Cheese (2008– )

[pennylane]

Except for the last pix, where it is getting a little slimy looking, the cheese looks inviting - nice creamy paste and clearly a washed rind.  You might be on to something with the beer pairing - how about combining w/a neutral cheese like neufchatel and beer for a spread with dark bread?

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The thing is, it would be such a waste of a nice bread, to have it with this cheese. The taste just overpowers everything else, and stays that way for the rest of the day. And the taste... it just tastes like something one shouldn't be eating. I have never thrown away a cheese, but I am really tempted this time. I will let you all know what happens!

[pennylane]

Q: So how did "Old Stinky" come to be finished all in one night?

(forgive the poor pictures - I am new to this business...)

A: Goyere au Maroilles

[tamiam]

Help, I need cheese!!

It is my b.f.'s birthday and I want ot run down to the awesome cheese store down the street and find some cheese, but I am drawing a blank. We are new enough to the world of cheese that many are still new to us. I am thinking something that comes as a baby wheel or crotin because it would look cool. Maybe at the beginner stinky level, but open to suggestions.

Any thoughts????

Please......

[gariotin]

Tamiam,

If you have an awesome cheese store down the street, you shd have a conversation with the nice cheesemonger and let her/him know what you are looking for. They will let you taste some cheeses and maybe suggest a couple that would compliment each other. I will say that there is a smallish, beautiful (comes in a cupcake-type paper in a wooden box), moderate stinker called Affidelice. It is washed rind, so has an orangey rind, but the paste is smooth, rich, and yellow. It is strong, but very delicious.

Pennylane,

Ill bet that tarte really stunk up the house when it was cooking!

[pennylane]

Pennylane,

Ill bet that tarte really stunk up the house when it was cooking!

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You bet; my husband has forbidden me from cooking anything cheesy for a long, long time (after gobbling most of it up himself, I might add).

But I don't regret it - I had read a suggestion on a French website that non-aficionados might appreciate the cheese more easily this way as its taste mellows with cooking, while its texture is smooth and unctuous. Which I found to be the case!

[Chris Hennes]

I've been lurking on this thread for a while, never quite brave enough to join, since while a love cheese, I know nothing at all about it. While wandering the aisles of the Wegmans yesterday (and with my wife out of town and unable to restrain me ) I picked up a round of Epoisses, which I had never tried. After the sticker shock wore off I tried it and it was quite pleased. I was enjoying it on that oversized breadstick that passes for a baguette in these parts, but I am wondering if there is an optimal vehicle for this cheese. It is very salty, and the baguette did nothing to diffuse that. Any "serving suggestions"?

ed. "isles"-->"aisles" doh!

Edited February 7, 2008 by Chris Hennes (log)

[LindsayAnn]

Chris....funny you ask. Epoisses sure is salty, and strong too. Having said that., I LOVE me my stinky and strong cheeses....I often eat Epoisses plain....yes - I eat it straight. mmmm.....dip of finger...mmmmm. I do also enjoy it on a crusty bread - french baguette or sourdough (sourdough is by far my FAVORITE bread ever, I love the flavor and the texture).

Sorry I couldnt be of more help to you. Anyone out there who can help chris? What would you eat Epoisses with to null some of the saltyness?

[pennylane]

Sorry I couldnt be of more help to you. Anyone out there who can help chris? What would you eat Epoisses with to null some of the saltyness?

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Well this may be somewhat sacrilegious but my husband and I once used it as a dip for carrot sticks and slices of apple and grapes and so forth... it was pretty addictive that way... before we knew it we had finished the lot.

[Ndy]

Q: So how did "Old Stinky" come to be finished all in one night?

(forgive the poor pictures - I am new to this business...)

A: Goyere au Maroilles

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That actually looks pretty good!

[gariotin]

As usual, I agree with Lindsay Ann - Epoisse is so heavenly that it is best enjoyed on its own on a slice of baguette or rustic bread. It is one of the world's most wonderful cheeses - good choice!

[tamiam]

I will say that there is a smallish, beautiful (comes in a cupcake-type paper in a wooden box), moderate stinker called Affidelice. It is washed rind, so has an orangey rind, but the paste is smooth, rich, and yellow. It is strong, but very delicious.

Thanks for the tip, Gariotin. I will definitely try that one.

On that day, I ended up choosing a goat cheese called Le Lingot du Quercy. It comes in a rectangular loaf, and has a rind that looks like Brie, with a light colored paste and a more aged outside layer. It is danged tasty and really goaty too. And, of all things, the labels says it has Omega-3's too, so it must be a health food

I am realizing that I dont have an articulate way to talk about the way cheese tastes the way I can with wine. It has a long finish, it is creamy and tart, definitely goaty, and there is a slightly metallic taste at the back of my mouth on the finish.

[gariotin]

Excellent choice on the Lingot. I shared my opinion a couple weeks ago that there is a special characteristic of French goats that is uniquely delicious. I am not sure exactly what it is, but their tanginess is almost flinty sometimes like a Sauvignon Blanc - while being salty at the same time. I think that might be the metallic - mineraly thing you are referring to.

I mourn the raw milk ones we used to be able to eat, but these good ones are still a real treat.

Just use those same kinds of descriptors - if you can talk articulately about wine, you can talk about cheese. Max McCalman's book "The Cheese Plate" has a wonderful chapter just about tasting and devotes several pages to "the language of cheese"...basically just the kind of things you learn to discuss when you speak the language of wine.

[Dave Hatfield]

I've been lazy lately, but here's a picture just to whet appetites.

For fun there's a guessing game. Name the 5 four cheeses on the plate.

Now, the answers will be found on my blog (link below) along with a write up on the meal that accompanied the cheese. (I only cook the rest of the stuff so I have a really good excuse to eat the cheese)

Its up to you as to whether you want to peek before guessing or not. I'll post answers in a day or two for those who can't be bothered with the blog.

NOTE: I only name 4 of the 5 cheeses on the blog. Which one did I omit? And what's it's name?

[JB_Cada]

Please help! For homework, Chef sent us out to buy cheese we'd never tried before and today I bought a whole bunch. Like an idiot I didn't ask the vendor a whole lot about what I was buying, thinking I'd find everything online. Sure enough I dug up info on the more common stuff but four of them, 3 Italians and one Spanish, have me (and apparently the internet) stumped:

-a blue veined one called 'Bergander'

-something called 'Fontalpe'. Is this in any way related to a Fontal?

-a soft cheese labelled 'Alpina'

-the Spanish cheese is called Buenalba Iberico. The guy said it was a mix of goat, sheep and cow.

I should've asked questions. Chef is going to slice me up and put me on the cheese plate if I show up tomorrow knowing nothing about this stuff. Help!

Thanks a bunch! Awesome thread, by the way. I am only now learning about cheese beyond Parmesan, Gruyere, Cheddar and Jack. Subscribing to this thread now.

[gariotin]

Hum...Dave - with the caveat that the pix is small and some of the pieces are a little hard to see...I would say that the little ramekin is St. Marcellin or Felician, the front left is perhaps a Pyrenees, the center piece looks too moist to be Comte or Beaufort, so maybe Cantal or Lagioule, the rear blue is hard to see, but doesn't look wet enough for Roquefort - maybe Blue d'Auvergne? Front blue looks like the paste might be white - maybe a goat blue? That was fun!

JB - can't help with much here, as I've never heard of the first and third. The second does sound like a commerially produced Fontal - light years away from a real Fontina Val d'Aosta, but can be a mild likable cheese.

Iberico is a delicious cheese from central Spain and you should be able to find out lots about it by googling it by name. Buenalba is the brand name and is a very good one - smallish production - they make a great artisinal raw milk manchego as well. Can I ask what part of the country you are in - I haven't seen their Iberico here in the Northeast, only their manchego.

Good luck!

[Dave Hatfield]

Hum...Dave - with the caveat that the pix is small and some of the pieces are a little hard to see...I would say that the little ramekin is St. Marcellin or Felician, the front left is perhaps a Pyrenees, the center piece looks too moist to be Comte or Beaufort, so maybe Cantal or Lagioule, the rear blue is hard to see, but doesn't look wet enough for Roquefort - maybe Blue d'Auvergne?  Front blue looks like the paste might be white - maybe a goat blue?  That was fun!

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Very, very good! The ramekin is St Felician. The center is Lagioule. Close on the rear blue, but no prize. The front blue is indeed blue de brebis.

The front left is the cheese not named on the blog.

Three correct & a near miss is very good going indeed.

Let's see if anyone can get the last two before I reveal them.

[Dana]

JB Cada- Iberico is my favorite snacking cheese of all time. Just incredible.

Dave - beautiful basket. I wish more restaurants offered a cheese plate for dessert.

[pennylane]

I certainly don't (yet) know enough about cheese to take a guess, but let me just throw this out there: Ossau-Iraty?

[Dave Hatfield]

I certainly don't (yet) know enough about cheese to take a guess, but let me just throw this out there: Ossau-Iraty?

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Good guess. Not right, but not a million miles off either.

Think sheep.

How about the blue that Garotin just missed. Its been on this thread pretty recently I think.

[pennylane]

Abbaye de Belloc? Bleu de Gex?

[LindsayAnn]

Well the blue in the rear of the photo is shown only from the rind...and its a small picture - so it's hard to tell! I need to see veins to identify!!! HAHA

so, I will just throw caution to the wind and guess one of my favorite blues....stilton? (my fav, being, Niels Yard Stilton)....

I doubt I am right tho....from the appearance of the rind at least!

[Dave Hatfield]

Think blue Saints!

[pennylane]

St Agur??

[Dave Hatfield]

St Agur??

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That's it! One of my favorites.

Nobody's named the other cheese so I'll tell you. Its a Tomme. This particular one is a raw milk brebis. Lot & lots of flavor.

[jchaput]

St Agur??

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That's it! One of my favorites.

Nobody's named the other cheese so I'll tell you. Its a Tomme. This particular one is a raw milk brebis. Lot & lots of flavor.

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looks like etorki