This large, puffy baked pancake has more in common with a popover than it does pancake or soufflé. However, the spirit of a soufflé is intact, as beaten eggs add lift to the batter, allowing it to climb up the sides of the pan for a delightfully crisp, curled edge. Served from the pan with a topping of lightly sweetened sautéed apples or a drizzle of honey, it would make a good choice for brunch, especially with a few sausages on the side. The cheese we used is Uniekaas Dutch goat Gouda; you can substitute traditional Gouda made with cow’s milk.
Heat the oven to 450ºF.

THE RAPINI: In a large saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Meanwhile, trim an inch from the stems of the rapini. Rinse and drain what remains.

Generously butter the sides and bottom of a 1½-quart soufflé dish. Add the Pecorino, shaking the dish to coat evenly. Set aside.

An all-American cheese-and-whiskey tasting reveals the best brown spirits for pairing.

“Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I’d like to think that bourbon has some of the same advantages white wine has over red when it comes to pairing with cheese: the sweetness, the body,” says Sean Josephs, gathering bottles from the mirror-backed shelves that soar to the ceiling of Char No. 4, the restaurant he runs with a partner in Brooklyn, New York. Anne Saxelby, of Saxelby Cheesemongers in Manhattan, is also here, laying out cheeses, and the two pros have offered to help investigate the possibilities of pairing cheese and whiskey—an idea originally sparked by the restaurant’s addictive deep-fried cheddar curds.

The Cheese:

Whole Milk Smoked Ricotta from Salvatore Bklyn, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar from Cabot Creamery, Cabot, Vt.

A good story depends on details, and there’s no lack of them in Angela Miller’s Hay Fever (Wiley, 2010; $24.95). This memoir chronicles Miller’s life-changing journey from corporate executive in Manhattan to cheesemaking at her farm, Consider Bardwell, in southern Vermont. Readers get a rich retelling of every step along the way in the author’s farmstead odyssey, as Miller describes the troubles and joys of turning her weekend hobby (keeping a few goats) into a world-class cheesemaking venture—all while maintaining her high-profile job in New York City. The relentless work of milking and breeding animals, making cheese, and then selling it is recounted vividly, along with candid assessments of the people and employees who cross her ambitious path. Populated with good guys, bad characters, and everyday heroes, Hay Fever is a tale as much about human nature as about cheese.

The creators of Wallace & Gromit, the British stop-motion clay animation series of short films, made Wensleydale the favorite cheese of the endearing character Wallace simply because it made his mouth look big and toothy when he pronounced the name. They were unaware that the factory making this crumbly British cheese was about to go out of business. Happily, the film’s popularity brought the factory back from the brink: upon release of the 2005 full-length Wallace & Gromit film, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, sales of Wensleydale cheeses jumped 23 percent. The cheese is now widely available.

During Hungary’s Communist era, quality cheese was in short supply. Some hobby cheesemakers made it at home, but it was prohibited for sale at markets, where fewer than a dozen commercial varieties were available. In an effort to revive the tradition of the artisan (házi) craft, a cheesemaker from Körösladány, a village on the eastern Hungarian prairie, established the Hungarian Cheesemaker’s Guild in 2009.

At the age of nine, Andrea Itin learned the art of entrepreneurship from her father. Every summer, he asked her to come up with an idea for a new product—and then manufacture it. Amazingly, she did just that, selling various products for spending money before each school year. That lesson in entrepreneurship paid off: today, as owner of Mirabelle Cheese Shop in Westport, Connecticut, Itin continually finds new ways to promote her business. Her latest idea: rolling out Cheese Wheels, a retro-style, mobile cheese trailer she takes to farmers’ markets and special events around Fairfield County. While Mirabelle specializes in European imports, Cheese Wheels features local farmstead and artisan cheeses made in New York and New England.

“Going mobile gives me the opportunity to work with cheesemakers to focus on more locally available cheeses,” Itin says. Plus it’s fun. “It’s the perfect way to get noticed.” www.mirabellecheeseshop.com

If you think oversized scoops of fresh, farmstead ice cream dripping from a homemade waffle cone are a thing of the past, then it’s time you took a road trip. More dairy farms across the United States are crafting the frozen treat right on the farm, meeting a growing demand from consumers who want to connect with local food sources. Two of our favorite farmstead ice creams are from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy in Ancramdale, New York, and Kelley Country Creamery in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

“You’re not a lawyer, are you?”

This was the first question David Burton asked me, and it wasn’t an unreasonable one. It’s not because Burton edits a magazine devoted to marijuana, which is legal for medical use in California, where Burton is based. It’s because his magazine is also called Culture. Fortunately, his publication’s tag line is not “The word on weed” but rather "Southern California’s medical marijuana lifestyle magazine.”

Since 2009, Burton has been bringing his readers a mix of cannabis news, reviews, recipes, and interviews with luminaries of the cannabis world. (Sound familiar?) But who really wants to get into a messy trademark fight? Instead of focusing on what could divide us, why not look at what unites us? With that in mind, I posed a few questions to Burton.

WF: How would you describe your audience?