laura werlin

Mother Earth surprises us with plenty of naturally colorful foods, from blueberries to squid ink, and everything in between. So have you ever been stumped about why, given that cow's milk isn't orange, certain cheeses have such a shockingly bright color?

I asked our resident cheese expert, Laura Werlin, what the reason is behind that. Turns out there are several possible historical explanations. "In England, a golden-hued cheese was an indication that the cows were out on pasture and therefore a superior cheese. The beta carotene they ingested translated to the color of their milk and therefore the cheese. So, to get the same price for cheese year-round, cheesemakers began adding drops of a natural dye, annato," she explained.

Another theory is that the orange coloring helped to set regional cheesemakers apart. "When cheesemaking was developing in the United States, cheddars from the East Coast were always white. In order to distinguish their cheeses on the market, Wisconsin cheesemakers made their cheeses orange, says Werlin. To this day, there isn't much orange cheese to be found along the eastern seaboard; some states, like California, produce both.

Are you partial to white or orange cheese?

From egg-in-a-nest grilled cheese to mac-and-cheese grilled cheese served out of a truck, the humble childhood classic is one of today's biggest food trends. But what do you get when you pair the lowbrow sandwich with wine, a beverage best known for its refined sophistication? Thanks to an Aspen seminar led by cheese expert Laura Werlin, I discovered the answer: pure gastronomic bliss.

Laura offered not only a number of steps to re-creating such sensory nirvana, but she also shared her favorite grilled cheese and wine pairings.

1. Before selecting grilled cheeses to pair with wines, taste each cheese you plan to use in its natural, unmelted state, alongside the wine you plan to pair it with.
2. Be sure to test the pairings both with and without a cheese's rind; a washed or blooming edible rind can tend to make wine pairings taste soapy.
3. When enjoying a cheese and wine pairing, always taste the wine first; cheese affects how wine tastes much more than the other way around. Start with a first sip of wine, then take a second to calibrate your palate and allow it to adjust to the wine's acidity and tannin; then take a bite of your cheese, followed by another sip of wine.

For some of Laura's favorite pairings, read more.

Ever wonder what it would be like to travel the world teaching seminars on cheese? We have, so we asked the food industry's most glamorous cheese lady, Laura Werlin, to give us a glimpse at her delicious life! Here, she shares a recent experience.

Most people don’t feel sorry for me when I tell them I have to go to places like Aspen, Pebble Beach, South Beach and similar hardship locations to conduct cheese and wine pairings (not). This week’s trip was no exception. I got to go to the other mile-high city, Boulder, to talk grilled cheese and wine.

The event was a fundraiser for Attention Homes, which is a pretty amazing organization that provides residential treatment and shelter to at-risk kids between the ages of 12 and 18. Attention Homes is also heavily involved in helping the area’s approximately 150 homeless kids by getting them the help they need.

Who ever thinks much about the problem of homeless kids? Evidently it’s a much bigger problem than we knew. But I digress. What better way to shine the spotlight on such a great organization than through the joie de vivre that comes from an evening devoted to good cheese and wine in a fantastic setting?

To learn what kind of sandwiches she served, keep reading.

The grilled cheese sandwich is one of life's simplest pleasures, while an egg in a nest is a deliciously nostalgic breakfast. What happens when the two come together? You get one spectacular sandwich! Although this recipe is a little more complex then making the two dishes separately, it's worth the effort. It has you discard the center portion of the bread, but I decided to make a mini sandwich and serve it with the larger grilled egg and cheese. If you enjoy bacon in your egg sandwiches, sauté a couple of diced pieces and cook the spinach-onion mixture with the bacon. Interested in the amazing recipe? Read more.

Last weekend was the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival. Since we couldn't make it, we asked cheese expert Laura Werlin to give us a behind-the-scenes look! Here she discusses her seminars and provides some pointers on how to pair wine with her specialty, grilled cheese.
When you think of Pebble Beach, you probably think of golf. But not me. All I can think of is that it’s the home of the utterly, completely, amazing over-the-top Pebble Beach Food & Wine event. The fourth annual extravaganza, which featured chefs like Tom Colicchio, Anne Burrell, Tim Love, Daniel Boulud, Stephen Pyles, Christopher Kostow, Chris Cosentino, Michael Chiarello, Gary Danko, Ming Tsai, and approximately 85 others, took place over a sunny weekend in April. I was lucky enough to be one of the presenters to do what I do — say cheese, of course. I gave two seminars, each with a different theme. One was grilled cheese and wine pairing (yep, you read that right) and the other was cheese paired with the über impressive wines of Oregon winery Domaine Serene.

For the cheese and Domaine Serene presentation, I paired six American cheeses with five wines that included Chardonnay, Pinot, Rosé and Syrah.

To see what cheeses she paired with the wines from Oregon, keep reading.

What's better than a plain grilled cheese sandwich? A grilled cheese sandwich with three kinds of cheese and caramelized pears and onions! This amazing recipe is another one from the book I'm currently obsessed with, Grilled Cheese Please! The thing that makes this sandwich so special is the butter: it's mixed with blue cheese before being slathered on the outside of the bread.

I've made it twice; once in a panini and another time on the stove, and I found that it works better in a sauté pan. When it cooked in the panini, everything oozed out the sides. Whatever way you cook it, this sandwich is absolutely delicious and I highly recommend you try it — it's perfect for meatless Mondays! Check out the recipe after the break.

We've learned a lot over the years from Laura Werlin, one of the country's foremost cheese experts. In fact, we can't get enough of her new grilled cheese book, which is packed with recipes like this one filled with mozzarella, crispy prosciutto, and broccoli rabe. So it's no surprise that during her seminar in South Beach, we had a front-row seat.

Werlin's class was all about pairing grilled cheese sandwiches — perhaps America's greatest comfort food — with wine, a beverage that can often be associated with fussier settings. I'd never thought to pair the two together, but after an hour of enjoying the likes of gruyère, gorgonzola, and hazelnut grilled cheese with ice wine, I was a true believer.

Lest you think pairing high and low is daunting, take note of Laura's useful tips. To see them, keep reading.

If you think you won't enjoy the cookbook Grilled Cheese Please!, one of our must haves for March, this recipe will change your mind. It's author and cheese expert Laura Werlin's grilled cheese with crispy prosciutto and broccoli rabe.

It's one of the best sandwiches I've ever made: it's gooey, crunchy, cheesy, and just plain delicious! Although the ingredients are simple, this sandwich oozes sophistication. I served it at a party paired with red pepper soup, and it was a sensation.

The key to a perfect sandwich is to follow Werlin's technique exactly. She recommends cooking it low and slow to achieve a beautiful crispness on the outside and delightful meltedness on the inside. Ready to check it out? Keep reading.

One of the simplest ways to serve a crowd at a holiday party is to put together a cheese display. It's easy to arrange different cheeses on a platter and pair with an assortment of nuts, dried fruit, and charcuterie; the hard part is deciding what kind of cheese to serve! That's why I've done the work for you; this year for your holiday cheese display, I recommend a wedge of artisanal hand-crafted cheese from Wisconsin. To find out what's so great about cheese from the badger state and to see the three cheeses you must try, keep reading.