I love black pepper in cheese. I like Marco Polo a lot, that is Beecham’s cheese with black pepper. Recently discovered one from Isle of Man creamery called peppercorn It’s a cheddar and is yummy - https://www.isleofmancreamery.com/products/cheese
In my wants is Cougar Gold from WSU. I have heard the Viking might be better even (reddits cheese sub is pretty interesting) https://creamery.wsu.edu/cougar-cheese/
@Cerridwyn cougar gold is fine, but I don’t feel like it lives up to the hype. The flavor is pretty close to the Kirkland coatal English cheddar(which is one of Mt favorites, and also significantly cheaper) but a little more mild, it is a really great melter though so if that’s important to you it’s maybe worth trying. It’s been too long since I’ve had the Viking, so I can’t speak on that. But my overall impression of wsu cheeses has been “good but not worth the price”
I like some of the non-aged white cheeses like mozz, queso fresco, queso blanco, and some others. (But not the typical “white American”, it’s just wrong.) I can’t stand any that are aged, fermented, or made from milk that had already been over the hill before the curds were extracted; all of those smell and taste revolting to me. The single exceptions are real Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano as a sparingly-applied garnish. “Blue Cheese” is Not Food in my estimation. And feta goes on someone else’s plate.
@chienfou I’m so mixed on tillamook and their cheese. I think because it’s because I love a true aged cheddar which is drier and has the salt crystals that dance delicately through the structure of the cheese. I don’t mind it for certain applications but for sure. Sometimes I think I avoid it because it’s so popular here and I feel there are just so many cheeses that are better for the price point. So basically I’m just a cheese snob and I can’t get out of my own way.
@sillyheathen
My favorite Tillamook product was the odds and ends left over from the packaging process that they were selling in the on-site store when we visited. I rarely buy cheddar as I generally prefer soft, creamy cheese (Caprice de dieux, fromage d’affinois, saint andré) and things like port salut, roquefort, stilton, etc. I do like gruyere, raclette, emental etc though…
But TBH I would rarely pass on a cheese when offered, especially if it’s in the company by a nice piece of fresh sourdough or crusty baguette and a glass of wine…
@chienfou@sillyheathen I lived in Tillamook for several years while in grade school. Every year we took a class field trip to the Cheese Factory. Back then, we could wander freely among the open vats (it smelled awful!). Looking back, I wonder how often something got dropped into the mix…
@chienfou@macromeh they did last time we went but not originally. It’s changed pretty substantially from when we were in our 20s but time has a funny way of doing that.
Also I think Wensleydale is my favorite cheese. Not with fruit or honey and lemon or any of the foffy stuff you get here in the states. Sadly I don’t think I’ve ever seen just plain Wensleydale here. You have to go to Hawes to get it. And last time we were there, they’d done a massive remodel and didn’t do any of the fun cool flavors they used to do when we lived there. They still had some gooduns mind you, just not the black pepper and chive or roasted garlic and rosemary etc like “back in the day”.
I am lactose intolerant, but I can eat goat cheese or sheep cheese. I guess cows are an issue. I like Spring Koe Goat Gouda from Whole Paycheck and Chevre Goat Cheese logs from Trader Joe’s. In the old days pre-intolerance my favorite was muenster cheese.
@kittykat9180
Boursin herb and garlic is one of my favorites. I even make a few dishes with it. I make a pasta primavera and use 2 of those as the sauce and it comes out fantastic. Leftover are pretty good too. Some of my favorite pasta dishes are made from using cheese as the sauce base. I’ll have to post a few that are pretty simple.
I like most cheese. At any given time there’s a or more cheeses in the fridge.
Some favorites:
Kirkland Costal English cheddar
Trader joe’s has a really tasty farmhouse cheddar with caramelized onions, but it doesn’t keep very well so enjoy it quickly.
The list will expand but those were the first i could think of
I’m kinda basic when it comes to cheese. Can’t go wrong with Kroger brand (or your area Kroger equivalent) Medium Cheddar. It’s a great snacking cheese, melts well for nachos or cheese enchiladas.
@ironcheftoni no Kroger here. Except for their discount store which has Discount Store cheese. And Albertsons signature brand for a lot of things has significantly gone downhill in the last two to three years
I ran a small dessert and wine bar in downtown Portland ages ago. They were really big on flavored cheesecakes. We had two staples and two seasonal.
I expended their food to have more cheese/tapas and lunch options. I was toying around with ideas for a new seasonal cheesecake, when I met with one of my vendors, who sold cured meats and cheeses. We were tasting some of the cheeses, when he gave me some Rogue River Blue. An idea immediately exploded in my head.
It’s a local Oregon blue cheese and is wrapped in wine soaked grape leaves. The wine flavor permeates the cheese beautifully. So I made a chocolate cocoa nib biscuit base. Then the batter was white chocolate with bits of the rogue river blue folded in. Finally I made a Pinot syrup and swirled it through. It was one of the most wonderful combinations I’d ever put together. In fact, I might have to make it again soon.
@chienfou@sillyheathen it always surprises me some of the life experience with some people here have had. That is something I can never dream of coming up with or a place I would have never dreamed of working.
@Cerridwyn@chienfou I’ve definitely had some experiences in my time on this planet and can say I wouldn’t change a thing. Life is a fascinating and wonderful thing.
One of my favorites it’s Cotswold. Trader Joe makes a good one and Kroger has a good one in their cheese case. It’s taste of Creamy, buttery, mild, savory, with bright onion and chive notes. I love it trader Joe fig and olive crisps. The cheese and very crisp cracker with the fig pair together so beautifully. There’s another more expensive cracker that they sell in Kroger by their cheese case (with all the cheese, not just the ordinary plain cheese you can buy anywhere) that is similar that’s very crisp and has fig and I think chive in it that is also very good.
Murray’s makes really good cheese. Their manchego is awesome so is there SARTORI MERLOT BELLAVITANO (it’s an award winner). If you like wine and cheese you like that one. Havarti with dill is another good one too. There’s not many cheeses I don’t like. Stinky cheese like blue cheese I don’t care for but I use it in a 5 cheese penne and it’s good. I’ll have to look for a few of those recipes later and post them.
Some special cheese from Spain that I have not tried but seemed appropriate for people here. They make two other similar varieties one that is smoking and one that is drunk
Not fancy but I enjoy the Cajun cheddar cheese curds from Aldi.
My wife introduced me to an interesting Ube cheese a couple of weeks ago when she put together a charcuterie for some friends she was having over. It was pretty mild but visually striking. Looked close to this:
I love black pepper in cheese. I like Marco Polo a lot, that is Beecham’s cheese with black pepper. Recently discovered one from Isle of Man creamery called peppercorn It’s a cheddar and is yummy - https://www.isleofmancreamery.com/products/cheese
In my wants is Cougar Gold from WSU. I have heard the Viking might be better even (reddits cheese sub is pretty interesting) https://creamery.wsu.edu/cougar-cheese/
@Cerridwyn cougar gold is fine, but I don’t feel like it lives up to the hype. The flavor is pretty close to the Kirkland coatal English cheddar(which is one of Mt favorites, and also significantly cheaper) but a little more mild, it is a really great melter though so if that’s important to you it’s maybe worth trying. It’s been too long since I’ve had the Viking, so I can’t speak on that. But my overall impression of wsu cheeses has been “good but not worth the price”
Interesting you should ask…
Cheese balls are back.
It’s basically an ad copy identifying as news content.
@therealjrn My husband asked for a cheddar cheese ball. Right, like Food Lion’s gonna have a cheddar cheese ball, is this the 70’s?
They did indeed have a cheddar cheese ball complete with nuts. Also port wine, eww.
@sammydog01 Balls are back Sammy!! Aldi sells a couple of different cheese balls too!
@therealjrn
I love a good cheese ball.
I like some of the non-aged white cheeses like mozz, queso fresco, queso blanco, and some others. (But not the typical “white American”, it’s just wrong.) I can’t stand any that are aged, fermented, or made from milk that had already been over the hill before the curds were extracted; all of those smell and taste revolting to me. The single exceptions are real Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano as a sparingly-applied garnish. “Blue Cheese” is Not Food in my estimation. And feta goes on someone else’s plate.
I don’t know the brand (I will have to look it up) but the real strong blue cheese. I can sit and eat like chips. No waxy, barely a hint of blue crap.
Red Dragon is one of my favourites. It is an English Cheddar with mustard seeds.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/F4dZ8PRMPvI
@zhicks1987
/youtube F4dZ8PRMPvI
@therealjrn @zhicks1987 I haven’t watched it yet but I adore OG top gear and James May.
@sillyheathen @zhicks1987 It won’t take long to watch lol
Aldi sells a delicious cheese called Bourganzola.
Tillamook makes a good cheddar with pepper in it
Cabot makes a horseradish cheese I like as well.
@chienfou I’m so mixed on tillamook and their cheese. I think because it’s because I love a true aged cheddar which is drier and has the salt crystals that dance delicately through the structure of the cheese. I don’t mind it for certain applications but for sure. Sometimes I think I avoid it because it’s so popular here and I feel there are just so many cheeses that are better for the price point. So basically I’m just a cheese snob and I can’t get out of my own way.
@sillyheathen
My favorite Tillamook product was the odds and ends left over from the packaging process that they were selling in the on-site store when we visited. I rarely buy cheddar as I generally prefer soft, creamy cheese (Caprice de dieux, fromage d’affinois, saint andré) and things like port salut, roquefort, stilton, etc. I do like gruyere, raclette, emental etc though…
But TBH I would rarely pass on a cheese when offered, especially if it’s in the company by a nice piece of fresh sourdough or crusty baguette and a glass of wine…
@chienfou @sillyheathen I lived in Tillamook for several years while in grade school. Every year we took a class field trip to the Cheese Factory. Back then, we could wander freely among the open vats (it smelled awful!). Looking back, I wonder how often something got dropped into the mix…
@macromeh @sillyheathen
Did they have ice cream then too?
@chienfou @macromeh they did last time we went but not originally. It’s changed pretty substantially from when we were in our 20s but time has a funny way of doing that.
@macromeh @sillyheathen
It’s been at least 5 years because they had ice cream there when we went and stayed near Otter Rock.
I could write you a novel or at least a short story on cheese and my love for it.
@sillyheathen I would read that.
Python’s cheese shop
Also I think Wensleydale is my favorite cheese. Not with fruit or honey and lemon or any of the foffy stuff you get here in the states. Sadly I don’t think I’ve ever seen just plain Wensleydale here. You have to go to Hawes to get it. And last time we were there, they’d done a massive remodel and didn’t do any of the fun cool flavors they used to do when we lived there. They still had some gooduns mind you, just not the black pepper and chive or roasted garlic and rosemary etc like “back in the day”.
I am lactose intolerant, but I can eat goat cheese or sheep cheese. I guess cows are an issue. I like Spring Koe Goat Gouda from Whole Paycheck and Chevre Goat Cheese logs from Trader Joe’s. In the old days pre-intolerance my favorite was muenster cheese.
@heartny Muenster is yummy.
Do the lactose pills help you?
The obligatory video:
Now you’re talking my language!! Here is my partial list in no particular order:
Boursin is the only one I could name a brand. But with Brie, French is the best.
@kittykat9180
Boursin herb and garlic is one of my favorites. I even make a few dishes with it. I make a pasta primavera and use 2 of those as the sauce and it comes out fantastic. Leftover are pretty good too. Some of my favorite pasta dishes are made from using cheese as the sauce base. I’ll have to post a few that are pretty simple.
@Star2236 Ooh, I’d love a recipe.
I like most cheese. At any given time there’s a or more cheeses in the fridge.
Some favorites:
Kirkland Costal English cheddar
Trader joe’s has a really tasty farmhouse cheddar with caramelized onions, but it doesn’t keep very well so enjoy it quickly.
The list will expand but those were the first i could think of
I’m kinda basic when it comes to cheese. Can’t go wrong with Kroger brand (or your area Kroger equivalent) Medium Cheddar. It’s a great snacking cheese, melts well for nachos or cheese enchiladas.
@ironcheftoni no Kroger here. Except for their discount store which has Discount Store cheese. And Albertsons signature brand for a lot of things has significantly gone downhill in the last two to three years
I ran a small dessert and wine bar in downtown Portland ages ago. They were really big on flavored cheesecakes. We had two staples and two seasonal.
I expended their food to have more cheese/tapas and lunch options. I was toying around with ideas for a new seasonal cheesecake, when I met with one of my vendors, who sold cured meats and cheeses. We were tasting some of the cheeses, when he gave me some Rogue River Blue. An idea immediately exploded in my head.
It’s a local Oregon blue cheese and is wrapped in wine soaked grape leaves. The wine flavor permeates the cheese beautifully. So I made a chocolate cocoa nib biscuit base. Then the batter was white chocolate with bits of the rogue river blue folded in. Finally I made a Pinot syrup and swirled it through. It was one of the most wonderful combinations I’d ever put together. In fact, I might have to make it again soon.
@sillyheathen
I bet it was beautiful to boot!
@chienfou it was an elegant and beautiful thing to be sure.
I can be refined and delicate when I need to.
@sillyheathen
I would suspect that’s not too big of a stretch for you…
@chienfou @sillyheathen it always surprises me some of the life experience with some people here have had. That is something I can never dream of coming up with or a place I would have never dreamed of working.
@sillyheathen
I could eat cheese tapas everyday.
@chienfou I dunno. I’m usually a hot mess. High functioning but affirmatively a hot mess.
@Cerridwyn @chienfou I’ve definitely had some experiences in my time on this planet and can say I wouldn’t change a thing. Life is a fascinating and wonderful thing.
@Star2236 and same. We now only do charcuterie/tapas for Christmas dinner. It’s pretty ace tbh.
One of my favorites it’s Cotswold. Trader Joe makes a good one and Kroger has a good one in their cheese case. It’s taste of Creamy, buttery, mild, savory, with bright onion and chive notes. I love it trader Joe fig and olive crisps. The cheese and very crisp cracker with the fig pair together so beautifully. There’s another more expensive cracker that they sell in Kroger by their cheese case (with all the cheese, not just the ordinary plain cheese you can buy anywhere) that is similar that’s very crisp and has fig and I think chive in it that is also very good.
Murray’s makes really good cheese. Their manchego is awesome so is there SARTORI MERLOT BELLAVITANO (it’s an award winner). If you like wine and cheese you like that one. Havarti with dill is another good one too. There’s not many cheeses I don’t like. Stinky cheese like blue cheese I don’t care for but I use it in a 5 cheese penne and it’s good. I’ll have to look for a few of those recipes later and post them.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
Some special cheese from Spain that I have not tried but seemed appropriate for people here. They make two other similar varieties one that is smoking and one that is drunk
@Cerridwyn Oh, lawdy! Naked goats!
@Cerridwyn @therealjrn And smoking or drunk as well!
/showme drunk naked goats smoking
Something went terribly wrong. Please try again.
@mediocrebot didn’t like “naked.” I presume.
@mediocrebot
/showme realistic drunk goats smoking
@Kyeh Here’s the image you requested for “realistic drunk goats smoking”
@Kyeh, you know @mediocrebot is going to record your query into your permanent record young lady!
@mediocrebot @therealjrn Man, those are some nasty looking goats. Smoking 2 cigarettes at once, sheesh.
@Kyeh @therealjrn Downright capricious!
Not fancy but I enjoy the Cajun cheddar cheese curds from Aldi.
My wife introduced me to an interesting Ube cheese a couple of weeks ago when she put together a charcuterie for some friends she was having over. It was pretty mild but visually striking. Looked close to this:
@djslack Looks tie dyed! Psychedelic cheese?
@djslack @Kyeh Psychedelic cheese was the name of my underground garage band.
@djslack @Kyeh @therealjrn
You had an underground garage? That’s cool…