The Big Cheese Behind Murray's Cheese Shop

With prose as sharp and assertive as a Somerset cheddar, Murray's Cheese Shop owner Rob Kaufelt and Liz Thorpe, his retail wholesaler, have written an authoritative, approachable guide to some 300 cheeses: The Murray's Cheese Handbook. Our appetite suitably whetted, we had a few questions for Kaufelt, the big cheese behind the legendary Greenwich Village cheese shop.

Where do you think we are in America's love affair of cheese? Infatuation? Honeymoon?
I don't think we're at the honeymoon yet. I don't think we'll be at that point until many of the cheeses we talk about in the book are more commonly found in shops other than those like mine, in more supermarkets and farmers' markets. But clearly, what I thought was a fad turned out to be a trend. When I first did a judging for the American Cheese Society in 1992, the year after I bought Murray's, we had about 75 entries. Two or three years ago, there were 750 cheeses. Many of those cheese makers really have it together. The quality of American cheeses has dramatically improved.

How many tastes can you realistically ask of the person behind the cheese counter before you overstay your sampling welcome?
Here, of course, we have no limit. Theoretically, you could stand here all day and do it. We've all seen all kinds of abuse of the sampling privilege. I'm sure we've had people sample 20 or 30 different cheeses. Most people then make a purchase.

Is wine really the best accompaniment for cheese?
My friend Garrett Oliver who's the brew master at Brooklyn Brewery makes a wonderful case that beer and ale are better with cheese than wine will ever be. I like British beers and ales with a good farmstead cheddar from Somerset. Another good combination is Belgian beer with a washed rind, spicy, stinky cheese like an Alsatian Münster.

What cheeses tend to be a really great bargain?
We've got nice double cream Brie that's often on sale for five or six or six dollars a pound. French goat cheeses are wonderful buys. A lot of Spanish cheeses, like Manchego, and really good cave-aged Gruyère or Emmenthaler. Even good export quality Parmigiano-Reggiano, at $13 a pound, is a good buy.

Does this make cheese one of our most affordable food luxuries?
It is. You may not be able to afford a Porsche but you can afford Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam. And cheese is also the ultimate finger food. You don't have to prepare it. You don't have to cook it. You might almost say it's the ultimate fast food in that regard. We ate at a new restaurant the other day, a client of ours, and everybody was going nuts over one of the appetizers —a sheep milk Ricotta dish —basically, a dip with some grilled bread and a little good olive oil. What could be better?

If you were down to your last cheese course, what would you put on that plate?
A hunk of bread schmeared with the fresh goat cheese like it was cream cheese is very satisfying to me. The two cheeses I eat the most, I can't live without are a raw milk cheddar from Somerset and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which I think is an indispensable cheese. I love just eating it. If I'm in the mood for something that's going to sock me hard, I'll have a blue cheese or something that's got some real full flavor. To me the perfect meal—especially in warmer weather—is a little salad, some crusty bread, some cheese and a glass of wine. In cold weather, I might add a hot soup to that mix. That's not a bad way to eat.

— Written by John Grossmann

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