The Cheese Bible

If you love cheese, this book is for you. As more and more restaurants offer quality cheese courses, it is worthwhile to have this book around so you know what is and is not worth trying. Even seasoned tasters will enjoy the tone of the text and the content. The recipes are simple and clear, with a structure that should appeal to even amateur home chefs.

I think that just about anything is better with cheese, so this book is right up my alley. Even if you aren't a cheese addict, you will find this book to be an interesting and useful resource. The book is divided into two basic parts: an encyclopedia of cheese types and recipes with cheese as a principal ingredient. The encyclopedia is amazingly thorough - both in the varieties of cheese discussed and in their analysis of the history and processes behind them. I particularly liked that the authors organized their presentation of cheeses into categories and subcategories of similar cheeses. Very useful. Also, it was nice that they included some of the more pedestrian cheese varities. Too often books like this focus exclusively on varities that are rare and exotic - these specialties are fun for special occassions and to read about, but they are frequently hard to find and not always practical for everyday cooking. Even though the recipes are not particularly flashy, they are well-designed to showcase special characteristics of the applicable cheeses. A lot of effort clearly went into this book, and it pays off. Oh, and lots of nice color pictures to browse through.

As my two standard cheese reference books were in dire need of updating, I went in search of the perfect replacement. This is it. It's structure is an introduction to cheese making and regulation in general; followed by a cheese encyclopedia dealing with the making of a family of cheeses for which an astoundingly broad range of varients are described; this is followed by a chapter on buying, storing, cutting etc ... i.e. everything you need to know about handling cheese. This is followed by about 100 pages of recipes using cheese. The book is lavishly illustrated, enabling you to identify and check the quality of nearly all cheeses.The structure of cheese families and their many variants makes it easy to relate the information about cheeses in general to the handcrafted cheeses available in your region. It contains the most comprehensive list of cheeses I have ever seen. There is an index in back for the encyclopedia and the cheese names are in boldface type, but it still my take a bit to find a cheese in which you are interested in the text.The illustrations in addition to providing illustrations of a particular cheese often show the cheese in various stages of aging. This is of particular use for cheeses whose use changes with age or whose peak stage of aging is of limited duration.This book may be intimidating to someone with no previous experience in cheeses outside the two or three American standards. But for anyone who has broadened their tastes into imported or handcrafted cheeses, this is a perfect volume.

The title of this book is no idle boast, for it is the most complete & beautifully illustrated reference work on one of our most popular foods. My mouth watered constantly. The Cheese Bible is a companion for life - giving a pleasantly researched history with woodcuts & dairy tool plates; a clear explanation of how cheese is made & how quality is tested. What magnificence The Cheese Bible offers! A worthy book for your kitchen shelf & your coffee table. A splendid gift too! For more of my reviews check out [my website]

An excellent coverage of cheeses with beautiful, clear photographs of the cheeses and the great tempting recipes. I searched for years to locate Rougette cheese (my favorite) in books and on line and this book is the first to not only describe it but have a photo as well! (A bit more in depth info would be nice) An excellent book to own and a good complement to "The Cheese Companion" by Judy Ridgway.p.s. I finally found and was able to order this cheese from Murray's Cheese Shop in N.Y.