Don`t let one of the fastest growing food trends get your goat. If the last recipe you clipped calls for chevre or Cabecou, feta or Montrachet, you`re about to discover cheese with a tangy new flavor.
Or maybe you`ve already found goat cheese next to the Brie on a cheese board or crumbled into a salad. Those same cheeses have delicious
possibilities in a wide range of recipes for which you might have considered only cheese made from cow`s milk until now.
Goat milk-available fresh, powdered and evaporated-can subtly change the flavor of a favorite soup or sauce, cake or pie.
Just as easily as she scrambles up a mountainside, that spunky little goat is horning her way into cow territory in dairy cases of cheese shops and supermarkets.
Little logs of cheese rolled in blue-gray ash, buttons floating in olive oil, cheese marinated in brandy or covered with herbs are right there next to the Colby and Cheddar.
The younger goat cheeses are more delicate; the older ones usually have a fuller flavor and may have a protective rind. If goat cheese is new to you, it`s probably a good idea to begin with the younger, milder cheeses until your palate grows accustomed to the characteristic tang.
But properly processed goat milk and cheese shouldn`t have an obtrusive taste or aroma, producers say. Carefully fed goats will produce mild-tasting milk, according to Carol Jackson, vice president of Jackson-Mitchell, a company that has produced goat milk products for more than 50 years. Goat milk can be used in any recipe that calls for cow`s milk, she says.
The cheese need not be overpowering either, according to Ellen Jantzen, who has raised goats at her country home near Carlyle, Ill., and made a variety of cheeses from the milk of the Alpine and Nubian goats on her farm.
”The cheese originally had a characteristic tang when the milk had been mistreated. Goat milk has a pungent flavor if it`s brought out, but if the milk is kept sterile and cool, the cheese can taste like any other cheese,”
Jantzen says.
Now, a special flavoring has been introduced to replicate the traditional flavor in some cases, she says.
”When you find goat cheese with an `off` flavor, more than likely it`s a back yard operation-and there are so many more back yard goat operations than cow operations that people have become accustomed to that flavor,” she says. People who know goats seem to agree that the clever little creatures have had to fight that billy-goat-gruff reputation long enough. ”They`re very intelligent and capricious,” Jackson says. And although the goats aren`t at all interested in tin cans, they have taken a nibble or two out of Jackson`s jacket.
”The biggest problem with goat milk cheese is mental. We were taught that the goat is a dirty animal. In every kid`s book, the goat was the bad guy,” says Les Giles, who features a wide selection of goat cheeses among the hundreds of cheeses on hand in his St. Louis county shop, the Cheese Place.
”You can give someone a goat cheese to taste, and they`ll like it until you tell them what it is.”
Now that chevre is almost a household word, the term itself needs some clarification. What most people call chevre is usually a young, soft, creamy goat cheese. But calling every cheese made from goat milk chevre is a little silly, Jantzen says.
”Chevre simply means goat in French. It`s like calling other cheese
`cow`s cheese.` You can make any kind of cheese from goat milk.”
Other terms associated with goat cheese, such as feta, further confuse the issue, because feta can be made from goat, sheep or cow`s milk, she says. Nevertheless, chevre has become the generic term for any cheese made from goat milk.
Customers might find it confusing at first, Giles says, but quickly discover the differences among goat cheeses. Cabecou (ka-BAY-koo) are buttons or disks of cheese often marinated in olive oil, garlic or herbs. Capri or Capriole is usually a soft, mild cheese, similar to the cheese labeled chevre. Crottin is a golden, round cheese with a sharp, pronounced goat flavor.
Fromage blanc is a fresh cheese, usually day-old curds that resemble cottage cheese.
Montrachet is a log-shaped cheese first made in France. This cheese, aged about two weeks, is now made by American cheesemakers. It is often rolled in ashes, pepper or herbs.
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Most goat cheeses are imported from France, where each cheesemaking region produces a distinctive shape: triangles, logs, cones, balls, flattened balls or ovals. Norway produces gjetost; Italians call their goat cheese formaggio di capra. Cheesemakers in the United States often make a milder goat cheese than the imports.
”The finest domestic goat cheese I have tasted is made by some people in Massachusetts who milk 60 goats. It`s the Blue Hubbardston from Westfield Farm,” Giles says. But goat cheese production is in its infancy in the United States, according to Giles.
”If there is a great cheese in the next 20 years, it will be American and it will be goat,” he says.
Jantzen uses all kinds of goat cheese in cooking, but cheese made from cow`s milk can be substituted in most of her recipes. Because the tangy flavor of goat cheese is an acquired taste for many people, a good way to begin to use goat cheese in cooking is to combine it with other cheeses. It can be used in place of or with Gruyere, for instance, in a quiche. Or you might grate or crumble a small amount of firm goat cheese into salad, over pasta or into scrambled eggs.
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Here are some kitchen-tested recipes using goat cheese and fresh and evaporated goat milk. The goat products were not strong tasting, but slightly tangy.
Some of the dishes, especially the cake, candy and pie, seemed to have a longer shelf life than similar recipes made with cow`s milk, she says.
For a recipe booklet using goat milk, send $1 to: The Goat Milk Gourmet, Jackson-Mitchell Inc., P.O. Box 5425, Santa Barbara, Calif. 92101.
The following recipe is easy to make, attractive and has great taste. The fresh corn adds a soft but crisp texture in contrast with the creamy, slightly tangy cheese flavor.
FRESH CORN CHEESE SOUP
Six servings
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups corn kernels (preferably cut fresh from cob; about 4 ears)
1/4 to 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, see note
3 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, to taste
2 cups evaporated goat milk
1/2 cup broken-up chevre (creamy goat cheese) or cream cheese
1/2 cup cubed Colby cheese
1. Saute onion in oil until transparent. Add corn and flour; mix to incorporate. Add the chicken broth and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer; add salt and peppers to taste. Simmer 30 minutes. Add goat milk, goat cheese and Colby cheese. Heat until cheeses are melted, about 5 minutes. Do not boil. Serve immediately.
Note: As a rule of thumb, medium sauces require 4 to 5 tablespoons of flour for each pint of liquid. With 5 cups of liquids and 1/4 cup flour, this has a thin consistency; if you prefer a thicker corn cheese soup, use 2/3 cup flour.
For added flavor, add 1 medium tomato, skinned and coarsely chopped, along with the chicken broth; simmer for 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes.
The thick goat cheese mixture needed to be spread with a knife on the eggplant slices. This is an attractive meatless dish and the eggplants and tomatoes hold their shape throughout the baking period. The tomatoes are the dominant flavor, not the goat cheese.
TOMATO-EGGPLANT LAYERED CASSEROLE
Six to eight servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: About 1 1/4 hours
2 medium (about 1 pound each) eggplants, peeled
Salt
1 cup chopped onion
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2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
2 cups (16 ounces) chevre (creamy goat cheese) or cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
4 large tomatoes, sliced
Pepper
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the eggplants into 1/4-inch-thick slices; sprinkle slices with salt. Place slices on an oiled jellyroll pan. Slices can be stacked randomly on the pan. Bake in oven 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
2. Saute the onion and garlic in butter or oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add goat cheese and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese; stir to mix or use a food processor. Mixture will be thick.
3. Oil a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan. Arrange ”sandwiches” of eggplant slices, cheese mixture, tomato slices, eggplant slices and tomato slices. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese over top. Sprinkle with pepper and salt. Cover with foil; bake in a preheated 350-degree oven 40 minutes. Uncover; brown top for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.