Speaking of Cheeses

[jaguar]

'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.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by jaguar

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...

[antaeus]

Originally Posted by glatt

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...

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!

[breakingnews]

Originally Posted by antaeus

Gone. I won't confess to spray cheese, but Cheez Whiz - boy, that stuff rocks on nachos.

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.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by jaguar

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).

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.

[Trilby]

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!

[cowhead]

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

[jaguar]

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

[Cyber Wolf]

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...

[jinx]

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.

[jaguar]

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?

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.

[perth]

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.

[breakingnews]

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.

[jaguar]

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.

[perth]

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.