The New Rules of Cheese: A Freewheeling and Informative Guide

Product Description

A fun and quirky guide to the essential rules for enjoying cheese 

“The New Rules of Cheese will empower you to choose a more flavorful future, one that supports the small dairies and cheesemakers that further the diverse and resilient landscape we so desperately need.”—Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill 

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

This richly illustrated book from a lauded cheesemonger—perfect for all cheese fans, from newcomers to experts—teaches you how to make a stylish cheese platter, repurpose nibs and bits of leftover cheese into something delicious, and expand your cheese palate and taste cheeses properly. Alongside the history and fundamentals of cheese-making, you’ll even learn why cheese is actually good for you (and doesn’t make you fat!), find enlightenment on the great dairy debate—pasteurized versus not pasteurized—and improve your cheese vocabulary with a handy lexicon chart.

Review

“Anne Saxelby is your trusted friend at the cheese counter, pointing you to a bolder, less familiar palate, nudging you away from the basic cheddar (which is not to say she doesn’t wax poetic about those, too) towards, say, a grass-fed sheep’s milk from North Carolina or a salt-cured feta from New Hampshire. 
The New Rules of Cheese will empower you to choose a more flavorful future, one that supports the small dairies and cheesemakers that further the diverse and resilient landscape we so desperately need.”
—Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill 

“In 
The New Rules of Cheese, Anne shares her deep knowledge and enlightened philosophy in a way that makes cheese more accessible and fun at the turn of every page. This book will connect you with Anne’s expertise and experience in a way that will have you exploring cheese, practically and intellectually, as well as learning how to serve it. More meaning in every morsel.”
—Mateo Kehler, co-founder and head cheesemaker of Jasper Hill Farm

About the Author

Anne Saxelby is the founder of Saxelby Cheesemongers, Manhattan’s first cheese shop dedicated to American artisanal cheese. She started out at Murray’s and apprenticed in France and the U.S., and she has a wholesale business catering to more than a hundred Manhattan restaurants.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

I am as unlikely a cheese expert as they come. If you had told me as a kid growing up in suburban Chicago that I’d become a cheesemonger, the first thing I probably would have said was, “What the heck is a cheesemonger?” Over the years, I’ve come to think that perhaps my ancestors conspired to get me into cheese. My maternal grandmother grew up on a small, diversified farm in southern Wisconsin; she fondly recalled dropping off milk cans at the train depot with her grandfather at dawn and having ice cream for breakfast afterward. When my sister was studying at Oxford, my family visited a town in Leicestershire, England, called Saxelbye that had little more than a church and a small Stilton factory in it. I have also been contacted by the Australian branch of the Saxelby family, who brought me newspaper clippings of turn-of-the-twentieth-century advertisements for Saxelby blue cheese and Saxelby cream cheese sold Down Under once upon a time. Whatever it was in my destiny that led me to it, I am so happy that cheese chose me.

Cheese has become the lens through which I see my world. This transcendent, joy-provoking food contains all the cosmos in a morsel—history, science, art, community, and culture. As someone who is endlessly curious, I have found that exploring the world of cheese really scratches that itch. Learning about cheese is a lifelong pursuit—the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. It’s that humbling, yet inspiring aspect of cheese that convinced me to make my first leap into the industry, and why I hope I can continue to do