Our Everyday Cheese
The representatives of the Tourist Association organized in cooperation with the Eugen Kumičić Vocational School a theme lecture called «Our Everyday Cheese».
The lecture was held by a professional culinary arts teacher, Josip Pino Kuhar, and was accompanied by a buffet offering fifteen different cheeses, from hard and greasy, through moldy and full-fat ones, to curd and whey.
„Cheese is an everyday foodstuff, which means that it can be consumed at any time and on every occasion. It can be used as an appetizer, a main dish, a snack or a dessert. In the Istrian coastal region people mostly produce goat and sheep cheeses, whereas in the Istrian inland it is the cow cheese that is mostly produced,“ said, among other things, Josip Pino Kuhar.
He also pointed out that it is one of our biggest fallacies to believe that this dairy product is best served with pickled vegetables such as peppers or cucumbers.
«These two tastes are incompatible, therefore it is not a rare thing to see foreigners leave peppers on their plates.
What should be served with cheese is fruit, especially apples and pears. The citrus fruits are not served with cheese because of their acidity, whereas wild fruits are too sweet. It is also wrong to offer cheese with prosciutto only, which is a habit of most of our restaurant and other food service owners.
Cheese is a foodstuff that can be eaten alone or as a complement or a side-dish to other foodstuffs», says Pino Kuhar, and points out that in the production of quality cheese one must take into consideration the following factors – where the cattle are fed, what they are fed, the quality of milk, the age of the animal, the season when the cheese is being produced, especially in the case of hard cheeses, and, finally, the proper way of cheese preparation.
With the help of his students, Chef Kuhar demonstrated to us just what a wide variety of delicacies could be made from cheese.
At the presentation, the guests had an opportunity to taste a delicious curd with honey and ice cream, as well as whey with pears «bathed» in cognac.
Soft cheeses were enriched with walnuts; other cheeses were served in tomato baskets or were perched atop strawberries in the shape of the pyramids. The guests also had a chance to taste the noble mold cheeses as well as oven-baked cottage cheese served with warm white mustard salad.
