{"id":3018,"date":"2025-01-05T04:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T04:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/the-international-love-story-that-led-to-alpinage-artisan-cheese\/"},"modified":"2025-01-05T04:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T04:32:13","slug":"the-international-love-story-that-led-to-alpinage-artisan-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/the-international-love-story-that-led-to-alpinage-artisan-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"The International Love Story That Led to Alpinage Artisan Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Orphee<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Call it a cheesy love story.<\/p>\n

Alpinage Artisan Cheese<\/a> started out kind of like the Journey song, \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Except Orphee Paillotin wasn\u2019t from South Detroit, he was from Paris, and Paula Heimerl, though from a small town in Wisconsin, wasn\u2019t living in a lonely world – she was living in Milwaukee, where she was working as an interior designer.<\/p>\n

And they didn\u2019t take a midnight train going anywhere, but they did talk past midnight. The pair met at a sports bar on Brady Street, where they were watching the French team play in the World Cup in 2014. \u201cWe pretty much immediately started talking about cheese and wine and bread and all of the good things in life,\u201d says Heimerl. \u201cWe were watching a French soccer game, and he was a French guy in the bar, and we just hit it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was working for a French company, and I was here,\u201d Paillotin says. \u201cBut then I had to go back to France, and I didn\u2019t move back until October or November of that year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

All Roads Lead to Cheese <\/h2>\n

Heimerl grew up on a dairy farm in northeast Wisconsin, and her parents, Gerald and Elise, are the founders of Saxons Creamery<\/a>, where they make a fresh asiago, Goudas, Cheddar and an alpine style cheese.\u00a0 \u201cShe couldn\u2019t hide that she\u2019s from a dairy farm,\u201d Paillotin says.<\/p>\n

Paillotin loved cheese but he was an I.T. engineer, not a cheesemaker. \u201cWhen I met Paula, at the dinner table, it was always the joke that \u2018You\u2019re French, you\u2019ve got to make cheese or wine,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI love food, but I\u2019m from Paris, not from the mountains or from a dairy farm.\u00a0 My family was in the restaurant business, and I was always into the food world, but I took a different path in the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, in the back of his mind, Paillotin always thought he might someday work in the food world in some way. But as they dated and got to know each other, Paillotin eventually decided to get his cheesemaker\u2019s license, which he worked on in 2019.\u00a0 Then, in 2020, COVID-19 hit, and that \u201cEscalated our dream of pursuing cheese together,\u201d Heimerl says. \u201cWe were both (temporarily) laid off from our normal jobs, so we were like, this is the time to really get something rolling with cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Making an American Raclette <\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Mount<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The two decided to make an American style of Raclette because French Raclette is one of Paillotin\u2019s favorite cheeses.\u00a0 They made their very first batches in Heimerl\u2019s parents\u2019 basement. \u201cWe had a small, 50-gallon vat down there,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

They also worked with the Dairy Research Center in Madison to perfect their recipe, and the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin helped them with the launch of their brand, and, of course, Heimerl\u2019s parents really lent their knowledge and expertise, too. \u201cTheir influences gave us an advantage to getting this launched,\u201d Heimerl says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so amazed at the help we\u2019ve had,\u201d Paillotin says. \u201cComing from France, which is a socialist country, I don\u2019t think we would have gotten this much help in starting this company. And they\u2019re still supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Naming the Cheese <\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Mount<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The name – Alpinage Artisan Cheese<\/a> – combines Alpine, because that\u2019s where Raclette hails from, and affinage, the art of aging cheese.\u00a0 But while the name was relatively easy to come up with, the logistics of making the cheese were challenging. First, because they \u201cdidn\u2019t have $20 million\u201d lying around, they had to find a creamery, which would allow them to make their raw milk cheese, and then, they had to find a space to age it. They found a creamery in Kewanee, and they built an aging cellar in Oak Creek – the two communities are more than 200 miles apart – but they started making the cheese in Kewaunee, then aging it in Oak Creek, and then the two began selling it at farmers markets in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a French style or a Swiss style of Raclette,\u201d Paillotin says. \u201cIt has an American twist. I think it\u2019s a mistake to try to reproduce the cheeses made in another country because people here have different palates and taste buds. Ours is slightly sweeter than a French Raclette, and it\u2019s not as pungent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next <\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"Orphee<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Besides their original Alpinage Mount Raclette, they also make an aged version, as well as a few flavored versions including cumin and truffle, and they\u2019re working on making an American style of Reblochon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heimerl started working full-time at Alpinage first, and just a month ago, Paillotin left his job in the tech industry to work as a full-time cheesemaker.\u00a0 The two of them are both life and business partners. \u201cWe\u2019re partners, life partners, and we haven\u2019t yet (married), but it will come,\u201d Heimerl says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are complementary to each other,\u201d Paillotin says. \u201cI moved to Wisconsin, I met. Paula who\u2019s from a dairy farm, and now we\u2019re making cheese together. It was fate. We really didn\u2019t have a choice – we were destined to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alpine Mac n\u2019 Cheese Recipe <\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

A perfect melting cheese, Alpinage Mount Raclette can be used in sandwiches but also makes an excellent macaroni and cheese. This is the couple\u2019s favorite recipe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 servings\u00a0<\/p>\n

1\/2 lb. macaroni<\/p>\n

3 tablespoons butter<\/p>\n

1 2\/3 cups milk<\/p>\n

2 tablespoons flour<\/p>\n

2 teaspoons paprika<\/p>\n

3 pinches salt<\/p>\n

4 turns of the pepper mill<\/p>\n

1\/2 lb. Mount Raclette<\/p>\n

\n

Breadcrumbs<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon mustard<\/p>\n

1) Cook macaroni according to package directions and drain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2) While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When simmering, add the mustard, paprika, salt, pepper, flour and mix until the preparation darkens slightly.<\/p>\n

3) Add the milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly for about ten minutes until the preparation thickens.<\/p>\n

4) Remove from the heat and add 3\/4 of the Raclette cheese, cut into small cubes, and stir until a creamy consistency is obtained.<\/p>\n

5) Mix the macaroni with the sauce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pour half the pasta into a gratin dish, add half of the remaining cheese and add the rest of the pasta,<\/p>\n

6) Cover with the remaining cheese<\/p>\n

7) Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top and bake at 350\u00b0F for ten minutes, until golden.\u00a0<\/p>\n

8) Add a final pinch of paprika & serve hot.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Call it a cheesy love story. Alpinage Artisan Cheese started out kind of like the Journey song, \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Except Orphee Paillotin wasn\u2019t from South Detroit, he was from Paris, and Paula Heimerl, though from a small town in Wisconsin, wasn\u2019t living in a lonely world – she was living in Milwaukee, where … Okumaya devam et “The International Love Story That Led to Alpinage Artisan Cheese”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}