We are so proud to be Wisconsinites and have access to the incredible cheeses made here. Hooks being one of the absolute best. World class level! One of my sons brought some 20 year for Xmas yesterday in fact! Thanks Tony!
Loved getting Hook's cheddar at the Dane Country Farmer's Market. Always appreciated the samples, especially of their 10+ year aged cheddars. Truly some of the best cheeses I've ever had.
I am so proud I moved and live in Wisconsin for the last 30 years This state rules. Cheese and cocktail making prowess is awesome. Fiscally responsible state (stay out you overspending FIBS). 4 real seasons and man up if you can't take the winter!! Florida will be underwater in 20 years, Wisconsin will still be here. Hooks rules!
I worked in the local factory in the late 70s, while in high school. Our starter vats were a lot taller, and we pumped the curd over to vats like as shown in the video. We had V-shaped strainer devices down the middle of the table, which we pulled out after most of the whey drained off, which left two long slabs the length of the table, with a gap between them. We had a rod with two blades to crosscut the slabs into pieces, and our milling machine was like a reel lawn mower. We had a scraper blade that mounted on the overhead and pushed the salted curd off the end of the table into a short elevator and up into molds. We used reuseable clothes in the molds. We stacked the molds sideways on a pressing table, they held something like 50 molds. We made award-winning cheddar and a few batches of Colby. Then the owner retired and sold the factory to Smith Valley Farms. The company wanted more output so we went from making two batches per day to four. We cleaned everything between batches but sometimes the remaining bacteria from one vat fought with the incoming bacteria and it was a mess. Swiss Valley eventually shut the place down.
It's not a joke, cheese is a BIG deal here. The cheese aisles at Wisconsin grocery stores (local like woodman's) match the entire meat section. Cheese and beef sticks, the most wisconsin combo I can think of...okay, Packers and beer. We live it right here.
Yep, one of these with a bit of honey drizzled on top, sitting at the beach with a cold beer is heaven. Glad to see someone appreciating my country's culture. Cheers
When I lived down in that area. I used to mow the local cheese factory lawn. After im done I go in there and get fresh cheese curds from the tank!!!! That was the best time to get them!!!!
I'm honestly surprised Wisconsin doesn't have poutine. Their curds are absolutely stellar, all you need are some good fries and gravy to make it a poutine!
@@MeanLaQueefa Not in Central WI when I visited for a few months. But I imagine the larger places like Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay have it. Imagine if all Culver's locations had it! 🤤
There was already beer batter for frying onion rings and such so just dump those curds in the batter and now you have the fried cheese curds that are in like every Wisconsin bar with a fryer.
Poutine, in Wisconsin? That’d be way too much flavor for them…. They’d complain it has too much taste. They want their PBR, and plain boiled potatoes, and plain poached chicken with a side of broccoli boiled for 15 minutes. If you add more than 1 tenth of a tsp of black pepper, they’ll complain it’s too spicy for them.
Proud Wisconsinite here! I love this, and his passion, even after 50 years, is significant. You'd think he would be the one guy who pronounces "milk" correctly, however.
Hey! I live in the driftless zone. One of the most beautiful places in the country! Glad to see a local cheese on Eater! I made a wisconsin cheesesteak for my channel a couple years ago with hooks. It was super tasty!
What a cool process! Amazing the amount of technology required to keep things safe and precise, but just to imagine humans have been making cheese for thousands of years is fascinating. I'd love to try some Hook's out here in CT!
My father was from Wisconsin. I wish that I had moved up there years ago. I can get Wisconsin made cheese and most stores but not from the small cheese factories nor as great of variety. It can be shipped but it's expensive.
There's a really good cheese/creamery in Thorp Wisconsin that you guys should check out at some point! Marieke cheese has been making waves with their Goudas!
Schwans used it in the ice cream as well and recently ive been making my own replica schwans homemade ice cream, but couldnt find annatto locally. What a weird spice it seems to be tho...and how it came to be used in such a way that itd be in cheddar cheese and ice cream both baffles me a bit lol
I grew up in Wisconsin and raised my kids here. I gave my daughter an son some 10 year. Daughter loved it, son didn't. Oh well. She now lives in North Dakota. There are 2 things I have to bring out when I visit. 1. Hooks 15 year and now the Parmesan cheese. The 15 year she doesn't share ! 2. Rocky Rococo pizza. That she will share.
I absolutely love cheese... All kinds. Yes I even eat the crap out of blue, havarti, sharp, ect! Wisconsin cheese is something else. But I'm a born Missourian & we store a MASSIVE amount of cheese here in the underground thanks to the limestone caves we got! been in one of the mass vaults of cheese & man... It's overwhelming to say the least & that's just the Springfield underground site!
@@TheAvgCookTX Probably should have picked a better cheese then, and Im willing to bet the only reason you like that cheese is because its called "american".
some cheeses use spruce bark but cheddar in particular is packaged this way. Others use wax or a natural rind. It's hard to make a sustainable cheese like that when you got germophobes to contest with too.
@@interrobangings for some reason my mind blanked on wax. I know wax is expensive, but plastic just seems wasteful. I dislike that plastic costs doesn't account for its waste cost. Also... just throwing this in here ‽
It wouldn't be cheddar! It would have a consistency like a horn colby. Smaller curds make harder cheeses since more whey drains off during the initial draining process. If you leave them a bit bigger than he was making them and don't press as hard in the molds, you can make a cheddar like cheese that gets crazy gooey when you melt it. Although I did have to give it about 6 months of aging to taste like a young cheddar.
you can sometimes use it as a substitute for buttermilk and whey protein has been powerdered and used for a while. Otherwise it's best to just recycle it into milk production again by fertilizing cow feed fields.
@@interrobangingsand tomato from the new world. Italy was a dirt poor segmented and extremely backwards until very very recently. No grand Nona’s where making “traditional” Italian food because it’s all more modern inventions
If you really want great Wisconsin cheese you have to go a bit further north. Like Thorpe, WI and Marieke Gouda factory, international awarded Gouda. Amazing. Plus almost every other little town up that way has a specialty cheese factory.
Fer real. Southwest wisco will always be the best part of it. Even just south or west wisco is good. Once you go north it gets kinda lame. Weather sucks and nobody likes you around. Fine by me. Some places are just like that ya know.
It doesn't matter what I whey, So long as I cheese with inflection, That makes you feel that I'll convey, Some inner tank of milk reflection, But I've said nothing so far, And I can cheddar it for as long as it takes, And it don't matter who's curds these are, If I'm doing my job then it's your congeal that breaks ...Because the Hook brings you baaaa-aaacck ~ John Popper
Europeans cows rich in beta carotene had slightly yellow-orange tints to their high fat/high quality milk (hundreds of years ago). Then farmers started dying their milk in the 17th century because they were fraudulently selling low fat naturally white cheese as high fat, high quality cheese. As much as I love my Wisconsin dairy farmer great-grandparents, the cheese state didn’t originate it.
He has a nice sense of humor. He seems so delightful and passionate about his craft!
can cheese grandpa adopt me?
The only way
The only 😅
Wat
And t
We are so proud to be Wisconsinites and have access to the incredible cheeses made here. Hooks being one of the absolute best. World class level! One of my sons brought some 20 year for Xmas yesterday in fact! Thanks Tony!
Loved getting Hook's cheddar at the Dane Country Farmer's Market. Always appreciated the samples, especially of their 10+ year aged cheddars. Truly some of the best cheeses I've ever had.
Wisconsin pride, been eating Hooks at the farmer's market since I was kid.
Are you hooked on Hooks?
I am so proud I moved and live in Wisconsin for the last 30 years This state rules. Cheese and cocktail making prowess is awesome. Fiscally responsible state (stay out you overspending FIBS). 4 real seasons and man up if you can't take the winter!! Florida will be underwater in 20 years, Wisconsin will still be here. Hooks rules!
I worked in the local factory in the late 70s, while in high school. Our starter vats were a lot taller, and we pumped the curd over to vats like as shown in the video. We had V-shaped strainer devices down the middle of the table, which we pulled out after most of the whey drained off, which left two long slabs the length of the table, with a gap between them. We had a rod with two blades to crosscut the slabs into pieces, and our milling machine was like a reel lawn mower. We had a scraper blade that mounted on the overhead and pushed the salted curd off the end of the table into a short elevator and up into molds. We used reuseable clothes in the molds. We stacked the molds sideways on a pressing table, they held something like 50 molds.
We made award-winning cheddar and a few batches of Colby. Then the owner retired and sold the factory to Smith Valley Farms. The company wanted more output so we went from making two batches per day to four. We cleaned everything between batches but sometimes the remaining bacteria from one vat fought with the incoming bacteria and it was a mess. Swiss Valley eventually shut the place down.
Tony is charismatic and fun in such a gentle way.
Hook's aged cheddar is the GOAT! I like anything beyond about 7 years but before 12 as it seems to have the exact right crystallization for me.
It's not a joke, cheese is a BIG deal here. The cheese aisles at Wisconsin grocery stores (local like woodman's) match the entire meat section. Cheese and beef sticks, the most wisconsin combo I can think of...okay, Packers and beer. We live it right here.
rigged NFL football
It's Wisconsin. If there's a bar, cheese and a church, it's a town!!
Yep, one of these with a bit of honey drizzled on top, sitting at the beach with a cold beer is heaven. Glad to see someone appreciating my country's culture. Cheers
Yes, I love cheese and it was nice to see its production
If anyone has thought about visiting the Driftless area, I'd 110% recommend it. It's a gorgeous place to call home.
When I lived down in that area. I used to mow the local cheese factory lawn. After im done I go in there and get fresh cheese curds from the tank!!!! That was the best time to get them!!!!
I'm honestly surprised Wisconsin doesn't have poutine. Their curds are absolutely stellar, all you need are some good fries and gravy to make it a poutine!
We have it at a lot places.
@@MeanLaQueefa Not in Central WI when I visited for a few months. But I imagine the larger places like Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay have it. Imagine if all Culver's locations had it! 🤤
There was already beer batter for frying onion rings and such so just dump those curds in the batter and now you have the fried cheese curds that are in like every Wisconsin bar with a fryer.
Poutine, in Wisconsin? That’d be way too much flavor for them…. They’d complain it has too much taste. They want their PBR, and plain boiled potatoes, and plain poached chicken with a side of broccoli boiled for 15 minutes. If you add more than 1 tenth of a tsp of black pepper, they’ll complain it’s too spicy for them.
@@kimsmoke17 The food there was fine, maybe you're eating in the wrong places?
Man, those huge orange blocks look so goooooooooood !!!!
Proud Wisconsinite here! I love this, and his passion, even after 50 years, is significant. You'd think he would be the one guy who pronounces "milk" correctly, however.
Hey! I live in the driftless zone. One of the most beautiful places in the country! Glad to see a local cheese on Eater! I made a wisconsin cheesesteak for my channel a couple years ago with hooks. It was super tasty!
Amazing! So much work and science! Thank you
Thank you so much for another interesting great video. The cheese master seems like a really nice man with great knowledge!
I recently drove through Cheddar and stopped off to try some authentic Cheddar cheese. It was definitely worth it.
God bless the cheesemakers!
What a cool process! Amazing the amount of technology required to keep things safe and precise, but just to imagine humans have been making cheese for thousands of years is fascinating. I'd love to try some Hook's out here in CT!
Hooks cheddar is so good man
Ok well another bucket place next summer 😊
My father was from Wisconsin. I wish that I had moved up there years ago. I can get Wisconsin made cheese and most stores but not from the small cheese factories nor as great of variety. It can be shipped but it's expensive.
I love Hook's Cheddar. I get it whenever I can!
Das Gold des cheddars !!😊
There's a really good cheese/creamery in Thorp Wisconsin that you guys should check out at some point! Marieke cheese has been making waves with their Goudas!
On Wisconsin 👐👐👐
I like how they still use annatto, it imparts a mild umami to the cheese.
Schwans used it in the ice cream as well and recently ive been making my own replica schwans homemade ice cream, but couldnt find annatto locally. What a weird spice it seems to be tho...and how it came to be used in such a way that itd be in cheddar cheese and ice cream both baffles me a bit lol
Try Carr Valley cheese, LaValle WI. They've won lots of awards. Yum! So glad I can get such amazing cheese locally. 😃
Looks so yummy.
I grew up in Wisconsin and raised my kids here. I gave my daughter an son some 10 year. Daughter loved it, son didn't. Oh well. She now lives in North Dakota. There are 2 things I have to bring out when I visit.
1. Hooks 15 year and now the Parmesan cheese. The 15 year she doesn't share !
2. Rocky Rococo pizza. That she will share.
small but mighty. Hooks is fantastic.
I absolutely love cheese... All kinds. Yes I even eat the crap out of blue, havarti, sharp, ect! Wisconsin cheese is something else. But I'm a born Missourian & we store a MASSIVE amount of cheese here in the underground thanks to the limestone caves we got! been in one of the mass vaults of cheese & man... It's overwhelming to say the least & that's just the Springfield underground site!
thanks for the view that was really cool to see, that guy seems nice
That was so cool to watch.
I work for the company that supplies his starter cultures! Great choice!
before long I’ll be able to add these exquisite cheeses to grilled cheese sandwiches 🤤
Need to make a drive over to Mineral point!
Love those Curds fresh at the store.
I had some cheddar cheese that was birthed in December 1984. It was vary sharp and a little bit went a long way.
He accidentally spilled his beer in the stainless steel tank. That’s how beer cheese was invented.
They don't call them 'Cheese Heads" for nothing.
"The whey will be turned into fertilizer"
They say that millions of gymbros cried out that day.
I get this cheese at work. I have to shred it, crazy world.
I live in mineral point!!! HOOKS IS #1 in the world!!!
Cheddar Makes Everything Better!!!
So it's orange because of added color?
My life is a lie!
yeah, no thanks I'll go white
its funny because people have been dying cheese since the 1500s
Liquid from annato seeds give it that lovely natural orange
The colour is natural, from annato which is also used in South American cuisine.
Definitely stay a small company. This means you make better cheeses that stay true to the recipe that everyone loves.
Melk? Give him the frickin' melk, Josh!
I was looking for this lol
hahahah when I heard that... oh such a nostalgic thing. Used to live in WI back in 2000s
I can’t wait for the game Tony Hook 2
Yes Hooks is the best!!!
Queijo coalho is a secret brazilian gem
Wouldn't mind trying to work there !!!
I like this guy
Take a shot every time he says "melk"
That's the WI way to say it. I learned to say "milk" after living in Richmond VA for 5 years. Now I'm back in WI but still say "milk."
Ok now do a lesson on white American cheese. I wanna know what it is and why I like it so much
Thats the worst cheese ever.
@@VanillaGorilla7 I don't need this negativity in my life
@@TheAvgCookTXsharp white Vermont cheddar is so good.
So it’s tillamook
@jtorola I'll be looking in to that! Ty
@@TheAvgCookTX Probably should have picked a better cheese then, and Im willing to bet the only reason you like that cheese is because its called "american".
Man, I LOVE CHEESE 🧀
A nice man..very Wisconsin!!
Curds🤩🤩🤩
the answer is FOOD COLORING
My wife is from Wisconsin. Surprised he doesn’t have the accent like most Wisconsinites.
Your videos are Top notch as usual and the stories you cover are inspiring, leaving us feeling wholesome
Keep up the good work Team 👍👍
I have had the curds warm out of the vat. Super squeaky.
Gotta find this cheese at Wegmans
The “melk”
Honest question, how does it age in plastic? What was used before plastic? Can something else more sustainable be used?
some cheeses use spruce bark but cheddar in particular is packaged this way. Others use wax or a natural rind. It's hard to make a sustainable cheese like that when you got germophobes to contest with too.
Same idea as sealing it in wax
@@interrobangings for some reason my mind blanked on wax. I know wax is expensive, but plastic just seems wasteful. I dislike that plastic costs doesn't account for its waste cost. Also... just throwing this in here ‽
What would happen if you made the cheddar with the small curds??
It wouldn't be cheddar! It would have a consistency like a horn colby. Smaller curds make harder cheeses since more whey drains off during the initial draining process. If you leave them a bit bigger than he was making them and don't press as hard in the molds, you can make a cheddar like cheese that gets crazy gooey when you melt it. Although I did have to give it about 6 months of aging to taste like a young cheddar.
@ottopartz1 thanks. I didn't realize different types and meltability boiled down to curd size.
I saw an ad about cheese on this video
Yum
So they are using food coloring for the color? Wow!
Its been a while since you guys have done a video on detroits food scene. A lot has changed since the past 6 years.
Um I love cheese!
Fire comment
Good stuff!
I hope my last meal has some form of cheddar cheese on it man
What is melk
If this is a family business. I hope his child gets off his Dairy Heir :D
You can tell a person is from Wisconsin by how they says Wisconsin 😅
Go Packers!
Can Whey be used for something edible ?!?
you can sometimes use it as a substitute for buttermilk and whey protein has been powerdered and used for a while. Otherwise it's best to just recycle it into milk production again by fertilizing cow feed fields.
Okay since a French person has already provided the comment I was waiting for, I want to now hear from an Italian
Ugh, they're even worse. They have a lot of nerve, considering they stole pasta from the asians.
@@interrobangingsand tomato from the new world.
Italy was a dirt poor segmented and extremely backwards until very very recently.
No grand Nona’s where making “traditional” Italian food because it’s all more modern inventions
@@clementcollier8432Nah, Jamaica wins that one
He didn't say tomato.
He said Annato.
did he?
@@aimisakee867 yea annato is a common cheese coloring, completely natural and changes the flavor profile slightly
If you really want great Wisconsin cheese you have to go a bit further north. Like Thorpe, WI and Marieke Gouda factory, international awarded Gouda. Amazing. Plus almost every other little town up that way has a specialty cheese factory.
I drive past that place every weekend great cheese
Shockingly, this isn’t a customer of mine! 😂
They should start a side hustle and make alcohol out of the whey
This man looks like he's made of his fabulous product.
Im eating a block cheddar from masters valley wisconsin😊
Fer real. Southwest wisco will always be the best part of it. Even just south or west wisco is good. Once you go north it gets kinda lame. Weather sucks and nobody likes you around. Fine by me. Some places are just like that ya know.
Dis is da whey.
Old German accent. My dad didn't speak English until he learned it in 1st grade. He never could pronounce the "th" sounds correctly.
Gen Z boss and a Mini!
It doesn't matter what I whey, So long as I cheese with inflection, That makes you feel that I'll convey, Some inner tank of milk reflection, But I've said nothing so far, And I can cheddar it for as long as it takes, And it don't matter who's curds these are, If I'm doing my job then it's your congeal that breaks ...Because the Hook brings you baaaa-aaacck ~ John Popper
wow, 15 seconds is all it takes?
Whats totally hilarious is that all that cheese comes from ShriberFoods in utah and Tempe Arizona. I used to haul it. 😂
Why does ph stall?
Bro wisco cheese smacks
Like one song from the band Dos Gringos says "And did you know Wisconsin was famous for cheese?"
Europeans cows rich in beta carotene had slightly yellow-orange tints to their high fat/high quality milk (hundreds of years ago). Then farmers started dying their milk in the 17th century because they were fraudulently selling low fat naturally white cheese as high fat, high quality cheese. As much as I love my Wisconsin dairy farmer great-grandparents, the cheese state didn’t originate it.
tl;dr: they add food coloring
Dry goat chees from Trinidad yum yoder farms
Melk? What's that? 😂
What the hell is this comment section? 😂
a combination of speech nerds, wisconsinites, and pretentious europeans that aren't aware that Wisconsin has beat them out for years.
and also cheese puns