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Ian Jonsson/News-Sentinel

Choosing a perfect cheese and soup pairing

Cindy Della Monica serves up some potato soup at Cheese Central on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012.

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Ian Jonsson/News-Sentinel

Choosing a perfect cheese and soup pairing

Haley Pitto dines on potato soup with cheese on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. The potato soup was paired with several types of cheeses with various flavors.

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Cheese as dessert

Cindy Della Monica said that while most see cheese as a pairing for a meal or with meats, many forget that cheeses can also go great as pairings in desserts. Some tips to keep in mind are:

Choose cheeses that are lighter in body. Goat cheeses are great for this because they are lower in fat, and they serve as great neutral foils for other flavors. You can layer on whatever condiments you like without having to think too much about whether or not the flavors will match.

Serve a maximum of three cheeses. The goal is to highlight the cheeses, not overwhelm your guests.

Choose two or three accompaniments. You don't want to bombard your friends with too many flavors or choices. The place for a larger cheese board with many accompanying elements is before dinner or at a party.

Serve dessert cheeses with intensely flavored dried fruits like figs, apricots and cherries, which work well with aged, harder cheeses like gruyere, appenzeller, Beaufort and Comte. Fresh fruit choices are great with many fresh cheeses. Try figs, dates, apples or stone fruits like apricots and plums. Stay away from citrus fruits.

Nuts are great to serve on the plate. They often highlight the sweet and nutty qualities in cheese.

Honey turns just about any cheese into dessert.

Tips for pairing cheese and wine

1. Keep pairings simple: Pick one distinct wine and one distinct cheese that pair well. For example, full-flavored cheeses, such as creamy washed rind cheeses, require mediumto full-bodied wines, such as Merlot, Zinfandel or Syrahs. Likewise, pair light cheeses with light wines, such as Rieslings, Pinot Gris or Pinot Noirs.

2. Pair wine and cheese according to their area of origin or local region. Just as the growing conditions impart particular characteristics to a region's wines, these same characteristics may be imparted to the cheeses.

3. Do not limit yourself only to table wines. Branch out and try sparkling wines, late harvest and sweet wines, as well as fortified wines such as sherries and ports. Blue cheeses pair extremely well with dessert wines such as late harvest Viogniers and Rieslings or Muscat wines. Also, creamy cheeses pair well with sparkling wines and Champagne.

4. Explore the varieties of cheeses based on their sources of milk. For example, fresh goat cheeses are mild, lemony and somewhat acidic in their flavor, and creamy in texture. They pair well with crisp white wines, such as a Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Rieslings. Aged sheep's milk cheeses pair well with fruity Zinfandels. Aged cow's milk cheddars go well with sherries.

— Source: American Cheese Society.

Posted: Monday, January 16, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 6:42 am, Mon Jan 16, 2012.

Choosing a perfect cheese and soup pairing By Katie Nelson/News-Sentinel Staff Writer Lodinews.com | 0 comments

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Posted in Features on Monday, January 16, 2012 12:00 am. Updated: 6:42 am. | Tags: Food And Drink, Cheese, French Onion Soup, French Cuisine, Minestrone, Cindy Della Monica, Tomato Soup