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Gjetost


Ktepi

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I bought a block of Gjetost yesterday for the first time, after two different friends mentioned it in the same week, unaware of each other. It's odd, and caramel-like, and... -- well, I think I like it, but other than eating it straight or with apple slices, I'm not sure what to try it with.

Not that there's anything wrong with those two options.

Friends have recommended:

Eating it with apples or strawberries

Grating it over hot rice

Blending it with warm broth to make a spread

A very thin slice on bread

It seems like it'd be good with apple pie, too, which I'll try the next time I have enough Gravensteins.

What else?

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I sell it in my store and am always surprised at how much we sell - mostly to people from Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Many of them tell us they put it in coffee.

That's true for the hardcore Norwegians.

I like it because of the intensity of the caramel flavorings. I think of it as a breakfast cheese. Best served with a yeasty roll and a schmear of fruity jam, apple butter, or pear butter.

Edited by slbunge (log)

Stephen Bunge

St Paul, MN

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Use it in a brown sauce! White sauces are normally the ones infused with cheese (like béchamel + gryere + parm = mornay), and I don't know of any other brown sauces that uses cheese, but this combination is a classic in Norway. It is known as Viltsaus (Wildsauce literally, but essentially Gamesauce) since it is traditionally used with game meats -- but it works really well with any hearty (especially red) meat.

Gjetost is great -- screw feta man, this is real goat cheese! It's a great snack, just served on crackers. Norwegians serve it as a topping for a plain, open-faced sandwich -- it is sort of considered a very plain, pedestrian (or even boring) sandwich.

A problem that some people have with the cheese, is that it is so rich in flavor that it overwhelms those who cut a chunk off and eat it straight, like you might a cheddar or something like that. It is too soft to easily cut slivers off of it like you might with a parmesan cheese, so you really need to be careful, or invest in a proper, traditional cheese cutter.

Edited by Grub (log)
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I heard of people using it to top french onion soup.

i have tasted it baked into apple pie crust (it was different but okay. changed the texture of the crust in a way that is hard to describe)

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The only cheese I've ever met that I actually dislike. Maybe because it doesn't taste like cheese.

As memory serves, gjetost isn't actually cheese. Maybe someone else can chime in and explain why.

You shouldn't eat grouse and woodcock, venison, a quail and dove pate, abalone and oysters, caviar, calf sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and ducks all during the same week with several cases of wine. That's a health tip.

Jim Harrison from "Off to the Side"

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I almost tried the coffee thing this morning, but I'm a little under the weather and thought that might not be the best time to depend on my taste buds.

Does it melt into the coffee? I didn't realize it would melt at a low enough temperature to really incorporate well.

Thin slivers with tart apples have been excellent. I've been alternating between my thin-bladed knife and my mandoline -- haven't decided yet which is doing the best job easiest.

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As memory serves, gjetost isn't actually cheese.  Maybe someone else can chime in and explain why.

It's not made from curd. Rather, from whey which has been heated and caramelized, hence it's sweetness. Ekte gjetost is made exclusively from goal milk (it's the real thing); regular gjetost is made from a cow-goat milk mix.

If you are so inclined, here's a link recounting one amateur's attempt to make it.

Bob Libkind aka "rlibkind"

Robert's Market Report

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I got turned on to Gjetost when I was in grad school. I love the stuff!

I have a recipe from the NYT for Gjetost Dessert Tartlets. I don't want to post it, but if anyone wants it, just pm me and I'll get it out as soon as I can. It's a little odd--uses whole wheat bread for the tart shells, but the filling is gjetost, cream, brown sugar, and cognac. I imagine it would be a) very tasty, and b) usable in other crusts (I'm thinking it would be nice in some kind of nut crust).

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As memory serves, gjetost isn't actually cheese.  Maybe someone else can chime in and explain why.

It's not made from curd. Rather, from whey which has been heated and caramelized, hence it's sweetness. Ekte gjetost is made exclusively from goal milk

Gjetost always stood out as a very unique cheese to me -- it is extremely sweet, has an odd dark color -- and I knew that the most popular variant in Scandinavia wasn't actually made from goat milk, but from cow- or a combination of cow and goat milk.

But can you actually say that this thing isn't really cheese, because of its manufacturing process? Are there any other cheeses out there, made from whey?

Heh, "ekte" means real -- you speaking Nonglish? :raz:

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