I’ve been buying cheese at Whole Foods the past few weeks. I’ll often take a chance on whatever’s on sale. I have yet to meet a cheese I don’t like. I’m going to be visiting a specialty cheese store this week and I would like some suggestions of some strongly flavored cheeses. I’ll certainly ask for samples but if I go there with a few ideas in mind , that would be ideal.
It’s not for a party or event. I usually slice a few pieces to have when I get home from work. I don’t know much about matching wines to cheese , but I’m hoping to get better with this as well.
My absolute favorite cheese I’ve ever had is Bellavitano Reserve, a semi-hard cheese from Wisconsin that tastes like a magical blend of Parmesan and Cheddar, available with several different flavored rinds, including an amazing raspberry beer rub.
The linked store doesn’t appear to carry it, but I DO believe I’ve seen at it Whole Foods.
They’ve got a 5-year gouda. That’s one of my favorites. I also see a L’Amuse aged gouda which I’ve never had specifically, but the photo looks quite delicious.
See if they have any triple-cream brie, and have it on mild flavored crackers or a baguette with a glass of Champagne. A wonderful thing happens where you get a strong honey taste when you have the two of them together.
Were it me, I’d try the Bayley Hazen (Jasper Hill makes a bunch of different tasty cheeses, and I’ve had this one.), Green Hill looks interesting, and the Quadrello di Bufala. I like Taleggio, and the thought of a Buffalo milk based one is really intriguing to me.
Other really stinky, but good cheeses include: Époisses de Bourgogne and other washed-rind cheeses, Munster, and some of the more barnyard-y soft white cheeses like Livarot(which I didn’t know until now was also a washed rind cheese) and Pont-l’Évêque. I like some of the Trappist cheeses too, especially with their beer.
As for matching them to a beverage, often the wines from the area will complement the cheeses made in that area. So you have Sancerre or Pouilly Fume with a goat cheese, Epoisses with Burgundy, Gewurtztraminer with Munster. Or Trappist beer with Trappist cheese, like Chimay’s versions.
You won’t go wrong at Pastoral. I used to live down the street from the one on Broadway, and their huge counter at the French Market is very nice. They will let you taste your way through pretty much all you want to try, and have always steered me right. Last time I was at the Broadway one, they were just taking loaves of French bread out of the oven. I bought some goat gouda and together with the bread was divine. Love that place, and they really know their products well.
The soft cheeses are the most pungent. More than sharp, their flavors are generally an acquired taste. Epoisses have already been pointed out (I love 'em, but it’s tough to get a good one. If they smell/taste of ammonia, it’s gone over.) Limburger is a classic. So’s Stinking Bishop.
I don’t know if Pastoral has it, but if you can find an aged provolone, you are in for a treat. I mean *really *aged, the kind that crumbles rather than cuts. Best found at little neighborhood Italian stores, like you’d find on Taylor Street.
Bucheron seems to be a clone of the French Bucherolle, which I like best when it’s well-ripened enough that it has a good thick outer layer, more than their picture shows. (We had a cat once who knew he shouldn’t jump on the counter, but would be trying to walk up the front of it as soon as I got the Bucherolle out.)
The strongest cheese I’ve ever tasted was a French muenster. I like strong cheeses, but it was too much for me.
Washed-rind cheeses tend to be strong. Taleggio is a common enough that a good cheese shop should have it.
Blue cheeses are also usually strong. My two favorites are stilton and gorgonzola. Again, any well-stocked cheese shop should have these.
If you want depth of flavor but don’t like stinky cheeses, you might want to try an aged Gouda. Beemster makes several different types. You can sometimes find four-year-old Goudas. These are spectacularly good, with caramel and nutty notes.
The heart of the provolone! That’s what my favorite Italian grocery calls it. I would call it “tangy”, but that is a weak description of a tanginess that feels like it could slice off your tongue.
I have never had an Époisses in the US that wasn’t bad, even when ordered from a high-end cheese dealer who assured me that THEIR Époisses was just fine. As Qadgop points out, they stink like ammonia, and once you get that going, you might as well throw it out. The ammonia overpowers any flavor you get from the cheese itself.
Mr. Athena actually didn’t believe me on this one, thinking that I was overreacting or something, until the last time we went to France and I made a point to buy Époisses to show him that FRENCH Époisses has absolutely no ammonia smell. He’s now a convert. Not that it helps any, since you can’t seem to get the damn stuff in the US.
