Hi buddies,
I have recently discovered that I enjoy cheeses. Im talking about the fancy cheeses you get on a platter at restraunts. I was wondering if there are any cheese connoisseurs on the t-planet that can give me a run down on cheeses. What are the different types? How much do you usually eat? Is it easy to fit into your macros?
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Hah. Great topic! Iām by far not a cheese connoisseur, but I like me a good cheese platter. My wife and I usually try to do an evening of cheese and cold cuts once every two weeks or so. We usually go for one hard cheese, one medium and one soft.
For the hard cheeses Iām into the Mediterranean stuff (Peccorino from Sicily or Parmesan, I also like Manchego from Spain ā mixture between sheep, goat and cow milk). We have some pretty good medium cheeses here, like Limburger and any of the types of Bergkaese from Austria. If you can get your hands on a good Appenzeller, itās my favourite ābeerā cheese. As for soft cheeses, Iām not too fond of the super-fatty and aromatic cheeses (Camembert) but I like the Bries and Brie-type fattier cheeses.
When we do this type evening, I donāt try to track macros or grams of protein or fat or anything, because I basically know that Iām going way off the nutritional rails. I just grab some really fresh bread, some salted butter, condiments of my choice and go buckwild. Iām not sure how much we eat, but we usually buy smallish-to-medium-sized pieces of cheese, which is often enough for two two-person meals.
There are so many different types itās ridiculous, and if youāre ever in France itās like stepping into a book store without any pre-existing knowledge of books: how the hell are you supposed to make a choice with that vast of a selection? When weāre in restaurants in France we like to order cheese for dessert. A platter usually comes with three cheese samples, which is good for kind of āscanning the marketā and trying new things out.
Iām definitely no connoisseur, but I know that cheese can be a great tasting additional source of protein and fat and low in carbs (depending on the type). I think in general, you want to stick with sharper cheeses and away from bleu cheese or cheeses that are highly processed. Iām interested in this as well and would love to hear from someone that knows this subject.
If you have a higher end spirits or wine store around, they often have cheese and wine tastings. Iāve also seen classes that are BYOB.
If you want to have actual tastings (as opposed to just getting a block), would be to have platters of 3 or so cheeses. As mentioned above, hard, medium and soft is a common way to go. Usually, itās a combination of balancing texture and taste (mild to strong)
Other common methods/approaches include:
-animal: cow, sheep, and goat (probably the most common)
-cheese type: variations of the same type such as mild, medium, and sharp cheddar
-flavor: a mixture of fruity, smoked, spicey, mild, etc.
Or just go some place with a decent selection, tell them what you like, get a couple suggestions on others you may enjoy and choose a few in that category with different textures and intensity.
Also, cheese is supposed to be served at room temperature (supposedly helps bring out the flavor). Some say you should rub in between your fingers before eating, but it seems a bit much. Additionally, you arenāt supposed to taste the exterior of the cheeseā¦ supposedly the oxidation and packaging can influence the flavor; once again, this is a bit much for me. However, cheese does taste different in the center, as opposed tot he rind.
Anyway, Iām not expert, but some general cheeses I enjoy are gouda, smoked provolone, sometimes provel on pizza, pepper jack (or anything with peppers, really), and some vermont cheddars are pretty good. I think youāre an aussie? NZ has some good ones.
You can even get a ābeginners platter,ā which would include something like Chabichou du Poitou, Taleggio, PyrĆ©nĆ©es Brebis, a complex Cheddar, Danish Blue, etcā¦ but, to me, if youāre taking a systematic approach, it makes more sense to probably get different variations of popular cheeses (blues, jacks, cheddars, roquefort, brie, etc.)
Iām not sure what you mean by processed, but an interesting tidbit about blue cheeses is that the bacterium responsible for their distinctive smell is the exact same bacterium that is responsible for human foot odor and other bodily smells.
Appetizing, eh?
Mmmm. Cheese:
I can get most of these from costco.
#1: Jarlsburg
#2 Asiago
#3 Parmesan (I eat by the slice)
Also good: pacorino (can be have a grainy texture), blue cheese, mozzarella, provolone, any cheese with hot peppers in them.
Thanks for the replies my friends.
Eating cheese may have to be my new ācheat mealā.
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what?!
i feel like a chick now
my cheat meal is chocolate
ALWAYS
f**k 
[quote]alexrus wrote:
what?!
i feel like a chick now
my cheat meal is chocolate
ALWAYS
f**k :/[/quote]
youāve just got to find the right cheese to go with the right chocolate.
jalapeno dark chocolate drizzled onto black peppercorn pecorino is a nice start.
Great topic!! Iāve always been a cheese fanatic, but I would say Iām a connoisseur. I just go the nice grocery stores with a large variety of cheeses, grab 2 or 3 different types, some wine, some light crackers (I actually like using Nut thins) or some good bread (as was already said), a variety of fruits (grapes, berries, apples, pears, whatever) and sometimes some veggies and have a an enjoyable evening.
Brie is certainly a staple. Cold, warm, or baked with a relish on it is amazing.
I like spicy food so any cheese I can find with Habanero, Jalapeno or Horseradish is solid.
Sometimes I like staying local and trying a variety of cheddars. You wouldnāt believe how many different kinds and locations they come from.
Iām trying to get more into āblue cheesesā at the moment.
[quote]theBird wrote:
Thanks for the replies my friends.
Eating cheese may have to be my new ācheat mealā.
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sorry for the hijack but every time I see you post this pops into my head
Cheese was my staple food when I was in university. Hell, sometimes it was my only food! I used to buy those 1lb block of cheddar that was always on sale and eat it throughout the day. I was doing some sort of CKD so on non workout days my diet would consist of 1 block of cheese (I think it was around 2kcal, 110g of protein, the rest fats) and 2 scoops of protein shake.
Constipation + a lot of gas is a really bad combo. I miss being a broke college student, I was quite innovative with my diet and training with very limited equipments, I āinventedā Meadows rows before I read about it hahah!
Goat chesse from samās is awesome. Then again you will either love the texture or hate it.
It is one of my favorite when doing a low carb diet!!