Cheeses

[kiyakotari]

One of my coworkers has this as his desktop wallpaper on one of the office computers. He has it up specifically to annoy a few of the Bible-thumper members of our staff, and it seems to be working, but I think it's pretty cute. Anyway, I'd like to talk a bit about cheeses.

I like cheese. I like many, many different kinds of cheese. There are some cheeses that I don't like - there are entire cheese families, in fact, that I don't care for. But there are far more that I adore. Here are a few of my favorites (the descriptions have been stolen from various places around the internet, with my editing and some comments added).

Cablanca, also sometimes called "Goat Gouda," is an excellent 'entry level' goat’s milk cheese if you want to try something different but are not so sure about the usually assertive taste of traditional goat cheese. Cablanca has the characteristic of goat milk but is milder than traditional unpasteurized goat's milk cheeses. This cheese has a delicate, citrus tanginess and firm but creamy texture and a snow-white color. This gourmet cheese is perfect to serve on a cheese platter, in salads, melted on toast, and tossed with cooked vegetables. Cablanca is also very low in cholesterol.


Bergenost is a triple-cream, Norwegian-style butter cheese made by Yancey's Fancy of Corfu, New York using imported Norwegian cultures. This cheese won the company a gold medal in the 1999 New York State Fair Cheese Contest. It is sold in wedges with a distinctive green wax casing. Bergenost is a semi-soft cheese with a mild, smooth flavor and a subtle hint of sourness. The flavor of the cheese makes it a great complement to the tart sweetness of lingonberry, another Norwegian favorite.


Rembrandt is clearly named after the famous Dutch painter Rembrant van Rijn. This Gouda cheese is aged over 1 year. The cow's milk cheese has a deep, rich, taste profile reminiscent of butterscotch, burnt and aged whiskey. You can use Rembrandt in sandwiches or salads and because the cheese melts easily, Rembrandt is also highly suitable for use in warm dishes.


Petit Basque (pronounced "Petty Bask") is a sheep's milk cheese from the French Pyrenees, and is a popular, firm, wax-covered, washed-rind cheese that has the sweet flavor for which sheep's milk is renowned. Favored by many, its smooth texture is perfect for shaving and cubing. Similar in flavor to Spanish Manchego, but with a milder edge, it's fabulous to add to a cheese board. A subtle cheese perfect for all palates.


Pierre Robert is my own personal answer to the popular brie family of cheeses, which I generally don't care for because of their sour aftertaste. It is a decadent triple-crème-style cheese from Seine-et-Marne. When Robert Rouzaire and his friend Pierre began to tire of their Brillat-Savarin, inspiration struck. They began aging the same triple-crème longer in their caves, enabling it to further develop its flavor and become even more meltingly rich in texture. They named their new success Pierre-Robert, for obvious reasons. With a whimsical boulder ("Pierre" means rock) adorning its snow-white rind, Pierre-Robert appeals to anyone craving pure and utter decadence. Buttery, smooth, and mild, this cheese ought to be eaten spread on bread or even graham crackers. I have yet to meet a brie fan who didn't love it immediately.


Tintern is a blended mature creamy Cheddar cheese flavoured with fresh chives and shallots, made by Abergavenny Fine Foods. Flavor-wise, the maturity of the cheddar contrasts with the fresh herbal notes of chives and shallots, but overall creates quite a brawny cheese. It takes its name from the village of Tintern on the River Wye, in Monmouthshire, Wales. The monks of Tintern Abbey are said to have farmed shallots in the abbey gardens in the grounds.


Black Mountain Cheddar is a new cheese created by the makers of Tintern (and Red Dragon). A combination of garlic, herbs and wine has been blended with their creamy cheddar to make Black Mountain Chedddar a potent, assertive cheese. Some of my favorite foods to try it on are melted on baked potatoes, stuffed in chicken, or just on its own with crusty bread and washed down with a grape or pomegranate juice.


Cotswold is a whole milk cheese that can be either pasteurized or unpasteurized. Cotswold is a variation of double glouster to which chopped onions and chives have been added. This is a full-flavored, creamy, mild cheese, similar to cheddar. The onions and chives provide a distinctive, flavorful enhancement. This cheese stands well on its own with crackers and grapes, but it also makes an excellent addition to recipes such as omelets or casseroles since it melts well.


Dubliner is (obviously) an Irish cheese. Quite daringly different, Dubliner is a specialty cheese with a distinctive mature rounded flavour and a natural hint of sweetness achieved by combining a secret recipe and the skills of the Kerrygold master cheese maker. The cheese is typically matured over 12 months, and may contain naturally occurring calcium lactate crystals which appear as small white particles in the cheese. These crystals are a rich source of calcium. Dubliner is suitable for vegetarians, and besides making a great toasted cheese sandwich, it melts beautifully into any recipe. Grate it up and use it in place of dried Parmesan on pasta and salads.

Okay, that's probably enough for now.

Comments

[just_lori]

I love many kinds of cheese, but Cotswold is one I distinctly don't care for. :P My current favorite is Manchego, a hard sheeps cheese. It has a good mouth feel, but gets oily if it has been left out. You might like it if you like Petit Basque. Costco has Manchego cheaper than anywhere else I've found.

[kiyakotari]

I almost put Manchego on this list! But I thought it was getting pretty long already. I don't have a CostCo membership, so I get my Manchego at Haggens.

I know quite a few people who like Double Gloucester, but don't care for Cotswold because of the (almost overpowering) chive taste.

I also was going to put Stilton on the list, but thought I'd leave it for another day.

[just_lori]

I haven't tried Double Gloucester, but if I see it I will try it, in case it is just the chives throwing me off. The other day I tried something with lemon in it and didn't care for it at all. Maybe it is that I like my cheese with stuff, but not with stuff in it?

I'm not really a blue fan. I don't know if I've tried Stilton specifically, but I have tried others and they just don't do it for me. Though, there is a blue by Rouge Creamery that isn't too bad with fruit.

[shipwreck_light]

I LOLed. Muchly. XD

The specialty grocery up the street just started carrying Tintern and the like. Now I'm especially tempted to try some! I haven't made a good cheese plate in a long time.

We recently made mac and cheese with some Bergenost in it... stuff was to die for. Also, our neighbor who usually hates cheese was eating the scraps out of our butter drawer between courses. We like him and he's still getting over some surgery that made him dislike food for a time, so it was OK.

Not seen Cablanca around here. I have a new mission.

[kiyakotari]

Indeed, Cablanca is DEFINITELY in my top-10 list of cheeses. There are probably a dozen others I should have included in this list (For instance, I completely forgot the several varieties of Havarti that I adore, not to mention Edam!), but I felt that it was long enough for now. I'll probably add more in a later post.