Wisconsin Cheese

Cheese-loving husband-and-wife writing team Martin Hintz and Pam Percy have collectively authored numerous books and articles on travel, geography, and food. Pam has written two books on chickens-The Complete Chicken and The Field Guide to Chickens (both Voyageur Publishing). Martin, a past president of the Society of American Travel Writers, has authored five guidebooks, including Wisconsin: Off the Beaten Path, and more than a dozen cultural geographies which present food customs in other countries. Publisher of The Irish American Post and regular visitor to Ireland and Britain, he has also written about Wisconsin's cheese industry for AAA Living and other publications.In addition to book projects, the two collaborate on writing "Boris and Doris on the Town." In this chatty column for the Shepherd Express newspaper, they make the rounds of Milwaukee's hot clubs and renowned restaurants to see who is out and about and often discuss the latest in food preparation and stylization with innovative chefs at these locales.The couple is on the road a great deal. Among their jaunts, they've roamed Montreal's cheese markets, stayed on French farms and sampled homemade Chevre, visited Vermont's organic food marketplaces, and danced many a wild polka at the famous Cheesemakers' Ball in Monroe, Wisconsin. Of course, they have toured cheese plants, dairies and farms around their home state while preparing this work.A former theater manager and radio producer and always the accomplished cook, Pam, with Martin's help, has studiously tested every recipe in The Wisconsin Cheese Book. Many recipes did not pass this rigorous tasting, which included numerous samplings with discerning foodie friends. As a result, only the best cheese items survived their gastronomic scrutiny.Martin and Pam live on a five-acre "farmette" in a two-kitchen Victorian farmhouse on Milwaukee's North Side, where they raise chickens and the occasional pig just 20 minutes from downtown and the city's wonderful cultural life.