Man! I had forgotten how rich, salty and creamy this stuff is! I bought half a small wheel from Kroger today that had the “Woohoo…Great Deal!” (going out of date) sticker on it for $5 and it’s incredible.
My sons and I ate a portion of it out of hand, and then I added the rinds and the crumbles to the spaghetti sauce I am making for Rigatoni (sewer pipes) and meatballs we’re having tonight. It altered the gussied up store bought sauce to a completely other level, and I had already added fresh basil, garlic, onion powder, a dash of Louisiana Hot Sauce and ground pepper. This sauce is the best from store bought alteration I have ever tasted.
The Miller Cheese lady told me that they have to tack on a 7-day expiration date once they cut a (small, perhaps 4-5" diameter) wheel for someone and repackage it. Today was that day and I saved a couple bucks and it was totally fine. I know when cheese is bad, it generally takes on that ammonia-ish smell. This was perfect.
FTR, I generally avoid the “Woo-Hoo!” (I like saying and typing that more than I should) items like the plague but I know enough about cheese that her staff having to cut a wheel in half and repackage it meant bupkiss to it’s quality…those are corporate Kroger guidelines. They would have pitched a perfectly good cheese portion just…because.
The items I would NOT buy with that sticker are typically seafood, bread and meat, and also vegetables unless I inspect them first. I got some great mushrooms recently that had been tagged thus and were perfectly fine.
But back to the cheese! Tell me more about these other kinds this company makes! I could Google it of course, but fine foods and wine are my wheelhouse and I so much prefer discourse to internet for these types of things.
But damn, that’s some good bleu. And so very, very different from Stilton and cave aged bleus I’ve had before. Much less sharp and way more texturally pleasing.
The Mt. Tam is a triple-cream that just works perfectly with crackers and wine. Nothing too stand-outy, just creamy goodness and richness. For something that will get your attention fast, try the Red Hawk. Nicely pungent. Wild bacteria, so there is a “otherness” to it, like a wild fermented Belgian trippel.
I thought that one of the reasons European cheese was so superior to domestic ones was the difference in the bacteria allowed to fester in the finished product as it aged. I was under the assumption that domestic cheeses had to adhere to a standard that imported cheese didn’t and therefore affected the flavor. Is this still true or have those laws been relaxed for artisanal domestic producers?
Looking it up, Cowgirl Creamery doesn’t actually make Humbolt Fog. It’s made by another company called Cypress Grove Creamery. I guess Cowgirl distributes for them?
When our local Giant Eagle (which has a dedicated cheese person in a raised area with everything needed to cut and package cheeses) gets towards the end of a wheel, they cut the remainder into small servings and wrap them with new labels. This way you get to try expensive cheeses for only a few dollars a package. You never know what is going to be in the basket.
Today I got a Stilton and a Rothkrase Buttermilk Blue. I’m too full from dinner - Newman’s Own Sockarooni sauce with a few additions and finished using the wedge of Parmasiano-Reggiano I also bought. I might have to wait until tomorrow.
Giant Eagle is the huge supermarket chain that has pretty much taken over in Northern Ohio. A nice place to shop, and the Super Walmart prices keep G E from charging too much. In house bakery with great bread, claim to have 400 cheeses on the website.
