Cheese Based Question aimed at Colonials.

[Toddy]

Cheese triangles are just weird margarine

I used to make the macaroni cheese from a roux base, but gluten free flour doesn't work that way

Babybel is awfully bland and plasticy but it's handy for a pocket carry. Cheddar is easy to carry though, just wrap it in wax paper. Keeps it clean the paper burns when you're done

 

[Janne]

Babybel is bland ( made for children and babies? ) but the newer types are a little bit better.

The Forsfararen and Tomat Ost have a good bite. Lots of the triangles seem to be made for children. They make good ones in Czech Republic, a cheesery called Madeta.

Is it not weird that bland foods get so popular?
Are we beginning to get afraid of taste?

There is one cheese I do not understand. The classic Wensleydale. Tastes like compressed Cheddar curds.

Cheddar would carry, but maybe best to put in a container to avoid getting the crumbles everywhere?

Yes, difficult to cook traditional receipes with gluten free stuff.
I did it for about a year while I was under investigation. Medical, not criminal I should clarify.
I was and am happy that I am gluten tolerant.

 

[Toddy]

Wensleydale is lovely on digestives or oatcakes and it's absolutely perfect with fruit cake or an apple or pear

The Blue Wensleydale is awfully good too.

If I recall correctly Wensleydale's been made since the 14th century with only a short hiatus for WW2....when milk for cheesemaking was used for Government Cheddar.

M

 

[santaman2000]

Of course, but then it depends on what you set as a benchmark for Macaroni cheese.
Is Kraft the gold standard?
Or the classic English /European version? .......

Neither for me. For me the standard is the original Thomas Jefferson version (soul food) but I suspect most people here will lean towards the Kraft boxes simply because it's what they grew up with. Kraft (or a generic) box for quick weeknight suppers and move to home made soul food on special occasions (holiday get togethers, big Sunday dinners or family reunions, etc)

.....I used to make the macaroni cheese from a roux base, but gluten free flour doesn't work that way

Babybel is awfully bland and plasticy but it's handy for a pocket carry. Cheddar is easy to carry though, just wrap it in wax paper. Keeps it clean the paper burns when you're done

Yeah, the roux is trickier with GF flours. I've been doing a lot of experimenting with different ones but it seems the gluten is a necessary part of the roux if it is to have that "glue" like starch. Sometimes it's close but often I use just milk and then thicken with cornstarch. Results are varied and we're still learning.

If you're really dedicated, the cheddar can be cut to the size you want then wrap in cheese cloth and wax it yourself for travel.

......bland foods get so popular?
Are we beginning to get afraid of taste?......

We're experiencing the opposite here; taste for spicey foods is increasing. There are two theories on why and I think it's a combination of both:
1) Immigration from places where spicey food is part of the culture, and
2) Our population is aging and we need spicier foods to stimulate dying taste buds

That said, I think blander ingredients (and cheese is often an ingredient rather than the star of a dish) means it doesn't overpower the dish where another item is the star.

 

[Robson Valley]

Too funny. My old tastebuds need a massive message to wake up.
Some of those messages will get me up half the night with trips to the throne.
Others and I sleep soundly, all night. Savory is OK but not chili habernaro hot.
Any kinds of cheeses seem to settle my guts just fine.
750ml tub of Chevre and a round of Brie is going fast.

Couple of years back, I was over in NYorks for a wedding.
Wensleydale with the wedding cake. That was a taste treat.
I remarked on that and was told that was the reason for the Wensleydale on the table.

This example seems the opposite to santaman's reasoning (which I agree with):

At the very least, 1/2 the population of this village is Italian.
Heritage immigration and employment with the railroad.
I cannot buy durum semolina flour to make pasta. None.
I ask city visitors to bring it!

Don't make it if you can buy it in a bag, a box, or a jar.

 

[Janne]

I am brought up in a family with 'oldfashioned' cooking.
For me, cheese in a dish is usually the Star of the dish.
Most dishes we make are meat free.
Grand parents were brought up during the lean WW1 and parents were brought up during the lean WW2. And lived a large chunk of their adult lived during the even leaner Communist times....

I will leave the Wensleydale to you to enjoy... I tuck into a Limburger instead!

Grand Cayman became a decent place to live in about 5 years ago, when they started importing plenty of various European cheeses, including Limburger and that French one that you have to restrain so it does not run away.....

Proper Israeli oldfashined cracked Olives, with a taste I remember from when we lived in Italy. Swedish Lingon berry sauce.
Last Saturday we took mother in law to a restaurant. They had proper Budweiser there. Somebody started importing it.
Bread we bake ourselves. Rye. With Caraway seeds.

Home baked rye bread, Irish butter, Limburger and a couple of rings of raw onion.... flush own with a bottle or two of Budvar.

 

[Robson Valley]

Jeez Janne! Limburger and raw onion? You must glow in the dark like Chernobyl.

My one and only New Year's Resolution:
Going out for dinner? Only order what's too messy, stinky or complicated to do at home.

Not much variety in my cheese dishes although I did spend a winter messing with different cheese sauces until I got them "right."
I can't stand a broken cheese sauce, it looks like Hello. Dogs didn't object!
One of the tricks, at the very end, is a good grind of nutmeg.

The hell of it is that everybody else likes pesto or tomato-based sauces and I prefer the cheese ones.
Raffaello over sauted mushrooms and scallops is mine.

This week, I round up plastic containers for draining and molding cheese.
Got an idea that I can use 2-liter soda bottles.

 

[Janne]

The onion lightens up the heaviness of the Limburger, also tickles the nose into action. Red onion is the best. Tried Vidalia, but that one is for babies. No bite.

Another cheese that is nice is the Czech Olomuncke Syrecky. A better version of the German Mager Kaese.
Very healthy. Fat free virtually.
It tastes like limburger almost, but is not creamy. Soft when matured, but not creamy.

Also best with sliced onions. and a sprinkling of crushed Caraway seeds. On Rye bread.

Those are a treat for me. Once every decade or so, when I go there, which will sadly not happen in the future.

Of course I only eat stuff like this on a Saturday, so my breath recovers over Sunday!

 

[Janne]

Something that really makes me angry is that the Danish cheese Havarti has gone modern. Mild. Then with a bunch of non trad flavours, like Dill. Cranberry. Basil. Coconut....
For Gods' sake, coconut?

Havarti used to be a well matured cheese. Almost Limburger like.

They even make a Cream Havarti that does not age at all!

I blame the Millenials, people like my son.

 

[Robson Valley]

Onion-breath. I know it well. Your concerns, as well.
We had a very good cafeteria at work, on the side of the Culinary Arts school.
With 3-hour biology practical lab periods after lunch, I had to be careful what I ate!

I don't care for the fruit cheeses. They are not 10X better than all the others.
Technically, the jalapeno peppers are fruit, Monterey Jack with pepper bits is OK as an ingredient.
Even as a sub for grated cheddar in potato skins.

I like dill in cheese. When there was a family making cheese here, a decade ago,
it was a sort of dill-gouda = the very best that they made. I plan to try to do that.

 

[Janne]

I like my Dill as a part of the cure/marinade for fresh Canadian Wild salmon, and in the boil with crayfish.
Or mixed into Béchamel (white) sauce, to be eaten with Boiled Beef and steamed potatoes. A classic Swedish dish.
Plus mixed in with Crème Fraiche I like with my pan fried Skrei Cod!

I did some Fruit Sauce last weekend.
Local Scotch Bonnet, Apple Cider vinegar, local Honey, local water. Does it count as a part of the food circle? It should.
I did remove the seeds. Not man enough to enjoy the Porcelain Throne if I eat the seeds.
Even without the seeds, it makes hair grow on your chest.
Gave a bottle to my assistant, will see if she likes it.

Local Scotch Bonnet is fierce.


Did some Lemon/Lime marmalade yesterday. Not the bitter British version, I did the mild sweet version for my Assistant. She is Canadian.
Own Limes and Lemons.
Soaked the peeled rind in water overnight.
Juice, Demerara sugar, Julienne cut rind. Did add some Pectine too.

 

[Robson Valley]

You get the boot for #71. Not a single mention of cheese.

Marmalade on Brie on baguette slices, under the broiler to toast & melt.
That's real food.

 

[Janne]

Dang!
I went off topic! Sorry, all that foodie talk made me lose it!

Personally, I do not like melted Brie or Camembert. My nose feels ‘underwear after two weeks hiking in Sarrk national park’
Ammonia?
You are the chemical guy, you tell us!

 

[Robson Valley]

Fermentation products depend upon the nature of the bug and it's metabolism.
Lactate from one, acetate from another, ethanol from a fungus (yeast.)
Some Swiss generates carbon dioxide bubbles and the milk fat is broken into sour butyric acid.
Cheese flavors, to be polite.

Ammonia from others then Nitrosomas eats that, then Nitrobacter eats the next thing and poops out nitrogen gas to the air.
Maybe I got the order bass-ackwards.

The really good stuff, you never forget = the distinctive aroma of Putricene and Cadaverine, real olifactory treats.

 

[Janne]

But well aged Brie - ammonia?

 

[Robson Valley]

All living things produce some sort of nitrogen waste.
Be it ammonia, uric acid, urea, cadaverine or something else.

I'm eating a realy good EMMA Brie cheese (product of Canada.)
Had a really good sniff, just smells like Brie to me.

The worst ammonia has to be rotting prawns or shrimp.

Some kinds of sharks excrete ammonia but they can also store that in muscle tissue.
I've never used a knife and fork on one of those but I hear it happens.

 

[Janne]

I have caught and eaten shark. The first one I did not bleed and it was uneatable. The others I bled properly and those were nice. Long time ago though.

On Island they eat a fermented local shark. Hákarl. Lactic acid fermentation process, just like Surströmming ( herring) in Sweden.

Hákarl is supposed to have an ammonia aroma. Surströmming has a yeasty aroma. Hard to describe.

I like the expression cadaverine. That aroma is well imprinted in most people that studied medicine.
Thank Gods nobody produces a cheese with that smell.
The Unwashed Feet odor from a properly aged Limburger is exotic enough!

Do you have a Limburger cheese in N. America that is made there?

 

[Robson Valley]

Speaking of rotting shrimp and Brie cheese, time to feed some shrimp to the cat and I'll have a slurp
with a plate of Brie and crackers. More bison for my main course.

 

[Janne]

I will look out for some Canadian cheeses while in Toronto!

I was served semi rotten Scallops once. And semi rotten fish too. Miami. Different restaurants.

 

[santaman2000]

....I don't care for the fruit cheeses. They are not 10X better than all the others.
Technically, the jalapeno peppers are fruit, Monterey Jack with pepper bits is OK as an ingredient.......

You can put peppers in the cheese-----or you can put cheese in the peppers. I had Chili Rellenos tonight!