Poutine is arguably my guiltiest, gooiest food pleasure. What is poutine, you ask? It’s a Canadian dish that consists of French fries, covered in cheese curds, drowned in gravy. Is this “poutine” you in a good mood yet? I’ve often sampled poutine from food carts in Portland, but had never thought to make it myself! This recipe is frighteningly easy to make – try it for an afternoon snack or appetizer.

Tips:
1. I thickened my sauce too much – a slightly runnier sauce will help cover all the fries
2. You can make it with vegetarian broth in the gravy (like I did!), but beef or chicken stock work just as well
3. Try adding herbs to the gravy for some extra flavor!

Ingredients
4 Russet potatoes, cut into short, thin strips
Ice and cold water for ice bath
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Tillamook Salted Butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef or vegetable broth
2 cups Tillamook Squeaky Cheese Curds

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Wash and dry the potatoes. Leave the skins on and cut them into short, thin strips. Place the potato strips into a large bowl filled with ice water (tip: this removes some of the starch so your fries come out crispier!). Take the potatoes out of the water after 15 minutes and spread them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes until golden and crispy, turning occasionally.

While they bake, heat the butter and flour in a medium saucepan on low-medium heat. Once it starts to foam, gradually add broth (I used vegetable, but beef works too!), stirring with a wire whisk between additions. Once all the vegetable broth is in the saucepan, bring to a slow boil. Reduce the heat to a low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until the gravy has thickened and then remove from heat.

Once the French fries have cooked, remove them from the oven and place onto a serving plate. Top with Squeaky Cheese Curds and pour gravy over top. Serve warm and try not to stuff yourself!

By Katie

Over the years, we’ve heard countless stories of curd-lovers driving for hours to the Tillamook Cheese Factory just to get their Squeaky Cheese Curds. Because of the short shelf life and to maintain the freshness and quality of Tillamook Cheese Curds, they are normally sold exclusively at the Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon… but if you’re a curd-lover, we’ve got great news!

In honor of our 104^th birthday, we’re releasing the curds on February 13 for one day only! There will be a limited supply of Squeaky Cheese Curds for sale on our Online Shop! Squeaky Cheese Curd Day will benefit the Oregon Food Bank in supporting hunger relief. Click here to learn more!

This is so exciting! But why can’t Tillamook ship cheese curds every day?
Squeaky Cheese Curds are extremely perishable, and start to lose their “squeak” after just a few days. Because of this, cheese curds require overnight shipping very quickly after they are made, which we cannot facilitate on a daily basis. To make sure curd-lovers around the country are able to get fresh curds to celebrate Squeaky Cheese Day, the Tillamook marketing team will actually be taking several days away from their regular jobs to personally hand-pack and ship your order from the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We wish we could spread cheese curd joy all the time, but for now, you can satisfy year-long cravings for cheese curds by visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR.

What is a cheese curd?
Cheese curds are created at the very beginning of the cheddaring process, when small pieces of cheddar cheese separate from the liquid whey naturally found in milk. These “curds” are usually then pressed together to form 40 lbs. blocks of our cheddars that will go on to naturally age for up to three years. However, we do save a small amount of the fresh curds to be sold at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. They taste mild and salty, and when they’re really fresh they make a slight “squeak” noise when you eat them! Try them for yourself on Squeaky Cheese Day!

What makes a cheese curd “squeaky”?
The squeak you might hear when you munch on cheese curds comes from the protein composition of fresh curds. When the protein in the cheese rubs against the enamel of your teeth it makes a “squeaky” sound. As cheddar ages, more moisture is released in the form of whey, and the protein in the cheese consolidates. Here at Tillamook, this consolidation is how cheese curds turn into Baby Loafs! That’s why our other cheddars (and curds older than a few days) don’t squeak! The cheese is still delicious to eat after it has stopped squeaking, but the squeak effect will be gone forever for that little curd.

Find out how you can get your squeaky cheese fix!

Get cooking with our Top 5 Cheese Curd recipes here!

P.S. You can follow the conversation about Squeaky Cheese Day with #ReleaseTheCurds on Twitter!

By Tillamook

With the Super Bowl charging closer, it’s time to rally your friends for the big game! Whether you’re a 49ers fan, a Ravens fan, or just excited to see that Destiny’s Child reunion you’ve been holding out for, we can all agree, no Super Bowl party is complete without some killer eats!

Here are 5 tasty dips suited for the Super Bowl and best served in a bowl.

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Spinach, artichoke, and cheese join forces to create the dream team of dips.

Queso Blanco
A little sibling rivalry never hurt anyone! As Jim and John Harbaugh duke it out for the big win, Vintage White Medium Cheddar and Monterey Jack team up in this tasty dip. I guarantee you’ll be making more than one touchdown in the queso bowl.

Smoked Salmon Sour Cream Dip
This may not be one of the usual suspects at your Super Bowl parties, but just like Kaepernick’s single-game NFL record, this dip will surprise and delight your guests.

7 Layer Dip
Seven flavors. Seven layers. Seven reasons you’ll love this dip.

Creamy Crab Dip
Leave the crabbiness to this creamy dip! Your friends will be too busy raving over this dip to get angry that your team scored another touchdown.

By Amalya

This Test Kitchen post comes from Krista Harper, a freelance writer and news radio show director who lives on the chilly Canadian shores of Lake Superior. Krista has become a rabid consumer of tea in the last several years (it is her belief that living in a cold climate will quickly drive anyone to drink more than their fair share of hot beverages). Working part-time at her local David’s Tea has done nothing to slow her growing thirst. Krista also admits to having spent up to a third of her otherwise modest grocery budget on cheese – so it only seems natural for her to experiment with pairing two of her favorite things!

I conducted this taste-test with the following teas:
-White
-Green (pan-fired, Chinese-style)
-Earl Grey
-Yerba Maté (a caffeinated herb from South America)
-Sleigh Ride (a tart, fruity, hibiscus-based herbal tea made by David’s Tea)

With tea steeped and seven different cheeses at hand, I was ready to try some pairings. Which teas complemented (or clashed!) with each type of cheese? Read on…

Provolone
The most delicate of the cheeses in the experiment, provolone has a creamy texture and a slightly tangy finish. I thought it would make a perfect fit with the light, refreshing taste of white tea. Nope. Even provolone cheese overpowered the gentle flavor of the white tea. However, the medium-bodied, earthy, almost hay-like flavor of the South American favorite yerba maté, was a slam dunk when paired with provolone. I would suggest pairing provolone with other medium-bodied teas such as oolong, Darjeeling black tea or rooibos.

Colby Jack
This mild, buttery cheese was hard to match. White tea seemed to be the natural choice, but as I found with provolone, it didn’t work out the way I had thought. I found this cheese went much better with green tea. A nice, smooth oolong might also suit it.

Sharp Cheddar
Full-bodied with a nice zing, this aged cheese paired best with green tea, which had just enough lively earthiness to balance it out. It also paired well with yerba maté. For a unique experience, I’d suggest trying this cheese with lapsang souchong (a very smoky black tea, which is dried over a fire) or a milder cup of Russian caravan tea (which is a blend of lapsang souchong, oolong, and black Keemun tea).

Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar
This creamy cheddar’s strong flavor called for something either really earthy or strong. Nothing I had prepared worked very well with it. As with sharp cheddar, I’d suggest trying it with a smoky cup of lapsang souchong. Perhaps a good, earthy assam black tea or a pu’erh tea would also balance it out.

Pepper Jack
This cheese threw a bit of a wrench in the tasting. Would the zesty-yet-mild flavor of Pepper Jack go with any tea at all? I love me some Pepper Jack on a sandwich, but with tea? Turns out that yes, it can be paired with tea, but the robust, dark teas were out of the question. This cheese’s kick demands a light, cooling tea. The white tea paired well, and a Japanese green tea or an oolong might also work. Try icing the tea, and it would almost certainly be a match made in heaven.

Vintage White Medium Cheddar
This was my favorite cheese of the bunch. Creamy and smooth, with a distinctive flavor, the Vintage White Medium was also one of the hardest cheeses to pair. Surprisingly, fruity Sleigh Ride, a hibiscus-based tea, made the best match. Hibiscus-based teas are tart and sweet, in the vein of cranberry juice, or red wine… and Vintage White Medium Cheddar pairs well with fruit and wine, so maybe it’s not such a surprise that the pair complemented each other so well. I would recommend trying this one with any fruity teas – I think a peach or lemon-flavored tea might be especially delicious.

Smoked Medium Cheddar
This was my other favorite cheese in the tasting. The smoked hickory flavor of this moist cheddar was hard to pair, however. Since this cheese has so much going on, it’s hard to justify pairing it with anything more complex than a nice delicate white tea. The other teas I had on hand just seemed to distract from the delicious smoky flavor of the cheese. The other teas I might try to pair with this one are a creamy oolong or a Japanese green tea such as gyokuro (Japanese green teas are usually steamed, giving them a fresher, grassier flavor than their pan-fired Chinese counterparts). Or pair lapsang souchong with this cheese if you’re up for a truly smoky experience!

The final verdict
The results of the cheese and tea tasting experiment weren’t what I had anticipated. While I expected the stronger cheese flavors to pair best with stronger-tasting teas, it didn’t always work that way – and the lighter cheeses didn’t pair especially well with the lighter teas, either. I found that all the cheeses paired at least fairly well (or better) with green tea and yerba mate. Earthy flavors and cheese just seem to match well! And, word to the wise, earl grey clashed with everything. Bleh!

If you’d like to try this at home, I’d recommend making sure you have a good blend of light, medium, and full-bodied teas to experiment with, as well as a diverse spread of cheeses. Work from mildest to strongest cheeses, and give your taste buds a break between cheeses with some water.

Would you try this at home? What kinds of cheese would you pair with which tea?

By Tillamook

We’re happy to welcome a brand new cheddar to the Tillamook Family – Vintage White Sharp Cheddar! This cheddar is rich, full flavored, and naturally aged for 9 months to give you just the slightest bite. Give it a try at your next wine and cheese party, or in your next batch of mac and cheese!

Look for our new Vintage White Sharp Cheddar in stores soon, but buy it online now in the Tillamook Shop! In honor of Cheese Lover’s Day, enter to win a Big Cheese Gift Box by emailing fans@tillamook.com to tell us the first dish you’ll cook with this new cheese! Hurry and enter before January 31.*

*Official Rules

Email us at fans@tillamook.com to tell us the first dish you’ll make with this cheese!

By Katie

Every Sunday my family tries to get together to enjoy a leisurely late morning breakfast. I like breakfast and brunch foods that fill the house with mouthwatering scents while cooking. Frittata is a great brunch food because it’s easy to make, looks good, and you can customize it to fit the ingredients you’ve got around the kitchen.

Prep time: 15
Total time: 30
Yield (number of servings): 4

Ingredients
8 eggs
½ yellow onion
5 mushrooms
Olive oil
2 potatoes
½ cup shredded Tillamook Medium Cheddar
Handful of grape tomatoes
Spinach, kale, or fresh basil, just enough for garnish
Fresh parsley
1 pinch of black pepper
1 pinch of salt
Note: You will need a frying pan that can be put into the oven

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Dice onion and place in pan over heat with olive oil. Then slice mushrooms and add to the pan. Sauté onion and mushrooms until onion is transparent. Remove onion and mushroom from pan and set aside.

Beat eggs together and set aside. Arrange thin slices of potato on the bottom of the pan and cook for a few minutes over medium heat. Once cooked, arrange the potatoes to cover the bottom of the pan (this will act like a pie crust when you serve the frittata). Cover with a layer of the mushroom and onion, and then pour beaten eggs evenly over the layer of mushrooms and onions. Cover the eggs with the grated cheese. Garnish with the tomatoes, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Best if sliced and served right away.

You can make this breakfast frittata using any seasonal vegetables or diced meats you’d like. You can also substitute any tasty Tillamook Cheese for the Medium Cheddar to mix things up!

What will you include in your frittata this weekend!?

By Amalya

In honor of National Milk Day, I’m putting you to the test!

1.     How long does it take from the time milk leaves a cow until it’s made into a loaf of Tillamook Cheese?

2.     How many pounds of milk are used to make one pound of Tillamook Cheese?

3.     How many pounds of milk does it take to make one carton of Tillamook Ice Cream?

4.     How many pounds of milk does it take to make one pound of Tillamook Butter?

5.     How much does a gallon of milk weigh?

6.     How many squirts are in a gallon of milk?

7.     How much water does a cow drink?

8.     How much milk can a cow produce in one day?

9.     Why is milk white?

10.  How many veggies would it take to equal the calcium in two servings of dairy?

Click here for the answers.

By Loafy

Get into the spirit of the 2013 with a sale on all things cheesy. Stock up with super savings on t-shirts, cooking accessories, and Tillamook Cheese! Shop the sale on the Tillamook Shop now!

By Katie

Most families have many holiday traditions: for some it’s about the meal you have, for others it’s about the way you exchange gifts or where you go for the holidays. For many homes, leaving cookies and milk for Santa is a must.

When my best friend and her husband started their family, they started the tradition of leaving cookies and cheese for Santa. Tillamook Cheese, of course…Santa only deserves the best, right?

So when our son Eli was born, and we set out on creating our own holiday traditions, I’m proud to say that borrowing my friends’ idea of leaving cheese for Santa seemed perfect for our family.

Coming up on our fifth year of having little ones in our home, leaving a nice variety of Tillamook Cheese and a tall glass of cold milk is a must (no cookies at our house!). The other day while grocery shopping, I added a brick of Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar to the basket and Eli said, “Good job, mom! Santa really likes the cheese with the black label.” To which I responded, “Yes, he does.” (Only the best for Santa, right?) 

This year, Santa has a trampoline and a play kitchen to put together at our house, and we know that he will look forward to enjoying his snack when he gets there…he never leaves any behind!

We’ve never left something for the reindeer, so I think we’ll need to start that next year. Any ideas?

Happy holidays!

By Aimee

This tasty recipe comes from Chelsea Day of the family blog Someday I’ll Learn, where Chelsea and her husband tackle domestic life, including cooking, cleaning, parenting, organization, money management and more…one day at a time! They aim to simplify life for other busy parents with helpful tips and a healthy dose of reality.

Overview
These cook up quickly and use just a few ingredients for an easy appetizer with bold flavor. The fancy-looking white cheddar cups are sure to impress at a Sunday brunch or even as a light dinner on a warm evening.

Ingredients
8 oz package Tillamook Smoked Black Pepper White Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 cup mixed spinach, bok choy and baby greens
1 granny smith apple, diced
¼ cup sugared almonds, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinaigrette

Preparation
Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Spread a small handful of cheese in a 4-inch circle in the center of the skillet and cook over medium heat until crispy, approximately one minute. Flip with a spatula and cook approximately 15 seconds more.

Gently place cheese crisp in muffin tin to form a cheese cup. Let cool completely. Repeat with remaining cheese to make 8 cheese cups.

In a medium bowl, combine spinach mixture, apple, almonds, olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. Divide spinach mixture equally among cheese cups and serve.

About Chelsea:
Tips for stress-free home entertaining:
The best recipes are actually quite simple, with the correct mixture of just a few tasty components. Invest in high-quality ingredients to simplify the cooking process. When you let good food stand for itself, you’d be amazed how easily a dish comes together.

Kitchen advice for other moms and dads:
Families are so busy nowadays that mealtime can become a huge stressor. Don’t guilt yourself into trying to make everything perfect or from scratch. Allow yourself a few shortcuts to keep cooking fun, and remember that it’s all about quality time spent together.

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By Tillamook