Cheese Choices

[achickwwit]

Looking for about five different cheeses to serve at a wine party this weekend. I'm going to taste a few at a specialty store this week, but I'd like to know ahead of time which ones tend to be the most crowd-friendly. Any suggestions?

[jimmysgirl424]

I know Brie is always a popular one at some of the parties I've been to. :)

Me personally, I love goat cheese marinated in oil and vinegar. Yummy!

[HeatherFL]

I had a cheese tasting at my 30th birthday party. I'll see if I can find the list! There were 7 different types all from Europe. People LOVED them!

~H.

[BethIrish]

I second the brie recommendation...especially if you add some kind of fruit preserve, wrap it in phyllo and bake it!!!

At parties I've been to, the cheeses that honestly go the fastest are the more "common" ones....a sharp cheddar, havarti (w/dill or other herb), monteray jack etc. I would probaby get one or two "stronger" cheeses (blue cheese, stilton etc.) but that's because I know my friends enjoy that as well. If you don't have any hard core cheese heads, I'd probably skip the strong stuff ;)

[cr8zyforaf]

Ohhh..brie with the top cut off - put pesto and pine nuts and bake until it is melted...yummy.

I also love chedder, havarti (with Jalapenos), and blue cheese

[tenofcups]

One of our recent favorites has been Stilton with apricots. I'm not really a Stilton fan--a little too flavorful for my taste, but the apricots add a sweetness that makes it delicious. We've served it to company a few times to much approval. We buy it at our local farmers market, but I imagine any place you can get specialty cheeses would have it.

For a more common one, one of my all-time favorites is Boursin. I think of it as common, but I was surprised when we had people over recently and several people had never had it before, but fell in love with it. Usually available in the specialty cheese section of the supermarket or anywhere else you can get cheese.

One that we've had frequently in my family is cheddar and port wine. Often you can find it in a ball with nuts on it. Nothing exotic, but a good basic one and it looks pretty. :) Available anywhere.

[maplekitty]

Here is a good article on what kinds of cheeses to pair with what kinds of wines:
http://www.realcaliforniacheese.com/prochef/wine.pdf

or

http://www.egourmetcheese.com/winecheese.htm

this one is really good:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cpairing.htm

I think crowd favourites are: brie, camembert, gruyer, swiss, cheddar, edam, emental, goat cheese, gouda...

[andrew&shannah]

One of our recent favorites has been Stilton with apricots

We got this for our last Christmas party and everyone just flocked to it. Definitely a favorite.

We usually also have some combination of the following:
- Brie (usually baked with some sort of fruit compote)
- parmesan
- blue cheese
- double gloucester
- havarti
- gruyere
- smoked gouda

[greenbunny]

I'd recommend Asiago. It must be fairly well-liked since I'm seeing it more that I used to in prepared foods (restaurant dishes, pre-made dips and sauces in the grocery store), but it's still slightly unusual. It's very hard and very fragrant.

I can't stand Brie and I love Asiago, and DH is vice versa. Maybe it's a hard cheese/soft cheese thing.

[achickwwit]

I'm here taking notes on everything. I'm going to ask about Stilton when I go to the store. That one definitely intrigues me.

maplekitty, those links you supplied were great. Thank you!

We're serving six wines at this tasting, and one of them is a dessert wine, a Dornfelder. I guess the general rule of thumb is contrast: sweet wine = salty cheese. Blue cheese was a recommendation on one of sites maplekitty referenced. I find blue cheese to be a bit too strong outside of dressings, and I probably won't want to serve it. Any other ideas for likeable salty cheeses?

[tlew12778]

I'd recommend Asiago. It's very hard and very fragrant. Actually it depends what type of asiago. Some are hard bc they have been aged longer, some are softer and not as sharp. I wouldn't compare asiago and brie... brie is more creamer and more... well moldy tasting (sorry, I can't think of a better word to differentiate the taste). Asiago is a little sharper... closer to a monterrey jack I think.

ETA: I would also serve a really good parmigiano reggiano DOC or a grana padana DOC.

[Bastille]

Some of my favorite cheeses are:

Basque Cheese - either Etorki or Ossau Irraty - it is made from sheep's milk and salty and so yummy when eaten at the right temperature. I used to live near the French Basque area and that is now I learned about this cheese. Sometimes hard to find but oh so worth it. Whole Foods carries this cheese.

Another wonderful cheese is (I am not remembering the name) which is a brie with a bit of the blue cheese mold in it. It is wonderful on a crisp warm baguette - Heaven. This cheese is from Germany and can be found at Trader Joes cut in brie shapes - can't come up with the name right now although I can totally picture it in my mind - sorry.

[Amuse Bouche]

Some blue cheeses are less strong than others -- Cambozola comes to mind -- it's kind of across between a blue and a brie (well, camembert). Gorgonzola Dolce is also pretty mild.

I don't know how adventurous your crowd is, but when you're doing a cheese tasting, for variety, I would have a creamy rind cheese (like a brie), a blue, a goat cheese, a hard cheese (like a parmesan), and then a fifth cheese that can be whatever you want (I would go with either a semisoft like a cheddar, or something flavored with herbs or mushrooms or something). Of course, brie and cheddar and parmesan are the obvious choices, but if you have a decent cheesemonger (and Whole Foods usually carries good cheeses) it might be fun to introduce your guests to some ones that are similar to the ones they already know of, but are new cheeses.

Here are some suggestions:

Creamy: St. Andre (a triple creme -- any of these are good), Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam, Camembert, Explorateur

Blue: I already suggested cambozola or gorgonzola dolce as reasonably mild blue cheeses. And blue cheese really IS amazing with sweet wine.

Goat: A mild soft chevre is usually the favored goat cheese, and it's always good, but check out Humboldt Fog -- one of my favorite goat cheeses (the vein through it is ash, not blue cheese), Bucheron, or drunken goat.

Hard: Parmiggiano Reggiano is the obvious choice, and again, it's always good, as is Asiago, Romano, and Pecorino, but I'd look at an aged gouda or Roomano, which a lot of people like - it's actually a little milder than Parmesan but has the same texture, or something like Vella Dry Jack.

Other: Manchego would be good here, or Gruyere (like a swiss cheese) or a good, aged cheddar.

[ignutzz]

Manchego is a nice salty cheese. It's reminicent of Parmesean with a bit of cheddar thrown in.

If you want to see a wide variety of artisanal cheeses, check out the selection at Fresh Direct (and if they don't deliver in CA, you can always look for the cheese locally).

[greenbunny]

Actually it depends what type of asiago. Some are hard bc they have been aged longer, some are softer and not as sharp. I wouldn't compare asiago and brie... brie is more creamer and more... well moldy tasting (sorry, I can't think of a better word to differentiate the taste). Asiago is a little sharper... closer to a monterrey jack I think.

Oh, no, I wouldn't compare it to Brie either. I was just saying I like one and hate the other, and DH is the opposite, so I wondered if it was a texture issue. But then, I've only ever found one type of Asiago at the grocery store, it's very hard and crumbly.

[Amuse Bouche]

Other good places to read cheese descriptions online are igourmet.com and murrayscheese.com

[achickwwit]

OK, this thread got me all fired up, so I stopped at Wild Oats this afternoon to sniff around. I ended up buying a few different kinds...let me know what you think I'm missing...

Pecorino Ginepro (OMG delicious!!! Got this instead of my favorite parmesan. Super spendy but I got a small wedge and just handed over my Visa...) -- good suggestion, amuse
Wisconsin Mammoth Cheddar
Pepper Jack
Smoked Gouda (hubby's fave; a must)
Roucloulons (cheese guy said this is a brie, though the package doesn't say that; it's from France)

So this is kind of a mix of known favorites and a newbie or two. Debating picking up one other kind, but I'm not sure what. I was supposed to stop at just three anyway! :)

[skyblu]

A good rule of thumb for a cheese selection is to have at least one of each of the following groups:
Soft
Firm
Aged
Blue

I had a wine and cheese party for Christmas and chose two of each category (a better-know one and a more unique one), different types of crackers and soft baguettes, and a variety of dried fruits and fruit preserves to serve with them.

[HeatherFL]

I found it! I am not a big brie or a blue cheese fan so I only had one of those types and it was a mix LOL. ;) At the end of the night almost all of the cheese was gone. It was a total hit. I also had listed which types of wines to try the cheeses with. Most were interchangable so it made it fun to be able to try a red and/or white with the same type of cheese. (I recommended wine types, not just one particular wine and then provided the wines and separated them by "type".)

Cambozola Cheese
By: Champignon
Bavaria; Lauben, Germany
Made near the Bavarian Alps. A soft creamy blue/brie hybrid made from milk with added cream.

Proodsy
By: Prima Donna
Friesland (North), Holland
Nutty, sweet and salty, with a slight sharpness. The cheese is hard, but softens quickly in your mouth. Rich and satisfying, it is made in the same style as Gouda.

Mahon Menorca Cheese
By: Queama
Menorca, Spain
Named after the island where it comes from, it has a parallelepiped shape, with round edges and corners. Its rind is firm and easily cut. It is made of cow’s milk, has a creamy texture, with a nutty hint. Its buttery essence makes this cheese perfect with fruit, nuts, or on its own.

Cheddar with Carmalised Onions
By: Wensleydale
Hawes, England
Creamy Cheddar cheese combined with rich Caramelised Onions

Irish Cheddar with Porter
By: Cahills
Newcastle West, Ireland
(in addition to wine, this is also good with beer)
Full-flavored and tangy cheddar that is ever so slightly pungent with a firm texture.

Smoked Gouda
By: Mazzaro
The Netherlands
Lightly smoked, creamy, and mild.

Beemster with Mustard Seeds
By: Beemster
The Netherlands
This cheese from Northern Holland is a Dutch Gouda with some new twists. Beemster takes the traditional Gouda recipe and adds a variety of flavoring agents to the mix. Some of them are quite familiar to American palates, like garlic, fine herbs, and black pepper. A less familiar flavor combination stems from a Dutch custom that we recently discovered on a trip to Holland. The Dutch will often spread some mustard on a piece of cheese before eating it. Dutch mustard has a pleasant kick to it that livens up an otherwise mild cheese. Beemster with Mustard incorporates whole mustard seeds right in the cheese. The final flavor is called "nettles."

Pistachio Paste
Mazzaro Italian Market
Try with: Spread on Any Cheese

I'm a big dummy and forgot to take a picture of the display, but I bought the little things you clip pictures into for display and printed out cards then stuck them next to each cheese.

Have a great party!

ETA: Like skyblu, we had the bread, crackers and fruits too. :)

~H.

[EuropeBride]

Hands down my favorite cheese ever?

Epoisse de Bourgogne
http://www.cheeseline.com/ProductImages/Epoisse_Product.jpg

Really smelly with a very rounded, full taste. It's very runny (or shoud be when it's ripe) and it's the best thing ever with crackers and grapes.

I have some at home and can't wait to devour it for supper!

ETA: I'm really sorry, but you apparently can't buy Epoisse in the US because it's unpasteurized...

[achickwwit]

Heather, your cheese party sounded like fun. I love the idea of having the little signs/descriptions next to the cheeses. I had wanted to do that, but I ran out of time. People wound up loving what we had anyway, even when they didn't always know what they were trying. :)

EuropeBride: There's a nearby store that sells unpasteurized cheeses with abandon, so I'm sure that cheese is out here somewhere. :)

[katmg]

I recently got a cheese plate at a restaurant and they served it with honey. Oh my goodness - SO GOOD! The blue cheese with a bit of honey drizzled on it was really good, and surprisingly the parmesan was too.

Just a thought for those of you serving cheeses...

[Jazz]

Your list looks good (and tasty!). I might recommend picking up some Huntsman -- it's a layered cheese with double gloucester and blue stilton. Here's a picture from igourmet:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000D9N12.01-A1M96NKOK0T3I7._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

It's very pretty and is a nice taste of blue without being overpowering.

Otherwise ... if your pecorino disappears before the party ;), I'd second (third?) the recommendations for manchego. Or get some anyway.

[tlew12778]

In Italy cheese is often served as a dessert with a choice of honey (there are different types for each type of cheese), marmalade (again, different types for each type of cheese), or something called mostarda which is spicy, preserved fruits basically (again, different types for different cheeses).