{"id":496,"date":"2010-03-12T17:33:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-13T01:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/?p=496"},"modified":"2010-03-14T19:46:31","modified_gmt":"2010-03-15T03:46:31","slug":"chef-dishes-up-breast-milk-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/12\/chef-dishes-up-breast-milk-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"“Chef dishes up breast-milk cheese”"},"content":{"rendered":"

* The following is an article I ran across out in the vastness of the internet – I’m sure you can find\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0it (and more information) by Googling “breast milk cheese” or some variant.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Interesting idea and interesting public response.<\/em>\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Human cheese may sound more Hannibal Lecter than haute cuisine, but it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s an intriguing new menu item at a fancy New York City eatery.<\/p>\n

No humans were harmed in the making of the novel new dish; rather, mommy\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s milk supplies the dairy quotient for the little canap\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00a9 offered up by chef Daniel Angerer at his Klee Brasserie.<\/p>\n

Noted chef Angerer, who once bested Bobby Flay on Food Network\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cIron Chef\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d reality competition, says necessity was the mother of invention for his new dish \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and in this case, the mother was his wife, Lori Mason. The couple realized their freezer was overflowing with breast milk as their baby daughter Arabella turned 4 weeks old.<\/p>\n

\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cWe are fortunate to have plenty of pumped mommy\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s milk on hand, and we even freeze a good amount of it,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d Angerer wrote on his Web site. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cOur small freezer ran out of space. To throw it out would be like wasting gold.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n

With his wife on board with the plan to offer a bit of herself in the name of culinary art, Angerer began experimenting with making cheese out of his wife\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s breast milk. Turned out it worked pretty well \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u009d two gallons of breast milk, some curdling and two weeks of aging produced a sweet cheese with a taste not far removed from the more familiar cow\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s milk cheese.<\/p>\n

When Angerer posted a recipe for \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cMy Spouse\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Mommy\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Milk Cheese\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d on his blog, customers began calling his eatery begging for a taste. So he began offering an appetizer of breast-milk cheese with figs and Hungarian pepper at Klee Brasserie. While response has been generally positive, Angerer and Mason admit the dish has been a decided turnoff to some.<\/p>\n

\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI think a lot of the criticism has to do with the combination of sex and cheese,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d Mason told the New York Post. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cBut the breast is there to make food.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n

TODAY tested how much of an \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201ceww\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d factor comes from mommy\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s milk cheese Monday when hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb displayed a platter of the Klee\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s canap\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00a9s to the show\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s crew. Kotb was amazed no one would take the bait. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cNot one taker? You get 100 bucks for being on camera!\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d she said.<\/p>\n

Finally, restaurant owner Billy Dec of Chicago eatery Sunda came onto the set and offered to be the human guinea pig, even though he had missed hearing the appetizer was made from breast milk. After tasting, he nonchalantly said, \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cIt\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s cheese,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d and then was told of the special ingredient.<\/p>\n

Dec, on set to watch his chef Rodelio Aglibot make a recipe on TODAY, looked shocked and made a beeline off camera. Still, he finished off the appetizer, which may show the power of cheese in any form.<\/p>\n

Angerer said that it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s all in the name of kitchen science. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cBeing a chef, you\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re curious about anything in terms of flavor,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d he told New York magazine\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s grubstreet.com Web site. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cIt wasn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t like, \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153Hey, this is such an amazing cheese!\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 It\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s just like, \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153Can you use human milk? Yes, you absolutely can!\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n

Angerer\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s wife Lori Mason notes that the restaurant has heard from a few prospective patrons who seem to have childhood issues. One person e-mailed asking for a sample, moaning that they were not breast-fed as a child. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m not here to walk people through their psychological problems,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d Mason told the New York Post.<\/p>\n

As for Angerer\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s own Web site, response there has ranged from \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI am LOVING this idea\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d to \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cGross, who\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s supposed to eat this?\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d Either way, Angerer notes that this is surely a limited-time-only menu item \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the milk supply, courtesy of Mason, isn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t going to last forever.<\/p>\n

Still, Mason is urging her husband to try out another recipe before the mother\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s milk supply dries up; she\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2d love to see a breast-milk gelato. In homage, Gifford and Kotb dug into bowls of gelato shaped like a female breast Tuesday, daring each other to dig in. After both took a mouthful, they admitted a ruse: No mommy\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s milk was used.<\/p>\n

But the New York City Health Department seems less amused: It has told Angerer he would be well-advised to stop offering his wife\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s milk to the general public, even though there is no specific law on the books prohibiting it.<\/p>\n

\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cThe restaurant knows that cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption, whether it is sold or given away,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d a Health Department spokeswoman told the New York Post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* The following is an article I ran across out in the vastness of the internet – I’m sure you can find\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0it (and more information) by Googling “breast milk cheese” or some variant.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Interesting idea and interesting public response.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 Human … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jillcook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}