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Title: Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins ISBN: 0-89480-762-5 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: November, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (15 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Put your money where your mouth is, Steve
Comment: Steve Jenkins is one of the most opinionated cheesemongers in the country, and therein lies his problem. Throughout the book his prounouncements and his boasting make him look foolish if not petty. The book is rife with errors and --thank goodness-- is apparently being revised as I write this. Among my favorite errors in the book is a photograph on page 116, "With a sweeping gesture, this cheese shop clerk cuts into a wedge of Comte with a wire cutter." Clearly the cheese is Grand Cru Emmenthal, not Comte. Perhaps he suffers from bad editing, but there is no need to make us all suffer with him. Particularly insufferable is his "American Treasures" section of his overview of American cheeses. Laura Chenel's chevre may have been a 'treasure' 10 years ago, but the stuff available in most markets today, both domestic and norwegian produced, is flaccid, tasteless, and unimaginative. Just perfect for the US market, right Steve? His "Great Cheeses" section has produced a generation of sheep haunting their favorite cheese counters with requests for the grossly commercial Explorateur, the equally commercial rouzaire Gratte Paille, the gruesome Leyden (just try selling that in your cheese counter...bet you will be stuck with it for years!), and boring Boursalt. His top cheeses are all pretty mundane, and unfortunately many novice cheesemongers fill their cases with his recommendations. I tell all my cheese neophyte friends to buy Cheese Primer for a basic education, but they must form opinions about quality themselves. And they shouldn't believe everything Jenkins puts forward-- the fact checker must have been out the day he submitted his manuscript. One other thing to keep in mind is that some cheeses which Jenkins describes as rare or not imported into the US no longer applies. Don't take his word for it. Just go to your favorite cheese shop and ask for one of those cheeses (start with REAL epoisse or Vacherin Mont D'or). But don't ask at one of those places where Jenkins' book is the only one on display. They wouldn't know.
Rating: 4
Summary: Comte = very few small holes Emmentaler = lots of big holes
Comment: I worked as a cheesemonger for five years, have shopped at Mr. Jenkins counter at Fairway in NYC, and have attended American Cheese Society conferences where he has spoken. When I've heard him speak, he has always admitted that there is incorrect and out of date information in this book - it was published in 1996, and since then, some cheeses that were unavailable in the U.S., or only available in pasteurized versions have become available or additionally available in raw milk versions. For example, on p. 159, he states that Bleu d'Auvergne is only made with pasteurized milk. There are versions now that you can buy in the U.S. made with raw milk and have been for at least five years.
It's not a huge problem for a casual reader that there are errors in the book - though some of them are factual, many of them are changes caused by the growth in interest in good cheese in the U.S. Availability is changeable, and we get to eat more delicious treasures because of greater interest in cheeses here in America, which includes the promotion of cheeses by Mr. Jenkins. I've heard that he's working on a second edition, but that was a couple years ago, and a revision of a work like this is certainly a long process.
That being said, the picture on p. 116 *is* captioned incorrectly. The text above the picture is about Emmentaler. A wheel of Emmentaler (originally from Bern, a bulging Swiss cheese with holes produced by the action of innocuous bacteria added to the curd in production and a smooth, brushed rind) is identified as a wheel of Comte (a cheese from the Franche-Comte region of France with a few small holes, and a flat, bumpy, natural brown rind, pictured on p. 114). This is obviously an editing mistake. Believe me, your average book editor is not going to be identify cheeses by sight at ten paces as a cheesemonger can. If you turn the book upside down and look closely, you will be able to read the words "Grand Cru" on the top of the cheese. It's Grand Cru Emmentaler.
Mr. Jenkins tells us himself, "I'm opinionated about flavor and pull no punches." He is opinionated, and his likes and dislikes come through strongly. Don't decide to dismiss a cheese entirely because he doesn't like it, or accept it just because he loves it. You just can't do that with food. This is a chatty, enjoyable, conversational read, but if you want to learn about cheese, don't just read this book. Read others too, and *most importantly*, go out and meet your local cheesemonger and taste all the different types of cheese you can!
Rating: 3
Summary: Cheese Primer
Comment: Pity this book doesn't have clear colour photographs. The content is excellent but the edition I have looks rather badly reproduced.
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Title: The Cheese Plate by David Gibbons, Max McCalman ISBN: 0609604961 Publisher: Clarkson Potter Pub. Date: 05 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $32.50 |
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Title: Cheese by Juliet Harbutt ISBN: 1572232005 Publisher: Willow Creek Press Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.50 |
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Title: French Cheeses: The Visual Guide to More Than 350 Cheeses from Every Region of France by Joel Robuchon, Tomoko Yamada, Yohei Maruyama, Kazuko Masui ISBN: 0789410702 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The World Encyclopedia of Cheese: A Guide to the World's Cheese With a Feast of International Dishes by Juliet Harbutt, Roz Denny ISBN: 0754809927 Publisher: Lorenz Books Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Italian Cheese: Two Hundred Traditional Types: A Guide to Their Discovery and Appreciation by Piero Sardo, Gigi Piumatti, R. Rubino ISBN: 8886283989 Publisher: Slow Food Intl Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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