the holidays, as family and friends come to town, or as you pack for a trip of your own, be sure to have a good selection of cheese on hand for simple snacking or to create an elegant cheese course. For help finding just the right cheese, here are a few highlights from our recent trips. (more…)
Comté: Profiles in Flavor
Posted in Cheese, France, Producer Profile, tagged affineur, Cheese, Comté, fondue, France, Marcel Petite on December 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Comté is an alpine cheese produced in the Jura mountain range of France. After our first opportunity to taste this great cheese with French affineur Marcel Petite, we brought in not one, but three ages of Comté so we could demonstrate the remarkable flavor development that occurs over time. Since that fateful first visit, we’ve gone on to establish the most complete collection of Marcel Petite Comté in the country, with cheeses ranging in age from 8 months to 36 months. (more…)
How Do You Like Your Comté?
Posted in Cheese, France, tagged Cheese, Comté, France, Marcel Petite on May 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
To us cheese nerds, Comté can become an obsession.
Perhaps best described as a French Gruyѐre, Comté seems to display a wider range of flavors than just about any other cheese we sell, and we enjoy delving into the nitty-gritty details of each wheel: its age, the location of the co-operative where it was made, and even the weather at the time the cows were milked. (more…)









