Let's face it, foodies have to eat too. Eaters can love a place because we always get the corner table or there's a good Paillard on an otherwise mediocre menu. Foodies have these wonderfully calibrated palates that must be catered to by a cornucopia of tastes, ingredients and textures.
So, we give the foodies the EATER stage now and again to help them talk through their issues. Here, how to take responsibity for the cheese from, we assure you, a foodie if there ever was one.
iheartfood (not a real tag): by the way, i went to a dins party the other night where i volunteered to be responsible for the cheese--the obsession just grows
iheartfood: anyway--here is a list of some really good cheese to bring to a party if you're looking to impress peeps. oh, it's a good kind of fat.
EATER: go ahead with the list, please
iheartfood: Azeitao (new portuguese cheese that all the fromagerie innovators are buzzing about) it's made using a vegetal rennit, thistle, which is pretty rare; very few cheeses don't use an animal rennit
iheartfood: it's a semi-soft
iheartfood: another semi-soft is Queso de la Serena
iheartfood: which is either hated or adored; having the Azeitao on hand cushions the potential fall-out. this one has an almost musty, wine-cellary aroma/flavor
iheartfood: moving right along, next go to a washed rind stinky but not strong-tasting
iheartfood: a classic but AWESOME is an Epoisses
iheartfood: must be served in its own little container so its pervasive odor doesn't affect the others. starts out mild and grows sharper after you've tasted it. soupy so you have to dig in with a spoon. the edible rind was soaked in brandy and the cheese itself undergoes a salt-water rinse
iheartfood: then, the first and only blue cheese I have ever loved--from Jasper Hill Farms, Bailey Hazen Blue
iheartfood: doesn't have the ammonia flave of other blues (which I can't stand) but instead has like this annise thing going on that rounds things out and makes it earthy
EATER: ok if we post this?
iheartfood: finally, best for last, but also, you should try to move from soft to hard cheeses
iheartfood: um. i don't feel like i can take creds for these picks though really--i was inspired by Rob Kaufelt and Laura Werlin
iheartfood: so, the best, ROOMANO (no typo), it's from the Netherlands and not easy to find. A 5-year aged gouda that smells like butterscotch and somehow, in between its salty, nuttiness, tastes a little butterscotchy
iheartfood: I skipped over the fresh cheeses, which you'd start with--like a fresh ricotta. it dulls in comparison to these others. Also, you might have begun with a goat's cheese like monte tenebro from spain which is coated in ash. But again, it seemed a little cliche.
iheartfood: all can be found at Murray's
First, we learn that the fromagerie innovators are buzzing about Azeitao, but we've been talking about it for a good six months already. Get with it, fromagerie "innovators."
Second, careful with the goat cheese. It can be seen as cliche, which, of course, is every foodie's nightmare.
Indeed. Anyone hungry for some Polly-O's string cheese?
