Bucheron, Lamb Chopper, and Red Square, Week 9

This was an exciting weekend for the blog!  The blog now has visitors from 18 countries! From Chile to New Zealand to India to Sweden.  It's so fun to see where you're all from, especially since the average time spent on the site is 2 minutes and 38 seconds. (A whole 2 minutes and 22 seconds more than 15 seconds of fame!)

I'm going to keep the intro quick because I tried three new cheeses this week!  For a birthday party on Saturday, the blog took another trip to the wonderful Cheesetique for a tri-animal, tri-country cheese plate.  That's right, cheese from a cow, goat, and sheep!

Platter Prep

Ready, Set, Cheese!

Clockwise: Bucheron (French Goat), Lamb Chopper (California Sheep), and Red Square (Tasmanian Cow)

I kind of feel badly for having no recipe, again, but who knows?  With the snow tonight, maybe tomorrow will bring a nice snow day cheese soup.  

1) Bucheron: This cheese was a big hit- spreadable, mild, and deliciously creamy.  I would absolutely recommend this cheese with any kind of crusty cracker.

Price:  $15.99/lb

Smell: Soft.

2) Lamb Chopper: What a cool cheese name!  I just learned today that the Lamb Chopper is a cousin (Cyprus Grove Chevre) of ranking premier cheese- Midnight Moon.  It was buttery and so rich.  It was wonderful on its own, and I bet it would melt nicely, too. Fantastic. 

Price: $26.95/lb

Smell: Nutty, lamby, happy.

3) Red Square:  Now this is the smelly cheese the blog has been waiting for!  It had four of four smelly noses on the ID card at Cheesetique, and rightfully so.  I don't know quite how to describe the smell- a cross between dirty socks and dirt. Surprisingly, the smell was way stronger than the taste, which was creamy (think gooey Brie) and hearty. Added bonus: saying you ate Tasmanian Cow Cheese!

Price: $20.95/lb

Smell: Dirty Socks or Dirt, give or take a sock.

For Christmas, I received an Alpaca Pop Mold.  The host with the most, Errol, received the first 'paca pops:

CheeseKate <3 Alpacas

Verdict: Lamb Choppa' was amazing, but it didn't take me to the stars like Midnight Moon did.  The Bucheron was a delight, and I had a difficult time placing it in the tally.  I preferred it over the Delice, but wasn't positive it was betta' than the chedda'.  Lastly, the Tasmanian cow cheese was fun and adventurous, but I liked Delice a bit more.

End tally: Midnight Moon > Lamb Chopper > Manchego > Paneer > Comte > Vermont Cheddar > Bucheron > Delice d'Argental > Red Square > Stilton > Pecorino Romano > Monterey Jack