[1] A wedge of Deep Ellum Blue (photo © The Mozzarella Company).

[2] Serve Deep Ellum as a first course or a cheese course, along with figs and prosciutto (photo © Castello USA).

[3] A glass of Port, be it vintage, ruby, or tawny, is an excellent accompaniment (photo © Taylor’s ).

The Mozzarella Company’s blue cheese, Deep Ellum Blue, was named for a neighborhood of arts and entertainment venues—plus bars, restaurants, and nightclubs—about a mile from downtown Dallas.

Its history dates to the late 19th century, when it was settled after the Civil War by former slaves as a freedman’s town. Though the area was originally called Deep Elm in reference to Elm Street, its main thoroughfare, it was pronounced “Ellum” by residents, and the name eventually stuck.

In the 1920s, Deep Ellum started to become a destination for jazz and the blues. Artists like Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, Bessie Smith, Texas Bill Day, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson and many more prominent performers entertained there. Here’s more about the neighborhood.

In 1933, a song titled “Deep Elm Blues” was recorded by the Lone Star Cowboys and, later, the Shelton Brothers recorded it as “Deep Elum Blues” (their version).

Years later, it would be covered by Jerry Lee Lewis (our personal favorite) and The Grateful Dead.

And so, the Mozzarella Company, located on Elm Street in Dallas, created Deep Ellum Blue cheese.

Unlike most blue cheeses, Deep Ellum Blue has no blue veins, only a diamond-scored, blue-mold-mottled exterior (photo #1).

Unlike many blue cheeses, Deep Ellum Blue is subtly flavored, not too strong, and not too salty. Its flavor is robust and earthy. Its texture is soft, creamy, and spreadable.

It is delicious:

 
In fact, it’s fabulous with figs, which just happen to be in season right now.

Grab some cheese, some figs, some walnuts, and a bottle of Port or your favorite dessert wine, and luxuriate!
 
 
THE LIFE JOURNEY OF DEEP ELLUM BLUE

To make Deep Ellum Blue, pasteurized cow’s milk is inoculated with cultures* and then coagulated with rennet.

The resulting curds are broken into large pieces using perforated scoops and are stirred very gently so that they remain moist and soft.

The curds are poured into large square molds placed on mats and left to drain until mature. Then, the cheese is drained and turned and dried for about a month. Then it is washed with blue Penicillin roqueforti mold spores.

After aging for at least two additional months, the cheese is finally bathed with extra-virgin olive oil. It’s ready for you!

Look for it at fine cheese stores, or at MozzCo.com.

*Cheese cultures are a group of specific bacteria strains that are combined in order to make a particular type of cheese.

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[1] Cassoulet. Here’s a recipe (photo © Reserve Media).

[2] Crêpes Suzette. Here’s a recipe (photo © Betty Crocker).

[3] Reine de Saba cake. Here’s the recipe (photo © ).

[4] Quiche Lorraine. Here’s a recipe (photo © Natasha’s Kitchen).

[5] Vichyssoise. Here’s a recipe (photo © Umami Information Center).

August 15th is Julia Child’s birthday. Julia Carolyn McWilliams was born on August 15, 1912, in Pasadena, California. She dies a few days short of her 92nd birthday, on August 13, 2004, in Montecito California.

From a well-to-do family, she lived a life of privilege. She graduated from Smith College in 1934 and moved to New York City, where she worked as a copywriter in the advertising department of W. & J. Sloane, a fine furniture store.

In 1942, after the U.S. entry into World War II, she joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—after finding that, at 6’2″, she was too tall to enlist in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) or in the U.S. Navy’s WAVES.

While posted to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) she met Paul Cushing Child, also an OSS employee, and the two were married in 1946. Paul, who had lived in Paris as an artist and poet, was known for his sophisticated palate and introduced his wife to fine cuisine.

And so begins the legend.

The State Department assigned Paul to Paris, and Julia enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. She joined the women’s cooking club, Le Cercle des Gourmettes, where she met Simone Beck, who was writing a French cookbook for Americans with her friend Louisette Bertholle.

Beck invited Child to work with them to give the book the right appeal to Americans. The result: the iconic Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, published in 1961, with 524 recipes which became so popular that the publisher released a second, equally weighty Volume II in 1970.

In 1951, Child, Beck, and Bertholle had begun to teach cooking to American women in Child’s Paris kitchen, calling their informal school L’école des Trois Gourmandes (The School of the Three Food Lovers). When Child returned to the U.S., she continued her teaching and had a show on the local public television station.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she was the star of television programs, including Julia Child & Company, Julia Child & More Company, and Dinner at Julia’s. In the process, she not only expanded the awareness of French cuisine, but taught French cooking to enthusiastic fans nationwide—becoming an award-winning national treasure.

Here’s more about her life.

So what are the most popular Julia Child recipes?
 
 
THE MOST POPULAR JULIA CHILD RECIPES

There’s no single list, of course, but here’s one from Southern Living magazine, “10 Essential Julia Child Recipes Everyone Should Master.” In alphabetical order, they are:

 
We’ve made most of them but for two: French Baguette and Chicken Waterzooi, the latter of which we’d never heard of (etymology: water (“water”) +‎ zooi (“something boiled”).
 
 
Chicken Waterzooi

It turns out that the name and the recipe are Flemish, a wine-accented Belgian stew originally made with fish, but subsequently of chicken.

chicken nestled in a silky sauce of cream and egg yolks. It’s

Julia swapped the fish for chicken and layered the chicken with vegetables, all simmered in chicken stock and vermouth. “Chicken Waterzooi is undoubtedly one of Child’s most underrated recipes (if not for the fun name alone),” says Southern Living.

Here’s the recipe, which she gave to The New York Times in 1987.

The Times commented:

“It is easy weeknight cooking: the dish can be assembled in the morning before work, or even the night before. Then, in the evening, simmer it for about half an hour, and then use the cooking liquid to make a light but creamy sauce. Serve with potatoes or good bread.”
 
 
Reine de Saba Cake

And how about a birthday cake for Julia?

The Reine de Saba cake (Queen Of Sheba) is one of the first French cakes that Julia Child ever ate (photo #3). She could not help but fall in love with the rich, chocolate cake, so sophisticated compared to American cakes [source].

The chocolate was combined with ground almonds, rum, and meringue, and topped with a chocolate ganache and an optional decoration of almond slices.

Here’s the recipe.

Happy Birthday, Julia!

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What do you do on National Creamsicle Day, August 14th? Make a Creamsicle-inspired recipe, combining orange and vanilla flavors into formats beyond the original Creamsicle ice cream pop.

The original and still beloved, a childhood flavor of ours, is a vanilla ice cream pop covered with orange sherbet.

We often combine a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a scoop of orange sherbet into a simple, heavenly, dessert.

But for those who like a more complex recipe, we’ve got seven of them below (cheesecake, ice cream cake, milkshake, and more).

Our legal department would like us to note that while “Creamsicle” may seem like a generic term, it is, along with Popsicle®, Fudgsicle®, and Yosicle®, a registered trademark of the Unilever Group of Companies and can only be used to identify the frozen confection products of Unilever.

That means only Unilever can sell anything by those names. But to identify recipes with the combination of orange and vanilla on our little website, we have some editorial license.

> The history of the Creamsicle.
 
 
RECIPE #1: CREAMSICLE ICE CREAM

This is a non-dairy recipe, made with coconut milk instead of dairy milk.

Thanks to Fruits From Chile for this delicious ice cream. Chile’s seasons are the opposite of North America’s, so their orchards are bursting with fruit while ours are hibernating.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. CUT the peels from the oranges, then slice the orange flesh into thick rounds. Place the rounds on a baking sheet and freeze for 1 hour.

2. PLACE the frozen oranges, coconut milk, salt, agave, and vanilla extract in a food processor or a sturdy blender such as a Vitamix. Blitz until the ingredients are fully combined.

3. TRANSFER the liquid to a freezer-proof container. Cover and freeze until set. Before serving…

4. LET the ice cream thaw at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before scooping. Serve in bowls with slices of clementine and crumbled sugar cones.

Can you scoop it directly into cones? Sure!
 
 
RECIPE #2: CREAMSICLE FUDGE

This easy recipe for marbled orange fudge, from Diane Wampler of Morristown, Tennessee, came to us via Taste Of Home.

 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. GREASE a 13×9-inch pan with 1-1/2 teaspoons butter; set aside.

2. COMBINE the sugar, cream, and remaining butter in a large heavy saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 4 minutes.

3. REMOVE from the heat; stir in the chips and marshmallow creme until smooth. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside.

4. ADD the orange extract and food coloring to the remaining marshmallow mixture; stir until blended. Pour into the prepared pan.

5. DROP the reserved marshmallow mixture by tablespoonfuls over the top. Cut through with a knife to swirl (if you’re not sure how to do this, here’s a video). Cover and refrigerate until set.

6. CUT into squares.
 
 
MORE CREAMSICLE RECIPES

[1] Creamsicle-style ice cream, combining the classic duo of orange and vanilla (recipe and photo © Fruits From Chile).

[2] Creamsicle Fudge (photo © Taste Of Home).

[3] The original Creamsicle (photo © Unilever).

[4] Cheesecake lovers: Here’s a Creamsicle Cheesecake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Sweet Street).

[5] How about a Creamsicle Ice Cream Cake? Here’s the recipe (photo © Life, Love And Sugar).

[6] Cool off with a Creamsicle Milkshake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Williams Sonoma).

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