Speaking of Cheeses
 

Does anyone really KNOW their cheese? Seriously, I've been experimenting with a lot of supposedly "high end" (not "high wind") cheeses and so far I have not been really impressed with anything I've tried. There seems to be an abundance of epicurean-minded folks here...any suggestions?

I wouldn't say I "know" cheese, but I know what I like. I have a hard time believing there is such a thing as "high-end" cheese. As long as it's real cheese and you like it, that's high end.

My preferences tend toward good firm and semi-firm cheese. Vermont white, Emmentaler, smoked Gouda and Asiago top my list of favourites. Visit a good organic market sometime, they often have samples of many cheeses out. And if they don't, ask for a sample.

I'm learning about cheese, too. There's a lot to learn and try, which is great. Some things are pricey, usually because they are hard to get, or very hand made. I dont care for strong stinky cheese myself. Ive found a good cheese dept where they are nice, smart and encourage you to try anything.

#1 must have on hand cheese is real Parmegiano Reggiano. get a good piece, as small rind as possible. I am adicted to the crystalised bits you crunch into. It goes on salad, soup, pasta, popcorn, and slabbed into my hand with a big glass of red wine.

I love sharp cheddar. I had an Irish Cheddar that was really great a couple weeks ago- not sure if I can find it again.

For a treat, I like soft washed rind cheeses like brie- soft and buttery. Triple cream is the fattiest butteriest, San Andre its very rich and decadent, a little bit will do me. Double cream is usually fine for me, and a bit less rich and cheaper. I like it on crusty bread and with apples.

I love spreadable stuff like Boursin, which is like crack. I also love fresh goat cheese and there are good, local outlets for that. I like it rolled in herbs or pepper and crumble it on salads or shmere it on water crackers. good with pears and nuts. There is one blended with honey that is a treat too.

In the realm of new cheese experiences, my cowoker is a big fan of Holloumi. A middle eastern cheese you grill. Made me want to try it. Maybe this week?

Cheese is......alive. Eat it at room temperature on non or lightly salty bread/crackers so you can taste the cheesy.

Ah, Warch--all good suggestions. You sound like a cheese-freak in the making! I found a great Irish Cheddar just last week--is superb! Then bought a Black Wax Cheddar that I am not so thrilled with. Was espoused to be a superior cheese but not for me.

Perth--I just recently tried Emmentaler Swiss that I found was so-so...am I missing something with Emmentaler? Is there a particular variety you like?

I like all cheeses--soft, semi-soft, hard--all of it. Only cheese don't like: Limberger!

I'm not keen on Emmentaler, either. Or any kind of Swiss. I think it's a deficiency on my part. But otherwise, I'm a big fan of cheese.

You might try Cotswold, if you like Irish cheddars. It's like a garlicky cheddar. Great on crackers; I can eat it by the pound.

If you like stronger cheeses, there are some great blue cheeses, although I stay away from the grocery-store bin kind. Maytag and Great Hill do great blues, a true italian Gorgonzola dolce is really nice, and my favorite - Stilton. I like these best with fruit - I prefer pears - to tame some of the strongness and bring out more subtle flavors.

Otherwise, I agree with all the other cheeses posted here - great, all of them.

Oh God...cheese. It's like a drug to me...and damnit all to hell, I'm on a strict restriction due to my kidney failure (cheese is high in phosphorus)!! :mad: :mad2: :thumbsdn:

But, I eat it anyway...just not as much as I used to.

Basic favs: Cheddar, Swiss, American, Parmasean, Asiago.

anyone on dialysis gets my vote!

We should talk, you and I.

I am ready to throw it in (ALL of it)---what keeps you going, ladysycamore?

and please don't say "my husband"--please.

'Swiss' cheese is most commonly gruyere, good gruyere is truly wonderful, bad gruyere is very common outside Switzerland. Good cheese, is, as a rule, bloody hard to find, I know of only one proper fromagerie in London for crying out loud and they're sandwiched between a single malt wiskey shop and a cigar shop (I do love that street).

Good french brie is lovely but I do prefer a camembert most of the time. Proper aged chedder is close to a religious experience. Another thing you might find is a good fromagerie is Jersey Milk which is to milk what a ferrari is to cars, well worth a try. Good greek feta is wonderful in salads and on it's own and Petite Tomme is lovely. If you have a BBQ try a slice of feta on top of a mushroom and put it on the barbie for a few minutes, lovely. Of course my cheese credentials are runied by a perchant for that spreadable philly cheese stuff that comes in a tub.

Now we have people being honest. We've got Jaguar admitting to cheese in a tub over here, do we have anyone willing to admit to cheese delivered by compressed air? Anyone? Going once, going twice...

Methinks Jag likes ALOTTA things Americanos.

He will never admit it.

He's young...and, idealistic.

He is, really, us; only NOW.--a BIG, GROOVY ---NOW!

Gone. I won't confess to spray cheese, but Cheez Whiz - boy, that stuff rocks on nachos. You can use "good" cheese on your nachos if you want, but I think nothing beats Cheez Whiz with lots of salsa. And as for cream cheese in a tub, what would bagels be without it? Hard bread, as far as I'm concerned.

I dunno, I'm not a cheese snob - I think as long as it tastes good to you, you should enjoy it, whether it's mass-manufactured cheese *product* or handmade local, organic cheese from Jersey cows (I will say that cheese made from Jersey milk is amazing). I like both and am proud of it!

cheeeeeeeseeee... drool drool.. I think I would be hard pressed to live without it

although there are many wonderfull cheeses out there.. there are a few I really can't do without...

smoked gouda, Brie (just learned to like it a few years ago :) ), fresh mozzerella (with a little roma tomatoe, garlic, fresh basil and a splash of good balsamic vinegar), baby swiss and damnit.. I can't spell it... the dish is saganaki (greek goat cheese, fried and then set on fire with brandy... )

anyway! a good starting point is
http://www.epicurious.com/

and on a side note... the whole 'processed cheese food'?!?! what the HELL is that!? what real cheeses eat to grow up to be real cheese? YUCK YUCK YUCK!

gawd! I loves me some cheese.. I could go on and on and on about it

Nachos require decent chedder, a fresh, ripe avacado, good sour cream and home made salsa.

I have a preference for cheddar, mild and sharp, provolone and swiss and I'll eat the presliced stuff from Kraft. The same stuff from a deli is a step up and generally better, if it's a good deli. However, if I'm going to go 'fancy', I like gorganzola.

Bread, fresh deli provolone, saucy pulled BBQ pork, fresh deli sharp cheddar, bread...oh my god...:yum:

I'm not a cheese snob but we only use goat or sheep milk varieties (no cow dairy products at all here) which tend to be better imo. Favorites would be drunken goat with a nice purple rind, Manchego and Istara. Jim brought home some black moon something or another recently but I didn't think it was worth the price so I won't look for it again.

Cheese whiz shouldn't be in the same room with nachos, much less on them.:greenface

Does said cheese shop manage not to be contaminated by a speck of cheese?

And is the shopkeeper tired of American Tourists trying to play that particular game, or is this one of those places that tourists never find?

***

Have I ever mentioned to you that I never get enough cheese?

I've a pretty broad range of cheese likes, few dislikes, although I never totally got the hang of any of the cheeses that require internal mold growth.

I've always liked Havarti, Colby, and my beloved monster cheese and monkey jack (Muenster and Monterey Jack, for you folks without a sense of humor) are household staples. Smoked Gouda is one of the most excellent flavors I have found, a cheese that feels meaty ... almost heaven, that.

I tend not to like overly sharp cheeses ... some of them have that "dry old sweat sock" aura that I just don't find pleasant.

Quite a few of the local supermarkets have added upscale cheese areas, so I'm enjoying playing around with some different tastes.

Right now, though, I am grooving on some plain old Mozzarella Cheese Sticks, purchased solely because they have Simpsons Characters and Trivia on the labels.

I am not a cheese snob.

Not really. I will say that most times the emmentaler goes into a fondue. When heated, I like to mix a couple cheeses, and so fondue usually means emmentaler with gouda or something similar. And Warch's comment about parmegiano is dead on; I didn't think about it much at the time of my first post, but any cheese with the right wine is amazing. I like serving cheeses with drinks (which may or may not be wine, beer or mead is always a great option) from the same region, because despite all logic, they always go wonderfully together.

It's a proper fromagerie, massive slabs from wheels stacked up everywhere, tis wonderful. The whole street is a quiet little avenue in the banking district, I don't think I've ever seen a tourist anywhere near there.

Perth: fondue, at least swiss fondue is normally Gruyere and Emmentaler.

I may have my cheeses mixed up again, but I'm pretty sure I usually use gouda... let me check... Yeah, definitely gouda, but I'm pretty sure I've also tried gruyere. Fondue is something I like to mess around with, and I don't think I've made it the same way twice.

Yay for cheeze whiz. The only shortcoming of my favorite steak place, Chink's, is that they only have american and provolone. I've made strong suggestions that they add it to the menu - but I more or less got snubbed. You damn people in the Northeast.

Even after doing a turn in Europe, I didn't really develop a solid taste for "fine" cheeses. But just as with wines, I can tell a poor-tasting cheese when I come across such.

I personally like camembert and brie. Never really had a taste for chevre or swiss though (gruyere, emmenthal, swiss - never struck a fancy in me). Gouda, feta, goat cheese go well on pasta and salad, and I like to make cheeseburgers with monty jack (peppered) and meunster.

My favorite way of eating good parmegiano reggiano is to use one of those slicers that looks like a wedge with a slit in it, slice some large, thinnish curls of the parmegiano, drizzle with high quality honey and sprinkle with walnuts. I saw it on an Italian cooking show once - it's practically unbeatable for dessert, with a good vin santo.

And I save my rinds, too - I toss them in when I'm making minestrone or pasta fagiole and let the cheese melt into the soup. Adds tons of flavor and richness, and uses up the last of that $17.99/lb cheese.

Slices of parmesan with red wine vinegar and olives (or just olive oil-ish juice from the olives) - one of the best bar munchies I've ever had.

I'm sure you can but the swiss reciple does call for gruyere however it is a dish open to messing around with in the first place.

There's such a range to cheese and I think like any growing cuisine, you get curious about the old, and authentic. Its like Italian restaurants in America. Is it just spagetti and meatballs or could it be risotto? (I love that movie "Big Night") So for all the talk of cheeses being fancy schmancy, what were really talking about here is good, old school peasant food. For me its just like being curious about microbrewed beer- another happy peasant staple.

There's a great Blue cheese for nibbling with crackers, fruit, nuts - Cabralas- From Spain, its a bit salty. Yum City. You could do a Spainish peasant picnic themed nosh- Manchego is a semi hard slicer, very tasty. I'm not sure what milk is what, but I know when you put a selection of cheese together, you should vary the milk source- cow, goat, sheep....and the textures. Maybe a little chorizo..., olives, We also just found a very decent, peasant priced red wine from Spain- Vina Alarba- definitely tasty for under $10. (it was $4.99 on sale)

Oh yeah, and Jag, are you talking about Neal's Yard in London? Some of the cheeses they handle have made it here into the midwest.

Neal's Yard? Heck no, that's a tourist mecca just off covent garden, they make some nice stuff but it's no formagerie. Place I'm talking about is a touch south-west of Piccadilly.

I'll share my super-secret fondue recipe, it's (almost) always served me well.

2 or 3 different kinds of good, firm, melting cheeses, shredded and tossed (very) lightly with cornstarch. How much? I dunno. A bunch.
Beer, wine, or whatever. Hard liquor, tasty in it's own right, probably isn't well suited to this. You'll want about 12 ounces and I only know this because most beer is sold in bottles that size.
Seasoning. This can be what's in the spice rack, maybe some mustard or hot sauce. Whatever.

Slowly heat the booze, at maybe medium heat. Once it's heated up a bit, start adding the cheese a bit at a time and making sure what you've added has completely melted before adding more. Keep adding until you like the consistency. It helps to have chunks of bread handy to test it. Repeatedly. :)

I think what I like about fondue is that it's one of few cases in which the process is almost more important to the end result than the ingredients.

I've always found the true pleasure was the proecss of eating it, then fighting over who gets the crunchy bit of cheese at the end. Dipping little steamed potatoes is nice too.

My favorite cheese has got to be pre-sliced cheese. And I'm not talking about those fancy little squares of joy that fit neatly onto a burger or sandwich, or those deli slices that you and your girlfriends chat and giggle over, I'm talking little fat rectangles of cheese. For some, that sounds a little boring or dull, but to me, it was the best thing since sliced bread. Why this didn't come out when cheese first did is odd, but I'm happy now that I have these individually packaged rectangles of awesomeness.

I'll have to try that fondue recipe, since I've never tried fondue before anyway.

PM me and we'll talk.
:thumbsup: :D

Current controversy: Look I picked up the goat feta when I know everyone in Grifftopia is on board with the cows milk feta... is that so wrong? I'm just priming folks for full implementation of the griff is a hillbilly project which must include the dairy goats. mmm cheese under pressure.

"And I save my rinds, too - I toss them in when I'm making minestrone or pasta fagiole and let the cheese melt into the soup. Adds tons of flavor and richness, and uses up the last of that $17.99/lb cheese."
If the shoe fits! There seems to be a some over paid folks in this thread.
$17.99 per lb? You should be shot for helping support that Co.
Don't misunderstand me, I like cheese, have eaten it in over most of the world.
But today I was hoping that old red rind cheese had dropped back to $2.69 a lb. From 3.99

Jaguar - there is a really nice cheese shop off Marlybone High Street... wish I remembered the name, but it's right off the high street, not even up half a block... quite a nice place. I could spend HOURS in there.

I am fascinated by cheese - so many neat things you can do with it, but honestly, I can't stand the stuff... it's gross. I did have some really good cheese this summer - it's a french cow's milk cheese that has a rind coated in ash... very nice. The name escapes me, but i'd know it if I saw it.

The only cheese I truly like is mozzerella... fresh or low-moisture, skim milk variety. The saltier the better.

Wolf, I agree with you on the string cheese with the Simpsons characters... it's the only brand I buy right now because they are amusing.

Thanks for the baseless assumption and incitment to commit violence against me. People make choices as to how they spend their money - I choose to buy a half a pound of good parmegiano (which lasts me quite a while) rather than spend the same amount on a burger and drinks one night. Or a new DVD. If you were to go out for a meal or buy a DVD instead, does that make you overpaid? As for your second statement - as someone whose family members have been victims of violence, all I can say is that I would never wish that on anyone.

Nope Griff, you did the right thing. I would definitely have a few dairy goats... if they knew how to milk themselves anyway....

Didja ever try Humboldt Fog? It's a goat cheese with an ash layer and outer covering.... really, really good.

Chill, this is the internet, he's not waving a gun in your face.

I had a Brit enter a total meltdown phase on another board where I pretended to threaten to shoot someone ... used winking smileys and everything.

Thanks for the suggestion... I've never really ventured into the goat cheeses, but if i see that one, I'll check it out.

Humbolt fog is yummy! and beautiful.

Goats milk makes some very tasty fresh and aged cheese. I think fresh chevre might not be too hard to make...Goat+grass+bucket+cheesecloth+ time...

On the $ topic, its always interesting how much people will drop on all sorts of things. I have never purchased a new car. I am not rich, and I am a thrifty shopper. I think good, satisfying, interesting, healthy daily food is a wise investment for our little family. I will pay $17 per pound for something wonderful to eat together, spend a higher % of our income on food. It just happens to be pretty central to our quality of life. We also try to spend a higher % of time on meals. Preparing them and sharing them.
Thanksgiving is this time when family food ritual is high. Savored. I like that ritual, in some form, every day I can get it. Its the very best of ordinary life well spent.

Testify Sister!

*golf clap*, well said old chap.

Griffter , I hope even after you get your gullet stretched you'll still eat slowly. I know you'll definitely enjoy it more. All the best fella! Take care.

Just had some Cabot Tomato, Basil Cheddar Cheese....mmmm mmm good!

:thumbsup: :D

I was wrong. There are two very, very different Neal's Yards, one is the most excellent fromagerie I was talking about - no doubt the same one you are. I just noticed they supply the queen too.

Camembert is so seductively rich and decadent that I need to treat it like any other addictive controlled substance. OMG.

On the fun side, a friend gave me some "squeaky cheese". Squeaky cheese? I said. Yeah, just eat some and you'll understand. I did and I do.

It was tasty, but the most surprising thing was that as I chewed it, it did squeak!! The texture was a little crumbly.

I don't know any other name associated with it, but it was delicious and fun!

Squeaky cheese is more than likely pre-cheese ... cheese curds. They are on their way to being cheese, but still contain some whey.

Izzat what Miss Muffet was eating?

That's the stuff, yeah.

I just noticed they supply the queen too.

Then that would make them....er....jolly good!

That doesn't mean the Queen gets the same stuff you can buy. :biggrin:

My big fat greek omelet
 

HAd to try this. I used Mediterranean Feta & added sliced mushrooms.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
Black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (can use reduced-fat)
8 large eggs
1 (10 ounce) package chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 tablespoon olive oil

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIRECTIONS:
Heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet over low heat. (Use a 10-inch skillet if you halve the recipe to serve 2 instead of 4.) Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix tomatoes, 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/4 tsp. salt, and pepper to taste. Stir in feta.
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs together, then stir in spinach, 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/4 tsp. salt, and pepper to taste. A few minutes before cooking omelet, add oil to the pan, and increase heat to medium-high. Heat until wisps of smoke start to rise from the pan. Add the egg mixture to the skillet. Using a plastic or wooden spatula to push back the eggs that have set, tilt the pan and let the uncooked egg mixture run onto the empty portion of the pan. Continue pushing back cooked eggs, tilting the pan and letting uncooked egg mixture flow onto the empty portion of the pan until omelet is moist but fully cooked, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low; pour the tomato mixture over half of the omelet. Using a slotted, flat spatula or turner, carefully fold the untopped half over the filling. Use the turner to slide the omelet onto a cutting board. Let stand a minute or two for the filling to warm.
Cut the omelet into 4 wedges and serve immediately.

Nice looking omelette! I'm starting to salivate..
Over Christmas, we had a different selection of cheeses. One of these was new to me, it was extra strong Morbius, a French cheese. Gorgeous!!

Yum. Great flavor combo! And I'm impressed by your photo worthy omelette flip with peeks of tomato. Mine always look crap- (but still tasty!) I've had better luck with frittata technology.

I had a really tasty aged gouda over the weekend. Darker amber, caramelly tones, crumbly- crunch bits....yow.

To give a little CPR to this thread. Wal-imports-mart pissed me off because they only have Havarti with dill, so I got some Asiago. This week went to Kogers and got Kasseri and some Fontina. The only Havarti they had was with carraway seed? Yuk. BTW try the hard cheese with nilla waffers! Not cool but great. A good link for cheese.http://www.cheese.com/
Happy whatever holiday you chose to blow your skirt up :lol: