Cheese (2008– )

[kayb]

Andiesenji, I love Idiazabal as well; like it better than Manchego, I think. I tend toward the hard, aged cheeses or the semi-firm younger ones. Lately I've been buying 3-month aged sheeps milk and cows milk cheese from my free-range organic meat supplier, and that's keeping me happy. I supplement it with an aged Gouda (most recently Green Heart), Idiazabal, Manchego or Uniekaase Robusto. And I try to keep Gruyere and Jarlsberg around as well. When I've had a big lunch, dinner is often cheese, fruit, toast, honey and a glass of wine.

[Chris Hennes]

I had forgotten how good Humboldt Fog was until I made goat cheese tamales for dinner tonight. Some of the cheese even made its way into the tamales!

[andiesenji]

I just placed an order with I Gourmet for a wheel of caerphilly and while waiting on hold, was clicking on other items on the site.

I was surprised to see that they now carry Liederkranz! which disappeared from U.S. stores a couple of decades (or more) ago.

I loved this cheese and never found an adequate substitute, although some of the limburgers are pretty good.

[Kouign Aman]

Costco had a chili-cheddar that has significant piquancy, and good cheddar flavor. If they continue to carry it, its likely to become a staple at our house.

[Dave Hatfield]

Gosh, it seems a long time since anyone has posted to this thread. Kouign Aman, thanks for doing so & for the nice picture.

It inspired me to go to the fridge & see what cheeses we have in 'stock' at the moment. That plus wanting to try our our new lens on the camera caused me to take some pictures of the cheeses we have.

Here they are:

We have four cheeses in stock.

This is a cream cheese with chives & garlic. Very popular with lots of brands available. Boursin being the best known brand.

Here's the price label on a piece of cantal. Note that its "entre deux". Cantal typicially comes in young, Medium & old versions. Entre deux being medium. About 6 months old. As its made not too far from us its very popular. We use it as if it were cheddar.

St Andre is a well known cows milk cheese. Very mild flavor. You can just make out the sell by date on the wrapper. 10-07-2012. That's 10th July in the French way of doing dates.

What's left of my favorite St Felicien. This cow's milk cheese started life as a goat's cheese, but is almost exclusively made from cow's milk these days. It comes from the Rhone-Alps region. Simply delicious. Don't know how available it is in the states, but if you can find it - try it!

I'll try to be more active on the cheese front in future. Lets hear from all you other cheese lovers.

Edited June 14, 2012 by Dave Hatfield (log)

[Zeemanb]

I've REALLY been getting back into cheese lately..... a couple of weekends ago I attended a dinner at Green Dirt Farms- a sheep farm in Weston, Missouri that makes some incredible products. If you happened to catch Bourdain's recent Kansas City episode, this was the farm featured towards the end, and the super-ripe cheese they were eating is the same one featured in this dish (and as luck would have it, Chef Howard Hanna from that episode was the featured chef at the farm dinner I attended). Green Dirt does these dinners throughout the summer, hosting local chefs who showcase their cheeses and lamb.

Anyway, they do a washed rind sheep's milk cheese called "Bossa", and when it gets good and ripe at about 10 or 12 weeks, it is a DELIGHT....

One of the greatest cheese-centric dishes I've had in...forever, I guess, was this simple frittata. Cooked in a cast iron pan over coals, with farm eggs, locally foraged roasted mushrooms, and....wait for it...........a very ripe and runny, halved Bossa sunk into the middle when it was about 3/4 cooked. Normally I prefer this cheese with minimal accompaniments, but this particular dish showed proper respect, the Bossa was the star. I think six of these total were on the table at one time.....

[IowaDee]

The current issue of CI has the results of a tasting of artisanal cheddar. The top of the lists and highly recommended is

Prairie Breeze from the Milton Creamery in Milton, IA. If you haven't tasted it, your'e missing a treat. We are lucky

to live just a bit away but the cheese is carried on Igourmet, in most WF stores and lots of other places. Well worth

searching out.

I love the fact that it is made from milk produced on local Amish farms. The makers are a Mennonite couple and

their sons. Give it a try, it is wonderful.

[FrogPrincesse]

I tried a new cheese last night - a chocolate stout cheddar by Rogue Creamery (at the far end of the plate).

The other items on the plate are some Ossau-Iraty cheese (that Trader Joe's calls "Basque Shepherd's Cheese"), an AOC sheep milk cheese that is an old standby of mine; homemade saucisson sec; rustic bread.

The chocolate stout cheddar was a disappointment. It was not offensive or anything but did not have much flavor at all.

In contrast, the Ossau-Iraty is packed with flavor. It's nutty and a little sweet.

[janeer]

The current issue of CI has the results of a tasting of artisanal cheddar. The top of the lists and highly recommended is

Prairie Breeze from the Milton Creamery in Milton, IA. If you haven't tasted it, your'e missing a treat. We are lucky

to live just a bit away but the cheese is carried on Igourmet, in most WF stores and lots of other places. Well worth

searching out.

I love the fact that it is made from milk produced on local Amish farms. The makers are a Mennonite couple and

their sons. Give it a try, it is wonderful.

I will. Thanks for the info.

[FrogPrincesse]

The chocolate stout cheddar was a disappointment. It was not offensive or anything but did not have much flavor at all.

OK, I was a little harsh in my assessment of the chocolate stout cheddar. I am having another piece right now and can taste subtle flavors (hops, chocolate), even though it's still not really my cup of tea. It might have been a bad idea to pair it with a gin flight as I did last night (not by design). The gin pretty much neutralized all these subtle aromas. Obviously beer would be a much better pairing!

[Dave Hatfield]

Its nearly 4 months since anyone has done a cheeses post. Yet, on my recent food blog there seemed to be more interest in cheese than almost everything else.

I'd like to see if we can generate more activity. I'm sure that these days there are plenty of good cheeses being made in the states. I for one would like to hear about them.

To kick things off I'm going to do a post on three local varieties of goat's cheese tomorrow. I'd do it tonight, but want better light to take some pictures.

Additionally, I might just see if St Antonin market has anything special to offer tomorrow.

Let's hear from all of you cheese loving eGulleteers!

[Emily_R]

I was recently in Madison, Wisconsin and spent time in an amazing cheese chop there, Fromagination. I bought this cheese there, and it was exceptional:

http://heavytable.com/espresso-bellavitano-by-sartori-cheese/

The text there describes it as cheddar meets parmesan, but I think it has more of a cheddar meets manchego feel... Really really good! The coffee rubbed rind was very mild to me -- not strongly coffee flavored, but just added a little more savoriness....

[Anna N]

Dave, I have always enjoyed a variety of cheeses: Havarti, Tilsit, Danish blue, Stilton, Cheddar, Gruyere, Emmental, etc., but when Kerry Beal introduced me to her cheese monger, Mickey McGuire's in Dundas, Ontario, I entered a brave new world of cheeses. They carry over 400 cheeses and one is welcome to try as many as one wants. My first taste of Ossau-Iraty and I was prepared to sell my soul for a hunk of it. The staff know their stuff and are generous with both their knowledge and their samplings.

I can't easily get to Mickey's but am determined to learn as much about cheese as I possibly can. I live not far from a Whole Foods and our local Longo's carries a surprising variety and their staff are quite knowledgeable.

I have even begun to attempt making some simple cheeses at home.

We have a thriving artisanal cheese industry in our neighbouring province of Quebec and Ontario is beginning to show some promise too.

I am challenging myself to try 3 new cheeses a week but whether my budget or my waistline will be up for the task remains to be seen.

I am up in the north right now which is pretty much a cheese desert but will be home in a little over a week to sample some more cheeses.

Love to hear from more members about their cheese adventures.

[Dave Hatfield]

I was recently in Madison, Wisconsin and spent time in an amazing cheese chop there, Fromagination. I bought this cheese there, and it was exceptional:

http://heavytable.co...sartori-cheese/

The text there describes it as cheddar meets parmesan, but I think it has more of a cheddar meets manchego feel... Really really good! The coffee rubbed rind was very mild to me -- not strongly coffee flavored, but just added a little more savoriness....

This is exactly the kind of post I was hoping for. Interesting cheeses with links and as a bonus some are available via mail order. More, more please!

Dave, I have always enjoyed a variety of cheeses: Havarti, Tilsit, Danish blue, Stilton, Cheddar, Gruyere, Emmental, etc., but when Kerry Beal introduced me to her cheese monger, Mickey McGuire's in Dundas, Ontario, I entered a brave new world of cheeses. They carry over 400 cheeses and one is welcome to try as many as one wants. My first taste of Ossau-Iraty and I was prepared to sell my soul for a hunk of it. The staff know their stuff and are generous with both their knowledge and their samplings.

I can't easily get to Mickey's but am determined to learn as much about cheese as I possibly can. I live not far from a Whole Foods and our local Longo's carries a surprising variety and their staff are quite knowledgeable.

I have even begun to attempt making some simple cheeses at home.

We have a thriving artisanal cheese industry in our neighbouring province of Quebec and Ontario is beginning to show some promise too.

I am challenging myself to try 3 new cheeses a week but whether my budget or my waistline will be up for the task remains to be seen.

I am up in the north right now which is pretty much a cheese desert but will be home in a little over a week to sample some more cheeses.

Love to hear from more members about their cheese adventures.

Again, what I was hoping for. A budding cheese maker, wow! Please keep us up to date on your cheese adventures.

These posts are so neat that I'm going to hold off on my next post about some of our local cheeses. The weather was lousy this morning so I didn't go to market anyway.

I'll will post on cheese soon though.

[rotuts]

just spotted this thread. Yum! most of us dont have access to the kind of cheese/Bread/local Plonk so ....

looking forward to your Cheeeeze!

BTW DH: Youve been Busted! and You Know Why!

[Anna N]

I said I was currently in a cheese desert but did bring a few cheeses with me. This morning for my breakfast I enjoyed two blues:

A Smokey Blue from Oregon:

http://www.roguecreamery.com/store/product/1391/Smokey-Blue-Cheese-Wheel/

And a Blue Haze which is made in Quebec and aged and smoked in Ontario.

It was inspired by the Oregon cheese.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/smoky-and-mellow-with-buttermilk-hints-of-blue/article4275852/c

I prefer the Oregon cheese as the smoke is more subtle and the blue cheese flavour can shine through.

[Dave Hatfield]

I promised to show you some cheeses so here they are. These are all cheeses made from raw goat's milk.

I've got three to tell you about today.

First comes Selles-sur-Cher.

This is an AOC cheese from the middle of France. It is named after the town where it is made. Its best during the summer months, but gets a bit sweeter in the fall. Coincidentally I lived in nearby Chateauroux for about 6 months in 1961. Don't particularly remember the cheese from that time.

Next come two from a local producer, Le Pic. They're about half an hour away from us. They've grown from a sort of hippy beginning into a fairly large concern today. They make an amazing variety of goat's cheeses. They've recently started to make a cheese from sheep's (brebis) milk, but I haven't tried it as of yet.

I've only got two today but there are many many more. Their website is interesting, mainly in French, but easilyy understood or translated by Google, here it is: http://www.fromages-de-chevre.fr/. Each type of cheese has a brief description in both French & English.

There are two paves. One with and the other without ash. Typically mild and slightly 'chalky'.

The Rouelle is one of my favorites. With a bit of age it goes gooey and more delicious as the days pass. My kind of cheese.

I'll be posting about more of their cheeses as time passes.

Rotuts, didn't know I'd been busted or even what I was busted for. Do tell? Via PM if its too embarrassing.

[rotuts]

Good News DH: the presiding Magistrate has thrown out the case! Youre free to go. Apparently its difficult to commit a 'crime' where cheese is involved. For wasting their time Ive being sent to TraderJose's for some cheese for me. Bummer no crusty bread there.

However for full disclosure the evidence in the Non-Crime is extant:

on 14June12 on this thread there was this:

then on the DH Blog:

15Oct12:

"So, I've scoured the fridge and done a bit of shopping just to put together a little selection to satisfy them. Nothing fancy or unusual just some that I buy on a fairly regular basis.

Here are the four cheeses I came up with on short notice."

However mitigating this is

"some that I buy on a fairly regular basis"

as no bread was involved, case tossed out! BTW still looks good after 4 months!

hope you are a good sport!

Edited October 22, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

I've got some cheese to contribute to this thread.

At 9 o'clock, a cheese I got at Trader Joe's that they call "Toscano" and that has a rind soaked in Syrah (rind removed in the photo). It's very flavorful and I am now completely addicted. They also have a cinnamon version that I don't care for. Their description is quite accurate: "Creamy Toscano Cheese Soaked in Syrah begins with a cheese that has the nutty flavor of an aged Parmesan and the creamy texture of a farmstead Cheddar". I wonder who makes this.

Once again Trader Joe's beats a more "artisanal" cheese that I bought for a much higher price from the cheese shop, in that case the lavender TouVelle from Rogue Creamery at 12 o'clock. The taste was fine, quite mild, dare I say, bland. It's the rubbery texture I really did not care for. In general it seems that Rogue does blue cheeses much better than semi-hard cheeses.

At 2 o'clock, a crottin de Chavignol (on country bread from TJ's) smuggled from France by my dad who was visiting. True crottin de Chavignol cannot be purchased in the US as it is made from raw milk and typically aged for less than 60 days. The "imitation" sold under the name crottin de Champcol is not bad but not nearly as flavorful or interesting (it's made with pasteurized milk). I had the pleasure to visit the tiny rural village of Chavignol a while ago in the Sancerre region, and was amazed to see that they had a vending machine selling their famous crottin - great for these late-night cravings!

My dad could not find a very aged specimen when he bought the crottin and as a result it got a little wet during transportation, which affected the taste. I will most likely use the remainder for "salade de chèvre chaud".

The cheese with the ash rind at 5 o'clock is the same that Dave presented above - Selles-sur-Cher, also one of my favorites. I can see that the one pictured in Dave's photo above does not seem very dry based on the aspect of the wrinkly rind; I prefer mine on the dry to super-dry side. Selles-sur-Cher can be found in the US, however the quality leaves much to be desired. I've been spoiled because I spent a lot of time in the region where this cheese is made when I grew up, and we always bought it directly from the farm.

Homecured duck prosciutto at 6 o'clock.

My husband thinks that it's weird to have relatively pungent cheeses with cocktails, but I really love it. The cocktail was an aperitif with Campari and I enjoyed the pairing. Obviously the classic pairing with Chavignol would be a nice crisp Sancerre.

[FrogPrincesse]

I forgot this picture that I took last month. This is a fresh goat cheese that I bought at the farmers' market. I buy from this vendor (Nicolau) regularly. The cheese is similar to homemade ricotta however the goat milk gives it a very distinctive flavor that I love. I made my own version in the past using goat milk from Trader Joe's but I could not taste this special flavor in my cheese. Clearly the fresh milk that he uses makes all the difference. I buy the plain cheese (he has flavored ones too) and add chives that I grow on my patio.

Only complaint about this cheese - it's really expensive ($8 or $9 for this little container). But it's great so I splurge every once in a while. He also makes aged cheeses but I so far I prefer this one.

There is also a ice cream bar vendor at the farmers' market (Viva Pops) that makes various flavors including a goat cheese and honey pop (with cheese from Nicolau). It's amazing too. Like having cheese and dessert in the same bite.

Edited October 22, 2012 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

One last thing... I was wondering if anyone had a chance to try the cheeses from Andante dairy. Apparently they have been featured at the French Laundry. Since reading an article about its owner Soyound Scanlan in the Art of Eating a few months ago, I've been curious. I wonder if it's worth all the hype.

A quick google search tells me that some of her cheeses have been the object of a recall this summer... that's too bad.

[Dave Hatfield]

Good News DH: the presiding Magistrate has thrown out the case! Youre free to go. Apparently its difficult to commit a 'crime' where cheese is involved. For wasting their time Ive being sent to TraderJose's for some cheese for me. Bummer no crusty bread there.

However for full disclosure the evidence in the Non-Crime is extant:

on 14June12 on this thread there was this:

then on the DH Blog:

15Oct12:

"So, I've scoured the fridge and done a bit of shopping just to put together a little selection to satisfy them. Nothing fancy or unusual just some that I buy on a fairly regular basis.

Here are the four cheeses I came up with on short notice."

However mitigating this is

"some that I buy on a fairly regular basis"

as no bread was involved, case tossed out! BTW still looks good after 4 months!

hope you are a good sport!

Caught me!! In my defense I'll say that this is a pretty typical array of cheeses found in our house. The St Andre is the only one not stocked on a regular basis. More normally, there would be a blue in stock. Most likely a Blu des Causses

its nice to know that somebody actually not only looks at, but actually reads my blog.

Thanks!

[rotuts]

not only do I read them, I get dehydrated salivating on those FR. CH, FR.BR. ( plonk? (sp?) Espanish = Tinto )

Ill post my (sigh) two cheeses from TraderJose's with (Ugh! ) Reduced Fat TJ's Triscuts. Its very difficult here to get 'Crusty Bread'

Ill have my TJ's Tinto in a Jelly Jar to sort of make up.

[Dave Hatfield]

Fp, Nice pictures and some nice cheeses.

The article on Andante dairy. was interesting. Sounded to me like typical US prejudice about cheeses made with unpasteurized milk. Obviously, I haven't tried them and I must cop to a bias against 'cutesy' names, but I'm sympathetic to small producers. Especially those who are located near where I grew up in Santa Rosa.

[rotuts]

DH: can you get Bleu de Bresse?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleu_de_Bresse

although Google thinks this is a 'bigginers' cheese, a billion years ago I though it was the Cats Meow in FR.

if you see it in passing, Im very curious about the prices in FR vs here ( ie TraderJose, and a fantastic cheese mart very near me, but overly expensive )

Ill get for the group two VT. cheeses and post their pic soon: a 'Brie' and a 'Camenbert'

http://www.vtcheese.com/members/blythedale/blythedale.htm

I used to get these all the time, one at a time. I got the oldest in the dairy case and left it on the counter for 3 - 4 days.

Heaven! I also had my own baked bread!

never had their blue! they have fantastic stuff if you 'room temp age it a bit'