cheeses i've recently tried

[djk]

i was just wondering what cheeses people were trying now, maybe because of the season's offerings or just because. i was buying some favorites recently and then got turned onto two new one's that seemed worthy of mentioning here in case they weren't known.....delice de bourgogne, okay yes, it's a 75% butterfat triple creme cow's milk - so why wouldn't it be good. a fair point. but this was a particularly delightful example of the category. it's pungent and smooth and completely luxurious in the mouth - deep and dusty. each layer kind of reveals itself as it fills your mouth. it just gets creamier. i brought a few cheeses to a dinner party this wknd, some favorites and these two that were new to me. the two were instant hits. this one is from burgundy, it's produced by fromagerie lincet and (both) avail at murray's. the next was a raw sheep's milk from the pyrenees called ossau vielle i think. it was almost sweet and then also very field like, grass mixed with earth and nuts. excellent. it went perfectly with a piemontese red wine we were having.

[banh cuon]

I'm on a soft and preferably washed-rind cheese kick at the moment and currently have Cato's Hooligan, Cowgirl creamery RedHawk, and Rolf Beeler's Forsterkase. All three are intensely flavorful, wonderfully silky in mouthfeel, and funky in all the right ways. Can't wait for vacherin mont d'or to come into season later in the fall.

[Steven Dilley]

Can anyone fill me in on the oddly named Maxi-dome? A recommendation from Murray's and very tasty.

 

Also recently: some great Tomme de Berger and raw milk Camembert.

[beachfan]

Cafe Lalo has a very nice cheese selection and their 3 cheese for $12 easily serves two or three.

[Rail Paul]

Had the Tomme de Thomasville (GA) last week. I was very pleased with it. Slightly winey taste. $12.99

 

This is a product of Sweet Grass Dairy farm in south Georgia, which herds both cows and goats on fields which are dappled with pecan plantings. The area is featured in the writings of author Bailey White.

 

 

Sweet Grass Dairy

[tanabutler]

I am still working on the truckle (!) of Montgomery Cheddar that beautiful Suzi Edwards brought us from Neal's Yard Dairy when she visited in March. Every single morsel of it is delicious. Bob eats a little bit every single day, honestly.

 

I've got a cheese I can't wait for September (when the Eat Local Challenge is over) to buy. It's a Spanish cheese: Monte Enebro by an artisan named Rafael Baez. Oh, God.

[djk]

a favorite cheese of mine and one that i also had the other night is a lovely monte enebro that is sold at murray's. i think my favorite one tho is from bedford cheese in wmsburg - an all round pretty great cheese store btw. i don't know who either of the maker's are but i'll try to find out and will definitely look for the one by rafael baez. it's such a great cheese.

[tanabutler]

a favorite cheese of mine and one that i also had the other night is a lovely monte enebro that is sold at murray's. i think my favorite one tho is from bedford cheese in wmsburg - an all round pretty great cheese store btw. i don't know who either of the maker's are but i'll try to find out and will definitely look for the one by rafael baez. it's such a great cheese.

It is likely to be his, according to the woman at River Street Cafe here. Hope it is.

[Tamar G]

last night a La Tur and a large portion of Hoch Ybrig. Wow. Gotten at Murrays after learning that they did not have any Vacherin.

[fantasty]

Grafton's Stone House Cheddar, aged six years. I thought that their four year was my favorite domestic cheddar, but I was wrong. Their six year is my new standard. Tangy, creamy, and addictive.

 

Speaking of aged Vermont cheddar, what qualilfies a cheddar as "rat trap"? I have great memories of ogling huge (35? 40? lb) wheels of rat trap cheddar in country stores apres-ski as a child. Grafton's 4- and 6-year cheddars both remind me of rat trap.

[Liza]

Can anyone fill me in on the oddly named Maxi-dome? A recommendation from Murray's and very tasty.

 

Also recently: some great Tomme de Berger and raw milk Camembert.

I had Maxi-dome only once, at the late Union Pacific. I recall it being bright white, and cut with a specific implement. Of course I can't find a reference in either Jenkin's Cheese primer, nor in a guide to French cheeses.

 

Tonight we had a terrific triple creme from Coach Farm, in really gorgeous condition.

[Wilfrid1]

Commenting on a cheese served at a recent Jean-Georges lunch, I wrote:

 

"a cheese I had never tried before, Tomme de Crayeuse from the Savoy: paler and slightly softer than typical Tomme, with a powerfully musty grey crust"

 

and Steven Dilley also described it as "great".

 

Well, it's available at Murray's, and it's as good as I remembered. The rind is powerful indeed, even a hint of ammonia which might suggest the cheese is getting old. But the paste is perfect - rich, smooth and strongly buttery.

 

Recommended, as is the Pecorino Tartufo with really big slices of black truffle.

[GG Mora]

At a cheese tasting this afternoon, mounted by Artisanal at a small shop down the road in South Londonderry:

 

Affidelice: A soft cow's milk cheese from Burgundy; very similar to Epoisses except that the rind is washed with chardonnay instead of marc. Luscious and creamy, if not quite as assertively stinky as Epoisses.

 

Selles sur Cher: an aged ash-dusted soft goat cheese from the Loire valley. Appropriately goaty and tangy and just this side of runny.

 

4-yr-old Gouda: Fabulously nutty and butterscotchy, flaky texture with fine crystallization.

 

Stilton from Colston Bassett: Stilton at its finest, made from rich late-summer milk – so bright and faintly grassy.

 

Terrance Brennan was there, hawking and signing his new cookbook Artisanal Cooking. It wasn't at all crowded, and my husband knows Terry from world-of-skiing, so we got to talk with him quite a bit – about all sorts of things but largely about cheese and specifically about the fucking FDA and raw milk cheeses.

[Wilfrid1]

Affidelice: A soft cow's milk cheese from Burgundy; very similar to Epoisses except that the rind is washed with chardonnay instead of marc. Luscious and creamy, if not quite as assertively stinky as Epoisses.

Definitely one to look out for - much less likely to be a dried out disappointment like most Epoissses these days.

[GG Mora]

Affidelice: A soft cow's milk cheese from Burgundy; very similar to Epoisses except that the rind is washed with chardonnay instead of marc. Luscious and creamy, if not quite as assertively stinky as Epoisses.

Definitely one to look out for - much less likely to be a dried out disappointment like most Epoissses these days.

Do you have anything against buying cheese from Artisanal? All of the cheeses offered yesterday, plus 10 or so other varieties for sale at the shop, were in exemplary condition. The Epoisses we had from them last week was also near the peak of perfection – could have used a few more days of softening to runniness but, alas, we were greedy and couldn't wait.

 

FYI, Omni had asked about the provenance of the Epoisses. It was from Berthaut, and NOT made from raw milk. Terry was adamant that Artisanal won't traffic (knowingly) in young raw milk cheeses. Apparently, they have gotten some that were “mislabeled”; he described an ugly go-round with the FDA last year over a shipment of Vacherin Mont D'or.