FoodFood Information
FIRM CHEESES
Cheddar ranges from young and mild to sharp and mature; they are
dryish slightly crumbly and quite firm. They and their English relatives
such as Gloucester, Cheshire and Wensleydale, may be flavored with sage
or chives, or layered with Stilton for a striped cheese called Huntsman.
Mimolette is a French cheddar-like cheese orange in color and very firm
in texture. Dutch Edam and Gouda are pale colored cheeses
with an almost springy consistency: superb for sandwiches omelets or anything
that needs a sparky-flavored melted cheese topping. Leyden is similar,
but seasoned with caraway, cloves and cumin; it is best nibbled, accompanied
perhaps by a plate of sliced apples. Fontina ranges from springy
and moist to firm and pungent. While the original Italy's Fontina Val d'Aosta,
is an interesting flavorful cheese the fontinas from Scandinavia are usually
bland.
Swiss cheese encompasses the whole segment of firm cheeses with holes,
which are created by a gas that forms as the cheese ripens. Appenzeller,
Emmentaler, and Gruyere are among the traditional cheeses
of Switzerland as is raclette ( around which a whole meal, appropriately
called raclette, is based). There are also good French versions, Beafort
and Comte, the Greek Graviera, and Norwegian Jarlsberg. The nutty flavor
and tender though springy texture of these cheeses is very appealing for
eating as is. They grate easily and melt evenly making them the universal
grating cheeses (along with Parmesan-type cheeses for much of Europe. Some
European versions of Swiss types, as well as many American Swiss cheeses
are very bland with textures that can veer toward rubbery.
Jack - Somoma or Monterey- is California's native hybrid. It is moist,
tender and melts extremely well. Its mild flavor snakes it a good all-purpose
choice for cooking, or to mix with other cheeses that are more highly flavored.
Jacks may be seasoned with garlic. onion, pesto or chiles and vary widely
in flavor.
GOAT CHEESES
Creamy, with a distinctive whiff of the barnyard, goat cheeses have become
so popular in the San Francisco Bay Area in recent years that they nearly
define California cuisine. Goat cheeses in French, chevre usually
come from France or California. although a handful are made in other countries
and states. Bucheron and Montrachet are the most common French
cheeses. Available in shapes that range from logs to pyramids to buttons,
discs and little balls, each goat cheese has a slightly different flavor
and texture depending on how long it has aged and how it is prepared. Many
are flavored with herbs, peppercorns or vegetable ash (yes, it is edible).
While fresh goat cheeses are the most common. Goat cheese can be aged into
a strongly flavored grating cheese. Some cheeses, such as the chestnut leaf-wrapped
banon and the flat disc called St. Marcellin, are made with milk
from both cows and goats.
SHEEP'S MILK CHEESES
Feta and feta-type cheeses are eaten throughout the Middle East and
the Balkans. Although they also may be made from cow's and goat's milk,
it is sheep's milk that makes the freshest-tasting, light and lyrical fete.
Sheep's milk cheeses abound in Europe, including a wide range of light,
tangy, fresh cheeses. One of the loveliest-and occasionally exported-is
Brin d'Amour, which is coated with rosemary and other French hillside herbs.
Pecorino, named after the Italian word for sheep, pecora, is usually
a well-aged cheese that is excellent for grating. It is also sold fresh,
when it is much like feta, tender and moist. Few sheep's milk cheeses are
made in the United States, but Petaluma's Bellwether Farms makes a wide
range of them. Manchego is an aged Sheep's milk cheese from spain,
excellent for grating.
THE BLUES
Made with milk from sheep, goats and/or cows, blue cheese is tangy, salty
and pungent, with a consistency that ranges from firm
(Danish or Maytag blue) to creamy (Gorgonzola). There
are also hybrids of blue cheese made in the form of a Camembert-type of
cheese. When choosing blue cheeses, avoid darkened, brownish-gray coloration,
any oozing moisture and an ammonia smell. Some blues are actually white,
such as white Stilton, yet they have the characteristic "blue"
flavor. From the bracingly saline Roquefort to Spain s leaf-wrapped
Cabrales (at times strong enough to bring tears to the eyes). blue
cheeses may be eaten in a variety of ways: on their own, in salads, in soups
and in sauces. When cooking with blue cheeses, however, keep in mind that
they lose their distinctive flavor when cooked, and quickly melt into a
puddle when heated. To maximize flavor, use in salad dressings or as an
omelet filling: toss quickly into creamy pasta garnished with toasted pine
nuts, or make a last minute sauce for rare beef.
SOFT CHEESES
The technique for making these cheeses grew out of medieval monasteries.
and they're sometimes called monastery cheeses." Semisoft cheeses should
stick a little to the knife as you cut them; they range in flavor from the
aromatic to the well, very aromatic. Bal Paese, St Paulin, Muenster,
Pont l'Eveque, Port-Salut, Reblochon, and Tomme de Savoie are
all fragrant examples The Italian stracchino is decisively more pungent,
but nothing compares to France's Livarot and Maroilles.
GRATlNG CHEESES
Parmesan is no doubt the best known grating cheese in the world.
but the best-some would say the only is Parmigiano-Reggiano, the
nutty, salty and fabulously flavorful cheese made in that small region of
Italy, although a reasonable tasting, reasonably priced Parmesan is made
in Argentina). There are numerous other grating cheeses, and many are far
better than impostor Parmesans that come close to the original but never
quite close enough. Asiago, dried Pecorino, dry Jack, Manchego
and Kasseri are all good for grating. To savor good Parmesan, however,
slice it and eat it straight, to end a meal, with a ripe and luscious pear
or a handful of seedless grapes.
BRIE AND CAMEMBERT TYPE CHEESES
Soft-ripened cheeses, with a "bloomy" rind-that is, powdery and
soft-and an unctuous, runny interior can be among the glories of the chessboard.
Delice de France, Revidoux, and Coulommiers are three
of the other names you might find at the cheese counter. Explorateur
and St Andre have a similar bloomy rind that they're richer, almost
butter like in consistency, with a tender-firm, not runny interior. Brie
can be flavored with herbs or bedecked with nuts, glazes and the like. Brie's
aromatic flavor and slightly oozing consistency can be very seductive.
FRESH CHEESES
Cottage, queso fresco, cream cheese, Boursin and boursault,
mascarpone, ricotta and fromoge frais are the he most commonly
found fresh cheeses, each with its own taste and texture. Fresh cheese is
eaten in various ways-combined with pasta, as a filling for dumplings or
pastries, stirred into polenta, flavored with herbs and spread on bread,
sweetened and eaten as dessert. A favorite Corsican dessert is fresh goat
cheese or a sheep's milk cheese) served with orange flower water and sugar.
String cheeses are fresh cheeses made by stretching the curd. Fresh
mozzarella and Armenian stringy cheese are tasty on their own and fun to
peel off in threads. Fresh mozzarella and its tiny cousin, bocconcini,
are delicious sprinkled with a little salt, black pepper and olive oil-but
only just before eating. When these cheeses are a bit more mature, marinate
them with garlic, red pepper flakes, a dab of vinegar and a generous lacing
of fragrant herbs such as oregano, rosemary or herbs de Provence.