Guilty pleasure....or just a pleasure. Great Cheese

[El Presidente]

Having been on a health kick for a couple of years now, my love of cheese has taken a back seat. Great cheese and great bread are probably the two things I miss most from my once "regular rotation". these days I may indulge in a "taste" once every other week. 

It was during a recent visit to one of our favourite haunts that chef calls me across to try a new cheese he had got in. It was a Manchego, truffle and honey (slight nuance of honey only). 

flavour sensation! Bugger me it was superb. 

Bloody hell. I have thought about that cheese every day since. 

Do you have a soft spot for great cheese? If so, share your favourites!

 

[BrightonCorgi]

I split whole wheels of cheese with a friend.  We buy them at wholesale.  Usually harder cheeses as they store well vacuum sealed.

[La_Tigre]

Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Cotija, Queso Añejo, Asadero….going to Mexico soon and 😋 

[Chibearsv]

Not many cheeses I don't like.  I definitely prefer stinky cheeses though over mild cheese.

Years ago, one of my favorite lunches I'd get regularly, came from an Italian deli: homemade marinated eggplant salad, a piece of aged sharp provolone, and a hunk of bread.  The taste of that funky sharp cheese would just stay with me all afternoon.  Mama at the deli died years ago so and they converted to a pizza, pasta, and sandwich shop and gave up the deli counter.  I miss it.

 

[Puros Y Vino]

Love cheese.  My favourite meals as a kid and to this day is to put together a charcuterie board.  When I was a kid and my father was on lunch duty, that's what we'd do. He'd pull out a prosciutto leg, some soppressata, capicollo from the cold cellar.  We'd cut up some cheese, I'd run to the corner store for some Calabrese bread.  We put out the salamis and various Italian cheeese (provolone, Asiago, parmaggiano, Crotonese, etc) and some pickled items. (olives, peppers, mushrooms,etc).  I even got to have a glass of wine, without ginger ale to water it down.   

[Ford2112]

The best cheese I have ever had came from some mountain farm in the Pyrenees . We bought a slice of it and ended up shipping a whole wheel back to the states. I can still smell and taste it!

[oneizzzz]

God yes.  Went to a raclette place, Chalet Savoyard, in Paris last month.  Probably ate a kilo of melted cheese...

Raclette consists of melting a wheel of cheesing with a broiler and scraping that layer of cheese over boiled potatoes, cured meats, and eating with cornichons.  They just give you two half-wheels of cheese and two lamps and let you go wild.  Feels illegal for some reason...

 

For any fans of Greek cheese, Halloumi is one of my favorites too.  It's hard and salty like feta but chewy like low-moisture mozzarella.  Fry it in a touch of olive oil then squeeze a bunch of fresh lemon on top.  Eat hot!

[Araffle]

Love cheese!  The stinkier the better; Epoisses, Muenster, various Blue’s etc. but, there are few cheese I don’t love.  I typically stay away from additions but, I’ll eat those two.  I bake high-whole grain sourdough and Eastern European sourdough ryes to go with them.  
 

I’m STARVING!!!

[Chibearsv]

1 hour ago, oneizzzz said:

God yes.  Went to a raclette place, Chalet Savoyard, in Paris last month.  Probably ate a kilo of melted cheese...

Raclette consists of melting a wheel of cheesing with a broiler and scraping that layer of cheese over boiled potatoes, cured meats, and eating with cornichons.  They just give you two half-wheels of cheese and two lamps and let you go wild.  Feels illegal for some reason...

Nice.  I went to a place in Thun, Switzerland that had Raclette and Fondue, fantastic stuff!  Nothing legal could taste that good.

[Jimm902]

St Agur, Fromage Daffinois, Roquefort, King Island Cheddar, pretty much all Greek cheeses, port salut, Jacki havarti, provolone, pecorino Romano.. I mean there are not many I would say no to.. and yes the Manchego with truffle is something special .. 

[99call]

love most cheeses, but I have a very specific 'no go' zone.

I can go from the most fresh pure clean cheese up to the ripest funky brie

Camembert = no go zone.........just smells like rotting bodies

Everything beyond Camembert I re-engage  

[oneizzzz]

1 hour ago, Jimm902 said:

St Agur, Fromage Daffinois, Roquefort, King Island Cheddar, pretty much all Greek cheeses, port salut, Jacki havarti, provolone, pecorino Romano.. I mean there are not many I would say no to.. and yes the Manchego with truffle is something special .. 

Good call.  D'Affinois absolutely one of my favs - I love it with cherry preserves

[GolfT3]

Love a great cheese. Frequent summer dinner is a big salad and some bread, cheese, pate. Like wine, the amount of variety out there is incredible. Here are a few local favorites:

https://www.meadowcreekdairy.com/product-page/grayson
 

http://www.caromontcheese.com/order-cheese/farmstead-chevre-8-oz

[LLC]

Love cheese and great to enjoy with a nice red wine. This is one of my favorites from Quebec. 

[OrangePaw]

Clemson blue cheese, produced on campus since 1941.

 

[Edicion]

Any day I can eat 'mozzarella' I'm a lucky 'fella

[Ken Gargett]

12 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Having been on a health kick for a couple of years now, my love of cheese has taken a back seat. Great cheese and great bread are probably the two things I miss most from my once "regular rotation". these days I may indulge in a "taste" once every other week. 

It was during a recent visit to one of our favourite haunts that chef calls me across to try a new cheese he had got in. It was a Manchego, truffle and honey (slight nuance of honey only). 

flavour sensation! Bugger me it was superb. 

Bloody hell. I have thought about that cheese every day since. 

Do you have a soft spot for great cheese? If so, share your favourites!

 

i must say i am a bit staggered that with your spanish heritage, you were not much more familiar with manchengo.

so many great cheeses - roquefort, comte (they do say it is the ideal match for DRC), stilton, so many. for me, impossible to beat a good parmesan. heaven on earth (great with champagne).

one i found on the last trip to portugal - back when we could travel - was serra de estrella. i had never heard of it. lord take me now. it is possible, though i am not saying anything on record, some may have been snuck back into australia from that trip. did a piece on it for Q&P. 

https://quillandpad.com/2018/10/31/serra-de-estrela-cheese-rich-ripe-and-full-of-intense-tangy-flavors/

[El Presidente]

Just now, Ken Gargett said:

i must say i am a bit staggered that with your spanish heritage, you were not much more familiar with manchengo.

.....I was talking about the cheese....Manchego

I am assuming Manchengo is a style of flamenco 

[Ken Gargett]

1 minute ago, El Presidente said:

.....I was talking about the cheese....Manchego

I am assuming Manchengo is a style of flamenco 

oh aren't we amusing ourselves! if you'd update your antiquated system to include a spellcheck...

but really, you of all people want to open that can of worms. spelling errors. i was one inadvertent letter out (and hasn't that been the bane of my life this year). how nice that from here on in, we shall be perfection. not that i am the sort of person to point it out, should you make the slightest, most innocent slip. that is just not me. 

[Chas.Alpha]

Ok, I’m going right back to the original post. Cheese is not decadence, nor is it a mere sinful indulgence. To quote Ernest Hemingway, “cheese is milk’s attempt at immortality.” To appreciate a fine cheese goes hand-in-hand with the appreciation of the other fine things in life, be it spirits, wine, cigars, women... Maybe wine should have been left off of the list? 😳

Caraway/Dill weed cheddar. 7 years down at this point. Smooth...

1/2 wheel left. 😔

[Fuzz]

My lactose intolerance is starting to act up just reading this thread.

[Ford2112]

Charcuterie. Those olives and followed by that no. 2 ...sublime!

[JohnS]

6 hours ago, Fuzz said:

My lactose intolerance is starting to act up just reading this thread.

Remind me to bring some cheese for the next cigar get together! 😉

[westg]

Amsterdam 2006,  visited the most amazing cheese shop. It was so incredible I wanted to return home and open my own . I was going to call it Cheeses Christ. 

[El Hoze]

One I will mention for those in the US is Hooks aged cheddar. They make it in 10, 12, 15, and 20 years (which difficult to find and very expensive). All of them are out of control good. Develops an amazing array of flavors and there’s quite a difference as the cheese ages. Any time I serve it to people their eyes light up. The only place I see it regularly for sale is in the Chicago area, but can be found online. Worth it!