How to Make Goat Cheese (Chèvre) at Home

No goats were harmed in the making of this cheese. Really.
Before my recent visit to Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign, Illinois, I was merely a goat cheese enthusiast. After a couple of hours of frolicking in an open field with the goats, I decided to become a maker of goat cheese.

The problem was that I had never made "real cheese" in my life. Fortunately, the method for making fresh goat cheese, chèvre style, is quite amateur-friendly. In light of this, the oft-touted rennet-free, culture-free quick method (boiling the milk, causing it to curdle with something acidic such as lime/lemon juice or vinegar, and draining out the whey) doesn't seem a worthwhile effort. Undoubtedly, it is an easy method which yields fresh and tasty cheese curds from goat milk. But that is a far, far cry from the cultured fresh chèvre that we know and love. [In fact, I would go as far as saying that if you want to go the easy route, you'd probably get better-tasting goat cheese out of straining cultured goat milk yogurt overnight than you would from simply boiling and curdling fresh goat milk. But that's just me.]

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Thai Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango in Sushi Form

With the mango season fast approaching and the good Ataulfo (sometimes labeled Manila) mangoes popping up here and there, I thought I would give my old Thai sweet coconut sticky rice and mango recipe a revisit and a makeover.

I won't lie to you. Turning the famous Thai duo into sushi rolls does absolutely nothing in improving the taste; it only makes it more fun and interesting.

Truth: Thai coconut sticky rice and mango, when done right, is heavenly even if it's served in a plastic ashtray. Thai coconut sticky rice and mango, when done horribly, will be appalling even if it's served in a Lladró bowl.

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Thai Seafood Dipping Sauce - น้ำจิ้มอาหารทะเล

More times than I can count, people have asked me to name some of the biggest culture shocks I experienced when I first came to the US. I can't think of any. Sure, I once went to a public library hoping to check out some good adult movies and once publicly inquired fellow students in my immediate vicinity if any of them would lend me a piece of rubber to use right then and there. But, for the most part, nothing really threatened my emotional well-being.

Maybe except for one thing: the way seafood is prepared this side of the globe. It was a big culture shock then. It's still a big culture shock now.

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Fresh Chèvre, Swiss Chard, and Sun-Dried Tomato Strata from Prairie Fruits Farm

If you have to explain logically everything you do or think of, you'd go batty. That's my way of saying that I don't know how or why, nor do I remember exactly when, I woke up one day and decided that I would hereinafter become a lover of all things goaty. Weird, given the fact that I wouldn't touch goat dairy with a ten-foot pole when I was younger. But here I am right in the thick of it, happily slathering fresh goat cheese on my crackers, drinking goat milk, and making all kinds of baked goods with goat butter. There's even a quart of fresh chèvre -- real cultured fresh chèvre -- draining on my kitchen counter as we speak.

Having found myself a devout follower of the cult of goats, I thought a pilgrimage to a local goat farm was in order. One chilly Saturday morning, after a 4-hour drive, I found myself surrounded by billies and nannies at Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign, Illinois.

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How to Make Spruce Tip-Infused Olive Oil

Several weeks ago, I took on the challenge of replicating a dish, the Golden Trout, created by Chef Curtis Duffy of Avenues restaurant in Chicago. Though I didn't fail miserably (as I ended up with a dish that tasted quite good), I didn't quite succeed (it was a far cry from the real thing). But that project exposed me to a few culinary things that I'd never known of before. One of them is spruce-infused oil. Let my ignorance be known: I never knew of such a thing.

Growing up in the tropical climate, there was nary a spruce tree in my neighborhood. Once in a while, I found myself in the midst of pine and fir trees while vacationing with my family in the northern or northeastern mountainous areas of the country where the climate is cooler. But even then, I doubt anyone of us would think of young pine needles as edible let alone delicious.

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How to Prepare Tamarind Pulp (น้ำมะขามเปียก) for Thai Cooking

One major ingredient in the Thai cuisine is the pulp of dried mature tamarinds. It's one of the most prominent souring agents right up there with lime juice. Knowing how to prepare tamarind pulp from dried tamarind pods is, therefore, very important if you're one of those people who take Thai cooking seriously.

If you plan on making your own Pad Thai in the future, familiarity with how to prepare tamarind pulp will serve you well.

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Sriracha Buttermilk Dressing on Fresh Radishes: Announcing the Winners of Beet 'n Squash YOU Battle Radish

A little bit of cool and refreshing. A little bit of spicy. A little bit of tangy. A little bit of sweet. Just a tad of garlicky. Thai Sriracha meshes so well with cultured dairy. Who knew? This refreshing Sriracha buttermilk dressing is best served over fresh greens or raw vegetables that are cool and crunchy such as radishes, celery, or cucumbers. I also have a feeling it would be delicious when used with a smoky component in a composed salad; e.g. smoked cheeses, grilled or roasted corn, roasted asparagus.

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Stuffed Calamari Braised in Sriracha Sauce

I've been touting the virtues of the flavor-packed and highly-versatile Thai Sriracha for so long, and my regular readers have seen it used in many different ways from a cocktail sauce to a marinade and even a stir-fry sauce. Judging from the way things are going, we might even figure out one day that Sriracha sauce also cures athlete's foot and helps exfoliate your facial skin.

But for now let's just focus on Thai Sriracha as a braising sauce.¹

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Baked Alaska with Tom Yam Herbs: Omelette Thaïlandaise

In case you haven't noticed, this is how things work around here. I come up with a crazy idea. What I do next is look to all the smart, talented people I know to take that idea and make something extraordinary out of it. Then, undeservedly, I get to witness the borderline deranged idea executed in a most brilliant manner. Time and time again, it has happened.

Recently, I started a new series wherein my blogger friends guest-post various creations that capture the essence of the three Tom Yam herbs: lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime. And, already, what I've seen so far has exceeded my expectation. Last month, we got a Thai pastry chef, Thip of Bonbini!, kicking off the series with Tom Yam-Flavored French Macarons. This month, we have a French chef giving birth to Omelette Thaïlandaise by infusing his version of omelette à la norvégienne, better known in the US as Baked Alaska, with the Tom Yam herbs.

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Bourbon Béarnaise Sauce on Eggs Benedict: The Story of a Chef and a Guy Who Didn't Like to Cook

Sometimes, various isolated incidents take place in such a way that it makes you wonder whether there's some sort of meaning to it and whether the fact that you discern this synchronicity means that you have been assigned the task of extracting meaning out of it somehow. I chuckled to myself as I was getting ready to write this post by going through the photographs of two men, whose lives would not have crossed otherwise. One man's life passion lies in cooking; the other man's passion is in not cooking. Yet, there they were, chopping up tarragon, emulsifying egg yolks and clarified butter over a bain marie. How did that happen?

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