Speaking of Cheeses

[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.

[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.

[perth]

Originally Posted by Brianna

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?

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.

[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]

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.

[antaeus]

Originally Posted by perth

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.

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.

[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.

[warch]

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)

[warch]

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.

[jaguar]

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.

[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.

[jaguar]

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.

[Carebear Nihilist]

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.