Cheddar Dashi

When we were on Martha's Vineyard we made a Parmesan broth to enrich risotto.  The broth itself was the brain child of Marco Canora of Hearth restaurant.  The broth was made with a dark chicken stock infused with Parmesan rinds, reduced, clarified and then enriched with more Parmesan and butter.  The clarification removed any unwanted sediment and particles from the broth and allowed us to have an intense and clean slate to which the additional ingredients would heighten the Parmesan flavor and the impact on the palate.

I was recently reminded of this broth while talking to Wylie at wd-50 who was clever enough to make a Swiss cheese consomme to serve with braised pork belly and sauerkraut spaetzle.  While this conversation took place several months ago, it was only today that I was finally able to digest and filter these two interesting cheese enhanced broths and come up with our own.

I enjoy dashi.  I think my affinity is due to its lightness and rich savory qualities.  When I think about broths these days I look towards dashi first and consomme second.  Well, I was able to marry the two while making Keen's cheddar dashi.  We made a broth with kombu and keens cheddar.  We strained the broth and let it chill.  The cheddar fat solidified on the top of the broth.  The fat was an exciting by product of making cheddar dashi.  I was able to reserve the fat and integrate it into the final dish.  Back to the dashi.  I then adjusted the seasoning of the broth with soy sauce and banyuls vinegar.  After the broth was balanced I clarified the dashi, strained it and added a bit more vinegar and salt.  The broth was done.  We served the cheddar dashi with a rock shrimp roulade, apple-celery root condiment, olive pearls and Keen's cheddar oil.