Just about every other week or so I go to this cheese shop and pick up: A nice order of 10 year old English cheader cheese & some pepperoni. The thing is, I would like to expand my horizons, but all the cheese is behind the counter and I am not aboout to walk in there and ask for one of everything.
So in the interest of general knowledge lets learn about cheese, some guidelines are important so lets go with these:
How hard/soft is it? (get over your snickering)
Smell?
Taste?
What does it go good with?
I think this thread is better suited to IMHO that GQ.
Anyway; my recommendations from ‘mainstram’ (less obscure) cheeses.:
Halloumi - this is a rubbery white cheese from Cyprus, made with variable proportions of cow/sheep/goat/buffalo milk (depending on the brand/recipe) and is sold packed in brine. It is quite salty, but otherwise fairly mild and can be cooked without melting to a liquid - sliced 1/2 an inch thick and char grilled it is simply divine and is an excellent standby if you are having a BBQ and expect some vegetarians to attend.
Brie & Camenbert - two quite similar(someone will murder me for saying that, no doubt) soft French cheeses - these cheeses ‘ripen’, going soft in the middle and becoming quite strong in flavour - a fully ripe Camenbert reeks of ammonia and is (IMHO) not terribly pleasant, but a nice slighty-under-ripe brie is creamy and mild - both of these cheeses have a leathery white rind which is edible (and is the best bit, IMHO).
Double Gloucester - looks like a sort of orangey-coloured cheddar - a little creamier/softer and more crumbly, this is excellent for melting on top of toast.
Cheshire - white, crumbly and tangy; you could crumble this into a salad (like you would with Feta).
Next time you visit the shop, jot down some of the names of the cheeses available and I’ll tell you what they are like, if I’ve tried them.
You may find that the proprieter of the shop would be happy to let you taste a small piece of something that looks interesting (as long as you don’t ask for a piece of all of them), or at least try to describe it for you (or recommend something).
http://www.cheese.com/ should be a good place to start (you knew there had to be one). The lists there are not exhaustive by any means.
If you’re looking to expand your horizons how much of a risk do you want to take? Blue cheeses such as Stilton, Roquefort, Danablu or Gorgonzola are an acquired taste and are increasingly strong-tasting (and -smelling) in that order. I love them.
A few local favourites of mine are: Double Gloucester
Hardness about the same as cheddar or a little softer, very mild smell, creamy, slightly salty flavour, golden orange colour. Goes with fresh bread, good beer, salads and fruit such as apples or pears. Good for grilling on toast or for cheese sauce.
Red Leicester
A little softer than DG, deep orange colour, pretty mild smell, tangy flavour. Goes with full flavoured brown bread. Melts easily either in the mouth or if cooked. Needs a full bodied red wine such as a burgundy.
Cheshire, Lancashire
Pale yellow, medium hard, crumbly “young” flavoured cheeses. Fresh, lactic, salty smell. Blue veined versions are available. Good on crackers or grilled on toast as in the dish Welsh Rarebit.
Wensleydale, Caerphilly
White, smooth, crumbly cheeses with delicate creamy flavour. They go with the same things as DG, dark bread, sweet or woody wines.
My favourite in all the world is [url=http://www.pont-leveque-aoc.org/]Pont l’Eveque. It’s like a brie or a camembert, but much richer and runnier, with a very strong aroma. Great recipe: buy an entire square of Pont l’Eveque (it comes in a wooden box), take the cheese out of the box, rub the rind all over with garlic, then put it back in the box, pierce the top of the rind a few times, pour a little white wine over it, then put the box lid back on, and put it into a hot oven for 30 minutes. When you take it out, remove the lid of the box, cut diagonals across the top, peel back the rind and dip into it with bits of crusty bread. Very easy DIY fondue that tastes incredible.
There’s also a very good French cheese, the name of which escapes me for now, that has a layer of ash in the middle of it. The layer of ash separates the morning’s milk from the evening’s milk. It, too, is very good. I’m sure some kind Doper with a better memory will come along and tell me the name of it.
I’m pretty sure last month’s Wine Spectator had an extensive list of types of cheese, their qualities, and what wine they’d go best with.
Don’t quote me on it, though, because I don’t subscribe to Wine Spectator and for the life of me I can’t even remember where I picked up a copy.
Oh wait! Now I know. We were in some uber trendy bar and I wanted to look all hip and cultural and so I started perusing the mag. Then I got to cheeses and it was interesting so I read it for real. All my friends laughed. The uncultured bafoons!
Just this weekend I got some Drunken Goat from Whole Foods. It’s a semi-soft goat cheese that is soaked in red wine. It has a purple rind. It is very mild, and I ate it with crackers and an Australian Shiraz. Yummmm.