The House of Marinara

A nice dry-aged strip from Whole Foods.

Romaine lettuce, roasted peppers, cucumbers, manouri cheese, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

“It is like the smell of a rotting peach on a tree in the backyard”

I think anytime I hear quotes like that I am in trouble, but fortunately that was Julia talking and I was eating a glorious, semi-soft cheese from Portugal called Amanteigado Sera. This was one of the six different cheeses I tried as part of a cheese class called “Holy Sheep”.

The class is part of a series of fromage classes put on by River City Cellars (RCC) located in Carytown. The class was held next door to the wine and cheese shop in the old Urban Artifacts storefront (this will be soon be a wine bar that will be run by Julia, the owner of RCC). There were about 25 students crammed in there and the information was presented by Julia and the Cheese Goddess Sara.

This is my second class with them, and I was anxious to get into this one specifically because I have fallen in love with sheep’s milk cheese. One of the biggest reason is that sheep’s milk cheese has a higher fat content than either goat or cow’s milk cheese. This is because sheep produce limited amounts of milk, but it is full of fat and vitamins and wonderful stuff. On top of that, most sheep’s milk cheese is pressed condensing all together.

Anyway we tried 6 different cheeses. They were from different regions. We had a blue, a brie, two semi-firm, one semi-soft, and a fresh cheese. Of the six cheeses, I really liked four of them. They are listed below with the basic information and the location on the cheese plate

Manouri- pasteurized, fresh, Greece, 12 o’clock
Casa Madaio Cinerino- pasteurized, semi-firm, Italy, 4 o’clock
Amanteigado Sera- raw milk, semi-soft, Portugal, 8 o’clock
Bleu de Basque- thermalized, blue, France, 10 o’clock

In the end it was hard to pick a favorite. I ended up buying 3 of those 4 varieties. Overall, it was a great way to spend 2 hours: eating cheese, drinking sparkling stuff, and learning about all the cool stuff that surrounds cheese.

I love grilling snobs. I love it when people are so passionate about grilling that they will only use charcoal or high searing infrared gas grills or wood. I am, however, a bit more pragmatic when it comes to outdoor cooking, and that is why I have 3 outdoor appliances (gas grill, charcoal grill, and a smoker). I write all this because I find myself ready to buy a completely different type of grill made by Holland (company not country).

The Holland Grill uses electricity or propane to heat the grill but the elements are completely covered by the drip pan. The design is set up to avoid flare-ups and make use up the drippings (from fat or marinade) to recycle the flavor back into the food. I was able to try some pork loin that was cooked on it and it was very tasty. After 15 minutes with salesman, I was very intrigued. So much so that I sent Mrs. Marinara over to look at it (hint, hint, nudge, nudge).

As much as I am intrigued by this, it also seems gimmicky. It definitely violates so many grilling rules. The temperature ranges from 300- 425, which means it cooks at too high of a temp to smoke properly and to low of a temp to properly sear meat. Yet, the testimonials seem to point to this grill making great steaks and great ribs. Still can this be even qualified as grilling?

If I do buy into this, it will be out of necessity. I have been looking for a grill that can be used at tailgating events and they do have the compact Companion model. It is nice because it has a canvas bag that can be used for transportation and it runs on the smaller propane canisters. And even if I buy into this, really I need Mrs. Marinara to buy into this.