At the risk of being too literary and too media obsessed at once, here is another article:
http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/writers-bloc-when-updike-and-cheever-came-to-visit/
In the short musings of Mr. Cavett (a man whose show I have never seen, although I vaguely know he is culturally important) on Cheever and Updike, a fascinating truth is revealed: authors are in conversation at all times, not just on talk shows. As an English major, I learned both about this fact, and the inherent unknowableness of this conversation, aside from the historically possible. T.S. Eliot thought all great literature was a part of the conversation, and yet it is impossible for us to say which author has read which other author (unless he writes a review). Some works we think we can take for granted as having been read, Moby Dick, perhaps, or The Great Gatsby. But then there are all those canonical works that almost no one has read, i.e. Paradise Lost, and The Canterbury Tales (not even English undergrads have to read these nowadays). So where do our daily authors fall?
I am pretty certain, now and then, that I can find threads, answers to Dostoevsky's questions in Wendell Berry. Riffs on Goethe's stories in the Virginian. This might be romantic, but it something in which I take joy. We are all on this planet together, and even for those of us who can't get the words to act quite as magically as Cheever or Updike, we can appreciate that others are there, at the table, talking.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Cheesemaking
I, as a visitor and semi-teacher, have been invited to “mach mit” in several classes at the HBLA. This essentially means I get to be a student of this practical school as well. The first day I made cheese I got to school at 9 o’clock. I could hardly contain my excitement. I was grinning like a fool. How many people get the chance to learn the intricate and almost mystical art of small batch cheesemaking? It is as essentially a part of Austrian culture as edelweiss and skiing. In fact, it is probably much more ingrained in the history than skiing, which debuted only last century, and cheese has been produced here since before the Romans built the bridge across the Inn river.
Entering the round vaulted door into the ground floor of the cow barn where the milk room is located, I met the surprised faces of class 4B. Or rather, one third of 4B. The other two thirds were either cooking or in Chem lab, since the practical subjects are on a three-week rotation. They found me a pair of white Wellington’s, a hair net, and a white frock. I was now outfitted for cheese making. We all gathered around Frau Koffler, the kind but stern Agriculture teacher. Dyed dark hair frames her focused, still pretty face. At 45-ish, and with three academic degrees, she seems overqualified, but appears to love working at this school as much as I do. She handed each student a plan for the cheese we were to be making today. It is called simply ‘soft cheese’. There was a flurry of activity as we searched out ten gallon kettles, whisks, thermometers. We measured our cultures, milk and rennet. Soon our kettles were heating on hotplates, we were passing thermometers back and forth, and everyone was chattering happily in various dialects. Every now and then one of my students would ask me, in English, if I needed any help. They watched out for me, making sure the novice didn’t accidentally heat his milk too much, or stir it when it needed to sit.
As soon as we reached the moment when the rennet was added (the enzyme from the stomach of a calf, which chemically changes the proteins and sugars in the milk, curdling it into tasty cheese) we covered our pots and began to clean. “A tidy workplace” is the every present litany of dear Frau Koffler. for has hygienic as well as craftsmanly reasons. While we were tidying, Frau Koffler produced the efforts of the class from the day before. A fresh spreadable cheese (think grainy cream cheese) and drinkable chocolate yogurt. The students, with the air of trained tasters, passed judgment on the products.
“The yogurt is a bit to thick,” said Anna, a smiley, bespectacled 18 year old.
“Could use more cocoa,” added Matthias, the only farmer boy of the overwhelmingly female class, barrel-chested and always ready with a joke, usually about his gender predicament.
After deciding what should be done differently—more yogurt culture, less ripening time, more cocoa—we labeled the jars, and carried them over to the school store to be sold that afternoon.
Upon return, our cheese had reached the stage when it needed to be cut into curds. This could be seen by the “knife test.” Slice the curd, and lift it with the flat of the knife. If they yellowy whey fills the cut, then it is time to use the “cheese comb” a wire net, to slice the curds into one inch squares, allowing more whey to escape. Since this was supposed to be a soft cheese, we simply scooped these curds into forms, and stuck them into the storeroom. There they would be turned several times, being compressed into forms by their own weight, soaked for 24 hours in a salt bath, and finally smeared with an edible mold culture, which would then seal the cheese and allow it to ripen for the next two weeks.
After three weeks our cheese would be ready to eat. The list of cheeses to be produced in the coming weeks included Tilsiter, more spreadable “fresh cheese,” mozzarella (a joy to form into to palm sized lumps), and butter. Each was a minor variation on the theme, each took a mildly different ingredient. All could be made at home, if you have the time to make the cheese and search down the cultures (in Austria they can be purchased at most pharmacies).
I have also been invited to “Meat Prep” class. Soon I ought to be reporting on the production of bacon, sausage, and ham. Home Ec was never this fun in the States.
Entering the round vaulted door into the ground floor of the cow barn where the milk room is located, I met the surprised faces of class 4B. Or rather, one third of 4B. The other two thirds were either cooking or in Chem lab, since the practical subjects are on a three-week rotation. They found me a pair of white Wellington’s, a hair net, and a white frock. I was now outfitted for cheese making. We all gathered around Frau Koffler, the kind but stern Agriculture teacher. Dyed dark hair frames her focused, still pretty face. At 45-ish, and with three academic degrees, she seems overqualified, but appears to love working at this school as much as I do. She handed each student a plan for the cheese we were to be making today. It is called simply ‘soft cheese’. There was a flurry of activity as we searched out ten gallon kettles, whisks, thermometers. We measured our cultures, milk and rennet. Soon our kettles were heating on hotplates, we were passing thermometers back and forth, and everyone was chattering happily in various dialects. Every now and then one of my students would ask me, in English, if I needed any help. They watched out for me, making sure the novice didn’t accidentally heat his milk too much, or stir it when it needed to sit.
As soon as we reached the moment when the rennet was added (the enzyme from the stomach of a calf, which chemically changes the proteins and sugars in the milk, curdling it into tasty cheese) we covered our pots and began to clean. “A tidy workplace” is the every present litany of dear Frau Koffler. for has hygienic as well as craftsmanly reasons. While we were tidying, Frau Koffler produced the efforts of the class from the day before. A fresh spreadable cheese (think grainy cream cheese) and drinkable chocolate yogurt. The students, with the air of trained tasters, passed judgment on the products.
“The yogurt is a bit to thick,” said Anna, a smiley, bespectacled 18 year old.
“Could use more cocoa,” added Matthias, the only farmer boy of the overwhelmingly female class, barrel-chested and always ready with a joke, usually about his gender predicament.
After deciding what should be done differently—more yogurt culture, less ripening time, more cocoa—we labeled the jars, and carried them over to the school store to be sold that afternoon.
Upon return, our cheese had reached the stage when it needed to be cut into curds. This could be seen by the “knife test.” Slice the curd, and lift it with the flat of the knife. If they yellowy whey fills the cut, then it is time to use the “cheese comb” a wire net, to slice the curds into one inch squares, allowing more whey to escape. Since this was supposed to be a soft cheese, we simply scooped these curds into forms, and stuck them into the storeroom. There they would be turned several times, being compressed into forms by their own weight, soaked for 24 hours in a salt bath, and finally smeared with an edible mold culture, which would then seal the cheese and allow it to ripen for the next two weeks.
After three weeks our cheese would be ready to eat. The list of cheeses to be produced in the coming weeks included Tilsiter, more spreadable “fresh cheese,” mozzarella (a joy to form into to palm sized lumps), and butter. Each was a minor variation on the theme, each took a mildly different ingredient. All could be made at home, if you have the time to make the cheese and search down the cultures (in Austria they can be purchased at most pharmacies).
I have also been invited to “Meat Prep” class. Soon I ought to be reporting on the production of bacon, sausage, and ham. Home Ec was never this fun in the States.
An Interview with Mr. Wendell Berry
http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/391/digging_in?page=1
This beautiful rambling talk moves through the topics that motivate this inspiring man; from "foodsheds" to community, Amish barn-raisings to faith, the writing life to the role of government in the U.S. Wendell Berry does not give easy answers to hard questions, but he does offer a framework of moral thought, and an example of that framework in action. I am jealous of the man who got to sit down and talk with him, and glad he asked these questions.
This beautiful rambling talk moves through the topics that motivate this inspiring man; from "foodsheds" to community, Amish barn-raisings to faith, the writing life to the role of government in the U.S. Wendell Berry does not give easy answers to hard questions, but he does offer a framework of moral thought, and an example of that framework in action. I am jealous of the man who got to sit down and talk with him, and glad he asked these questions.
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