Every time I see people eating cheese with maggots in it (and their poo) on TV food shows, though I love all kinds of cheese, I just can’t see myself eating the stuff ever, regardless of how great of cheese everyone might tell me or how unsophisticated I might come through as…
Would you eat or have you had any cheese with live maggots (or dead, I suppose) in them (they are supposedly extremely strong/ammoniated)? What are some of the strongest/strangest cheese you ever had?
Strongest - not sure - I do like a strong cheese - my favourite is aged cheddar where it gets those little whey granules in it. I had a piece of vintage pecorino once that was so strong it made my face hurt.
Strangest I think would be some soya cheese substitute (for vegans) - it looked like a sort of crumbly orange cheshire, but it tasted like… earth
Head cheese isn’t cheese at all, but mushed brains called cheese qualifies in my opinion anyway.
Did I hear head cheese is making a comeback?
I like several different kinds of cheeses but don’t have any use for the stinky exotic ones. I don’t even want to get near them.
What do people do with this?
It is a small, green chunk of brick-like substance. You are supposed to grate it and use it to flavor other foods.
I did it-it was like sprinkling sawdust on your food.
St. Albray. Looks like Camembert, tastes like spank socks.
Epoisses is supposed to be among the most powerful-smelling of all cheeses. I didn’t find it as strong as its reputation suggested - but the flavor is excellent.
I’m very pedestrian in my cheese choices. The strongest I’ve ever eaten has been a nicely aged Stilton. With a nice port and a handful of walnuts…yum!
All cheesy threads go in Cafe Society! 
From IMHO.
The other night I was going to make something that I’ve had in a restaurant: Prunes stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped with bacon, then broiled. My mother had all of the ingredients except the goat cheese. Instead she had some cheese like substance that tasted like ass served in a dirty sock.
We had chicken soup instead.
Sap Sago is pretty good, in my book. A thick layer on a toasted english muffin with a lot of butter melted on it first brings out a rich, strong, somewhat nutty taste.
If it seemed flavorless to you, get your tastebuds checked. It’s pretty strong.
I love a good Epoisses!
Sadly the last one I had was much to ammoniacal to finish; it had gone over.
That seems to be a common problem with the varieties found in the US.
Liederkranz was recently re-invented. It’s not quite as stinky as a good limburger, but it’s pretty close.
Nice flavor, when you can get past the smell.
Gorgonzola dolce.
If I had stopped to think about it I would have realized that there is a reson blue cheeses are not commonly used in desserts.
I had yak cheese and goat cheese in a Tibetan monastary set in a cave about 5 hours hike from the nearest road, and the nearest road at that time was a 5 day drive from the nearest airport. The yak cheese was dried little pellets that had to be soaked in yak butter tea for “awhile” to soften up to something edible. It was ok but nothing special. The goat cheese, and I loves me some goat cheese, was sublime. It was by far the best goat cheese I’ve ever had in the feta tradition. Servered on beautifully baked buckwheat loafs. Man, that was simply awesome. I’m tempted to go back nearly 30 years later to see if they still have such great cheese.
Generally, the yak and goat cheese made my the Tibetan nomads is simply awesome (without being really strange).
I LOVE cheese; even the stinky ones; however, Limburger is an atrocity! I sampled some once and I could not finish it. It tasted just like it smelled…dirty sock-ish. I’m really curious. Does anyone really like limburger?
Head cheese is not made with brains. The head of the animal is split, and the brains are discarded.
I generally like stinky cheeses. But Limburger is just awful.
The best strong cheese I have ever had was Valdeon cheese from Spain. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/cheeses/a/mixedcheese.htm
Oh, epoisses is my absolute favorite cheese! But the smell of it drives my girlfriend up the wall…
Speaking of which, her father prepared a concoction of Roquefort, cognac, raisins, and uh, some other things I forgot, that’s just sublime, and of which I have now a jar in the fridge…