Cheese

Few things are as fleeting as the sweetness of fresh mozzarella. The richness of its butterfat begins to fade literally within an hour or two of the moment it was turned into a milky white orb. And it's hard to find any fresher than those rolling off the imported mozzarella machine at Claudio's Caseificio in the Italian Market. "Mozzarella's like bread," says owner Sal Auriemma. "You don't buy it today to eat next week. " Auriemma and his sons, Claudio and Sal Jr., have perfected the delicate texture and lightly salted tang of their cheese since opening this annex to the family's cheese and import market four summers ago. Sliced into lusciously thick white rounds, I can think of no better homage to the blushing tomatoes and plumes of basil that make summer's farm-market bounty so fleeting, too. Fresh mozzarella costs $6.99 a pound at Claudio's Caseificio, 922 S. 9th St., 215-238-0435.

Birchrun Hills Farm Red Cat How does a cheese evolve from mere goodness into potential greatness? Over the last few months at Birchrun Hills Farm in Chester County, cheesemaker Sue Miller transformed a version of her mild-mannered Fat Cat into something altogether more racy: Red Cat. Inspired by washed-rind classics like Epoisses (Burgundy's international standard) and Red Hawk (California's dreamy stinker), Miller and fellow artisan Sebastian Upson bathed smaller one-pound wheels of the larger, powdery-skinned Fat Cat in a brine solution laced with brevibacterium linens.

A question presented itself Wednesday in regard to those Haverford Township pols who have been handing out federal surplus cheese from their homes and campaign headquarters. Do they make the poor and elderly come around to the back door?

THE INSURANCE INSTITUTE for Highway Safety's recent report on red-light cameras on Roosevelt Boulevard supports our contention that motorists, no matter their age, are just kids at heart - they'll try to get away with as much as you let them. The cameras and extended yellow signals at the Grant Avenue and Red Lion Road intersections, two of the deadliest in the country, have led to a striking drop in red-light runners, the report said, from 251 violations per 10,000 vehicles in 2004, to 1.8 per 10,000 in 2006.

What to eat: Gourmet grilled cheese, or "brown-bagged meltyness," as owner Alan Krawitz likes to call it. Don't miss: Building your own sammie for $5 to $6 with such saliva-stirring add-ons as buffalo sauce, salsa, blue-cheese dressing, avocado, bacon and fried onions. On the menu: Goodies like the Mary D ("Grandma's meatballs meet grilled cheese"); the Presto Pesto (chicken topped with pesto, provolone, spinach and tomato); El Duke (sirloin chip steak topped with jalapeño jack cheese, salsa, refried beans and avocado)

Valley Shepherd's Eran Wajswol has blasted out the side of a North Jersey hilltop with dynamite in his quest to make the ultimate cave-aged cheese. So how hard can it be to bring a steady milk supply into the Reading Terminal Market, where he plans to begin making cheese this summer? "It's a nightmare," he says, the remnants of his Israeli-Belgian accent lilting with enough drama to make clear he's also thrilled by the challenge. "To do this in a 120-year-old building, to drill a 15-foot double pipeline through the wall into our milk tank in the basement — it's like making the Holland Tunnel.

Most anything tastes good folded into the richness of macaroni and cheese, but in the mushroom mecca of Kennett Square, where the fungus is as fresh as it gets, there is a special irresistibility to a gooey slice of macaroni whose lily-shaped pasta tubes are studded with roasted maitakes, shiitakes, and oyster mushrooms. Add an indulgent Mornay sauce with good cheddar and gruyère, plus a little spark of Dijon mustard, and it is almost as if Talula's Table fused the macaroni casserole with a particularly sublime cream of mushroom soup, topped, of course, with crunchy garlic bread crumbs.

For garlic bread crumbs (makes more than needed for recipe): 12-ounce loaf of (sourdough or baguette) day-old bread, sliced. ½ cup garlic oil For mushrooms: 3 cups fresh mixed mushrooms (oysters, maitakes, shiitakes, beech, king oysters) 3 tablespoons olive oil, for roasting mushrooms For macaroni: 5 cups milk ½ large yellow onion, chopped, about 1 cup 2 garlic cloves, smashed with the flat side of a knife, skin left on 4 parsley sprigs 4 fresh oregano or marjoram sprigs 3 fresh thyme sprigs 3 bay leaves 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard Salt and pepper 2 tablespoons softened butter (for buttering dish)

1 stick butter 1/4 cup flour 1/2quart heavy cream 3/4 cup Fontina cheese 3/4 cup Gruyere Cheese 3/4 cup Swiss cheese 1 1/2 tablespoons onion powder 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 pound macaroni Salt and pepper to taste   1. To make roux, melt one stick of butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk until combined and color starts to darken; set aside to cool.

The diversity and volume of high-quality cheeses being produced in Chester County are downright impressive. Here is a sample of what local chefs are featuring on cheese plates, and in risottos and salads. Find more information on the makers (and where to get their goods) at chestercountycheese.org. Cloud Nine from Yellow Springs Farm: Aptly named, this cotton-ball-esque goat cheese has a pure-white bloomy rind that hides a smooth, subtly tangy, addictive bite inside. Birchrun Blue from Birchrun Hills: This raw cow's-milk cheese is aged for at least 60 days, has a sweet and tangy true blue taste, and a texture between crumbly and spreadable.

Chef Patrick Feury unwrapped the disks of Yellow Springs Farm goat cheese and wiped them down with the gentle touch usually reserved for newborns and puppies. It's all part of his process of aging the product himself, something he learned at cheese school in Vermont last year. When he picks up the goods from the Chester County makers, they are two weeks young. He matures them for two to three more weeks. "Part of serving them is making sure that the characteristics are at their best," says the chef of Nectar, in Berwyn.

Kristian Holbrook's been trying to perfect Hummingbird for nine years. "And I'm still trying," says the cheesemaker at Doe Run, the Chester County dairy on Urban Outfitters founder Dick Hayne's estate. Holbrook's modesty is really admiration for Robiola Bosina, the luscious Italian that was his inspiration. But creamy Hummingbird, which flows with the fresh tang of both sheep and cow's milk, was good enough for a coveted first prize in 2011 from the American Cheese Society. Holbrook makes several other fine cheeses, including an aged, gouda-like Seven Sisters.

3 tablespoons unsalted cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, plus additional for the baking sheets 1½ cups (7.5 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus additional for the counter 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder 1 teaspoon salt 1½ cups (6 ounces) grated cheddar cheese 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar 1 ice cube   1. Combine the butter, flour, dry mustard, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until the mixture is crumbly and the butter starts to integrate into the mixture, about 30 seconds.