Queso de Burgos

[wattacetti]

Okay - queso de Burgos has been bothering me since my last trip to Spain. How is one supposed to eat this stuff?

Three different places in Burgos, three different ways: I've been given little packs of sugar, a little pot of honey, and what appeared to be crême anglaise. My pal tells me that honey is the "correct" one, but she's from Asturias. Anyone care to offer words of enlightenment?

[Bux]

Here's one suggestion: accompanied by other products, like honey, quince or walnuts, and it is often present after dinner, as a dessert.

I'm not familiar with this cheese, but it seems to be a fresh and somewhat bland white sheep's milk cheese. It's not uncommon in France to serve a fresh white cheese like this with either savory or sweet accompaniments including black pepper or something sweet such as sugar, honey, berries, and creme fraiche. My guess is that honey is much more interesting and thus more common than sugar which adds no flavor, but may be less expensive.

[Saborosa]

Fresh cheeses are often eaten as dessert throughout Spain accompanied by a sweetener which I guess was traditionally honey, eg mel i mato in Catalunya (honey and mato cheese), and often with dried fruits and nuts too. I'd second Bux's guess that sugar is a more economical, but less satisfactory offering.

[vserna]

There is no way one is "supposed" to eat things in Spain, generally - one eats them as one pleases! There are better and worse ways, of course. Fresh cheese, cottage cheese, curdled milk are common throughout Spain in many forms, and all of them share one feature, as they do everywhere else: they need added flavors, and also added sweetness - or saltiness!

So try your Burgos cheese (it's made with sheep's milk) with honey, indeed. Or with quince jelly (dulce de membrillo). Or with homemade Seville bitter orange marmalade (not too thick cut). Or with homemade greengage plum jam. Or with caramelized, Cantonese-style walnuts. Or with cherries preserved in brandy. Or diced in a fruit salad. Or as the main ingredient for a Spanish-style cheese cake to be topped with raspberries. Or in many savoury recipes: mixed with grated, old Mahón cheese, flour and fresh herbs, it can be shaped as croquettes and fried; or in a pasta salad (I've seen a nice recipe with cooked fusilli, diced Burgos cheese, canned Spanish white tuna belly, corn, olives, a couple of hardboiled eggs, diced tomatoes and onions, an olive oil vinaigrette, and a sprinkling of black pepper, oregano and thyme).

BTW, queso de Villalón is similar - but it's salted.

[Bux]

There is no way one is "supposed" to eat things in Spain,

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Of course you’re contradicting the thousands of newly wedded husbands who are telling their wives that there’s only one right way to cook a dozen dishes and that’s exactly as their mother made them. Then again if they took your advice, maybe they wouldn't have to sleep on the couch tonight.

[butterfly]

Ah, but Bux, in my experience many, many of those newly wedded Spanish husbands are doing the cooking themselves these days!

[vserna]

Spanish mothers in their 40s and early 50s, whose sons are getting married these days, didn't cook much at home themselves. So the newlyweds go out to Fast Good or the friendly neighborhood Asian-Peruvian fusion place for a quick bite...

For better or worse, this is 2004... even in Spain.

[Bux]

Spanish mothers in their 40s and early 50s, whose sons are getting married these days, didn't cook much at home themselves. So the newlyweds go out to Fast Good or the friendly neighborhood Asian-Peruvian fusion place for a quick bite...

For better or worse, this is 2004... even in Spain.

←

I suspect this is very true in Madrid, but I wonder if the Asian-Peruvian places have made great inroads into the provinces. I've certainly seen a great change in restaurant offerings in our travels. What I haven't seen is the profusion of bad fast food that I see in France. I don't know if that's because of native conservatism or just the fact that tapas bars have been adequately serving the needs of those who want a snack. Fast Good, Pret a Manger and McDonald's all face competition from the neighborhood bar in Spain. With the exception of "take-out," it doesn't seem as if they really have much to offer to me. Then again, I'm not a native and I'm not the daily customer.

[vserna]

I suspect this is very true in Madrid, but I wonder if the Asian-Peruvian places have made great inroads into the provinces.

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No, in the provinces it's the old reliable Familia Feliz neighborhood chow mein specialists. And Burger King, of course.

No, seriously - young newlyweds in Spain, by and large, don't do much home cooking at all. It's a shame, but that's the biz. They do have ample choices of decent tapas in their towns and villages, of course. So perhaps their tastebuds are not irretrievably damaged.

[AlexP]

Most of my friends in Spain are in their early 30's. The majority does not cook and dinner parties at home are a rarity for them. My nephew (18 years old) came to stay with us in Minneapolis during August. My sister very proud told me that he could cook. Warming up leftovers and putting pizza in the oven is not cooking for eGullet standards... If it were up to him, he would have gone to Burger King everyday. His most memorable meal, besides the ones cooked by me (at least that what he says), it was a $7.50 Chinese buffet.

I still remember the year that I arrived in Spain and my friends whose wedding I was attending picked me up at the airport in Madrid on our way home, Torrelavega in northern Spain. To my surprise, they stopped in a Burger King by the highway to eat. At that time I was a smoker, so I enjoyed a beer and a cigarette.

I do not want to generalize, just presenting my experiences.

Back to topic.... Honey, as others stated, would be good with Queso de Burgos.

Alex