Been on a cheese kick lately. Well, more of one I guess, since I’ve always enjoyed cheese. Not quite at the connoisseur level of Qagdop the Mercotan with his 20 year old cheddar, though I hope to try some really well-aged cheddar some day.
My local grocery carries extra-sharp Pinconning cheese from a local Michigan farm (named after the town of Pinconning, MI, I understand it’s a variety of Colby). It’s fantastic- really satisfyingly sharp, and aged just long enough (100 days I think) that I it’s still cheese-like in consistency, not hard and crumbly, but it has those crystals that give it that crunch I’ve come to enjoy.
Then I noticed they started selling 1000 day old Gouda, so I had to try that. The first wedge I bought was interesting, but I couldn’t decide if I really liked it or not. Really hard and waxy. Doesn’t cut, you just sort of chisel off chunks of it. The smell was…funky. Yet sort of familiar- kind of like the smell when you open an old book. The taste was similarly funky, with caramelly undertones. I was intrigued enough to buy a second wedge of it, and I don’t know if it grew on me or if the second was from a better batch, but this latest wedge of old Gouda is currently the best thing ever. I am savoring every waxy little broken-off chunk, not knowing whether my third wedge will be as good.
Years ago in another neighborhood I used to shop at a grocery that had a nice cheese area, and they carried this English applewood-smoked double Gloucester cheese. That stuff was amazing. I’ve tried smoked cheeses of many other varieties since, but they all pale in comparison. I recently was in the neighborhood not too long ago and stopped by there just to see if they still had it but alas, they didn’t. The woman who ran the cheese counter said she’d been there 10 years but didn’t remember ever carrying that cheese (I had moved about 11 years ago).
And some good Parmesan or Pecorino Romano is an always in-supply staple for pastas and risottos.
What about you guys- what are the cheeses that pleases for you?
A Portuguese sheeps’ milk cheese that is difficult to find in the US: Queijo da Serra da Estrela (photo). When it’s young, it’s creamy like the photo and can nearly be spooned out of the rind. It’s made in very small batches in the Serra da Estrela mountains.
Jarlsberg, an earthy cheddar, gruyere (mainly as an ingredient), gouda (smoked or plain). I like sweet mild cheeses like muenster, but many of them are virtually indistinguishable.
Unfortunately, I do a pretty bad job of keeping track of creameries, as cheeses of the same name can vary quite a bit. I’ve had Stiltons that were meh, and Stiltons that blew my socks off. So, with that in mind, in general, my favorite cheese are:
Maytag Blue
Stilton
Roaring 40s Blue
5-ish year aged gouda
Morbier
St. Andre
Gruyere
In the EU, Stilton has a protected designation of origin, so cheese can be sold within the EU as “Stilton” only if it has been made in Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire*.
Just curious, does this protection extend to the USA? Is any Stilton you buy imported from cheese-makers in those English counties, or does the protection not apply and could a US cheese-maker from California, for argument’s sake, make a blue cheese and sell it as Stilton?
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Although interestingly, not in in Cambridgeshire, where the eponymous village of Stilton is.
I can’t find any definite citation, but I’ve never seen a domestic Stilton in the way I’ve seen domestic parmesan, swiss, (pecorino) romano, asiago, etc., so I’m guessing there is some sort of similar protection. All the Stiltons I’ve had were English.
Sage Derby, Red Dragon (back when I could), fresh mozzarella, Gouda, Port Salut, Havarti.
There was a cheese I had once that was a goat cheese with potato skin. I remember loving it, but nothing else about it. Ha! Just in typing that I remember the name: Dorothea, which is apparently “Goat Gouda with Basil Oil and Potato Skins”
Sometimes I think there’s a song about everything.
I found a web page once from someone who was attempting to try all the cheeses mentioned in that sketch. Venezuelan beaver cheese was proving to be difficult.
