In England Very Hard Cheese
This past Sunday was TheMan’s and my 5th anniversary which we celebrated pretty low key. We thought about going here or there and doing this or that but in the end, we decided that a quiet candle lit night with some wine and cheese was just what we wanted. So this we did (plus a little Warcraft but that’s not what this post is about).
We also got some fun cheeses and I made notes so I could continue the cheeses review. Last time we got Double Gloucester , Sage Derby, Raclette, Ossau-Iraty and Banon. I believe they were Cow, cow, cow, sheep, goat cheeses. This time around we only got 4 cheese, two picked by TheMan and two picked by me. We complimented them with a Chianti and a nice dry Riesling.
Irish Cheddar was TheMan’s first pick because he likes him some cheddar. And probably some other factors too but the whole “likes cheddar. A lot” had a good deal of sway. Irish Cheddar is a cow’s milk cheddar cheese that is what I imagine Double Gloucester was trying to achieve. Man that was one tasty creamy cheese, we gave it two thumbs up. It went best with the Riesling.
TheMan’s second cow’s milk cheese (cow cow? boooring) was Leyden Cheese Dutch Gouda with Cumin Seeds. Mostly he picked this one up because his Warcraft Character’s name happens to also be Leyden and Gouda is also one of his cheese of choice. Plus, we’ve been on a curry kick lately and cumin seeds is Indianish. Or something. Anyway, this was one cumin stinky cheese and they weren’t kidding about the seeds. BAMN there they were right front and center. This was pretty much a Gouda cheese with cumin seeds which made for a very savory cheese indeed. I thought it was a bit too savory (it was like eating an Indian meal all in one bite of cheese. That’s a lot for one cheese to handle you know?). TheMan thought it was really tasty and he’d totally get it again. I’d eat some if he came home with cumin seed Gouda but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it. It also went well with the Riesling.
OH! I just looked at the comments from the last cheesing and Sean Whose Name is Nate recommended this very cheese. TheMan agrees 100% with you SWNiN! I’m going to have to only agree with you about 80% though, it was perhaps too savory a cheese for my palate.
I went for the goat and sheep cheeses since we already had two cow cheeses. The first was a goat cheese called Ibores, which was a raw goat’s milk cheese. I have no idea what the difference is between raw milk cheeses and…ahhh…cooked milk cheeses at least in terms of taste. I’m guessing that the actual difference is whether it’s pasteurized or not. Anyway, Ibores is a stinky somewhat gooey cheese (not like brie gooey but gooier than Gouda) which has a little bit of a zingy bite to it. We both thought it was OK, TheMan probably less OK than me. We did discover that it went better with the sweeter crackers than the savory crackers, and also better with the Riesling than the Chianti.
Manchego el Trigal was my sheep’s milk cheese of choice. It was a hard cheese like an Asiago but a little softer and with a lot less character. We dubbed it “The Asiago for the easily offended”. It was decent but nothing to write home about, unless you are a fan of bland with an incredibly mild bite. In which case, write away. The only really notable thing about this cheese in comparison with the others is that it went better with the Chianti. Poor Chianti lost out on this cheesing.
2007:OH! TheMan took the AC out of the window yesterday so now the room is warmer and quieter.
2006: Sit me down and call me Susie, we didn’t play Warcraft in the morning. Huh.
2005: No cheeses that could offend anybody were tasted back then.
2004: In fact, no writing that could offend anyone was written back then.
2003: I knew I’d be whiny and demanding and fidgety and generally a pain in the ass. I almost had to put the smack down on my own self it was that bad.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
mmmm, Irish Cheddar is the good stuff….