AudioCircle
Community => Non-audio hobbies and interests => The Culinary Circle => Topic started by: Mag on 15 Jun 2017, 02:00 am
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What cheese do you like best that you have tried and know the type of cheese?
My ranking is as follows, that I have tried.
1. Swiss
2. Hickory Smoked Gouda
3. Gouda
4. Mozzarella
5. Mild Cheddar
6. Feta cheese on Greek/Mediterranean salad.
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Saint-Félicien
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Well aged Manchego is my every day cheese. But...
This is just an impossible question. Every place in the world has their own cheeses. From farmer's cheeses in Italy aged in walnut leaves, aged village cheese in Spain, to unidentifiable cheeses in grocers in the Greek Islands. Different ages, different styles...
When my wife and I retired, we crewed with a group of college students on a small (50') yacht, sailing from Corsica to Sardinia. Part of my job was food and wine. Every morning in port, I'd get to the markets as soon as they opened and find a grandmother to follow, buying the cheeses and sausages that she bought. I get a nibble from the grocer, then buy a kilo. I never know what in the hell I was getting, but it was always delicious, and always different. Several years later, I went with the same captain to many of the Cyclades Islands in Greece. Same routine, same experience. So many cheeses, so little time.
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Port Salut. This was my favorite cheese as a kid growing up in Paris, and I still love it all of these decades later! It was only in the past few years that it became pretty widely available here in the US, delicious with a good bouteille de vin rouge!
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I couldn't help myself... (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjbnbru677UAhUCzz4KHU5bDIsQ3ywIJzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DcWDdd5KKhts&usg=AFQjCNGCWKsXuiNs3byPowL-S7TmxH2WVA)
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I see all these different cheeses at the grocery Deli. I'm fishing for ideas on what to try. Cheese is pretty pricey so I want to narrow down the options.
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Ricotta Salata (w Semolina bread & EVO Oil, of course)
Manchego
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For salads....Kirkland Blue cheese in the double pack. Closest thing to Maytag at less than half the price. Especially good at room temp.
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I noticed that your list is mostly milder cheeses. I'll recommend a young manchego, say 6 months. But I also saw your Canadian locale. I'd ask your grocer about local cheeses and see what's available.
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IMO, the list of "cheeses" in the poll is a bit pedestrian. Sorry, but when I see "Parmesan" I cannot stop the eye rolls! Not possible to have "A" favorite cheese!!! There are just too many national and regional cheeses!! Most of the U.S. is a cheese wasteland. My favorites.....
Casu Marzu
Parmigiano-Reggiano
Pecorino Romano, (needs to be Sardinian sheep's milk!)
Taleggio
Nicasio Square
Marin French Dark Moon Brie
Marin French Schloss, well ripened
Cowgirl Creamery— Red Hawk
Humbolt Fog
Nicasio Valley Square
Most any stinky cheese that can only be purchased in France or Italy, because pasteurization kills cheese!
Cheers,
Geary
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I have to agree- it would be impossible to choose one favorite cheese. At best I could pick a favorite for a given purpose. I love cheese! :inlove:
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IMO, the list of "cheeses" in the poll is a bit pedestrian. Sorry, but when I see "Parmesan" I cannot stop the eye rolls! Not possible to have "A" favorite cheese!!! There are just too many national and regional cheeses!! Most of the U.S. is a cheese wasteland. My favorites.....
So my vote for American and Velveeta are out ?! ;)
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Mag - you need to find yourself a good cheese shop. I used to go to a great cheese store in Toronto's St. Lawrence Market. You could just walk up and down and say, "what's that one like?" And the cheese monger would say, "here, try it." Then you'd say, "mmm, how about that one...?"
You would leave with a collection of cheeses from all over the world.
Agreed on the Port Salut. I like a nice Crottin de Chavignol too.
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+1 on places like the St Lawrence Market in Toronto.
I really like sharp old cheddar. I do like a lot of different cheeses, but if I had to pick just 1 it would be white, crumbly SHARP cheddar. My father always loved a good sharp cheddar with apple pie on Sunday.
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For you Cheap and Cheerful folks, IMO the best tasting grocery store cheese, also available at Target and Wal-Mart (cheapest price), is Kerrygold Dubliner. Also, their Pure Irish Butter is very good as well.
My favorite sandwich cheese (not listed in the poll): imported Sharp Provolone.
Favorite spaghetti cheese: Locatelli Romano - great taste, pungent, and a nice bite.
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Provolone and apples oh my. Wine as well.
charles
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I find I like the cheeses that are aged at least a year. Good cheese costs (sadly) $15/pound or more. I've had $8/pound Manchego and $15/pound Manchego, and $8/pound wasn't suitable for eating by itself. It was fine as a cheese on something, though.
By the way, when you say Swiss cheese, there are a lot of those: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Swiss_cheeses. I like the Gruyere, but again it depends on who makes it.
When I was in Sweden, I thought this was great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4sterbotten_cheese
Here in New England, some cheddars are great, most are not.
I thought (well, the whole family thought) this was great: http://wine.woot.com/offers/cypress-grove-lamb-chopper-cheese-3. We finished the entire 2 pounds in under a week.
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(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=163971)
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(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=163971)
you mean expanding foam in a can? :nono:
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IMO, the list of "cheeses" in the poll is a bit pedestrian. Sorry, but when I see "Parmesan" I cannot stop the eye rolls!
Have you tried eating some Italian Parmesan from a solid block? Yummy! It's not the stuff you shake out of plastic container.
I go to France most years so, I'm a cheese snob. Basically won't eat any American cheeses - sorry. Unfortunately, pasteurizing is taking over the chevre (goat cheese) there also. :(
I love comte and over the years learned to love their pungent chevre.
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While visiting Lorraine, France:
Munster-géromé
A little different texture and strength from what we have here, but not over powering. This along with a Fischer Traditional Amber, oh yeah I remember that evening.
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Have you tried eating some Italian Parmesan from a solid block? Yummy! It's not the stuff you shake out of plastic container.
I think you're misinterpreting what he said. He basically listed several types of "Parmesan" from blocks: Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano. I think he meant "Parmesan" is a generic name for many different similar cheeses. Like "Swiss" cheese, it's a meaningless moniker.
There are a lot of great American cheeses (by this, I mean made in America), but they are made by small cheese manufacturers and are harder to find.
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Havarti has become my fave lately.
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Mozzarella for everyday and Gorgonzola(not listed).
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Far and away Parmigiano-Reggiano. It's even more delicious if you eat pieces of it while having barbecued tri-tip. :thumb:
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Provel* on pizza seems to be a St. Louis "thing". (search for "Imo's Pizza"). Just awesome.
I like feta. So much, that I have a hard time keeping it out of my mouth while I'm using it on the food I'm serving.
Swiss is great. I'm always a fan.
Muenster is fantastic, as is Asiago.
The pedestrian Cheddar is always welcome in my house.
*Provel
So... I've eaten this for decades, but never searched for its meaning.
Here's what Google has to say about Provel:
"Provel is a white processed cheese particularly popular in St. Louis cuisine, that is a combination of cheddar, Swiss, and provolone cheeses, and tastes nothing like any of them."
Curious to hear the thoughts of those of you that have eaten Provel cheese.
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Have you tried eating some Italian Parmesan from a solid block? Yummy! It's not the stuff you shake out of plastic container.
Yep...Parmigiano-Reggiano, Stravecchio, Grana Padano, etc. In Italy and the EU there is no generic parmesan. The cheeses are protected by The DOP laws. NOT SO in the US!! Parmesan is used generically and bears little resemblance to the original or its production standards. Even dried nonfat milk powder and chemicals are allowed in production. Here is part of the US regulation relative to Parmesan:
(c)(1) For the purposes of this section, the word "milk" means cow's milk, which may be adjusted by separating part of the fat therefrom or by adding thereto one or more of the following: Cream, skim milk, concentrated skim milk, nonfat dry milk, water in a quantity sufficient to reconstitute any concentrated skim milk or nonfat dry milk used.
(2) Such milk may be bleached by the use of benzoyl peroxide or a mixture of benzoyl peroxide with potassium alum, calcium sulfate, and magnesium carbonate; but the weight of the benzoyl peroxide is not more than 0.002 percent of the weight of the milk bleached, and the weight of the potassium alum, calcium sulfate, and magnesium carbonate, singly or combined, is not more than six times the weight of the benzoyl peroxide used. If milk is bleached in this manner, sufficient vitamin A is added to the curd to compensate for the vitamin A or its precursors destroyed in the bleaching process, and artificial coloring is not used.
Hence my rolling eyes when seeing parmesan!!!
Cheers,
Geary
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Yes, Parmigiano Reggiano is a true "King Cheese". It's been made in the same Region by the same recipe for over 800 years. If the rind doesn't say "Parmigiano Reggiano" in pin-sized dots, it isn't parmesan. :thumb:
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For those of us that don't live in cheese rich market cities but love to sample the taste, texture, and olfactory wonders of the world's artisanal products may I offer this web source http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/cheese.asp They have much more than cheese.
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MMmmm... I love me some bleached milk cheese. :thumbdown:
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Just got back from the grocer and thought I'd try Havarti- smoked and Havarti- garlic and my familiar Swiss.
Havarti- smoked has a softer texture than the Swiss similar to that of Valvetta cheese. The smoke flavour is mild. I give Havarti a 'pass' it's okay but not great tasting.