KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On this episode of Chew Diligence, co-hosts Lindsay Shively and Jill Silva prepare for the holiday party season with help from two masterful friends.
You can hardly go wrong with the classic party pairing of wine and cheese, so Lindsay and Jill invited Certified Cheese Sensory Evaluator and Certified Cheese Professional Lincoln Broadbooks and Master Sommelier and Master of Wine Doug Frost into the studio.
Frost is one of just four people in the world to be both a master sommelier and master of wine. He explained to Lindsay and Jill that a master of wine focuses more on production, while a master sommelier essentially must know every word that could appear on a wine bottle anywhere in the world.
Broadbooks shares his qualification with only 29 other people and was part of the inaugural class from the American Cheese Society to earn it. While he has a Masters in theological studies and planned to become a college professor, his passion for cheese led him to pursue an alternate career.
In terms of pairings, Frost contradicted the common ideas that cheeses should be paired with red wine. He said red wines can sometimes overpower the complexity of the cheese, and Broadbooks agreed.
Frost also pointed out that there needs to be a contrast in flavors for them to complement each other, and hosts should always think about how to make food shine just a little brighter with wine.
Frost said hosts should focus on what their guests will enjoy, and go with that.
Broadbooks suggested choosing a variety of cheeses, including things your guests may not have tried or even seen anywhere else, sheep’s milk cheese for something with a higher fat content, or crowd-pleasing, nutty French Basque country cheeses.
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