While all cheese is fair game, I have a strong tendency lately toward those made form goat’s milk. That in mind, I procured the following: Fontina Fontal, Brie Florette, Bucheron, Montchevre Blue and Pyrenees Onetik.

The Fontina is a cows milk cheese. Semi firm, mild and nutty in flavor. Nothing special. Probably won’t bother with it again. Nothing wrong with it, mind you, simply underwhelming.

Moving on to the Montchevre Blue - a very mild blue. I had expected, given it’s goat milk origins, to have something with a lot of bite. It’s simply not to be. Soft, buttery and as far as blue cheeses go, one of the mildest and least offensive I’ve tasted. This one too will probably receive a pass in future purchases.

A new flavor to my tablem te Pyrenees Onetik is a sheep’s milk based french cheese that is very buttery, has a wonderful texture and goes will with unsalted crackers do to having a bit higher of a saltiness to it. Sheep’s milk cheeses are still new territory for me, so I haven’t much to compare it to.

The Bucheron, pictured above, is another frech variety made from goat’s milk which I qualify as one of my absolute all time favorites. I’ve been enjoying this cheese for a while now and I never lose a taste for it. Bucheron is aged in log like rolls, with an inner core of tart white goat cheese, soft and a bit dryer than the little logs one finds in the regular grocery. The outer ring is a greyish color, very smooth and very salty, finished by a tender rind that is best left on and eaten, to privde a little extra texture.  Eaten in wedges, to combine all three zones of this treat is best. I am never disappointed with this cheese.

Last on tonight’s menu, is this week’s winning new discovery - the Brie Florette, a goat’s milk Brie. Very soft, creamy and absolutely the worst smelling thing in the bag. This cheese has a very characteristic aroma from which I expected a very tart and rotten flavor. I was pleasently surprised by a very smooth, buttery brie with just a bit of the token goat’s milk tartness around the edges. This brie is better than any other I’ve tasted and I’m absolutely placing it on my regular purchase list.

If you like distinct flavors and smooth textures, you’ll find great rewards with the Bucheron and the Brie Flourette and milder more traditional market cheese experiences from the Fontina, Pryenees and the Montchevre Blue.

Happy Fromaging and feel free to share your thoughts in the commets.

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The Goods:

• 1 large green tomato
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• garlic powder to taste
• paprika to taste
• Corn meal to coat
• 1 dollop of bacon grease or other cooking lubricant

The Process:

Preheat your pan on medium heat and drop that bacon fat in there. Evenly coat the cooking surface. Drop a pile of corn meal onto a paper plate. Slice the tomato. I prefer a thin cut, around 1/8th of an inch. Sprinkle salt, pepper paprika and garlic to your liking. press te seasoned side of the tomato into the cornmeal to get a nice coating on there. repeat for the other side. Slide your coated tomato slices into the pan and brown each side. Plate, let them cool for a minute or two and enjoy.

Any simpler and it would be a salad.

Does your Grandma have a better FGT recipe? Let me know in the comments.

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I’ve dedicated a large part of the evening to reading something called a book. Made from dead trees, I’m told. The tome in question, “The Pirate’s Dilemma” by Matt Mason, is study on the effect of pirate mindsets on culture, society and the innovation of new technologies - rather ironic given it’s delivery medium.

Something that really struck me this evening begins around page 51: the tale of a younger Presidential candidate who entered the race as a relatively unknown political entity, who was largely undervalued by both the installed political base and the country’s mainstream media . As the contest continued, this candidate and his supporters turned a grassroots movement into a supreme political force, raising awareness for the person-brand. The gentleman often suggested that his rivals only concerns were for the wealthy, while he was concerned only with the common man and that he was committed to ending the corruption which was ingrained in the political system, themes that resonated with his supporters and rallied a great number of first time voters to his cause.  Despite a late term scandal involving a figure close to the candidate that was expected to put his political ambitions to an early end, he emerged victorious in the 11th hour, much to the credit of internet enabled citizen media, including blogs, chat rooms and message boards.

That Candidates name, surprisingly, was not Barack Obama and the election in question was not our recent democratic primaries, but in fact one Roh Moo-Hyun, who served as the President of South Korea from 2003 until early 2008.

While I admit the over all political themes are not new, the use of the internet as a medium for massive Political upheaval on a national level, despite it’s ubiquitos qualities in the echo chamber of the blogosphere, is still a reletively young phenomenon to the world as a whole. It’s easy for the digerati to forget that the networked world we live and breath is still scary and new to the majority of the democracized world, especially those who grew to adulthood (and political / economic power) before it’s emergance into the mainstream from the confines of academia.

I have to wonder if the Obama campaign isn’t taking many of it’s strategies directly from Moo-hyun’s play book, given the intense similarities.

My hope is that should Obama win the General Election in the U.S. this November, that he doesn’t draw inspiration from Moo-hyun’s Presidency, which itself was rife with scandal, controversy and ended on a rather bitter note.

Got an opinion on the subject? Let it fly in the comments, I’m all eyes.

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I shared with friends Sam, a fellow foodie and exceptionally skilled chef and Tommy, who is just plain picky and hard to feed. Both gentlemen plowed through, declaring much finger-licking goodness. A meal well done.

This was a two day process and well worth the advanced prep. The dry rub can of course be made any time and stored in an airtight bowl.

THE GOODS:

• 2 racks of Pork Ribs
• The Rogue Estate dry rub #2
• Apple wood chips
• Jack Daniels wood chips
• 2 hours of time on prep day
• 5 hours of time on cook day

The Rogue Estate Dry Rub #2 contains the following dry ingredients which may be adjusted to suit your own tastes:

• 8oz dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp salt (kosher, iodized, sea, whatever. it’s all the same rock, people.)
• 1 tbsp Aleppo pepper
• 1 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper
• 1 tbsp oriental mustard
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp lemon peel
• 2 tsp ginger
• 3 tsp garlic powder

combine the dry ingrediants in a sealable bowl and set aside. Good for 3 to 4 racks of ribs, depending on how heavy you prefer to coat. I personally am not shy with the rub, so I get 3 racks from a single batch.

Dressing the Ribs:

first - wash them thangs. Cold water, scrub with your hands and rinse em good. lay the racks out to dry on paper towel and pat the meat dry until it’s just tacky. dispose of the paper towel. A dry workspace is a good thing so wipe up any spills.

Use a sharp knife to help you remove any obnoxiously large hunks of fat and other connective tissue that isn’t very tasty. Flip the Rack over so it’s face down and peel away as much of the membrane as you can and dispose of that as well. Leaving the rack face down, place 1 sheet of your cling wrap a few inches larger than the rack flat on the workspace behind said rack.

Apply the rub to the meaty parts on the exposed underside of the rack. It won’t take much. When those few spots are coated, flip the rack over onto the cling wrap. With the Rack now face up, grab your knife and lightly score the meat parallel with the bones, just the surface. this gives more surface area for that rub to cling and hold. Apply the rub liberally to every bit of exposed meat, get it into those scores and on the ends and all around.

Grab a second sheet of cling wrap and lay it over the now thoroughly seasoned rack and do whatever folding is needed to seal the two sheets together on al four sides to give you a nice neat package. move it to a shallow pan or tray to catch any leaks and put it in the fridge over night.

Cooking day:

I use a hardwood charcoal fire in a horizontal 35 gallon drum-type smoker. Being that fuels and builds are debated with the ferocity greater than most religions, the aforementioned configuration is my personal preference and whatever you use will do just fine.

Plan ahead! We’re doing these slow and low, so give yourself at least 5 hours before you plan to serve. Pull the ribs from the fridge and let them warm up to room temperature while you’re out setting up your smoker and your fire.

Set up your fuel so you have an area of indirect heat large enough to accommodate your racks of ribs. I like to keep my smoke space in the 185-200F degree range for most of the process and finish up just a little hotter at the end.

With everything hot, place the ribs in the smoker, small end farthest from the heat source and add the first installment of applewood, close the lid and walk away. Have a beer. Come check the thermometers in 10 minutes to make sure your internal temps are holding between 185-200F degrees and that there is smoke happening. If all is well, walk away.

Mow the lawn. Call your mom. Wash dishes. Whatever you do, don’t keep popping the lid open every 5 minutes. The heat and smoke do their best work if kept inside the smoker where the ribs are. Add fuel and fresh wood chips as needed to maintain consistent heat and favor in your smoker.

At the end of hour 3, switch from Apple wood to the Jack Daniels wood. Also if you’re so inclined, pull out the leftover dry rub and give everything a light sprinkle.

At the end of hour 4, do some spot checks with your meat thermometer. Your ribs should be right up there with the air temp in the smoker with the lid closed, 185-200F degrees. give a little pull with your fingers or a fork on one end - meat should come off easily.

Using your tongs, move the ribs from the smoker to a cookie sheet or other service tray that can hold the racks and catch the drips. The meat is still cooking, so it’s time to cover it with some foil and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Once rested, you can grab the big knife and split the ribs up however you prefer, stack them in your serving vessel and enjoy.

I’m thrilled with this recipe. That said, I’m always eager to learn new things and improve my techniques, so if you have any suggestions or if you follow my recipe yourself, leave me comments below!

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Tonight’s volunteer from the humidor is a Trinidad Lonsdale.

• Trinidad Cigars
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
  
• Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian

What started out as a light smoke has quickly and enjoyably evolved into a very rich and spicy treat. This one has been in my stash for a while, a gift from my sister. I’d never smoked a Trinidad before, so not knowing what to expect, I’d left it be for a few months.

It’s a perfect stick for tonight - super easy draw, great flavor and not an obnoxiously long commitment of time. I’ll enjoy this one here in my office as I watch the sun setting outside my window.