Cheese! What is your favourite?

[vincentb 10]

There are two things that I don't like with sheepy and goaty cheese.

 

...

2) I have yet to find one that gets strength in maturing like a good mature cheddar, so I'm thwarted when I want a good belting cheese sandwich.

 

There's a mature version of Ribblesdale goats cheese which is very nice. It doesn't get as strong as a mature cheddar say, but it's not as mild as most goats cheese is sold as.

[FIRETHORN1 59]

I've recently tried mature Cheddar with Blacksheep's Riggwelter ale. I bought it simply because it was on special offer on the Sainsbury's deli counter -and cheaper than most of the "conventional" cheddars! It sounded interesting, so I thought I'd try it. I first tried it by just cutting a little chunk off and tasting it. It has a lovely flavour, strong, pungent and tangy - but a weird, dense "clarty" sort of texture that I didn't like very much.

 

It's not all that good "raw", as in cheese-and-crackers, a cheese sarnie, etc, but it's a fantastic "cooking cheese". It's good for plain old cheese-on-toast, makes a fab Welsh rarebit and makes a lovely light bechamel/cheese sauce - to go with cauliflower cheese, macaroni cheese., lasagne, moussaka, etc. Yes- I'd definitely buy this one again....but for cooking purposes only!

[FIRETHORN1 59]

I've tried Stinking Bishop for the first time this weekend and I was quite impressed! It's delicious - a proper pungent "stinky" cheese. It stunk my fridge out and when I took it out of the fridge, unwrapped it and let it reach room temperature, it made my whole flat smell like rank, sweaty socks!

 

It's bloody expensive though...like £40 a kilo! I paid £4 for a tiny 100g wedge at my local posh, trendy cheese-shop. It goes a long way though. It goes very soft and spreadable when at room temp and it's so strong and pungent that you only need a small amount spread on your cracker, bit of bread or toast.

 

I'm now putting Stinking Bishop in 3rd place on my list of favourite "stinking, pungent" cheeses. My all-time favourite, Epoisses, is still in 1st place..... and Roquefort in 2nd! (These are expensive cheeses too, but nowhere near as dear as Stinking Bishop)!

[FIRETHORN1 59]

I tried a new cheese this week - one I'd never even heard of before, let alone tasted. It's called Fourme D'Ambert - a French blue cow's cheese. It's stinky, pungent, strong and tangy, but also soft, creamy and velvety at the same time, when served at room temperature. I got it in a posh specialist cheese shop and it's bit pricey - £18.50 a kilo - but you can spread it quite thinly because it's so strong and 100grams goes quite a long way. I like it spread on warm, crusty french bread or hard crackers - e.g water biscuits -accompanied by a handful of grapes and washed down with a nice glass of either a robust red or a zesty white wine. Pure bliss and self-indulgence!

Edited November 25, 2016 by FIRETHORN1