The Cheese Lovers' Thread

[Tail End Charlie]

Before lockdown it was a treat of mine to, every so often, jump on a train to Ludlow (it's a direct and scenic route) when they have a farmers' market and buy my own bodyweight in the various cheeses on offer.

 

[Dave7]

A Camembert question.
Fathers day. Lpool vs Everton on tv.
My treat (apart from a nice malt) will be a prawn cocktail followed by fresh crusty bread with Camembert.

So the question.......
The cheese is from Aldi.
It had good reviews apart from one guy who said it stunk like rotten fish.
I put it in the fridge yesterday and the guy is not far off.......its a very strong smell and not in a nice way.
Will it be ok to eat ?

 

[randynewmanscat]

Bloke been doing my local Sunday market for ten years is a farmer of goats in Sainte-Maure de Touraine and maker of goat cheese. He has a small refrigerated trailer about the size of a fruit barrow and sells young and matured cheeses. €3 buys a buche (log) and it is sensational stuff.
Spread on a baguette or in a walnut, beetroot, cheese salad drizzled with walnut oil. I am not especially health conscious but for those who are goat cheese is healthy stuff. Wash it down with a Touraine Sauvignon if you think its too much health for one meal.

 

[randynewmanscat]

A Camembert question.
Fathers day. Lpool vs Everton on tv.
My treat (apart from a nice malt) will be a prawn cocktail followed by fresh crusty bread with Camembert.

So the question.......
The cheese is from Aldi.
It had good reviews apart from one guy who said it stunk like rotten fish.
I put it in the fridge yesterday and the guy is not far off.......its a very strong smell and not in a nice way.
Will it be ok to eat ?

Normal. Camembert stinks a bit, not fierce like Époisses but stinky sweaty sock especially when runny ripe. It will taste better than it smells. I sometimes bake a Camembert in its wooden box and dip crusty baguette in it, feels like you have eaten a lead pie, if you manage the whole cheese you will need a siesta.

 

[randynewmanscat]

Is Cathedral City actually cheese?

it comes from the same factory as the very fine "Ersatz" cheese.

 

[randynewmanscat]

Not directly related to cheese but one gripe I have with the entire French nation is that they are totally ignorant of the existence of crackers, apart from the industrial TUC product. I miss quality crackers. Waitrose have some very nice crackers on sale, very nice indeed.

 

[randynewmanscat]

My favourite English cheese is Lincolnshire Poacher, it is very similar to a young Comté, perhaps a cross between Cheddar and Comté and equally as good as the best examples of that cheese. I had a Kg packed with a pallet of goods along with some very good Stilton before last Christmas and the locals here rated both as superb.

 

[oldwheels]

My grandmother made a small amount of cheese and used a home made press weighed down by a couple of boulders which hung on the stone wall outside the house for weeks or even months. Very hard but very tasty. She also made crowdie which was not like the rubbish you get nowadays but had a proper taste. This was on a croft in Sutherland. On the Isle of Lewis where my wife's family originated they added sour cream to their crowdie which was also very good.
All this was using milk straight from the cow but I never heard of anyone getting ill although nowadays it is probably illegal.

 

[Fab Foodie]

No Name Shop, in No Name Street in Sandwich has an excellent selection. Essentially a French shop it houses some of the finest cheese.

A vintage salty crumbly Gouda or a strong rinded 'dipping' cheese (the name escapes me).

Please cross reference with @Fab Foodie and @Hill Wimp for quality control..

View attachment 530959

No Name Street is exactly one shop long and No Name Shop is it.

It’s also where Bono lives....

 

[Solocle]

My grandmother made a small amount of cheese and used a home made press weighed down by a couple of boulders which hung on the stone wall outside the house for weeks or even months. Very hard but very tasty. She also made crowdie which was not like the rubbish you get nowadays but had a proper taste. This was on a croft in Sutherland. On the Isle of Lewis where my wife's family originated they added sour cream to their crowdie which was also very good.
All this was using milk straight from the cow but I never heard of anyone getting ill although nowadays it is probably illegal.

It's legal, I've even bought some unpasteurized cheese before - but the settings in which sale is allowed are limited.

 

[oldwheels]

It's legal, I've even bought some unpasteurized cheese before - but the settings in which sale is allowed are limited.

You can still get cheese from untreated sheep milk I think from somewhere in Lanarkshire. The local authority seem to have some sort of vendetta and have been trying without success to shut him down for years. I have had conversations with various cheese makers who nearly all shudder at the thought of using untreated milk. The subject I think could be likened to the h-----t debate.

 

[Poacher]

My grandmother made a small amount of cheese and used a home made press weighed down by a couple of boulders which hung on the stone wall outside the house for weeks or even months. Very hard but very tasty. She also made crowdie which was not like the rubbish you get nowadays but had a proper taste. This was on a croft in Sutherland. On the Isle of Lewis where my wife's family originated they added sour cream to their crowdie which was also very good.
All this was using milk straight from the cow but I never heard of anyone getting ill although nowadays it is probably illegal.

Plenty of cheeses are made from unpasteurised 'raw' cow milk; Stichelton is one that springs to mind immediately.
It's the reason they're not allowed to call it Stilton, even though it's the closest thing to old-style Stilton there is!
The Stilton makers association changed their rules in the early 1990s to ban the use of unpasteurised milk, wrongly IMHO.

 

[Poacher]

You can still get cheese from untreated sheep milk I think from somewhere in Lanarkshire. The local authority seem to have some sort of vendetta and have been trying without success to shut him down for years. I have had conversations with various cheese makers who nearly all shudder at the thought of using untreated milk. The subject I think could be likened to the h-----t debate.

The rightly famous Lanark Blue!

 

[randynewmanscat]

The rightly famous Lanark Blue!

There is a butchers shop in Nethy Bridge owned by a Mr Mike Mustard, he ages a small selection of cheeses to sell, one of which is Lanark Blue. Brings back happy memories.

 

[Reynard]

A Camembert question.
Fathers day. Lpool vs Everton on tv.
My treat (apart from a nice malt) will be a prawn cocktail followed by fresh crusty bread with Camembert.

So the question.......
The cheese is from Aldi.
It had good reviews apart from one guy who said it stunk like rotten fish.
I put it in the fridge yesterday and the guy is not far off.......its a very strong smell and not in a nice way.
Will it be ok to eat ?

It'll be fine. Camembert (when ripe) usually stinks the fridge out. Just make sure it has the chance to get up to room temperature first.

Mind, it has nothing on Herve and Maroual - those are into gas mask territory