Cheese. the rival thread.

sufi

lala
too late
you were all too slow
i ended up with generic chevre which was delish

still plenty of time for nominations for friday lunch? any advance on Gerard's thoughtful offer?
 

mind_philip

saw the light
I dunno if this is a well known combo, but my sister in law made me a brie and grape croissant a little while ago, which came about as far out of left field as I can imagine, but it was sensational. Anyone else tried this?
 

luka

Well-known member
brie and grape, yeah, a bloke called steve who i do some work for sometimes does this for me, in a sandwich not a croissant. i think sainsburys do it too. its good.
 

Randy Watson

Well-known member
Gorgonzola and beetroot for lunch on friday.

Has anyone else ever been to La Fromagerie? They've got two outlets, one in town and the other up at Highbury Barn. It's a bit poncy but the range and quality is outstanding. For English cheeses Paxton & Whitfield on Jermyn Street is very good.

Picking one favourite cheese is almost impossible and wholly unecessary but I cannot let this thread continue without mentioning Montgomery's cheddar. It crushes all other cheddars. :D
 

Gerard

Well-known member
Vacherin

Have enjoyed the above baked a number of times. Ate at room temp. for the first time over New Year. The singular most intensely lovely cheese experience I've ever had. Really quite unforgettable. I only stopped when there was no more room in my arteries
 
B

be.jazz

Guest
How much mould is too much? In a super-market recently (can't remember if it was in France or Belgium) we came across some cheese covered in layers of mould that looked pretty much like your homemade back-of-the-cupboard variety. It was like picking up a long-forgotten piece of bread, scraping off the mould and eating it. I thought that was a bit much.
 

Randy Watson

Well-known member
I ate some spanish "blue" cheese once that was actually green. It fizzed on your tongue. I wouldnt go past that again :confused:

I had another spanish blue that was wrapped in leaves recently and I've heard of cheese wrapped in nettles. It sound a bit faddish but has anyone partaken?
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
Nettle cheese is called Yarg. Worth it just for the name I think. It's Cornish, and pretty nice. Hard, slightly crumbly texture, but a deceptively light flavour. Almost refreshing - use it as a granité between courses of Stilton and Roquefort perhaps.
 

soup

Member
Generation Fromage

My first post. (well almost) Lurking on this forum for many months. I have felt little compunction to post , being aware that I was saving you all from my troll like behaviour and rabid rants. Cheese tho............now I 'm posting. I have been off the cheese for many years now, giving my arteries a rest and If I am entirely honest, due to excessive use, the law of diminishing returns had come in to play. In my heyday, the Restaurateur who left me with his board of cheese would think himself foolish and find himself out of pocket by the time I had left the table.
My first real foray in to the cheese world (well, Tesco medium cheddar doesn’t really cut it does it) was a simple but very potent unpasteurised Brie. The sensorial rush (I aint kiddin ya) which it invoked shocked me initially, being closer to the effect of a narcotic than a food. More opiate than stimulant, the effect was one I would chase for many years. My peak cheese experience if you like. :D
As I have said I have been off cheese for many years now but there is one, which still sits on my wants list, waiting to be tasted, Casu Marzu. I was never scared of scrapping off rancid moulds and rinds, in fact the more repugnant the state of the cheese the better. However Casu Marzu is, as iam sure many of you are aware a step beyond a little mould
"According to Yaroslav Trefimov of The Wall Street Journal, Casu Marzu, Sardinia's favourite black market treat, begins with a local cheese called Pecorino, which is left out in the sun, so that nearby barn-flies can deposit their larvae into it, until it becomes overpopulated with a swarming mass of maggots. The enzymes "produced" by the maggots cause the cheese to ferment, which, in turn, decomposes the fats, creating a living culinary delight."
Trefimov describes the viscous larval bomb as a rotten tasting, pungent goo that burns the tongue, and can also affect other parts of the body. Moreover, the lively maggots are far more entertaining than dull cherries suspended in Jell-O, as the creatures continuously leap from the cheese as you eat it. Part of the ritualistic ceremony involves covering the mess with the hand, to keep the little buggers from snapping into the eyeballs with "ballistic precision."
I should think that I would have to go to Italy to try this cheese even though it is illegal there.I'd like to think that there was an Italian deli in somewhere like Clerkenwell that has a supply 'under the counter' but I suspect not. So, I am after info. Really. Has anyone tasted it? More to the point does anybody know were I can find some any closer than Italy?
 

luka

Well-known member
i brought some fucked up looking one today, dunno what it's called, it's french, it got some soft furry mouldy rind, and it's in some wooden case cos i'ts so runny. i like it.
 

sufi

lala
egyptian cheese

soup's tales of sardinian cheese remind me of the favored egyptian cheese habit which involves wrapping up a parcel of regular egyptian feta known as 'gibni baida' - white cheese - then burying it in a warm place, such as ideally under a dungheap, or in an urban setting maybe the back of the airing cupboard, for several months.
the resulting mass, when split open is light brown and i think somewhat runnier than how it started out, it can be transported, dung heap and all to the market where it is served by the shovel, & is extremely pungent
sorry to say i forebore to test it as the odour was too intense for i

i've searched on the web and have'nt yet found any sign ....but will update....
 

sufi

lala
cheese technology of developing countries



ethiopia - When milk is cold, straw or fibre from false banana is introduced in the milk pot to serve as a sieve.
syria - Chelal cheese it has a form of strings like spaghetti.
bhutan -Churtsi has an external appearance of a stone.This type of cheese is said to be a medicine for colds and stomach troubles - but this has never been examined scientifically. The large flat slab of curd prepared from the soft cheese is smoked over the fire place in the farm gate huts. The product may last for several years
There is no report of important traditional cheese-like products in Mali.
rivetting
 

rewch

Well-known member
have for some years been considering a doctoral thesis along these lines, but now see i've been pre-empted & shan't bother...

however did enjoy a fine ewe's milk cheese on saturday night courtesy of st. john called ragstone:
l6042.jpg

though from a small search on the internet it appears i may have been misled! it is in fact a goat's milk cheese
 
S

simon silverdollar

Guest
luka said:
i brought some fucked up looking one today, dunno what it's called, it's french, it got some soft furry mouldy rind, and it's in some wooden case cos i'ts so runny. i like it.

that sounds like it's probably vacherin. you can put the whole wooden box into an oven and after 25 minutes or so it'll be ready for dipping bits of bread and stuff into, fondue style,

i work in a cheese shop every saturday in clapham. it's wicked cuz i get to try a huge number of different cheeses. current top 5;

1] ticklemore. king of goat's cheeses.
2] isle of mull chedder. strong but oddly fruity.
3] vignotte. creamy and mild and kind of lemony.
4] comte. there's so many different flavours going on in good comte.
4] pont l'eveque. this is like camembert but tastes slightly of white wine + green apples.
 

sufi

lala
received this awesome spam

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... perhaps becos of my extensive dairy expertise as shown on this thread?
my 1st job was milkman, er milkboy.
 

mms

sometimes
simon silverdollar said:
that sounds like it's probably vacherin. you can put the whole wooden box into an oven and after 25 minutes or so it'll be ready for dipping bits of bread and stuff into, fondue style,

i work in a cheese shop every saturday in clapham. it's wicked cuz i get to try a huge number of different cheeses. current top 5;

1] ticklemore. king of goat's cheeses.
2] isle of mull chedder. strong but oddly fruity.
3] vignotte. creamy and mild and kind of lemony.
4] comte. there's so many different flavours going on in good comte.
4] pont l'eveque. this is like camembert but tastes slightly of white wine + green apples.

i envy your job very much, does it sell uk cheeses too?


cheese is an odd thing, the only cheese that could be made during ww2 was cheddar cos it was universally liked and easy to make.
it was called rational cheese too which is very funny.
 
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