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Hard Cheese

Started by Shoulders?-Stomach!, October 02, 2020, 10:47:10 PM

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Shoulders?-Stomach!

To introduce the issue, until recently I had the same taste in cheese as Mark Corrigan. Well, perhaps extended to some very mild and obvious European cheese. Small steps have been made to correct this after an interesting experience trying a load of Spanish cheese while in Santiago. The guy at the market couldn't really speak English but was most insistent I try it, at 10am on a cold Saturday. I couldn't speak Spanish so it was an exploration in each of us interpreting facial expressions and gestures. Being British enough to shamelessly hoover up free samples like carpet detritus into a dyson, I got stuck in. I was surprised at the range of flavours and felt guilty after eating all the cheese but not buying any at the end. The bloke gestured humbly and said - at least, I understood this bit - "It is nothing." I could have been wrong. It might have been "You piece of shit, I hope you choke".

Today, I still detest the flavour of blue cheese, the smell of honking cheese and texture of most soft cheese but hey, progress is progress.

Luckily my local Morrisons have started selling 'Cinco Lanzas', a hard cheese comprised of sheep, cow and goat milk. (Before you go 'urgh goat', that is the least detectable element)

It's a fairly dense compound similar to Comte or Old Gouda but not as hard as Gran padano or Paksi syr. It has a lovely light nutty, fruity flavour. I've no idea if I'm eating trash, backwash produce the Spaniards have declared AIDS-tier or what, but this is great stuff with olives, crackers, cured meat, etc! I'm always a fan of food or drinks that find a balance between assertive flavours, complexity and approachability. This one is it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossau-Iraty

I have sourced this stuff as well. It looks good. What I want to know is what hard cheese should I be eating? Where can I get more?

Sherringford Hovis

My two favourites; the first one happens to be Spanish.

Quote from: Sherringford Hovis on September 02, 2018, 05:27:02 PM
Neck-and-neck between Manchego and Cornish Yarg.

The former because its character and flavour changes three times as you age it. The latter because separate bits of its cross-section taste very different: sharp and hard around the edge close to the edible nettle-rind; soft and creamy in the middle.

Or a gallon aerosol tin of Easy Cheese bacon flavor. Without the "u".

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Manchego is clearly pretty good. I like the dry nutty edge however I don't think I've been exposed to the better end of it, probably nowhere near. That may be due to the ageing by the sounds of it. It was my gateway into trying Cinco Lanzas though.

Yarg is wrapped in nettle eh? Interesting. I'd try a sample but reckon that will be out of my cheese comfort zone.

Back in bottom set, I noticed how much better Old Amsterdam Gouda is to the normal stuff. Harder, more orange and a fucktonne more flavour. However it seems to become almost impossibly hard towards the rind so you get quite a poor % of edible cheese as a proportion of the weight. At least that's how it appears to this novice.


Sherringford Hovis

If Red Leicester is Carling, Yarg is Hopback Summer Lightning, to coin a cheese simile.

Go on. 'Ave it Yaaarg.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Probably what I'm afraid of!

I also read the centre of a Yarg block is crumbly. So I suppose that would crumble out of the HARD CHEESE remit here, slanted towards the harder of the cheeses.

Rizla

I like manchego, Asda does an acceptable one, I'll get that or their iberico and one of their chorizos for some broke ass tapas.

What I've never seen on these isles is the aged Edam (or is it Gouda) you get in Holland that has cumin seeds in it and is hard rather than waxy. And I used to love those pots of garlic flavoured liquid Camembert stuff you get in french supermarkets but I've not had it in years.


bgmnts

I once got stared down by a piece of cheese in Waitrose. They are hard cunts.

Pingers

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on October 02, 2020, 10:47:10 PM

Today, I still detest the flavour of blue cheese, the smell of honking cheese and texture of most soft cheese but hey, progress is progress.


Yeah, pretty sure he was telling you to go choke.

Actually though, if you really don't like blue cheese (you freak) then yer gateway cheese to the hard stuff is Cambozola - a hybrid of Camembert and Gorgonzola: the entry-level, high CBD content equivalent of Proper Cheese. From there, move to Dolcelatte and Danish Blue (MDMA equivalents), then you can progress to Gorgonzola (cocaine) until you are ready for mature Stilton and Roquefort (honking smack off a hooker on a toilet seat). You can do this.

ProvanFan

You need to be baptised in a font of Époisses

idunnosomename

a piece of parmesan looked at me funny so i punched the cunt's lights out

Tony Tony Tony

Quote from: idunnosomename on October 03, 2020, 12:59:33 AM
a piece of parmesan looked at me funny so i punched the cunt's lights out

Pretty sure that makes it a soft cheese.

Blumf

Västerbottensost

Sometimes turns up in Ikea, if you see it, jump on it.

seepage

Ossau Iraty can be great. It's quite mild but still too strong for the American market so P'tit Basque was created for them.

Ho, Ho, Ho, it's nearly Christmas so some recommendations:

Berkswell: hard, sheep
Swaledale: hard, sheep (instead of the the cow version)
Baron Bigod: soft, cow. The nicest soft cheese you will ever taste
Idiazabal: hard, sheep
Wigmore: soft, sheep
Cabrales: blue, cow/sheep/goat: the king of blue cheese; for Garys
Roccolo: semi-hard, cow, made from the run-off after making Taleggio.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Excellent cheese info, cheers both.


Elderly Sumo Prophecy

I gotta make this money, it's all on me
We gotta get this cheese, it's all we need

I'd recommend Alex James Blue Monday as a good introduction to the world of blue cheese. Light and creamy, lacking the strong bite of something like stilton.
I don't know anything about hard cheese, so I can't recommend anything in that area.

BlodwynPig

Hang on, you've been in Germany and now in Galicia? Fucking ridiculous man.

You're a walking Observer Supplement filled with DISEASE.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: BlodwynPig on October 04, 2020, 09:59:55 AM
Hang on, you've been in Germany and now in Galicia? Fucking ridiculous man.

You're a walking Observer Supplement filled with DISEASE.

Nah I'm not in Galicia, nor have I been since the covid outbreak but upon reading the opening post back yesterday, I did wonder if you'd react.

touchingcloth

Careful, mate. Pilgrims, that. Careful.

Stoneage Dinosaurs

Love blue cheese. Been a blue cheese fan since I was a kid which i guess makes Pingers' drug analogy seem fairly disturbing. Stilton's the best but something nice and creamy like Gorgonzola is good too.

Just bought some Paneer to have an attempt at doing a Saag - little bit scared of cheeses that don't melt, they still seem like a sort of witchcraft to me - Halloumi's nice hot but once it goes cold it is absolutely vile so I can only be arsed with it sometimes

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: Angrew Lloyg Wegger on October 04, 2020, 02:32:51 PM
Love blue cheese. Been a blue cheese fan since I was a kid which i guess makes Pingers' drug analogy seem fairly disturbing. Stilton's the best but something nice and creamy like Gorgonzola is good too.

Just bought some Paneer to have an attempt at doing a Saag - little bit scared of cheeses that don't melt, they still seem like a sort of witchcraft to me - Halloumi's nice hot but once it goes cold it is absolutely vile so I can only be arsed with it sometimes

On a similar subject, give the paneer a light toasting first. Can be a little 'ersatz chicken style cubes' just thrown in to the pan.

Rizla

Got some provolone picante from the market, bloody marvellous. Starts out a bit like a comte but becomes pungent as heck with an almost beefy flavour.

Sebastian Cobb

I'm told paneer is similar to cooking steak. Just be careful to not overdo it and make it squeaky.

I use this paneer recipe but add more chillis.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jun/26/how-make-perfect-saag-paneer-vegetarian-indian

Shoulders?-Stomach!


H-O-W-L

I love me some Stilton. Softer end of the spectrum but Wensleydale with cranberries is topper. And I love that semi-soft Black Bomber cheddar.

touchingcloth

Been really getting into my artisanal butters lately.

MojoJojo


Stoneage Dinosaurs

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on October 04, 2020, 06:20:00 PM
I'm told paneer is similar to cooking steak. Just be careful to not overdo it and make it squeaky.

I use this paneer recipe but add more chillis.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jun/26/how-make-perfect-saag-paneer-vegetarian-indian

Did that recipe last saturday and it was very nice, cheers for the tip!

seepage

Aged Mahón is fantastic.
Talking of Menorca, Admiral Collingwood cheese is superb (English, washed with Newky Brown). 

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Been on Comte this week. It is alright overall, but some element of the flavour is verging on that stale sweaty sock Frenchie cheese I so abhor.