What's the Best Cheese

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I nominate Havarti

― Mike Hanle y, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gorgonzola, so ripe you can almost drink it.

― Madchen, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

no a co-know-suu-er (i cant spell that), but Port Salut is nice, and i like that one with the orange

― gareth, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Get yr answers here, cheeseboy.

― Nick, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dreamy creamy brie.

― Trevor, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

this si s a NEW cheese thread Nick-of-hell. People may have changed their mind.

― Mike Hanle y, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

American! U.S.A.! U.S.A!

Oh, wait, no. I'm pretty simple, cheese-wise: very sharp cheddar, brie, bleu. None of that dry rubbery Italian stuff.

As you can see, I'm not very good with cheeses.

― Nitsuh, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Brie is just camembert for pussies. Or is it dairylea for ponces? I forget.

― Nick, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wenslydale (preferably with a fruit cake chaser).

― Ellie, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There should be an extra 'e' in that Wensleydale (har har).

― Ellie, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Apparently you crazee Yanks really like Cheddar cheese. Me, I like goat-cheese.

― nathalie (nathalie), Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Harvarti and cheddar mixed makes a good baked macaroni and cheese.
I like Stilton, Tuxford + Tebbit (sp?) brand best, Manchego, Feta nd Jarlesberg. Wensleydale is the crumbly one?, that's good. New Zealand and Canadaian Black Diamond cheddar = excellent toasted sandwiches. Cracker Barrel is wax.

― Lesley Higgins, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mozzarella bufala. Really runny ripe Brie. Parmesana Reggiano (memo to Ed: I still have LOADS). The little runny cheeses I got in Burgundy this summer. Taleggio. The more the cheese smells like an old sock, the more I like it. Goats' cheese under the grill is good.

Also: paneer so I can make my kick-ass Saag Paneer.

I hate cheddar in its Wisconsin incarnation. And I hate the block of Velveeta given to AFDC families in the Reagan years. My mother used to make VILE macaroni cheese with this.

― suzy, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That Velveeta block along with a jar of salsa makes great party dip. yum, i'm hungry.

― Samantha, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Still plain old chedder per moi.

― jel, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Emmentaal or gruyere - the fondue cheeses if you will.

― Jonnie, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My answers have *not* changed, Mr. Hanle y, so foo on you.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wensleydale = mild, slightly tart, and crumbly. Feta = v. lovely, also Parmesan (v. sparingly and v. authentic, ie not the powdery stuff in a pot that sat in the kitchen cupboard for years; stinky sock smell is a not always worthwhile hazard of cheese for me).

What the hell is Velveeta, though?

― Ellie, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

velveeta is this rubbery brick of day-glo processed cheese available in the us. Generally only good in junk-food applications (hence the melted salsa concotion.)

― Samantha, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Those cheese bricks are toxic - I think they're still giving them out to old people, because my grandma is still trying to pass them on to us. How can they give this stuff to old people, who very often have heart conditions? Not to mention the fact that a lot of them come from times and places that had *real* cheese. Just more proof of what a sick fuck Reagan was.

I don't like cheese as a grazing food. I do like Mexican cheeses, feta and ricotta.

― Kerry, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think Velveeta, like 'pessary', is too good a word to be wasted on day-glo bricks of rubbery cheese (very evocative description, by the way).

― Ellie, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Money

― Zaftig Cid, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i have a weakness for blue cheese. please don't tell the vegan police.

― di, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Will you people shut up about fucking cheese? You're making me sick.

― Ally C, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nucks!

― Mike Hanle y, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Marble c'est bonne! Et old cheddar aussi.

― Mr Noodles, Saturday, 6 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

bosin

― Geoff, Saturday, 6 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

gorgonzola , pecorino sardo , mozzarella di bufala ec.;;;

― francesco, Saturday, 6 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why the three semi colons? is that the new cheese rating system?

― Mike Hanle y, Saturday, 6 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

it would tak too long to list all the best cheeses, cheese is just great unless its kraft cheese slices or dairy lea. us cheese is very geberic, no.

― Ed, Sunday, 7 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What about Cheez whiz?

― Mike Hanle y, Sunday, 7 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

it is geberic = it appeals to gerbils?

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Sunday, 7 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Aerosol cheese = hours of squirtable fun!

― Kim, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sure helps broccoli

― Mike Hanle y, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

To do what Mike?

― Kim, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

When I went to school in Ottery St. Mary, I thought it a dull place, enlivened but once a year by the glory that is the tar barrels (I'll tell you about that another time).

Now I know that it is super-cool because it is twinned with Pont L'Eveque, home of, er, Pont L'Eveque, cheese choice of champions.

― Tim, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I ate a hunk of mild cheddar before going to bed on Saturday night. I proceeded to have a horrible disturbing nightmare that night, soundtracked to Whole Again by Atomic Kitten. Mild cheddar: may be tasty but leads to Atomic Kitten nightmare fear.

― Sarah, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I had pizza before bed last night and suffered a relapse of my Elton John dream. This time we were in court.

― Ronan, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two spoonfuls of marmite last thing at night = pitiless dream factory

― mark s, Monday, 8 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...

i just came back from paris, where i ate a whole lot of rocamdour...now it's my favorite goat cheese. it got me so messed up, i kept on saying "rocamdour! it rocka my world!" after every bite.

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah yes ze French love continues! Saint Nectaire and Saint Marcellin both rule mercilessly the goat cheese realm, while Mont d'Or (au bon lait cru!) rules, period.

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Monday, 28 June 2004 21:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Époisses, dolce latte, stilton, mimolette, Ossau-Iraty, cabecou all rate highly in my book. St. Marcellin is a lovely cheese.

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 28 June 2004 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

now eating: parmigiano reggiano

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 28 June 2004 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Double Gloucester, duh.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 28 June 2004 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

http://jeanpba.free.fr/Cuisine/mont-dore01.jpg

"Mont d'Or" Fondue

Not suitable for pregnant women (cheese made with raw milk)

Ingredients you need to make this dish :

1 Mont d'Or (about 500 grs for 2 people).

1 Clove of garlic

White wine ("Roussette de Seyssel" recommended but maybe hard to find...)

Salt, Pepper

Potatoes

How to make it ?

Here are on this picture all the ingredients you need. Remove the plastic that covers the cheese but keep the cheese inside its wooden box (épicéa).

Cook the potatoes in a pressure cooker. Cover the whole wooden box with tinfoil as shown on the next picture.

With a tea spoon, from 1cm of the edge of the Mont d'Or, make a 1cm or 2cm depth hole. Keep the removed cheese.

Slice the clove of garlic as matches. Stick them into the cheese, Salt and pepper...

Set the oven at 180°C. When the cheese is creamy, pour the white wine in the hole you made previously and mix with a spoon. Let the cheese melt. It is ready when it is brown (not too much!). Slice the hot potatoes in your plate and serve the "Mont d'Or" on it. Put the cheese you had removed back into the wooden box and in the oven again.

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Monday, 28 June 2004 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Holy crap - I find this harder than the "what's the best song/album" stule question. Most people here listed multiple cheeses (cowards!) only a few brave souls listed ONE CHEESE TO RULE THEM ALL.

If I tried to actually answer this I think I'd implode due to indecision.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 08:45 (twenty-one years ago)

um, "style" not stule.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 08:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I was brave. I love many, many cheeses, from Port Salut to Havarti to Parmesan to Mozzarella to Stilton to Mature Cheddar (Irish, please) to Red Leicester (great to make cheese sauces with, due to it's fantastic colour), but the cheese I will happily eat fucking great lumps of until the cows come home is Double Gloucester.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 09:01 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

Let's revive this venerable old thread.
So many cheeses. Cheddar so sharp that when it's room temp it has those granular crystals in it—what IS that? Good grayish Gruyere has that quality too. For runny cheese I would have to choose SAGA. Oh lordy, Brie and Blue had a baby!
Cambazola is yummy too, and also a runny veined cheese. Best of both worlds. I have to do a Saga/Cambazola taste-test.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 13 July 2006 23:54 (nineteen years ago)

does cheese really make you dream vivid dreams?

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 14 July 2006 00:04 (nineteen years ago)

Pimento cheese.

But double Gloucester or a good old Cheddar, I'm down with those. (The white crystals are amino acid precipitate, iirc. Someone else will know for sure. I see it on a lot of sheep's milk cheeses.)

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 14 July 2006 00:06 (nineteen years ago)

does cheese really make you dream vivid dreams?

I'll get back to you. Tonight I've grazed on Saga, Gruyere and Irish Cheddar.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 14 July 2006 00:21 (nineteen years ago)

Tep I am so glad to see you again (I have long been a fan of your food-related posts. And all of your posts, in general)!

Anyhow aged Mimolette (sp?) has the granular crystal thing going--I LOVE that!

― quincie (quincie), Friday, 14 July 2006 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

I just bought cheese -- four hours ago! -- and am now wishing I had lingered more over the options. I had wanted to get Gjetost but couldn't find it, and the cheese wasn't really organized by nationality so much as similarity (Muenster, Monterey Jack, and Butterkaese all near each other). I wound up with two kinds of cheese curds -- plain and garlic -- and some sharp Cheddar to use for pimento cheese. Hm.

The dream thing is because of MAO ... stuff. Isn't it? Oh, it's the internet, somebody else knows.

(Thank you, quincie.)

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 14 July 2006 00:34 (nineteen years ago)

Beecher's No Woman cheese (Jamaican Jerk Jack)

http://www.mackron.com/random/nowomancheese.jpg

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Friday, 14 July 2006 00:38 (nineteen years ago)

"It's handmade nature can result in occasional hard pieces of black caramelized sugar."

― San Diva Gyna (and a Masala DOsaNUT on the side) (donut), Friday, 14 July 2006 00:39 (nineteen years ago)

Tep, it is good to see you here again. I've been making cow's milk mozzarella for a few months; supposedly I can proceed on to make gjetost from the whey, so that may be the next thing to try once the weather cools off. But the homemade mozzarella is pretty good, it doesn't compare to fresh buffalo mozzarella. We've been snacking a lot on Beecher's flagship cheddar, and there's a big chunk of gorgonzola in the fridge. But my current favorite is Harlech, full of horseradish and parsley.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 14 July 2006 01:41 (nineteen years ago)

Fried Haloumi is pretty unbeatable.

― Looking through pattern skies (papa november), Friday, 14 July 2006 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

Oh geez, tell me how making the gjetost goes if you do. You need unpasteurized milk for the mozzarella, don't you? I'm working on finding a local dairy (I have relocated) but the relevant farmer's market was rained out today. In my head is this perfect sheep's milk cajeta -- yes, fine, not cheese -- made from raw sheep's milk, but I haven't got any sheep.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 14 July 2006 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

Man, do I miss the cheeseries of Holland. Aged Dutch cheese the color of blood oranges and red sails. Mmmmmmmmmmm

― Maria :D (Maria D.), Friday, 14 July 2006 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

No, you can used pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized. It would undoubtedly be much better with raw milk, because it's worked at such a low temp (max around 130 deg F when you are stretching it).

I know people out here with sheep, but not anybody who milks them! What a dream, to have access to raw milk (sheep, goat, cow, any and all of them). I've been looking at cheese presses, to try my hand at hard cheese (again, in the fall or winter). Something to go with the (hopefully) proscuitto-style ham we are curing in the basement ;) (Thought about you when we set things up with the farmer who's raising our pig this year.)

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 14 July 2006 02:52 (nineteen years ago)

That's the thing, it seems to be hard to find sheep's milk products domestically. I tried to buy sheep's milk butter (can you imagine? oh geez), but there wasn't any being made domestically (at least not available, I don't know), and the French stuff I tried to get was blocked by a recent FDA ruling. So. I've had this frustrated sheep's milk interruptus thing ever since.

I have a basement, but it's very warm down there and I wouldn't want to cure any meat. Thought about it, though. I've been playing with cured lamb a lot -- the ex's idea, "lamb ham," which turned out to be a nice Easter thing -- and it'd be nice to be able to really sink my teeth into that. But lately I'm happy enough with labneh that the more demanding stuff can wait.

Obligatory cheese thread content: seriously, pimento cheese. Grated sharp cheddar, jarred pimentos (better than roasted peppers in this case), a little hot sauce, a little mayo, blend it. Perfect grilled cheese, Deviled eggs, cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese. Combine it 3:1 with garlic butter or olive oil and spread it on a pizza crust with or without a small amount of toppings (but no tomato sauce) and you have a very nice pizza-like cheesebread-ish thing that has seen me through a lot of ballgames. Absolutely a staple for me.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 14 July 2006 03:01 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.spaff.com/poesy/mccheese1.jpg

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 14 July 2006 03:41 (nineteen years ago)

"cheese is gnar shit:
-ddb

― Moonwalkbjrain (chaki), Friday, 14 July 2006 04:39 (nineteen years ago)

Bloomberger

― Bobby Ganush (Uri Frendimein), Friday, 14 July 2006 04:40 (nineteen years ago)

I did have a lot of dreams. I usually do. But then, I always eat cheese. How would I arrange for a "control" day? I'm not willing.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:12 (nineteen years ago)

My husband had high cholesterol numbers so there was a while there that we both swore off cheese, but he managed to get the numbers down below 200 with diet and supplements to a point where he is now eating cheese and steak willy-nilly and the numbers stay good with just the supplements. Oh happy day! Cuz he is a man who loves his cheese. He loves the stuff that makes everyone else flee the house holding their noses.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:21 (nineteen years ago)

Ohh I had the best blue cheese the last weekend and I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. It was Spanish in origin and now I'm going to have to go back to the Whole Foods and ask that guy, "What did you give me?" like an idiot.

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

I love a nice creamy blue, like St. Agur. Mmmmmmm. But we were looking for it at the new grocery that opened nearer us (one of a local chain of 3), and the cheese guy had never heard of it, even though the other 2 stores carry it.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 14 July 2006 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

Ally, was it that super-salty Spanish blue that's wrapped in chestnut leaves? That stuff is intense. Fabulous with cherries.
I'm scooping St. Marcellin out of the little crock with my finger right now. Bad, I know.
St. Agur, Hmm. Hard to find...won't be seeing it in our neck of the woods. I'll look for it the next time I'm in Cambridge Whole Foods. Off-Island, or "America," as they used to call it.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 15 July 2006 00:00 (nineteen years ago)

I left the St. Marcellin out all night. Yummmm!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 15 July 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

St Agur is awesome, damn straight. The St Agur spread is maybe even more awesome. This week I are been mostly eating Lidl Gruyere slices.

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Saturday, 15 July 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

Found some vintage aged gouda yesterday that is a beautiful dark golden tan. Mmmmm.

And because I'm taking my lunch to work all this week, I bought pimentos for Tep's magical all-purpose pimento cheese.

Beth, the first place I ever found St. Agur was a Whole Foods, so you may be in luck there.

― Jaq (Jaq), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

I'm thinking of making the pimento cheese with some green chiles and a little jalapeno today, cause I got on this green chile cheeseburger kick last year, but I kind of fear the color it would turn. The pimento cheese is very orange, Cheez Whiz orange. You are warned.

Oh, we should have a candying thread, I'm candying jalapenos. Y'all are so uncaught up on the state of my kitchen.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

Tell all, then!

― I will commence to drop a knowledge bomb. (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:22 (nineteen years ago)

Well, it isn't cheese!

The main things I've done that are easy to identify as Bloomington-era developments are candying (soaking fruit in a sugar syrup of gradually-increased strength; different fruits flavor the syrup to varying extents, citrus most of all and cherries not very much, so sometimes the syrup itself is a good by-product and sometimes not), sweet applications for saffron (dulce de leche, brownies, candying again -- pineapple in saffron syrup -- and ice cream), fruitcake (yes rly, and my boomcake -- pineapple-habanero -- will lay you out), and um there must be stuff I've done that isn't dessert.

Oh yeah, curing meat I mentioned. Very big on duck confit, too, and there is a treasured jar in the fridge of foie gras confit flavored with bourbon and bacon. Sometimes I have a little of that on a biscuit or a fried egg on Sunday mornings.

Big fan of rendang, which is in heavy rotation now: it's like a coconut milk-based curry that's cooked down until the fat "breaks" out of the coconut milk, and the mixture then fries in it. Finally made real coq au vin, with roosters marinated five days in wine, and it's the beefiest damn chicken in town. Finally figured a fried chicken recipe I like that doesn't require a good deep fryer I'm not willing to buy: seasoned-flour it (no wet dip, marination optional, marination in unadulterated Louisiana hot sauce wonderful); let it sit thirty minutes; flour it again; pan-fry it in enough oil to come up halfway, flipping twice-ish.

And that's ... probably the highlights, I think. Oh, and the Bloomington Farmer's Market carried real stone-ground grits twice a year, so I stocked up on those, that was a real revelation.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

Oh gosh, that was talky.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

Right now, like this weekend, I'm making bacon out of pork butt and Pop Rocks.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)

8-O

― I will commence to drop a knowledge bomb. (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

Hm, those don't look like my glasses.

― I will commence to drop a knowledge bomb. (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

A thread to catch up with Tep, who cooked some stuff and did some things

Vainer but tidier.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 15 July 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

I like light Creamy Havarti from Trader Joe's. I recently discovered a kind of sweet potato called batata. Both have a nutty flavor and would probably go well together. I had really good goat cheese at the Union League Cafe in New Haven, but I don't remember what kind. Actually, it wasn't named but rather described.

― youn (youn), Saturday, 15 July 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

I was eavesdropping on a guy in Florida talking about how he fried fish. First he coated it in a beer batter and then in Potato Buds. I haven't tried it yet.

I have a wedge of Cambozola and a wedge of Saga that have been out all day, waiting for the upcoming veined runny cheese FITE.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 15 July 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

I had gorgonzola and d'affinois for lunch, with some fresh little apricots. Mmmmm.

― Jaq (Jaq), Saturday, 15 July 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

I had fresh apricots, too, and cherries. At the beach (finally!). With Grafton Village cheddar.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 15 July 2006 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

So good - I love this time of year :)

Mr. Jaq is allergic to cherries, which means MORE FOR ME!!!

― Jaq (Jaq), Saturday, 15 July 2006 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

Countdown to the Gold Bud peaches...

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 15 July 2006 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, the Saga vs. Cambozola fite...
They are almost indistinguishable. Both heavenly. Cambozola marginally funkier, saltier, not so much that it makes a difference.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Sunday, 16 July 2006 01:00 (nineteen years ago)

i found one i really like called Roomano. its an aged gouda and tastes kinda like butterscotch and is kinda crunchy

― phil-two (phil-two), Sunday, 16 July 2006 01:20 (nineteen years ago)

I miss Gjetost, speaking of butterscotch. When I was nursing my babies I used to cut shavings with a cheese plane and just let it melt on my tongue. Seemed like the right thing to do.
Haven't seen it in the stores here for years.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Sunday, 16 July 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe New England hates Gjetost, I wonder if that's why I couldn't find it. I saw it all the time in Indiana and Louisiana.

― Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 16 July 2006 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

Cheese orgy tonight. Arrived home starved, fell upon gruyere and grafton cheddar, then lightly nuked remnants of Saga-Cambozola fite, also found half-ramequin of St. Marcellin in fridge, nuked that, probably wrong and bad to do but you know what THE EVIDENCE HAS DISAPPEARED.

Tomorrow I will not eat so much cheese.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 01:17 (nineteen years ago)

Ohh I had the best blue cheese the last weekend and I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. It was Spanish in origin

Cabrales?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

Whoa. This from Cheese.com:

Cabrales
A rough-rinded Spanish blue cheese. A renowned blue cheese from Northern Spain (region of Asturias) Cabrales is made from blended cow's, goat's and sheep's milk (not in winter when only cow's milk is available) . It is matured in naturally-formed caves and has a creamy texture, a complex flavor and a powerful bouquet. Cabrales is salted, wrapped in foil and matures for 6 months in natural limestone caverns. The locals are known to admire this cheese when it's almost totally blue and con gusano (with maggots) [There are different points of view on subject of maggots. We were contacted by some people from Spain and they denied the presence of maggots in Cabrales]. Similar cheeses include Picos de Europa and Valdeon.

Valdeon is the one wrapped in chestnut leaves I mentioned upthread.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

whoa thanks for the link Tep, i'd missed your comeback!

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 13:29 (nineteen years ago)

Valdeon is great.

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

you really can't beat a good maggoty cheese.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

i'm such a baby when it comes to cheese. i like normal stuff like brie and gouda and fontina and extra tangy goat cheese. and swiss! (what do the swiss call swiss cheese?) i also like anything that is extra extra extra extra sharp. sharp times a hundred! cheese that makes yer mouth pucker! but i just can't embrace da mold. maybe someday.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

the mold and the stink, basically.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

So Scott, do you scrape your brie then?

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

ever notice that all these artisanal american cheeses being made now mimic the american artisanal wine industry. bold and deep and dark and fruity motherfucking cheeses that will knock you on your fucking ass! never much room for subtlety here.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:49 (nineteen years ago)

I know, Scott, I haven't embraced the mold, either. I do usually cut rinds off brie and I had to break down re gorgonzola because of its SHEER DELICIOUSNESS but in general I'm a big, lame scaredy-cheese.

As long as we're talking about such sophisticated things as pimentos, lemme share this one: my mother hollowed out a ball of gouda, put it in the mixer with heavy cream (I think?) and a round of the garlic Bourson until all smooth, then packed it BACK into the gouda shell and layered the top with slivered almonds. DANGEROUS. I could have slept at the table rather than let it out of arm's reach.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

when I was in Oviedo last month, the market had cabrales and they looked more like hgian lumps of stone what with all the blue an dthe outside being very rugged, excopet they were large lumps of stone with the odd.....oozy bit.

Quite why I didn't try some I have no idea

― Porkpie (porkpie), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

what do the swiss call swiss cheese?)

I've looked for swiss cheese in (southern) Swiss grocery stores and never seen it. I think they're in denial.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

US "swiss" cheese is pseudo-Emmenthal.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

I got pseudoemmenthal at the dentist...better than novocaine.

― Whitman Mayonnaise (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

WHY YOU HATE HOLES SWITZERLAND???

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

gruyere and emment[h]al[er], yeah, but no holes

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 21:01 (nineteen years ago)

Jarlsberg isn't even from Switzerland, is it? And it's such a SWISS cheese.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it's Norwegian.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 23:15 (nineteen years ago)

The following is a post on the eGullet forum, which I just now discovered when googling "cabrales worm." "Cabrales gusano" yielded only Spanish-language hits, though they all seemed to verify the gusano thing.

'brought to the table with mites and maggots round it so thick, they bring a spoon with them to eat the mites with'.

This is Daniel Defoe describing Stilton served at the 'Bell Inn', from where the fame of Stilton spread.

Now I have heard of a French cheese that is rind washed with the cloth that has recently been used to clean a ladies, um, genitals. Has anybody heard of this? Almost impossible to do a google search on the topic. Kind of makes sense, vaginal tract is full of lactic acid bacteria, same as in yogurt, so I guess it may give a cheese a tangy flavour.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=18780&mode=linear

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 23:27 (nineteen years ago)

could be a niche taste

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

Pimento cheese made with cheese curds = awesome. Though very different (obviously, as cheese curds are so mild; these aren't squeakyfresh curds, they're supermarket curds, but it'll do).

Maggot cheeses are on my shortlist of Not Gonna Try That Nope, above natto and sour cream and onion crickets.

I'm no fan of mold either, Scott -- I'll put up with it, but I don't seek it out. The Ground Round -- it was up the street when I was in college -- used to have this like 99 cent appetizer of potato chips covered in gorgonzola, and that I liked, but I think I 99 cent liked it.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 23:47 (nineteen years ago)

wheres the camembert love?? when i was a kid my mom would lay out a spread for lunch every saturday that included strawberries, camembert wedges, fresh warm baguettes, sliced ham, sliced chicken, grapes, sliced roast beef, tomatoes, avocados and five or six different mustards. i looked forward to that camembert all week long. heaven.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 20 July 2006 00:02 (nineteen years ago)

Your mom rules!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 20 July 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

"So Scott, do you scrape your brie then?"

i tried to answer you before i went to work, jaq, but ilx was all wacko. like laurel, i just avoid any and all rinds.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 20 July 2006 02:27 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

I am embracing the mold of St. Agur bleu right now. Went to Cambridge, loaded up on cheese at Whole Foods.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 23:14 (nineteen years ago)

Oh you lucky thing! It's great alone, but divine with quince paste or that Dalmatian fig spread. Mmmmmm...

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 7 September 2006 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

Dalmatian fig spread! In the immortal words of our fearless leader, bring it on!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 00:25 (nineteen years ago)

Funny thing is, my dog was menaced by a berserk Dalmation during our walk this evening!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 00:28 (nineteen years ago)

It was a SIGN!

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 7 September 2006 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

Just so we're all up to date on our cheese snobbery (and I don't know how I only just found this out), quince paste is originally from Spain, where it is called membrillo.

KathArine, I adore a good camembert.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

mushroom brie is almost all gone, sad!

I figured out how to do the bleu-cheese-stuffed-in-hamburger-patty the other week and now consider myself a much greater force to be reckoned with as a result

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

Pascadol and Tomme de Cédène are still my favourites. Even if I could get my mitts on them more than once a year and they lost their exotic allure, I'd still love them. The former is like a camembert-sized brie with very little middle so it's pancakey flat and has lots of mmmm rind. The latter is almostmouthburning tangy.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

I would wear extra sharp cheddar as underwear.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

bleu-cheese-stuffed-in-hamburger-patty

I've heard about this for too long; I need to try it.

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)

I'm unclear as to how stuffed-in is better than melted-on. Melted-on keeps the bacon in place!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

(For a horrifying second I though that was in response to my terrible underwear comment.)

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

i>Mild cheddar? No wonder I had bad dreams.

Currently Sainsburys LANCASHIRE CHEESE is the best lancashire cheese craving satisfier until I source my indie cheese supplier, otherwise as discovered on Food Science Day - The Scotch Babybel:

http://static.flickr.com/81/233145408_e679a08b0b.jpg

― Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Thursday, 7 September 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

Dan, we were all graciously pretending we hadn't heard your tourettic outburst, but you had to bring it up again! Swiss is best for cheese Panti-Liners. The holes provide ventilation and permit the escape of fluids.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

For greater comfort and support make sure they're made with Appenzeller. The wholes are smaller than in most American Swiss cheese.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:12 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, it functions much as the rose on a watering can, breaking up the flow into a gentle shower. For those of us who prefer to pee THROUGH our panti-liners.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

I had some Stinking Bishop once that was awesome but I haven't seen any in years :(

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I certainly wouldn't want THAT in my pants. Better a Drunken Goat!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

My god - you can buy Stinking Bishop on Amazon. Along with Slack ma Girdle.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:18 (nineteen years ago)

If you eat enough Stinking Bishop that girdle slackness takes care of itself.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

It's gorgeous. But it does stink.

― Why does my IQ changes? (noodle vague), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

God, all I want to do is eat cheese and drink wine. I'm going for my first complete physical in years in about ten minutes. We'll see how my once rock-bottom cholesterol numbers are holding up (or down) now that I'm officially middle-aged.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

I bought some Stinking Bishop, Slack Ma Girdle, and aged Mimolette off Amazon last week - they delivered it all yesterday, each chunk vacuum-sealed so we haven't smelled it in all its glory yet. Maybe tonight, definitely this weekend though.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 14 September 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

The world of cheese is far too resplendent with diverse wonders for me to nominate a single candidate.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Thursday, 14 September 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

My favorite this year has been Saint Félicien. When mature to be eaten with a spoon. Delicious

― Baaderonixx: the lost ILX years (baaderonixx), Thursday, 14 September 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

stinking bishop is a prince of a chees.

We've been eating lots of very creamy cheeses lately pie de l'angloys for instance. I also have 6 cheap st marcellin in the fridge which I really must get round to marinading in oil and rosemary.

― Porkpie (porkpie), Thursday, 14 September 2006 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

I love the little ramequins that St. Marcellin comes in. Handy for so many uses.
Humboldt Fog is my new cheese enthusiasm. A goat cheese with everything! Mold, ashes, camembert-runny edges. Oh lordy. Just be sure to leave it out funkifying all day.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 23 September 2006 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

LANCASHIRE

― gbx (skowly), Saturday, 23 September 2006 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

205 TOTAL CHOLESTEROL, OF WHICH 114 IS HDL!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHEESE BEQUEATHS IMMORTALITY!!!!!!!!!!!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

A five-year old gouda from Whole Foods, the color of Fels-Naptha soap. Mmmmm.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:16 (eighteen years ago)

i have been eating all the lancashire lately

― gbx (skowly), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:18 (eighteen years ago)

i just polished off a block of extra sharp white cheddar.

― mahalo 4 ur kokua (grady), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:23 (eighteen years ago)

I've been pigging out on very good Aus Timboon brie. Non animal rennet, organic milk. Verrrry nice.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

Bad cheese mention to cleanse the palate: We got a block of medium cheddar in one of those awful Harry & David holiday boxes, where the only good thing is the pears. It's still in the fridge. Doggy snacks.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:27 (eighteen years ago)

Can't find it anymore though.
http://www.teddingtoncheese.co.uk/acatalog/descr/ph258lg.jpg

― M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:30 (eighteen years ago)

Those Harry & David pears are fantastic.

― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:30 (eighteen years ago)

that truckle stuff from mull rocks bells.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 4 January 2007 00:33 (eighteen years ago)

My friends and I in high school did a March Madness best cheese vote playoff, with over 350 people we polled at lunch daily. And fuckitall, fucking processed AMERICAN CHEESE won. Most people were pretty happy but even mild cheddar is better than that shit. The only context in which I like American cheese is on top of twice-baked potatoes...nummers.

― Abbott (Abbott), Thursday, 4 January 2007 01:21 (eighteen years ago)

Somewhere a girl out there is sitting in Disneyworld w/a giant cheese plate and my old pants size. And: I want to be that girl!

― Abbott (Abbott), Thursday, 4 January 2007 01:22 (eighteen years ago)

American Cheese is good for pigs in a blanket, Ab.

― mahalo 4 ur kokua (grady), Thursday, 4 January 2007 01:24 (eighteen years ago)

And grilled cheese w/the iron & tinfoil. But not THE BEST CHEESE OF IDAHO FALLS HIGH SCHOOL.

― Abbott (Abbott), Thursday, 4 January 2007 01:30 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.igourmet.com/images/products/shropshire.jpg

Shropshire Blue, M.V.?
http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/prodview.aspx?cat=1&subcat=cheese&prod=137

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 4 January 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

Reblochon, Vacherin, Mrs Bell's Blue, Yarg, Garstang Blue, Lancs Tasty....

No, I can't pick, I adore cheese.

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 4 January 2007 20:10 (eighteen years ago)

Yup, Beth. Thanks. (A nearby grocery sold it for about a year. I think I was the only person who bought it.)

― M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 4 January 2007 22:06 (eighteen years ago)

I am launching into the gruyere and the Coppola Zin. Actually, have already launched. Well off-shore.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 00:24 (eighteen years ago)

RIGHT NOW IT'S WENSLEYDALE WITH CRANBERRY IN!

Also: Gjetost.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 5 January 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

Sweet tooth, eh? Had some cheddar with caramelized onions on Christmas Eve. Surely one of the undocumented Gifts of the Magi.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 01:11 (eighteen years ago)

YES! THAT TOO IS INCREDIBLE CHEESE!

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 5 January 2007 01:15 (eighteen years ago)

DEAD HEAT between Halloumi, the cheese of my mother's homeland (Cyprus), Mozzarella, the cheese of pizza, and heated Camembert, the cheese of ICKY AWESOMENESS.

Halloumi grilled and placed in a pitta with souvlaki and salad = I AM SO FUCKING PROUD OF MY ANCESTRY

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Friday, 5 January 2007 01:20 (eighteen years ago)

no barbecue is quite complete without grilled halloumi, tis true.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 5 January 2007 01:21 (eighteen years ago)

I love warm camembert! Since I've gotten into the funkier cheeses I don't see the point of brie. It just tastes like butter. Not that butter's bad, but I want the cheese to Rolf me a little, not just massage my aura.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 01:56 (eighteen years ago)

manchego: salty-salt-salt!

― lxy (lxy), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:39 (eighteen years ago)

Manchego is like Gruyere and Parmesan fell in love and had a baby.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:50 (eighteen years ago)

a very delicious baby!

― lxy (lxy), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:52 (eighteen years ago)

Aw, yay, I am going to Spain next week and I shall eat manchego all week and then take some home and eat some more. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:52 (eighteen years ago)

Have some mahon, too! We just had some delicious artisanal mahon last weekend, from Whole Foods, that cheese bordello.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 January 2007 02:59 (eighteen years ago)

i am going to germany in a week. what kind of cheese shall i eat?

― lxy (lxy), Friday, 5 January 2007 03:11 (eighteen years ago)

I like no cheese but cheese curds

― A B C (sparklecock), Friday, 5 January 2007 04:28 (eighteen years ago)

I have recently been enjoying garrotxa and chimay cheese.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Friday, 5 January 2007 04:32 (eighteen years ago)

nine months pass...

Saint Albray! Oh Lordy. I just nuked some and ate it with a spoon.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 15 October 2007 00:20 (eighteen years ago)

goat cheese

― gabbneb, Monday, 15 October 2007 00:27 (eighteen years ago)

Parmesan has really been growing on me of late.

― Just got offed, Monday, 15 October 2007 00:29 (eighteen years ago)

Like, between my toes. (j/k)

― Just got offed, Monday, 15 October 2007 00:29 (eighteen years ago)

Gabbneb, where are you? We've been buying a fantastic goat camembert called Camellia. Lovely and funky.
From these folks:
Redwood Hill Farm

― Beth Parker, Monday, 15 October 2007 00:38 (eighteen years ago)

Blythedale Farm Vermont cowsmilk Camembert is awesome, too.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 15 October 2007 00:41 (eighteen years ago)

whitestone blue from the south island. jeez, i've never liked blue before, but this stuff is AWESOMENESS. i spend all night at the restaurant sneaking in and out of the kitchen, scoffing the stuff.

― Rubyredd, Monday, 15 October 2007 00:49 (eighteen years ago)

My daughter came back from London with tales of this fantastic cheese, and now we're nuts for double gloucester.

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 15 October 2007 02:07 (eighteen years ago)

I like morbier.. all the good french ones are good, though! i'm not real wild about anything smoky flavored or with fruit in it, though i did have some kind of english cheese w/cranberries last christmas that was pretty nice.

― daria-g, Monday, 15 October 2007 02:35 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

it's Cashel Blue dudes
(esp. with jalapeno chorizo on oatcakes)

― blueski, Wednesday, 28 November 2007 20:04 (eighteen years ago)

I just got two containers of Beecher's fresh curds for the office, so right now, this is the best cheese.

― Mackro Mackro, Wednesday, 28 November 2007 20:17 (eighteen years ago)

goat brie

― o. nate, Wednesday, 28 November 2007 20:18 (eighteen years ago)

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