So this happened..
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We have both Velveeta and Kraft. Velveeta is nothing like Kraft. Velveeta has this distinct flavor and texture that Kraft doesn't, Kraft kind of tastes of nothing with a very vague flavor.0
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And this thread has reminded me that I'm making my Christmas cake at the weekend which means I will need to source my Wensleydale cheese. Can't have Christmas cake without a chunk of cheese to go with it.1
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The cheddar that is commonly available at the market usually comes in mild, sharp, extra sharp, and recently I saw something called "seriously sharp." For me, the sharper the better, because it means I can have more flavor for fewer calories.
There are some artisanal cheese producers that make some interesting cheeses. Of course and Vermont and Wisconsin are known as big cheese producers. I live in an area of New York State that has a number of dairies and is becoming known for some nice cheeses, though I think they are specializing in young cheeses. There's a new one I can't remember the name of that I'm looking forward to trying. Personally, I'd love to have some goats and make my own.
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I'm making yoghurt today. That's a bit like cheese.1
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LMAO this thread though...2
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I have no idea if OP is finding it remotely helpful, but everyone else seems to be enjoying it.
At the very least it demonstrates that you can be obsessed with food and still lose weight.4 -
It looks like OP hasn't logged in in a few days.
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I'm jumping in without reading this whole thing. Sorry. There's this recipe for mac and cheese where you cook the pasta in a measured amount of milk and then when it's done, stir in grated cheese. The starch in the pasta thickens the milk and takes the place of roux.
I keep wanting to try it. The kids keep acting like I want to poison them.
I've done it this way and it was very tasty. It was one of my attempts to make something similar to Amy's mac and cheese (didn't quite hit the spot but it was good).
Granted, that was 6 years ago...0 -
We do have different levels of cheddar but we refer to it as how "sharp" it is, rather than how "mature."CattOfTheGarage wrote: »We do have Kraft cheese slices here - as I understand it, it's just the same thing in a block? I can't really imagine melting a block of that stuff onto pasta. It doesn't taste of anything and the texture is weird.
I'm a strong cheese person, I eat what gets called "vintage" cheddar here (the step above "mature"). I even dislike mild cheddar, which has a lot more flavour than processed cheese slices.
Do you have multiple levels of cheddar in the States? We have mild, medium, mature and vintage. I've only recently come to realise how much British people care about cheese - our village Co-op is quite small but has a whole cheese chiller with about 50 different kinds (of which half are different brands and variations of cheddar). It's a bit obsessional really. I don't think it used to be like that.
I.e. Mild, Sharp, Extra Sharp...VintageFeline wrote: »I think Velveeta is like Kraft, basically burger cheese right?
And I have made cheese sauce that is sort of grainy but I think that comes from using a quality vintage cheddar. I think if I used what we thought was cheddar as kids (bright orange stuff) the texture is different.
The US has come a long way on the cheese front I think but they're not at our levels yet, much as we're probably not at French levels. That said, I used to get the bus home from college and stop was right outside IJ Mellis in Edinburgh (one of the first cheesemongers in the UK I think!). It's quite the aroma wafting from in there!
No no no no...velveeta is nothing like Kraft and would never be used on a burger. Velveeta is for melting (i.e. Dips, Mac and cheese, soups...) and Kraft slices are for sandwiches and/or burgers.
Myself, I prefer sharper cheddar on my burgers, Swiss on my turkey sandwiches, mild cheddar on my ham sandwiches and American on my grilled cheese sandwiches.1 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »
We do have different levels of cheddar but we refer to it as how "sharp" it is, rather than how "mature."CattOfTheGarage wrote: »We do have Kraft cheese slices here - as I understand it, it's just the same thing in a block? I can't really imagine melting a block of that stuff onto pasta. It doesn't taste of anything and the texture is weird.
I'm a strong cheese person, I eat what gets called "vintage" cheddar here (the step above "mature"). I even dislike mild cheddar, which has a lot more flavour than processed cheese slices.
Do you have multiple levels of cheddar in the States? We have mild, medium, mature and vintage. I've only recently come to realise how much British people care about cheese - our village Co-op is quite small but has a whole cheese chiller with about 50 different kinds (of which half are different brands and variations of cheddar). It's a bit obsessional really. I don't think it used to be like that.
I.e. Mild, Sharp, Extra Sharp...VintageFeline wrote: »I think Velveeta is like Kraft, basically burger cheese right?
And I have made cheese sauce that is sort of grainy but I think that comes from using a quality vintage cheddar. I think if I used what we thought was cheddar as kids (bright orange stuff) the texture is different.
The US has come a long way on the cheese front I think but they're not at our levels yet, much as we're probably not at French levels. That said, I used to get the bus home from college and stop was right outside IJ Mellis in Edinburgh (one of the first cheesemongers in the UK I think!). It's quite the aroma wafting from in there!
No no no no...velveeta is nothing like Kraft and would never be used on a burger. Velveeta is for melting (i.e. Dips, Mac and cheese, soups...) and Kraft slices are for sandwiches and/or burgers.
Myself, I prefer sharper cheddar on my burgers, Swiss on my turkey sandwiches, mild cheddar on my ham sandwiches and American on my grilled cheese sandwiches.
I made the most amazing grilled cheese with some sharp cheddar and colby once.
And I LOVE gouda and turkey.0 -
CattOfTheGarage wrote: »I have no idea if OP is finding it remotely helpful, but everyone else seems to be enjoying it.
At the very least it demonstrates that you can be obsessed with food and still lose weight.
This soooooooo much!0 -
CattOfTheGarage wrote: »Another thought about fake cheese: I never had real mac & cheese and rarely had the boxed stuff as a kid. I remember the first time I made it from scratch I thought I had screwed up because it was grainy. Velveeta doesn't do that. I'm not a fan, but that's why people like it.
It shouldn't be grainy. It should come out smooth and either creamy or gooey depending how much cheese you add. The flour in the bechamel stabilises the cheese and stops it splitting (same way the starch in Velveeta does, in fact).
I wish I could tell you where you went wrong but I've never had that particular problem myself - I've had grainy macaroni cheese in canteens but I have no idea what causes it. Did you bake it for a long time? If might be that the milk curdled (which would make sense in a canteen, where they keep it warm for hours) - but you'd have to bake it for ages for that to happen, probably over an hour. Bechamel is pretty stable.
ETA both Velveeta and boxed macaroni probably do taste better to kids, as their tastebuds are so much more sensitive. If I had a pound for every childhood taste sensation that's disappointed me as an adult, I could afford a lot of fancy cheese.
Maybe grainy is the wrong word. I have no problem with seizing or separating, but it is a different texture from Velveeta. Words suck. I wish I could beam side by side dishes to you. Do you have Cheez Whiz where you are? Velveeta is like that texture. Slippery. Rubbery maybe?
Amusing aside: I call it white sauce when I try to get my friends to replace their cream of something soups because French words scare them.
eta: I did originally think undercooked roux, but no, it's just a difference in the two dishes. This was close to twenty years ago now but I still remember being so surprised.
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VintageFeline wrote: »I think Velveeta is like Kraft, basically burger cheese right?
And I have made cheese sauce that is sort of grainy but I think that comes from using a quality vintage cheddar. I think if I used what we thought was cheddar as kids (bright orange stuff) the texture is different.
The US has come a long way on the cheese front I think but they're not at our levels yet, much as we're probably not at French levels. That said, I used to get the bus home from college and stop was right outside IJ Mellis in Edinburgh (one of the first cheesemongers in the UK I think!). It's quite the aroma wafting from in there!
Hmm I think that's an unfair generalization. The US has some amazing cheeses and cheese shops. I don't think it's fair to use cheddar as an example because cheddar is an English cheese - the rest of the world just bastardized it. It's like comparing real Parmesan Reggiano to the stuff most people sprinkle on their spag Bol.0 -
rebeccaculp87 wrote: »
Without wanting to be one of those making sweeping generalisations about whole countries I'm going to anyway. Ferrero Rocher may be good quality to our US friends but here in the UK it's really equivalent to Dairy Milk just in fancier packaging. I did think they were super fancy in the 90s though when we only had them at Christmas!
Now the chocolatier over the road from my flat, THAT is the good stuff. And priced accordingly, which is bad news for my bank balance but good news for me not just switching to a diet exclusively made up of said chocolates.......[/quote]
You can't compare commercially produced chocolate with a chocolatier's chocolate. Compared to a chocolatier' s chocolate everything is bad.[/quote]
My friend Brenda is a chocolatier. I am now feeling the need to visit her. 0 -
Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »I think Velveeta is like Kraft, basically burger cheese right?
And I have made cheese sauce that is sort of grainy but I think that comes from using a quality vintage cheddar. I think if I used what we thought was cheddar as kids (bright orange stuff) the texture is different.
The US has come a long way on the cheese front I think but they're not at our levels yet, much as we're probably not at French levels. That said, I used to get the bus home from college and stop was right outside IJ Mellis in Edinburgh (one of the first cheesemongers in the UK I think!). It's quite the aroma wafting from in there!
Hmm I think that's an unfair generalization. The US has some amazing cheeses and cheese shops. I don't think it's fair to use cheddar as an example because cheddar is an English cheese - the rest of the world just bastardized it. It's like comparing real Parmesan Reggiano to the stuff most people sprinkle on their spag Bol.
Uh, I don't see where I compared cheddar with anything? I just said America is better than it was. As is the UK. But neither compare to France. I'd say the same about charcuterie too.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »I think Velveeta is like Kraft, basically burger cheese right?
And I have made cheese sauce that is sort of grainy but I think that comes from using a quality vintage cheddar. I think if I used what we thought was cheddar as kids (bright orange stuff) the texture is different.
The US has come a long way on the cheese front I think but they're not at our levels yet, much as we're probably not at French levels. That said, I used to get the bus home from college and stop was right outside IJ Mellis in Edinburgh (one of the first cheesemongers in the UK I think!). It's quite the aroma wafting from in there!
Hmm I think that's an unfair generalization. The US has some amazing cheeses and cheese shops. I don't think it's fair to use cheddar as an example because cheddar is an English cheese - the rest of the world just bastardized it. It's like comparing real Parmesan Reggiano to the stuff most people sprinkle on their spag Bol.
Uh, I don't see where I compared cheddar with anything? I just said America is better than it was. As is the UK. But neither compare to France. I'd say the same about charcuterie too.
True. But you did say 'they're not at our levels yet' which is a sweeping generalization and just not true. As someone who has lived in both countries I will say again that the standard of cheddar is higher in England than the US because it's an English cheese. Everything else is the same (imported, specialist or crappy supermarket imitations). If you're a big cheese lover there a great cheese shops and Delis all over America0 -
Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »I think Velveeta is like Kraft, basically burger cheese right?
And I have made cheese sauce that is sort of grainy but I think that comes from using a quality vintage cheddar. I think if I used what we thought was cheddar as kids (bright orange stuff) the texture is different.
The US has come a long way on the cheese front I think but they're not at our levels yet, much as we're probably not at French levels. That said, I used to get the bus home from college and stop was right outside IJ Mellis in Edinburgh (one of the first cheesemongers in the UK I think!). It's quite the aroma wafting from in there!
Hmm I think that's an unfair generalization. The US has some amazing cheeses and cheese shops. I don't think it's fair to use cheddar as an example because cheddar is an English cheese - the rest of the world just bastardized it. It's like comparing real Parmesan Reggiano to the stuff most people sprinkle on their spag Bol.
Uh, I don't see where I compared cheddar with anything? I just said America is better than it was. As is the UK. But neither compare to France. I'd say the same about charcuterie too.
True. But you did say 'they're not at our levels yet' which is a sweeping generalization and just not true. As someone who has lived in both countries I will say again that the standard of cheddar is higher in England than the US because it's an English cheese. Everything else is the same (imported, specialist or crappy supermarket imitations). If you're a big cheese lover there a great cheese shops and Delis all over America
I'm sorry you're misinterpreting me. I guess I mean availability and selection of quality cheeses (not just quality of cheddar, that's not something I'm bothered about and I've only talked about it in the context of mac and cheese, I'm aware different places have different cheese) available and the desire for people to buy them. It is a generalisation but that's what we're working with on this thread. I can only base this on various trips to the US over two decades. I didn't say I was right, I said "I think". And what you find in big cosmopolitan cities is going to be vastly different from rural communities too.
Much the same as I made a generalisation about the UK, where I am from and live, that we're not as savvy as the French. I'm not doing it to be a dick, I'm just joining in a loose discussion about food differences and palate differences.
Anyone is welcome to dispute that and disagree, I'm not America bashing, if I hated it I wouldn't go there on holiday!0 -
Also, nice to know the insult of dick isn't caught by the US-centric filters, heh.1
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VintageFeline wrote: »Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »I think Velveeta is like Kraft, basically burger cheese right?
And I have made cheese sauce that is sort of grainy but I think that comes from using a quality vintage cheddar. I think if I used what we thought was cheddar as kids (bright orange stuff) the texture is different.
The US has come a long way on the cheese front I think but they're not at our levels yet, much as we're probably not at French levels. That said, I used to get the bus home from college and stop was right outside IJ Mellis in Edinburgh (one of the first cheesemongers in the UK I think!). It's quite the aroma wafting from in there!
Hmm I think that's an unfair generalization. The US has some amazing cheeses and cheese shops. I don't think it's fair to use cheddar as an example because cheddar is an English cheese - the rest of the world just bastardized it. It's like comparing real Parmesan Reggiano to the stuff most people sprinkle on their spag Bol.
Uh, I don't see where I compared cheddar with anything? I just said America is better than it was. As is the UK. But neither compare to France. I'd say the same about charcuterie too.
True. But you did say 'they're not at our levels yet' which is a sweeping generalization and just not true. As someone who has lived in both countries I will say again that the standard of cheddar is higher in England than the US because it's an English cheese. Everything else is the same (imported, specialist or crappy supermarket imitations). If you're a big cheese lover there a great cheese shops and Delis all over America
I'm sorry you're misinterpreting me. I guess I mean availability and selection of quality cheeses (not just quality of cheddar, that's not something I'm bothered about and I've only talked about it in the context of mac and cheese, I'm aware different places have different cheese) available and the desire for people to buy them. It is a generalisation but that's what we're working with on this thread. I can only base this on various trips to the US over two decades. I didn't say I was right, I said "I think". And what you find in big cosmopolitan cities is going to be vastly different from rural communities too.
Much the same as I made a generalisation about the UK, where I am from and live, that we're not as savvy as the French. I'm not doing it to be a dick, I'm just joining in a loose discussion about food differences and palate differences.
Anyone is welcome to dispute that and disagree, I'm not America bashing, if I hated it I wouldn't go there on holiday!
Fair enough, that's your impression I was just trying to say I don't find it to be true.
When I go to England and shop in Asda or Morrison's all I see is crappy or imported cheese. Same in the US if I go to Walmart. But if I go to Waitrose or Whole Foods the cheese on offer is amazing but you pay through the nose for it. So I guess it just depends on where you shop and your budget.1 -
The cheddar that is commonly available at the market usually comes in mild, sharp, extra sharp, and recently I saw something called "seriously sharp." For me, the sharper the better, because it means I can have more flavor for fewer calories.
There are some artisanal cheese producers that make some interesting cheeses. Of course and Vermont and Wisconsin are known as big cheese producers. I live in an area of New York State that has a number of dairies and is becoming known for some nice cheeses, though I think they are specializing in young cheeses. There's a new one I can't remember the name of that I'm looking forward to trying. Personally, I'd love to have some goats and make my own.
Yeah, there are tons of artisanal cheese producers in the US. I think it's a shame that people assume we don't have them, sometimes.
I am currently a big fan of a variety of goat cheeses in different styles from a farm that comes to my favorite green market (since I adore blue cheeses I normally get their regular blue, called Black Goat, but they have a special blue only available a couple of times a year that I am hoping is available on Saturday).
I also love the cheeses (American and imported) from this place: https://www.pastoralartisan.com/. They come with hilarious tasting notes too, which I like (I'm easy that way). (But given the conversation, I should add that the selection even at my local WF is really good.)
Some of the US cheeses on the current tasting menu from one of the locations (they also have non-domestic cheeses on the tasting menu, of course):
Petit Nuage (sheep) - Landmark Creamery - Wisconsin (airy, lemony, decadent)
Cremont (cow and goat) - Vermont Creamery - Vermont (tangy, rich, cheesecake)
Batch #13 (cow, goat, sheep) Doe Run Dairy - Pennsylvania (fruit loops, pine nuts, toothsome)
Rosa Maria (goat) - Dutch Girl Creamery - Nebraska (beautiful spanish lady)
Juvindale (cow) - Meadowood Farms - New York (meaty, unctuous, velvet)
Dorset (cow) - Consider Bardwell - Vermont (strawberry fields, custard)
Barren County Blue (raw cow) - Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese - Kentucky (bacon, cracker jacks, earth)3
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