AHNY Field Ops: I was a Murray’s Cheese Intern! (Part 7)

Arthur Bovino — May 06, 2009

As much as they may wish they could, most turophiles cannot commit three months to an affinage internship in Murray’s cheese caves. AlwaysHungry volunteered there for two days to bring you a glimpse of this subterranean world. Our first installment gave a brief history of Murray’s and an introduction to the caves. It was followed by receiving cheese in Part 2, our first affinage experience in Part 3, a cheese tasting in Part 4, “A ‘Mitey’ Stilton” in Part 5 and “Scrubbing Cheese in the Hard-Rind Cave” on the second day of the internship in Part 6. The finale follows.

The Washed-Rind Cave
Finally, it was time for the most anticipated job: cheese-washing. I was set up with a gray cart, a straw-mat lined perforated sheet tray atop a regular sheet tray and a bucket of water. There were fourteen different cheeses in the cave—several requiring different washing methods. Zoe imparted some instruction and left me to work in my new chilly environs.

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AHNY Field Ops: I was a Murray’s Cheese Intern! (Part 6)

Arthur Bovino — April 29, 2009

As much as they may wish they could, most turophiles cannot commit three months to an affinage internship in Murray’s cheese caves. AlwaysHungry volunteered there for two days to bring you a glimpse of this subterranean world. Our first installment gave a brief history of Murray’s and an introduction to the caves. It was followed by receiving cheese in Part 2, our first affinage experience in Part 3, a cheese tasting in Part 4 and “A ‘Mitey’ Stilton” in Part 5. The second day of the internship continues in Part 6.

Scrubbing Cheese in the Hard-Rind Cave

Hard-Rind Cave chores were up next. While some wonderful cheeses are beautifully displayed there (Cheddars, Swiss, Gouda, Manchego and Mimolette among others) it was my least favorite cave to work in. The cheeses have already matured—they’re on display waiting to be sold. The upkeep, brushing off unwanted mold, is necessary but not very dynamic.

“It’s more like a museum,” explained Zoe. “Each cheese represents a story, a history of a culture but they’re not changing before your eyes. These are the cheeses invented to help civilization survive. They’re more meaningful to our ancestors but less exciting and gooey.”

The coolest thing about this cave (about 10 feet longer than the others so it seems to collect more mist) is the ultrasonic. The ultrasonic is basically a humidifier whose ceramic plates, Zoe said, move “at the speed of sound” to create a light fog that stays suspended in the air and keep the cave above a 90% humidity level. About the size of a laptop keyboard, the unit goes through 3 liters of water an hour and creates enough mist for all four caves. Zoe was particularly proud of her ultrasonic. After being quoted $5,000 for a pre-fab unit, she bought the parts separately for $1,000 and assembled her own unit, complete with “blast gates” in each cave to create different apertures for the right amount of fog depending on the target climate of each.

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AHNY Field Ops: I was a Murray’s Cheese Intern! (Part 5)

Arthur Bovino — April 27, 2009

As much as they may wish they could, most turophiles cannot commit three months to an affinage internship in Murray’s cheese caves. AlwaysHungry volunteered there for two days to bring you a glimpse of this subterranean world. Our first installment gave a brief history of Murray’s and an introduction to the caves. It was followed by receiving cheese in Part 2, our first affinage experience in Part 3, and a cheese tasting in Part 4. The second day of the internship follows in Part 5.

The Monday following my Friday stint at Murray’s, I arrived again at noon per Zoe’s instructions. I slipped into my clogs, washed my hands, donned my cap, and jacket buttoned, entered the caves.

Caves One through Three were empty but I found Jessica Nilsen, a former museum curator on the final day of her affinage internship in Cave Four. On the floor leaning against the shelves were three removable wood board shelves marred by brown rings. Moist cheese sticks. Rinds that stick can tear away from the cheese. Cheese without rinds equals damaged goods. Every piece of cheese in the caves needs to be flipped at least once a week. In the process of flipping the cheese, interns check the boards for stickage. When moist cheese leaves marks on the wood the boards require washing with warm water.

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AHNY Field Ops: I Was a Murray’s Cheese Cave Intern! (Part 4)

Arthur Bovino — April 21, 2009

As much as they may wish they could, most turophiles cannot commit three months to an affinage internship in Murray’s cheese caves. AlwaysHungry volunteered there for two days to bring you a glimpse of this subterranean world. Our first installment gave a brief history of Murray’s and an introduction to the caves. It was followed by receiving cheese in Part 2 and our first affinage experience in Part 3. Part 4 follows.

Cheese Tasting

Before finishing for the day the cave needed reorganizing. There were several empty slots in the dollies between full trays of cheese. By consolidating trays and reorganizing cheese by type and date, I freed up two dollies. This made tracking the cheese as it aged easier and facilitated receiving the next delivery.

My tasks were finished. I found Zoe putting away a hulking cheese called Castelmagno. She laughed when I asked if her mind also went wandering when she spent time in the caves. “That’s why I encourage interns to listen to music while they’re working,” she said, sticking a cheese trier into the Castelmagno and pulling out a divot, “want to taste?”

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AHNY Field Ops: I Was a Murray’s Cheese Cave Intern! (Part 3)

Arthur Bovino — April 16, 2009

As much as they may wish they could, most turophiles cannot commit three months to an affinage internship in Murray’s cheese caves. AlwaysHungry volunteered there for two days to bring you a glimpse of this subterranean world. Our first installment gave a brief history of Murray’s and an introduction to the caves. Receiving cheese on day one of the internship followed in Part 2. Our first affinage experience follows with Part 3.

Affinage
We unpacked styrofoam bowls, the size of take-out miso soup containers. Each was loosely covered with foil and filled with a triple-crème cow’s cheese from Bittersweet Plantation Dairy named ‘Fleur de Lis.’ Zoe wheeled over a metal-frame dolly with 12 slots for trays and set me up at the table a perforated sheet tray lined with two overlapping bamboo mats. The cheese needed to be unmolded and placed in alternating rows of three and two across, the length of each tray.

The journey from Gonzales, Louisiana, had misshapen several bowls. “Try to reshape them the best you can,” said Zoe, “like this.” She deftly pressed the sides of the styrofoam with her fingers while cupping and pressing her other palm over the top of the cheese using the foil. She turned the bowl upside down close to the mat and gently pressed the styrofoam sides until the cheese plopped out.

Fifteen minutes and several sheet trays later, I wheeled the cheese into cold storage to air-dry them for several days until a downy mold-layer forms. This was the first step of the aging process. The cheese is then moved to Cave Three where after two weeks it grows a bloomy white rind. This makes the paste creamy from the outside in and develops its flavor.

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AHNY Field Ops: I Was a Murray’s Cheese Cave Intern! (Part 2)

Arthur Bovino — April 13, 2009

As much as they may wish they could, most turophiles cannot commit three months to an affinage internship in Murray’s cheese caves, so AlwaysHungry volunteered there for two days to bring you a glimpse of this subterranean world. Our first installment gave a brief history of Murray’s and an introduction to the caves. Day one of the internship follows.

DAY ONE
When I arrived at noon on Friday (when the most palates arrive), the loading dock was all about receiving. There was a lot to learn, quickly. Deliveries began arriving about 11:30am. “That’s Lenin, the receiver,” said Zoe, pointing at a red-jacketed man directing people to relocate a pile of styrofoam boxes. “That’s the Italians,” explained Zoe, “every Italian cheese comes packed in styrofoam.”

I followed Zoe downstairs to the receiving area in front of the caves and got in compliance with health department regulations. ‘Street shoes’ are required to be covered with goofy washable canvas “booty-boots” with no-slip bottoms or replaced with “cave shoes,” kitchen clogs dedicated to the caves. Once you’ve donned a hat or head-covering, buttoned up a red Murray’s chef coat and washed your hands, you can enter.

Within minutes, Lenin had the styrofoam boxes brought down to us. I was handed a pen. “Here, poke holes in these like this,” Zoe said, punching the non-writing end into the sides of styrofoam boxes containing mozzarella burrata—pop-pop-pop, pop-pop. This let cold air in that would chill the cheese. Zoe disappeared into cold storage. When finished, I found her in the refrigerator amidst piles of boxes. “It’s like Tetris,” she joked as I handed her the boxes one by one.

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AHNY Field Ops: I Was a Murray’s Cheese Cave Intern! (Introduction)

Arthur Bovino — April 10, 2009

Ever hear about the cheese caves beneath Murray’s Cheese Shop in the West Village? I learned about them from Zoe Brickley, my classmate at the French Culinary Institute in 2006, who encountered the caves as a part-time Murray’s cheesemonger. Captivated by her enthusiasm and my own curiosity, I recently toured the caves with Zoe who became Murray’s affineur (the French term for the person responsible for the proper maturation of the cheese) later that year. It only raised another question: what goes on there?

The answers lay with those who spend the most time in the caves, the affinage interns; “My only hope for conquering a day’s work in as much time,” explained Zoe.

Each week during three months, interns commit Fridays and one other day to cleaning, patting, and turning cheese. Though unpaid, interns can attend an unlimited number of Murray’s Cheese classes (valued from $40 to $75) free of charge during their internship. Ultimately, with some intiative and an inquisitive mind it’s possible to learn about more than two hundred different cheeses in the caves. As the average turophile (cheese-lover) cannot commit three months, I volunteered as an intern for two days to bring you a glimpse of this subterranean world.

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