Cheese Admiration and Celebration

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I may be wrong, but "stinky tofu" doesn't sound like a probable marketing term here. Do either of you have tips about what this might be called, or how it might be described, in other English terms, or ignoramus-pronounceable Asian terms?

It was introduced to me as chou dofu, but also explained as stinky tofu. Googling showed that it seems to be a common term in English. There are two types I could buy in Toronto's Chinatown: a white one with a greenish layer and a spicy one with a reddish colour. I loved both. I really regret I can no longer eat them because of my diet.

You can find some pictures of it, and the way it is sold, here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=stinky+tofu+jar&tbm=isch&bih=448&biw=960&hl=en-GB&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDhr6Zm9n6AhUArXIEHX0BB1sQrNwCKAB6BQgBEN8B

acpgee wrote: »

I now live in London and can find salted (not pickled) herring in Polish shops. I can buy imported maatjes haring online but it is exorbitant. The Polish substitute is not quite the same texture as maatjes haring, as it is in oil. Not similiar enough in texture to eat plain or in a sandwich, but good enough for a haring salade. If you happen to be at a Polish grocer in Toronto check whether they have salted herring.

I would imagine you could get zoutdrop by mail order. Keep in mind that the Danes and maybe other Scandinavians also eat zoute drop.

Thanks for the suggestions! In fact, there are a few Polish stores in Toronto, but I never go there, for the same reason I quit going to the Chinatowns, Korean and Japanese or German stores: I think it is not wise to be tempted when I am still losing weight. I am in the unfortunate position of having "normal weight obesity" and that is my priority right now.

However, that does not leave me completely stranded in a disyummified food desert. They sell "Brunswick golden-smoked sardines" at the local Loblaws and I totally adore those as well. Because they are canned in small portions, I still have those on occasion. They don't replace maatjes, but they are quite yummy regardless: very dangerous for me, so I mix them with a vegetable blend in order to limit the degree of temptation and danger of them being a trigger food.

As for dubbelzoute drop, they used to have Very Good ones at Bulk Barn, only one block away from where I am. I am now in the fortunate-unfortunate position of celebrating that they no longer do, but I most definitely miss it!

springlering62 wrote: »

I do keep several boxes of hagel slaag on tap at all times. Cheap chocolate thrill for not so many calories!

I loved it as a child. I now stay away from it, helped by the fact that it is not all that easy to get in my neck of the woods of Toronto.
By the way, the correct name is "hagelslag" and it is actually a brand name. In Flanders it is called "muizenstrontjes" (mouse droppings).

Lietchi wrote: »

BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »

springlering62 wrote: »

I do keep several boxes of hagel slaag on tap at all times. Cheap chocolate thrill for not so many calories!

I loved it as a child. I now stay away from it, helped by the fact that it is not all that easy to get in my neck of the woods of Toronto.
By the way, the correct name is "hagelslag" and it is actually a brand name. In Flanders it is called "muizenstrontjes" (mouse droppings).

Thanks for the spelling correction here, I didn't want to be the Dutch spelling 'nazi' a second time 😆
But to be fair to Spring, hagelslag is not a brand name, it's a 'proper' name for the product regardless of brand ('mouse droppings' is not something manufacturers want to put on their product 🤪 )



I love it on bread on top of some peanut butter, which (sort of) brings us back to cheese since peanut butter is called 'peanut cheese' in Dutch.

Thank you for that. I have always understood "hagelslag" to be a brand name. It is possible that I am/was wrong about that, or maybe that it is no longer the case. I just looked and Wikipedia says that it "was" a brand name. So, perhaps, I remember it as a brand name because I am old fart? Wikipedia does not seem to have all the data to decide either way. See: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagelslag#:~:text=De naam hagelslag was als,de volksmond ook muizenstrontjes genoemd

That said, Wikipedia also says this:

Chocoladefabriek Erven H. de Jong uit Wormerveer bracht rond maart 1913 voor het eerst hagelslag op de markt[5] maar al snel gingen andere fabrikanten het product namaken onder de naam chocoladekorrels of chocoladestrooisel of chocolade-hagelkorrels, omdat 'hagelslag' in combinatie met 'chocolade' in maart 1913 was gedeponeerd door Erven H. de Jong.[6]

That might indicate that it used to be a brand name. I think that it is utterly unimportant here, but my curiosity has been aroused.

As for pindakaas ["peanut cheese"], that was unknown in Flanders. It was explained to us (in school) as a type of cheese with peanuts that was really disgusting. Of course, that was disinformation, plain and simple. Pindakaas is not cheese, just ground up peanuts. And peanuts were –and are– called apenootjes (monkey nuts) in Flanders. I later found out that it wasn't disgusting at all, but so delicious I always emptied the jar.

The funny part (for me) is that peanut butter is still called pindakaas in Flanders. I am guessing this is because it was imported from the Netherlands, where it was originally imported from the US. I can't help but wonder how the Dutch ever started calling this "pindakaas" and not "pindaboter" which seems to be more straightforward a translation.

Another product that used to fascinate me: "Zwitserse strooikaas" ["Swiss grated cheese"]. This was also completely unknown in Flanders. Some people claimed it was just Parmigiano (which most Flemings don't even know as cheese, but simply as a powdered condiment), but that was not even remotely possible, given its nutrition facts. It fascinated me, now some thirty years ago, because I found it in the "Nederlandse Voedingsmiddelentabel" [Dutch list food with nutrition facts, much smaller but comparable to the USDA database] and the reason it fascinated me was that I did not know it [how surprising ^_^] and because it had 400 Kcal per 100 gram and 100 gram protein per 100 gram, so it was virtually pure protein.

I had already been an unwilling fatty at the time for a decade or two. My Dutch assistant told me what it was and said she really hated it, but she brought me a container so I could try it. I really liked it, it made me think of a combination of the taste of stock cubes all while being virtually pure protein. Since we now have flavourless whey protein powder, I did not look for it anymore, but if I would find it in a store closeby, I'd certainly buy it again. I suspect it would taste great on vegetables, especially for coating Brussels sprouts as a means to slightly increase their protein content while turning them into a finger food by drying them out, a bit as an alternative breading, which is why I use the protein powder to coat my sprouts.