We always enjoy going to Central Market, but it was especially enjoyable last weekend. Wackym’s Kitchen Margarita Cookie samples were available as part of the Citrus Fest celebration, and we were not surprised to see the display table was very popular! We picked up a delicious lemon dill cooking sauce, and will be sharing it with you soon. Central Market’s variety of cheese products is pretty amazing any day of the week, and on this particular day, a display table was being manned by Dave Eagle from Eagle Mountain Farmhouse Cheese. Dave introduced his cheese, and as we savored bites of his sharp and mild Gouda-style cheese, he introduced himself as a “recovering attorney”. He said after many years of practicing law, he was ready for a career change. He is a self-avowed cheese lover, and because he had always enjoyed European artisan raw milk cheeses during his travels, he decided to make raw milk cheese himself. In true Texas competitive fashion, he reasoned that since Texas is the ninth largest dairy state in the union, he should be able to make the same fine artisan cheeses he had enjoyed in Europe, California, Vermont and Wisconsin!
Dave’s first task was to learn the art of cheese making, so he attended artisan cheese school in Vermont. His second task was to find a source for fresh raw milk, and he relies on Sandy Creek Farm in Bridgeport, Texas. Sandy Creek’s purebred Brown Swiss cows provide the Grade A raw milk for Eagle Mountain’s artisan cheese. After Dave returned to Texas from Vermont, he taught his son, Matt, all he had learned about cheese making. They work together at Dave’s Granbury facility making Gouda and Swiss style cheeses, and others. Dave is clearly passionate about his cheese, but he is also passionate about the process. He told us he will be offering cheese making classes this spring, and we will be watching his website for more information on that.
Allen and I brought Dave’s mild cheese home, and Sunday night seemed like a good time to enjoy it. Dave had reminded us to bring the cheese to room temperature before we ate it. It was so good that it was hard to stop eating! The cheese is semi-firm, yet still creamy. The flavor is smooth and rich. I’m never going to be asked to be a cheese competition judge, but I would eat this cheese again and again. In 2011, actual cheese competition judges awarded Eagle Mountain Farmhouse Cheese a blue ribbon for their Birdville Reserve cheese. Dave has clearly mastered the art he admired for so long, and he obviously enjoys sharing his cheese and his craft with others. Contact him on his website to find out how you can get some of this great cheese for your very own, or to get more information about his cheese-making classes.
Dave handed us a brochure about Eagle Mountain Farmhouse Cheese, and it states “Bless’ed are the Cheese Makers”. We say, “Amen, Brother Dave!”
Foods We Love 