Cheese Admiration and Celebration

Options
1151618202128

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,583 Member
    Options

    I'm sure I could be more consistent with a plane, but I can easily and quickly slice firm cheeses into translucent-thin slices with my favorite knife, so I'm not highly motivated, TBH. I used to like kitchen gadgets, now not so much.

    And y'all can have aaaallll the crackers, most times, if there's cheese. I like some crackers fine, in other contexts, but even then I'm picky, and they're not top of my yum list. If tasting multiple cheeses, as I did with the blue cheeses I posted about back on page 6, I might eat a very plain cracker on its own between cheeses as a neutralizer.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,675 Member
    Options
    Some of the really soft and runny cheeses just need something hard underneath for transportation. Instead of crackers, I sometime use apple slices. And homemade melba toast is elegant and easy.

    Buy sliced white bread and toast in the toaster. Then slice off the crusts before using a long serrated knife to slice the bread between the two toasted surfaces. Easiest to lie the crustless toast on the cutting board, laying your non dominant hand flat on top and then sliding the serated knife between the toasted edges and sawing gently. Pop into an oven or air fryer, untoasted side up. If you don't want them to curl (which I find charming), lay silicon mesh on top. Keeps a while in an air tight cookie tin.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,583 Member
    Options
    acpgee wrote: »
    Some of the really soft and runny cheeses just need something hard underneath for transportation. Instead of crackers, I sometime use apple slices. And homemade melba toast is elegant and easy.

    Buy sliced white bread and toast in the toaster. Then slice off the crusts before using a long serrated knife to slice the bread between the two toasted surfaces. Easiest to lie the crustless toast on the cutting board, laying your non dominant hand flat on top and then sliding the serated knife between the toasted edges and sawing gently. Pop into an oven or air fryer, untoasted side up. If you don't want them to curl (which I find charming), lay silicon mesh on top. Keeps a while in an air tight cookie tin.

    Good food advice, as usual from you!

    I have to admit, with a glance around to make sure no one's watching, that since I live alone, I'm perfectly happy putting a chunk of soft cheese on a plate, cutting off bits with a table knife, and eating them off the (non-serrated!) knife. No, I don't do that when there're others present. Then, I'd use crackers.

    I do like cheese with apples sometimes, though, and lately I almost always have apples in the house.

    I rarely buy bread (are you sensing a theme here, meh to crackers, meh to bread?). I think I have a toaster somewhere in the house, but I haven't used it in years. I could, though. I could probably make a melba toast substitute from some of the bread I buy once a year or so from the local artisan bakery. I often don't use it up fast enough to keep it from drying out, even if frozen in a nice, tight protective way. Melba toast is a good idea. (I do use it sometimes for things like cheese strata, savory or sweet bread pudding, bread stuffing, etc.) Thanks!
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited November 2022
    Options
    acpgee wrote: »
    Buy sliced white bread and toast in the toaster.
    I used to bake my own very basic bread in a bread maker. I did that because I found the bread I bought at Lobaws to be quite disgusting: too sweet, too salty, too oily. So, I made my own 4-ingredient bread with flour, water, yeast and salt. For an extra crunchy crust, I added chickpea flour to the mix. That also made for a nice square shape. Even though I don't eat bread right now, because of my diet, I still have it. I got rid of the toaster a long time ago as I found I almost never used it. When I wanted something cracker-like, I bought rice cakes. Bulk Barn sells thin ones that are quite pleasant. But then, I haven't bought them in a long time, they are also not part of my diet.

  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited November 2022
    Options
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I have to admit, with a glance around to make sure no one's watching, that since I live alone, I'm perfectly happy putting a chunk of soft cheese on a plate, cutting off bits with a table knife, and eating them off the (non-serrated!) knife.
    Same here. If the cheese is wrapped in paper. I eat it off the paper. If it is wrapped in cling wrap, I put it on a porcelain dish first. Saran wrap is really not appetising, and it doesn't cooperate anyway.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,711 Member
    Options
    Hmmmmmm. Why do I have a sudden yen for a Brie and apple sandwich?
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 712 Member
    Options
    No takers for a pear and gjetost breakfast? Mmm it was yummy! Albeit a bit brown. 989x0ut4j5pc.jpeg
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,675 Member
    Options
    I love cacio e pepe and used to use the dogmatic recipe where the sauce was only starchy pasta water, cheese and pepper. Getting the temperature just right, so that the cheese melts but does not turn into a gummy curdled mass was a bit hit or miss. I now use the cheat's recipe containing 2% sodium citrate.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Options
    No takers for a pear and gjetost breakfast? Mmm it was yummy! Albeit a bit brown. 989x0ut4j5pc.jpeg

    I’ll take that! Best way to eat Gjetost is with thinly sliced ripe pears! No idea what the food is at the far right of your picture but I’ll just stick with the Gjetost and pears! 😊
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Options
    Because of stuff I’ve read in this thread I bought a piece of Cambozola yesterday.

    Deeply disappointed - it’s so mild, no tangy blueness at all. Almost flavourless. 😢 Dreadful waste of calories for me.

    Also picked up a piece of Vintage Gouda which was better but I’ll not bother again. Tastes a bit like fridge dried Edam rind if I’m honest. Not a good cheese haul this week! 😂
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,583 Member
    Options
    Farmstead goat quasi tomme - except full fat. This is an example of thin knife slices - just less than an ounce on the plate - knife works fine for me. I like this local cheese lots.

    lebyuxsel64w.jpg

    @BarbaraHelen2013, I'm sorry you didn't like the Cambozola. Yes, it's mild, not "deeply blue" - more like a mildly blue brie? I think my last serving was trying to send me a secret pictographic message.
    q81en9blownt.jpg

  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,413 Member
    Options
    Because of stuff I’ve read in this thread I bought a piece of Cambozola yesterday.

    Deeply disappointed - it’s so mild, no tangy blueness at all. Almost flavourless. 😢 Dreadful waste of calories for me.

    Also picked up a piece of Vintage Gouda which was better but I’ll not bother again. Tastes a bit like fridge dried Edam rind if I’m honest. Not a good cheese haul this week! 😂

    Did you let it sit out and come up to temperature?

    It is a mild blue for sure. The flavor comes out more if you give it some time to warm up to room temperature in my opinion. It's not a strong cheese, but it's really delicious when ripe AND warmed up.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Options
    Ahh, I shall try letting it come to room temperature and try it again. It was straight out of the fridge. Thanks for the advice!

    I’m also happy to leave it a week or more to ripen, I do love a Brie style cheese when it’s oozing!
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited November 2022
    Options
    Ahh, I shall try letting it come to room temperature and try it again. It was straight out of the fridge. Thanks for the advice!

    I’m also happy to leave it a week or more to ripen, I do love a Brie style cheese when it’s oozing!
    That was wise advice and something we should perhaps take into account (almost?) always. Stuff that comes straight from the fridge or the freezer usually has a lot less taste than stuff at room temperature or (slighly) warmer. Although... when I had durian from the freezer, that was just thawed enough to be sliceable, I felt like in heaven. It is a trigger food for me, and possibly one of the most cheese-like fruits there are. I used to buy it in Toronto's Chinatowns, and fully plan on doing it again when I have reached my ideal weight.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,413 Member
    Options
    There's another dairy product that is inedible direct from the freezer if the freezer is a zero or -10F. Yep. Even ice cream needs to come up to temperature just a little bit in part so you can even serve it without breaking the scoop, but also because the flavor sort of "blooms." But not TOO warm because then it's sweet milk soup. Yuck.


    There was some discussion of Gjetost and whether it was even cheese. I'm sure I'm not the only one who went looking. Answer is -- not really but sort of. It's made from a cheese byproduct - whey. Same thing that is used for protein supplementation. Same thing that's a waste disposal challenge from the production of Greek style yogurt. Seems they just heat up whey until it thickens when about 90% of the moisture is gone. The lactose (milk sugar) does caramelize in this process giving it color and flavor. It was a traditional food. I love it that it's a use of what otherwise would be come a waste product, but it's still edible! At some point they started adding cream to the whey and some of it has goat milk in addition to or instead of cream. Pretty neat stuff. I haven't had it in a while but I do remember liking it. Not as much as something like Cambozola or Humboldt Fog or even anything from the Flagship creamery, but still tasty. Maybe I'll get some.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Options
    If you track back far enough in this thread you’ll find my (failed) attempt at making Gjetost from the leftover whey from making Skyr! 😂 Very bad..

    On a positive note, inspired by @acpgee I decided to make a cheese soufflé to use up some less than palatable cheeses I had on hand. The Vintage Gouda, some quite old Edam and a scrap of Extra Mature Cheddar I wanted to finish up.

    c3nerbqg2hbd.jpeg

    I didn’t get the crown cut quite right (wrong angle) but it was delicious with a simple salad of leaves and baby tomatoes.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,583 Member
    Options
    Again this year as a part of their seasonal fun, the amazing huge produce market I posted about on page 1 (the Horrocks mothership location in Lansing MI) - the one with a massive, varied cheese department - is working its way through an impressively gigantic cheese.
    zzmq3g4dt6ao.jpg
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,675 Member
    Options
    Cooking with a scant amount of cheese. Starter tonight was salad of baby gem with ranch, halved seedless grapes, shavings of cabrales and croutons.
    8u69dqpabbxn.jpeg
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 712 Member
    Options
    A scant amount of cabrales will go a long way!!

    A spanish chef I used to know once actually made ice cream with it. I enjoyed it about as much as the lobster ice cream I had in Maine one summer, I guess I must not like ice cream :wink: