I love cheese and, like with almost everything else, my taste for cheese has expanded as I’ve aged. I’m almost to the point where I’d be willing to try those stinky cheeses my father loves so much. Michaella is a dairy-fiend herself and she is extremely fond of cheeses. She likes almost all of them, though I recently found out she is not fond of chevre. Her dad didn’t use to like it either, and I think Mika has inheritted Mike’s taste in food as well as his looks and personality.
I don’t know very much about cheese, however, so I figured I’d start writing about different cheeses I tried so that I could remember which ones I liked and disliked and why. I’m starting with Stilton, even though I wrote a little bit about that cheese in my posting below, as it’s a new cheese I tried today.
Stilton is a blue cheese from England. I found it at Safeway (Clawson brand) for $13 a lb. I really like it. It’s quite creamy for a blue cheese, though it can crumble, and has an intense flavor that is still less pungent and bitter than other blue cheeses (like Roquefort or Gorgonzola). Indeed, it doesn’t taste completely as a blue cheese – it even reminded me a little of gruyere. It was good in the blue cheese burgers I made, but it’s actually one blue cheese I’d eat by itself. Indeed, it’s recommended that you enjoy it alone with a glass of port, though I think it would also go great with the cherry preserves we had at Piperade. This is definitely a cheese I could serve as part of a cheese course or, as the British (used to?) do, as a finish to a meal.
Here is some more info I found on the web about it:
“This marvelous blue cheese is the English contender for “King of Cheeses.” Although it is made in parts of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, it received its name in the 18th century because it was first sold in the small village of Stilton in Huntingdonshire. Stilton is made from whole cow’s milk and allowed to ripen for 4 to 6 months, during which time it is skewered numerous times to encourage the growth of Pencillium roqueforti mold (also present in roquefort cheese). This process creates a pale yellow interior with blue-green veins. The texture is rich and creamy (45 percent fat) but slightly crumbly. The flavor has a mellow cheddarlike quality with the pungency of blue cheese. Stilton is sold in tall cylinders with a crusty brownish rind. In addition to this better-known mature version, there is also a young white Stilton that is marketed before the colored veins develop. It has a mild and slightly sour flavor. Stilton is at its best eaten by itself with a glass of port or a full-bodied dry red wine. ”