Rule 47 is “Cheese is art.” In this rule, Anne discusses how unlike many people’s perceptions, art actually involves a lot of hard work. It’s not as glamorous or as easy as it looks. Much of making art is following rules, doing research, toiling over canvases and other materials, and a lot of “technical and repetitive” actions. Saxelby argues that cheesemaking is the same. It is more about “dishwashing and science” than creativity, although creativity does come into play. 

A friend of mine is a professor of art at Adelphi University on Long Island. The students in her department who are majoring in Fine Art study the basics, like color theory and the fundamentals of 2-D design before they move on to developing their own styles. Many famous artists start out with more basic paintings before honing their own style. If you look at Pablo Picasso’s early paintings, they were relatively “traditional” looking portraits and landscapes. It wasn’t until he had mastered those forms that he started painting in the Cubist style that we most associate him with. The lesson being that it is important to master the basics before getting more creative and thinking outside the box. 

I think the same holds true in the bakeshop. Much of baking is weighing, lifting, stirring, heating, whipping, kneading, dishwashing, rolling, waiting, cleaning, sanitizing and other somewhat monotonous and sometimes tedious tasks. The resulting cake, bread or pastries may look and taste like works of art but behind the scenes, a lot of elbow grease, patience and technical skills go into these oeuvres. Similar to art school students, culinary students at City Tech must take the Baking and Pastry I and II classes before they move on to more advanced classes such as Culinary Improvisation, Candies and Bonbons, and Deluxe Desserts. 

Also important in art, cooking, baking and cheesemaking: repetition. Just as in art, it is important to make recipes, whether for bread or cheese, over and over and over again to master them. The first 10 times I tried making sourdough bread, the “bread” looked more like a hockey puck or a pancake. It was only through repetition, meticulous note taking, recipe tweaking and lots of research that I was able to start making something that started to resemble a loaf of bread. 

Last week, I got to observe and help Melanie and her consultant Blair make an R&D batch of Lancashire cheese. They made the first batch back in December 2021 and this was their second attempt. The process was not smooth! They messed up several things and had to tweak the recipe in the middle of the make. Things did not turn out as planned. The second day took 4-5 hours longer than expected and they won’t even know if it was worth it for another 9 months or so because that’s how long the cheese has to age in the cave. They spent two days making the cheese, milling the curd, adding and subtracting heavy weights from the cheese press, rotating cheese and other labor intensive tasks. It sure looked frustrating and it wasn’t the idyllic image of what cheesemaking on an organic dairy farm looked like in my head just over three weeks ago. 

All in all, my experience thus far aligns perfectly with what Anne writes in this rule: “There certainly is an art to it–experienced cheesemakers can gauge certain steps in the process by sight or touch–but the foundation is science, rigor, and elbow grease.”