While partaking of my traditional football sunday meal I realized I may be missing one aspect of total enjoyment. Sunday is cheese and crackers and sausage and beer day. I am quite satified with the varity and quality of cheese I possess. The Sausage and meat is under control as well, and the beer situation has no complaints at all.
The crackers I wonder about though. I have always been a Ritz man. I am well acquianted with the rest of the common Nabisco/kraft/etc crackers, and Ritz is the best. However I wonder about the little boxes in the fancy/schmancy food stores. Unlike my feel for correctly guessing about unknown cheeses, I have no intution for crackers, and end up with some under-salted sawdust wafers that I have to throw out.
So other cheese folks, do you have an amazing discovery on the cracker front I need to know about. Or is Ritz as good as it gets?
I like those chicken flavored crackers- artificially flavored, MSG goodness. Those really thin and crispy, large, round, English crackers are excellent for cheese and sausage (I’m not sure what they are called or their specific brandname?). Swedish Rye crakers are nice, too.
I’m a black pepper addict, and have been gravitating lately to crackers with pepper in them. This typically goes quite nicely with cheese and sausages. Beer too.
We were a Sociable household growing up, so I still get them from time to time.
For cheese snackin’, we’re all about Back To Nature crackers in our house. They’re a “natural foods” company that’s now owned by Kraft, but sometimes is hard to find in regular grocery stores (sometimes they’re in a separate section). Whole Foods carries the line. The Crispy Wheats are immensely preferable to me than Wheat Thins (and I don’t hate Wheat Thins). I also like their Classic Rounds better than Ritz, and their Stoneground Wheats to Sociables.
Kashi’s TLC crackers are also good. None of these crackers are terribly fancy, I think think they’re a step more tasty than the more name-brand stuff you might find at the supermarket.
My favorite crackers are Dr. Kracker crackers. They’re incredibly crunchy and tasty and also have a lot of great fiber so you can feel good about eating them. Here’s a review. Dr. Kracker crackers are great with something flavorful like tuna or pimento cheese or even just by themselves. (They’re a lot tastier than most high fiber crackers.)
The cracker I pick depends on the topping. For creamy blended cheeses or a creamy goats milk Bourdin, I’d probably pick a light wafer cracker, maybe with cracked pepper or garlic. I always look at the ingredients; a lot of expensive little crackers aren’t any better than stuff from the regular supermarket. If you’re used to Ritz crackers, you’ll probably find a lot of the fancy crackers kinda dry, they’re a lot less heavy than Ritz but I think a lighter cracker can let more of the cheese flavor shine.
If you’re interested in healthy crackers, here’s a nice article (pdf) ranking crackers that also has a few tasty spread recipes.
“Water biscuits,” as they’re called by the British makers, are pretty good, but I go for Stoned Wheat Thins, also imported. They’re much better than any Canadian or US brands I’ve tried.
I’m a sucker for good ol’ Ritz crackers (or Keebler’s Club, the rectangular equivalent of Nabisco’s Ritz), but the Garlic Butter Ritz are awesome. I usually buy the reduced fat Ritz or Club (depending on which is on sale) and dip them in salsa, since baked crackers are healthier than fried chips. But they’re all good with cheese, even the reduced fat varieties.
I am hardly a cracker connoisseur, but I wouldn’t call a Club the rectangular equivalent of a Ritz … no, no, no, NO, mon ami.
(Can you tell that I love Club crackers but am not so much a fan of the Ritz?)
Not to pile on, Lou, but Misnomer’s right. Ritz & Clubs are nothing alike. I’m a fan of Carr’s crackers when I want something a bit fancy. I’ve also had some crackers that were similar to melba toast but with flavor. Those are yummy with soft cheeses and spreads. My old standby is still Jacob’s Cream Crackers. mmmmm…
Slight hijack- Anyone ever notice that Nabisco saltines are far superior to Keebler? Those elves don’t know squat about saltines.
