BS: Cheesey reminiscences!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 05:05 AM

I'd cheerily admit that the type of cheap, unripe brie that appears on tables alongside unwashed green grapes and undrinkable four-quid "claret" at wine and wisdom evenings, the sort with an unyielding dry crust and a thick, chalky middle, is a true horror. I like to leave soft cheeses lying around outside the fridge for at least half a day, longer in winter. Mismanaging a brie is as bad as drinking prosecco that's at central heating temp. Give the brie a squeeze before purchase in order to ensure you have a cheese with potential. The main faults I've found with brie have been too much salt and a bitter finish (the latter can mean the cheese has gone past its best). A refusal to ripen is something I associate more with camemberts. Some supermarket bries are marked "ripening." They usually do ok after a few hours at room temp.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 05:09 AM

Another trick I've learned is to leave the soft cheeses out of the fridge to ripen up as soon as you get home, putting them in the fridge only when you think they've reached eating condition. Then you know you'll have the cheese right very shortly before you need it, just an hour out of the fridge. Nobody dies using this method. Cheese is very good at looking after itself.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 01:39 PM

We usually put Camembert in the bread bin: when you get that "sweaty trainers" smell as you walk past the bread bin, it's ripe and ready, runny in the middle. But I agree, some Camemberts never achieve that: they go from unripe to "totally honking" in one swift move.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 02:17 PM

Nigel Slater had a way with reluctant camemberts, but they needed to be one of those that came in a wooden box. Bake it in the box for a little while, in the meantime boiling some small new potatoes in their skins. Put the cheese in the middle of the table and dip your spuds in it. And no double dipping...

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Raggytash
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 02:56 PM

Many years ago when I was a VERY skint student in Oxford the local supermarket was selling Brie off cheap because it gone 'runny' I bought half a Brie for 50p. I would have bought the whole thing but I didn't have a quid.

Fed us both for 2 that Brie!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: robomatic
Date: 05 Jul 19 - 05:57 PM

I lived in an ex-fraternity house which had been turned into an international house. One day we had a fondue party and I volunteered my little camper stove, a version of gas/ petrol/ white fuel using SVEA. It was supposedly adjustable, but the adjustment involved turning a balky metal 'key' about 1/8th of an arc. Usually came on pretty strong. So it was surrounded by a bunch of pots and was under a big pot full of rapidly churning cheeses and it flared a bit, and then wouldn't stop flaring, and one helpful soul threw it outside with a good overhand. Not for nothing did I learn later that SVEA stoves were called "Swedish hand grenades".

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 10:16 PM

Don't heat brie. Makes it smell, well, like semen.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 07:59 PM

Velveeta, a product of the Kraft company, has a major problem for those of us who are lactose intolerant. It is insufficiently aged for the process to eat the lactose and make it safe for us, as real cheddar is. Let's just say the results can be quite messy.

For some reason, a good, runny brie does not bother me. I can adore it.

When my theater group did Richard III, I made a point of getting us a pound of double Gloucester in his honor. Good stuff!

My current favorite snacking cheese is Manchego. Amazingly, Costco has it for half the price of the local supermarkets. Of course, you have to buy a quarter wheel. No problem.

Lady Hillary and I make our own yogurt. By varying the curing, we can produce almost any texture from liquidy to a good spreading cheese.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 10 Jul 19 - 05:52 PM

Not a great fan of the Manchego we get in the UK - generally rubbery and waxy: however, in Spain, different story: so many different strengths and grades - as with Comte in France.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Jul 19 - 06:02 PM

"Don't heat brie. Makes it smell, well, like semen" (Mrrzy)...but with Brie Wellington it has to be heated, so maybe you'd give it the boot?!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Jul 19 - 07:10 PM

Well I may have produced gallons of the stuff but I'm buggered if I know what it smells like. I suggest confusion here. Just wash you tackle pre-orgasm, then smell again post-come just to make sure you're not confusing semen smell with dirty bloke smell.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 05:39 AM

Isovaleric Acid - cheesy cheese smell of cheese, and also found in smelly socks. And off beer.

So if you keep your socks on in bed ...................... it might explain Mrrzy's comments.


Mind you, the New Scientist did have an article in the "News in Brief" section that reported research that concluded keeping your socks on for sex actually improved it. Probably a winter thing. Keep the extremities warm (oooer missus) and the body feels warm.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 06:08 PM

...and Swiss cheese..?

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Mo the caller
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 06:26 PM

Some of the posts upthread were reminiscent of 3 Men in a Boat.

A good strong but not too strong Cheddar can't be beaten. Co-op sell a good Organic Mature Cheddar. For years it was assumed that if you wanted Organic cheese (which I do for animal welfare reasons) you wanted one so strong that it took the skin off your tongue. Things have improved now.

Can't stand red cheese, tastes artificial.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 06:56 PM

I've tried all the much-vaunted unpasteurised cheddars. I even set up a blind tasting for Mrs Steve a couple of years ago which included Keens, Gould's, Westcombe and Montgomery's, as well as the pasteurised Wookey Hole. The latter won hands down. I tried Montgomery's again yesterday. It's strong, assertive and very tangy. But there's something just a touch unclean and cowy about it. Seven on ten, best of the unpasteurised bunch. But Wookey gets 9.8486 out of ten.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Neil D
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 02:34 PM

It seems like most of the people posting this thread are British; odd because us Americans are pretty fond of cheese too. I like a lot of imports, Manchego, Gorgonzola, Chevre and I especially like a Shropshire Farmhouse Blue some of our shops carry. But my favorite of all is the cheese of my youth, sharp (aged) Swiss, which oddly enough, is not an import. The region just to the south and west of here is called the Switzerland of Ohio, both because it is dairy farm country and because it was settled by immigrants from Switzerland, both Amish and non-Amish. Actually, Switzerland of Ohio is a tourist bureau invention; we call it Amish country. (Here's a piece of trivia that might amuse you Brits. The Amish people call all non-Amish folks "English" even if they are of Swiss or German descent. This is because the Amish still speak German as their first language even after many generations in this country.) There are cheese factories all over the area mostly specializing in Swiss cheese. There is more Swiss cheese produced in Holmes County, Ohio than in all of Switzerland. It's all good but sharp is best. At 2 years it starts to get crumbly and little bits of salt form on the surface. Delicious!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 02:46 PM

Your lucky, Neil. In my visits to the US (mainly Illinois, Missouri and Florida) I never found anything remotely resembling cheese :-P We were tourists but staying with locals who took us to local stores and even a farmers market.

I am very surprised Shropshire blue gets out there. If you can find it try Swaledale blue, or just plain Swaledale, as well. Either cow or sheep. Of course, as I have often said, the king of cheeses is Lancashire but the Yorkshire lot know a thing or two about cheese as well :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 05:45 PM

Blue cheeses are always very young. I've found Stilton to be way too variable and unpredictable. Most of the "county blues" are rather dry and anodyne. Apart from foreign class acts such as St Agur and Montagnolo d'Affine, not to speak of Gorgonzola piccante for my death-by-fat chicken pasta dish, the only blues I ever bother with are Bath Blue and Stichelton. Two Brit masterpieces, hard to obtain.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Neil D
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 11:50 AM

Dave, your earlier mention of Lancashire cheeses has me intrigued. Unfortunately, I.ve never seen any over here and I've been in cheese shops from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. There's a market in Pittsburgh's warehouse district that has over 150 varieties. I'll have to check there next time we get over that way. The Stichelton you mentioned, Steve, sounds delightful, but I believe you said earlier it was unpasteurized so it probably doesn't get approved for export.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Neil D
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 11:54 AM

Here is a fond cheesy reminiscence. I once had a chunk of aged Stilton that had aged even further after I bought it. I threw it into a pot of tomato soap I had on the stove. The smell drove my wife and kids out of the house, but it was the second best soup I ever tasted.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Raggytash
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 12:04 PM

A good stilton is hard to beat. And it does freeze very well!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 12:15 PM

From wiki -

Lancashire is an English cow's-milk cheese from the county of Lancashire. There are three distinct varieties of Lancashire cheese. Young Creamy Lancashire and mature Tasty Lancashire are produced by a traditional method, whereas Crumbly Lancashire (more commonly known as Lancashire Crumbly within Lancashire) is a more recent creation suitable for mass production.

The crumbly is good on toast but I prefer the mature "tasty" for anything else.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Mr Red
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 01:42 PM

I threw it into a pot of tomato soap I had on the stove.

I often throw in cheddar in tomato soup. It ends up stringy. But I have never tried soap, or washed with tomato soap!

Have you ever tried real tomato halves in tomato soup. Put them in before you heat it.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 02:05 PM

Stilton is always young. It can't be "matured" for long because, as with all blues, it is riddled with a fungus that has expansionist instincts. Too much Stilton is over-salted, not properly veined (in other words, evenly) and possessed of a horrid, uncreamy texture and bitter finish. You'll get an occasional good 'un but the risk is too great.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Raggytash
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 02:23 PM

Steve, 2 years ago I bought a full Colton and basset stilton. 7.5 kilos of superb cheese. I cut it down to 250gram wedges and froze most of it. It is still superb. Due to my lactose intolerance I can only consume small amount, and suffer accordingly!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Anne Lister
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 05:50 PM

My first experience of Serious Cheese was on a family holiday - in the mid sixties we used to drive down through France to a rented villa in Spain, taking three days on the drive down and three days on the drive back. We stayed in some characterful hotels, and in one of these I still remember a muttered conversation between my Dad and a waiter, on the grounds of "unchain the vintage cheese". A huge wheel of cheese was brought in, and slices of it distributed to us all. It was a decidedly adult taste, but a sign of things to come.
My other significant memory was when I lived in France, in Lyon, and up the road from my tiny apartment was a cheese shop which has never been surpassed in my foodie experience. There were all manner of treasures, and a personal favourite was the unpasteurised Camembert. I took one home to Wales one Christmas, travelling to the Channel in a friend's well-heated car and then from Southampton to home by train. People cleared seats for me on the train, obviously thinking I was very ill. I reached my parents' house when they were out, but they knew I was there because the cheese had left scent trails that even a nose-less person would spot. By Christmas Day it had been exiled to the garden shed as it had tainted almost everything in the fridge. Oh, but it tasted good!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 07:30 PM

Well for a few years I tried freezing cheese, admittedly not Stilton, and invariably found that the texture suffered somewhat, even after a short time, becoming less creamy and more crumbly. Great if you want to cook with it, but definitely not for the cheeseboard.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 08:03 PM

Just back from another brilliant weekend at Stonehaven Folk Festival,where we stay in a wee hoose on the harbour. Last year, my sister came all the way up from Kent for the weekend: bought herself a couple of "Caboc" (Scottish cream cheese rolled in oatmeal) to take home, but then forgot to take them out of the fridge. We were well on the way home before this was discovered, so told the landlady she could keep them.
Had completely forgotten all this, but when we turned up on Thursday, there were 2 cheeses in the fridge for us, courtesy of the landlady. She hadn't been able to track down any Caboc, but there was a very nice cream cheese, salmon and dill roulade and a small wheel of goats' cheese. Thanks Yvonne!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Jul 19 - 11:28 AM

Coming back to the OP. I'm younger (b 1960) but my memory is pretty much the same as DTGs. We had the processed cheese wedges, I think mum used to refer to our main household cheese as "mousetrap" and we didn't have much awareness of other cheeses. I think the first 2 foreign cheeses I got to try were Danish Blue and Camembert.

Re the 70s parties, I think vol au vents were another must but maybe we were posh - we certainly did both the cheese and cocktail sausages.

--
I'm tempted to try Steve's recommendation of the Wookey Hole cheddar, at least to have tasted at and might order direct. £7 postage is a bit steep for the 454g piece I'd probably get but I notice the company offer a range of cheese. Any others ("non bitted") worth a try? I've seen a sheep one, a goat one and other cheddars.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 16 Jul 19 - 02:57 PM

I tried some Roquefort today for the first time, it's supposedly the king of cheeses, very nice but not much different from blue stilton.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: DMcG
Date: 16 Jul 19 - 03:20 PM

Last September was my 65th, and my 40th wedding anniversary so we had a large celebration, including a great deal of cheese.

Here is the order from one place:


Appleby's Cheshire 1kg
Lord of the Hundreds 1kg      
Baron Bigod Whole
Colston Bassett Baby Stilton (Approx 2kg)
Keen's Cheddar 500g
Cornish Yarg 250g   
Reblochon Fermier Missilier
Appleby's Cheshire 250g   
Epoisses Gaugry

I also picked up some from a local shop ...

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: DMcG
Date: 16 Jul 19 - 03:23 PM

... and I also tried to commission a tune from Kathryn Tickell for my wife, but because it was a bit short notice she had too many other commitments to be confident of finishing it in time, so she suggested Amy Thatcher compose one instead, which she did. Amy and Kathryn played on a recording of it for us.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 18 Jul 19 - 11:25 AM

Raggy, Lactaid or generic lactase helps a lot, especially when in doubt.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 18 Jul 19 - 11:49 AM

I was well into my teens in the 1960s before I realized there were more varieties of cheese than Colby (but I knew Colby came in different ages) and that grated cardboard that came in a tin in the boxed Chef Boyardee pizza kit.

Colby came from the cheese factory in Colby, Wisconsin, a couple miles from my grandparents' dairy farm. All of the milk produced by my grandparents' herd of mostly Holsteins with a couple Guernseys and Jerseys was trucked a couple miles down the road to be made into Colby cheese.

It wasn't until the early '70s that my horizons expanded to Havarti, mozzarella, Gtost, and blue cheese (though mostly encountered in blue cheese dressing).

Oh, I take that first statement back. I also knew (and liked) Limburger from an early age because my dad liked it. (I was around three when I'd get up when my dad got off work as a welder-fitter on the second shift at Allis-Chalmers and split a beer with him.) I shared his taste for pickled pig's feet, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 Jul 19 - 12:15 PM

Thanks Ebarnacle, I,please look that up.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 18 Jul 19 - 12:35 PM

Wondering if Dave Hanson's trial of Roquefort was one bought in his home country: even if it is an import, it probably won't match up to what you'd be able to get in France.
As previously mentioned, you may only get one variety of certain European cheeses on offer in the UK, whereas in the country of origin, there may be multiple versions of e.g. Manchego, Comté.
And talking of Stilton, rhe last lot I had from ASDA was particularly nice!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Jul 19 - 03:04 PM

In my song "We Go Together" I mentioned cheese and wine going together...do different wines go with different cheeses..?

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Jul 19 - 07:48 AM

Errrr....


Yes!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Jul 19 - 07:22 PM

The brilliant Morrison's 2017 Nero d'Avola goes with any cheese, as does the ASDA Wine Atlas Negroamaro 2016. I have two worries about the Nero d'Avola. First, will the 2018 vintage be as good, surely on its way any time now, and second, Dave hasn't managed to persuade the Morrisons powers-that-be to get the bugger back on the two-for-a-tenner offer....

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 21 Jul 19 - 04:26 AM

Go away from my fridge, babe,
Leave at your own chosen speed.
I've only got a soft French cheese,
It's not the one you need.

You say you're lookin' for a cheese,
Never weak but always strong,
To attack you and offend you,
With a truly awful pong.
A cheese to make your neighbours stay indoors,
But it ain't Brie, babe, no, no, no,
It ain't Brie you're lookin' for, babe.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Jul 19 - 05:06 AM

They take no notice of me now I'm retired, Steve.

Not that they did before.

Have you tried the Barbera d'Asti BTW? That is lovely.

Back to cheese. Saw some Yorkshire Brie yesterday but didn't buy it. I'll let you know when I do.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 21 Jul 19 - 06:58 PM

Great, Rusty! A few more verses, please?

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 03:23 AM

Nope, sorry, TB, but Les Barker got to the cheese puns first and as usual, did it best. I just use my effort as an introduction to doing a straight Dylan song, as in, 'I was going to do this one, but decided not to.'

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 06:08 AM

Yes, Rusty, one has to tread Caerphilly...

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Jul 19 - 09:27 AM

How to tempt a grizzly

Camembert

How to disguise a horse

Mascarpone

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Jul 19 - 03:11 PM

Certainly not a connoisseur of either cheese or wine, when I have occasionally joined a meet-the-staff wine-and-cheese do at a hotel, I have gone for rose and a small selection of cheeses (temporarily breaking my veganity, as I sometimes do), but I recall there being several other options of both wine and cheese.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Jul 19 - 03:20 PM

Avoid rosé, eat cheese according to flavour and enjoy life. I've met many a vegan who doesn't know that cheese requires not just milk but also (often) a gut extract from slaughtered calves, and that wine and beer is often fined using a fish gut extract.

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Jul 19 - 04:42 PM

Cheese omelette for lunch today in a small hotel that my friends and I used to stay in during the village's folk festival: nostalgic visit! It was that red-coloured Cheddar, but mighty tasty! Sadly no wine of any sort for me, as I was the driver! Lovely route back over the hills to Embra!

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 02:49 AM

It's called isinglass Steve, originally extracted from the swimbladder of the sturgeon.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Cheesey reminiscences!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 04:23 AM

Quite right, Dave, and the connection between the swim bladder and gut has been evolved away in modern fish. Thanks for being gentlemanly enough to not correct me! The point remains that many a vegan beer drinker has been blissfully unaware...

Come to think of it, how dare vegans attempt to extract enjoyment out of life by drinking beer anyway...