Cheese Admiration and Celebration
Replies
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@acpgee, based on this and other recipes you've posted in other threads, I really need to find some pomegranate molasses (not stocked at my usual haunts, but I can cast a wider net). That queso ahumado with jam/molasses sounds worth trying at home!
@Nicoles0305, just lemon juice and hot milk? I think I could handle that, and I do like ricotta. Will put it on my list of things to try!
This is the recipe I use. It’s so easy! Just make sure whatever milk you use, it’s not the ultra pasteurized stuff. The level of heat they use for that process affects the outcome of cheese, so regular pasteurized or even fresh, raw milk is the standard among home cheese makers. If you don’t have good quality cheesecloth, some quilter’s muslin, a flour sack kitchen towel, or something similar will work too. Just be sure to wash it before using it for your ricotta. The recipe lists lemon juice, vinegar, or citric acid as your acid options. I’ve tried lemon juice and citric acid, and prefer the subtle lemon flavor you get from using lemon juice.
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I enjoy eating cheese and buy it now and then but not regularly. The only cheese that I stock/keep on hand are parm and pecorino that I use for pasta and risotto.
My favorite cheese is brie or other creamy cheese variants. My favorite brand of this type is La Tur, which I discovered long ago, which has a bit more flavor than plain brie. Another creamy cheese that like is a stinky variation called Taleggio.
I've eaten and enjoyed Humbolt Fog goat cheese before but it's a bit too crumbly (as are most goat cheeses) for me. When a receipe calls for feta, I usually use goat cheese instead because I can make better us of it than I can feta. The dark ash line in Humbolt Fog reminds me of the similar ash line in Morbier made w/cow's milk. Between the 2, I prefer Morbier.
I also eat/buy "fresh" (not packaged) burrata or mozarella when I can find it but I will buy/eat mozarella sticks in bulk for snacks when the price is right.
I'm not very fond of semi/hard cheeses generally (except for parm & percorino that I grate b4 use) but I will buy Cheddar, Monterey/Pepper Jack, Havarti, Fontina, Racelette/Roblochon, Manchego & Gouda from time to time. Usually basedon my mood, their availability (for the less common cheeses) and their price.
I've also eaten/made my own ricotta before. Don't make it often unless I need a lot and I'll save $ making instead of buying it. If it's just a small amount that I need for a recipe, I'll just buy it.1 -
@sgt1372 I’ve got a chunk of Morbier in my fridge now. LOVE the stuff!1
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@Nicoles0305
Is there anything you can do with the whey, such as using as buttermilk to marinate chicken before shaking with bread crumbs?0 -
In the Canarias I was planning on buying some pan de higos as an accompaniment to the cheese board but we didn't have to go back to the shop that had it before leaving for the airport. Happily discovered it is very easy to make at home. I skipped the honey as the dried figs on their own are sweet enough for my taste. Next time I will incorporate the almonds into the sticky fig/brandy mixture in the food processor. I used a little extra brandy and skipped the water.
https://allwaysdelicious.com/dress-up-your-cheese-plate-with-pan-de-higo-fig-cake/1 -
@Nicoles0305
Is there anything you can do with the whey, such as using as buttermilk to marinate chicken before shaking with bread crumbs?
I'm not Nicole, but noticed that on another thread @springlering62 mentioned using the whey from skyr instead of milk or water in baked goods, for improved results (texture, maybe?).
I'm tagging her, hoping she might have something to say here about that. (I hope that's OK, Spring.)0 -
A small pan de hilgo I made this morning to take to a dinner party tonight with a few pieces of cheese from the Canaries. Taking what's left of the majero and some of the hard goat's cheese that's already open.
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@Nicoles0305
Is there anything you can do with the whey, such as using as buttermilk to marinate chicken before shaking with bread crumbs?
I make skyr, which is a rich yogurt like product made with skim milk. It amazes me something so thick and gorgeous comes out of skim milk. So my whey is skim, too.
That stuff is liquid gold.
Substitute whey for milk or water in pancakes and bread recipes.
For pancakes, have your pan preheated because the batter will be very fluffy but will deflate fairly quickly, so you want the pan ready to go before you blend.
I use it in bread in lieu of water, and it’s great. Makes the bread lighter, the crust chewier and gives it a bit of a sourdough flavor.
Haven’t tried it in cakes because I just don’t bake them anymore. Too tempting. 😢
Supposed to be good in smoothies, and some people like to just drink the stuff.
My gallon (plus starter and water/rennet) made 1870 gr of sky, which is exactly 11 servings.
I also get 8 cups whey from the gallon.
I’ve also read that you can use whey instead of water or broth in soups and stews. But I’ve usually used it up baking.
My next experiment will be using whey in homemade ice cream. I’ve been using sky as my base, with water and instant sugar free pudding, which gives it a lovely soft serve texture. I’m going to sub out whey instead of water next time. Curious to see how it will react with the pudding mix, which is very high sodium in dry form. (It’s the salt whey reacts with in baked goods.)
I got both yogurt strainers offered on Amazon. I LOVE the round one. Easy to clean. But only holds a half gallon.
The oval one strains a gallon but is a PITA to clean, although I added half a cup vinegar to the soap water while it soaked overnight and it washed up a lot easier than the first two times.
Your cheese looks fabulous. I want to have a go at cottage and mozarella cheese.
Fixing to make some cherry scones with low cal skyr instead of sour cream. 1 gallon skim yields 10 servings skyr + 8c whey + 1c heldover skyr to start next batch. Skyr is $6 a container here.5 -
Oh yes Morbier - that is one delicious cheese 🤤1
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@acpgee - doing some internet searching, it seems that "queso ahumado" just means "smoked cheese" (?). I'm more than willing to improvise, but out of curiosity: In the Canary Islands, can you say anything more about the style (flavor profile?) of the smoked cheese they use in the tapas with a jam/molasses topper, that you had? I'm thinking is it more nutty like maybe a smoked swiss, or a little milder like a smoked provolone, sharp-ish, or . . . ?
I'm more than happy to experiment, and bet that many options would be tasty, but I'm curious about the home-grounds preferences that you observed there. Thanks in advance!
I enjoy your food posts here so much: They're so cross-cultural and creative!1 -
The queso ahumada was salty and reminded me of smoked gouda. Do not have experience with other smoked cheese types. We brought some of it home but haven’t opened it yet and will report back what it is like uncooked when we do. In the pack it feels like a young hard cheese, similar to a gouda aged 3 months or so.1
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@AnnPT77
I think this is the typical cheese for the broiled queso ahumado. So apparently it is a goat cheese.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmero_cheese
And this seems to be the one we brought home.
https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/queso-de-canizo/
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@Nicoles0305
Is there anything you can do with the whey, such as using as buttermilk to marinate chicken before shaking with bread crumbs?
There are lots of uses for the whey! I have only tried whey ricotta and whey caramel so far. I know you can use it in soups, baked goods, etc. I haven’t explored it very far yet though.0 -
Squeak squeak, my inner mouse was thrilled to find this thread 🐭 I am fond of sampling different cheeses, as long as they aren't the smelly or blue kind. Aged cheddar makes the best mac & cheese. cheese is great just to nibble on too, with crackers. I miss the cheese festival that usually happens in February -- the Excuse for Everything is not conducive to open sampling.
But when you live by yourself, making a cheese board is an expensive undertaking. Solution: ONe of the grocery stores downtown has a little basket of remnants from making cheese platters. So you can get a morsel of Brie or Oka or whatever for around $2. A few of these, plus a handful of crackers and another handful of fruit, make a dandy cheese board for one.3 -
@AnnPT77
I opened up the queso ahumado today. When opening the vacuum package, there was a strong waft of smoke. However, eaten cold the cheese tasted less smokey and less salty than I remember it broiled from the tapas bars in Las Palmas. Flavour was quite mild, and a little acidic.
We've got friends coming over for tapas on the weekend to help eat our stash of cheese and charcuterie. I will try broiling the queso ahumado with a little bit of date molasses. I actually think any salty cheese that melts well (ie cheddar) would work for this tapas dish that combines melted cheese with a dash of something sweet.1 -
Halloumi.
One of best meals I ever had was in a Lebanese restaurant in London. I ordered a halloumi salad having no idea what halloumi was, and it came with a huge plank of grilled halloumi on top of a green salad. It was so amazing, we went back two more times for the same dish and it wasn’t til the third trip that the waitress told me it was cheese. I thought it was some kind of fowl.
Best mac and cheese ever was made from a wheel of Edam I got at Albert Heijn and brought back home in my luggage. It wasn’t even expensive stuff. Just Dutch. ‘Nuff said.2 -
springlering62 wrote: »Halloumi.
One of best meals I ever had was in a Lebanese restaurant in London. I ordered a halloumi salad having no idea what halloumi was, and it came with a huge plank of grilled halloumi on top of a green salad. It was so amazing, we went back two more times for the same dish and it wasn’t til the third trip that the waitress told me it was cheese. I thought it was some kind of fowl.
Best mac and cheese ever was made from a wheel of Edam I got at Albert Heijn and brought back home in my luggage. It wasn’t even expensive stuff. Just Dutch. ‘Nuff said.
Yes to Halloumi, or other (I think closely-related) other grillable cheese! (Can also brown and crisp them up in a cast-iron pan on the stove top, no added oil needed).
One thing I used to eat was a good parmesan, grated fine, sprinkled thinly in the cast iron skillet and heated to crispy. (The "Whisps" snack thingie, and other brands of same, are similar but not as good as fresh-crisped.) Can also be done a a plate in the microwave. A small amount of cheese makes a pretty disk to top (say) as soup, though it will soften once applied, or it can be broken in pieces and used as a salad topper.
What cheese to use in mac'n'cheese is a personal taste thing, I think, as well as whether it's a cheese sauce or done some other way. My mom used to make it by layering mac with grated cheese, pouring milk (not full depth) over all, then oven-baking . . . of course, growing up I though that was "the way", but I do usually make more of a sauce-type, these days. I like various cheeses in mine on different iterations, smoky or gooey or more light (ricotta and blends), nutty or sharp, etc. Many can be good!1 -
@AnnPT77
I opened up the queso ahumado today. When opening the vacuum package, there was a strong waft of smoke. However, eaten cold the cheese tasted less smokey and less salty than I remember it broiled from the tapas bars in Las Palmas. Flavour was quite mild, and a little acidic.
We've got friends coming over for tapas on the weekend to help eat our stash of cheese and charcuterie. I will try broiling the queso ahumado with a little bit of date molasses. I actually think any salty cheese that melts well (ie cheddar) would work for this tapas dish that combines melted cheese with a dash of something sweet.
I appreciate your following up so clearly on my question, @acpgee! I'm definitely going to try this. Going grocery shopping today, one decent cheese source on my route, but I may need to cross town to the one mentioned in my OP, the one with the crazy-wide selection.2 -
@springlering62 My husband and I try different cheeses in mac and cheese and in shrimp and grits; we will definitely try Edam. Thank you for mentioning Edam. Our current favorite is half extra sharp cheddar and half smoked Gouda.2
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Today, back to the good cheese department in the biiiigg produce market on the other side of town. This (photo below) was happening there today:
I'm not a big cheddar person, so I didn't buy to try (they had some cuts in the frig case), but it was fun to see.
@acpgee , the closest they had to what I think you're describing was a smoked gouda, so I got that; and found some pomegranate molasses earlier this week, so that's on the menu as soon as I have the calorie wiggle room for a good portion.1 -
In the OP in this thread, there was a photo of the main cheese cases at the produce market just mentioned. Back on page 1, 2nd photo, you'll see that there are 5 refrigerator cases of cheese in this area. **
Just for fun, I took closer-up photos in one of the middle cases today, i.e. one of the five. I think these are close enough that you can expand and look at labels if curious. Each case is sort of zoned, with groups of similar cheeses; this seems to be mostly about gouda, edam, some Italian cheese types, some smoked cheeses, and some blues.
Other cases have other groupings, covering quite a wide range all told. There's a big section of cheddars (including ones with varied add-ins), a goat cheese zone, a section of various-flavored cheese curds, Spanish cheeses, South/Central American cheeses, the Mediterranean types, etc.
** There are other cheeses elsewhere in the store, too: More typical block commercial cheeses in a big walk-in 2-room refrigerator that also has milk, yogurt, etc., along with some vegan cheeses and tub-type spreadable cheese stuff; and some flat cases like these off to the side with ricotta, feta, wide variety of pre-grated real cheeses in plastic boxes, etc. Lotta cheese.4 -
@AnnPT77 cheese dreams are made of this!4
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@AnnPT77
The tapas dish on the Canaries was broiled smoked cheese with *date* molasses or blueberry jam or marmalade. Pomegranate molasses is tarter and similar to balsamic vinegar. Unless you like the acidity of pomegranate molasses with cheese, add some honey. Date molasses is similar to molasses, treacle or corn syrup in terms of sweetness but has a tart undertone..0 -
Made these Cambozola babies yesterday. They have to dry at room temp for about 9 more hours before they go into the cave for aging. Four weeks till I can taste them!3 -
@AnnPT77
The tapas dish on the Canaries was broiled smoked cheese with *date* molasses or blueberry jam or marmalade. Pomegranate molasses is tarter and similar to balsamic vinegar. Unless you like the acidity of pomegranate molasses with cheese, add some honey. Date molasses is similar to molasses, treacle or corn syrup in terms of sweetness but has a tart undertone..
@acpgee - Jeepers, I don't know why I was thinking pomegranate molasses! I'd been wanting to get some anyway, so that may be the source of my misleading myself. I have some nice Cornelian cherry jelly a friend made that I was thinking might be nice in this application, too. I may even have some date molasses, don't recall for sure. (If not, I know where to get some.) I have various honey, and blackstrap molasses for sure, but the latter (at least) is a whole different deal. Thanks for setting me straight!
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We have a farmers' network here where we can source local produce, and some produce from a bit further, but still in Belgium.
I decided to order a cheese called Bel'zebuth, from the Ardennes region and made from cows' milk, one of the few blue cheeses available through the network. Which I then paired up with a pumpkin chutney from another local farm. On a slice of home-baked bread.
Yum!
The cheese was very hard and crumbly. I thought it would be similar to Roquefort, but it was actually quite mild (for a blue cheese).
Picture from the website of the farmers' network:
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rwarren1969 wrote: »Squeak squeak, my inner mouse was thrilled to find this thread 🐭 I am fond of sampling different cheeses, as long as they aren't the smelly or blue kind. Aged cheddar makes the best mac & cheese. cheese is great just to nibble on too, with crackers. I miss the cheese festival that usually happens in February -- the Excuse for Everything is not conducive to open sampling.
But when you live by yourself, making a cheese board is an expensive undertaking. Solution: ONe of the grocery stores downtown has a little basket of remnants from making cheese platters. So you can get a morsel of Brie or Oka or whatever for around $2. A few of these, plus a handful of crackers and another handful of fruit, make a dandy cheese board for one.
A fromagerie that I love in Vancouver sells "mystery bags" at a great price. They are just bits and pieces of various cheeses in a brown paper bag. Perfect for sampling different types that you might not usually buy and perfect for a one-person cheese board. Maybe you have a place like that near you?1 -
springlering62 wrote: »Halloumi.
One of best meals I ever had was in a Lebanese restaurant in London. I ordered a halloumi salad having no idea what halloumi was, and it came with a huge plank of grilled halloumi on top of a green salad. It was so amazing, we went back two more times for the same dish and it wasn’t til the third trip that the waitress told me it was cheese. I thought it was some kind of fowl.
I haven't seen anyone mention saganaki yet. We have a Greek restaurant in town and that is my favourite appy. In fact, I could just order two or three with some pita and call it a day. I believe they make it with graviera. Would it be similar to halloumi?2 -
My boys went to Switzerland recently and their Airbnb host made them a special dinner on their last night. Part of the dinner was raclette which they'd never had before. They're bringing a raclette grill home with them. So excited! A fab way to have cheese...but not something I would have spent money on myself.3
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Gruyere cheese from eatzis or central market…so good2
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