Interview: "The Big Cheese" Jason Sobocinski Talks How He Got His Start, Favorite Recipes, And More!

For people like that who have never walked into a cheese shop before, what kinds of questions should they be asking you? None! It's kind of like buying a car, you don't ask the car salesman "what kind of car should I buy?" or else you're going to get the most expensive one. It's more that you should go in the shop and explain the situation the cheese will be consumed in. Say ‘I'm having dinner with four friends, we're planning on eating the cheese before dinner and they're going to be serving lamb.’ From there, the person working should be able to recommend something for you based on the all the descriptions you gave them. If you don't know what you like, you should just ask to try a lot of things. If they don't let you try anything then you should leave. Cheese is expensive and perishable, so if you can't taste it then they're not a great store. Once they have the right cheeses, how can people plan their own pairings? The best way to have a get together and do pairings is to have some knowledge ahead of time and to know some of the stories like I mentioned. Find out more about the area the cheese came from, the farmer's name, what that cow, sheep or goat eats, and as many snip-its as you can and it's going to add to your reasoning for pairing A with B instead of C. That to me is what makes it so fun. Two really good products will taste good together 90 percent of the time, but what's fun to me is finding a reason beyond flavor. [Photo via]