Mac and No Cheese, Week 20

I bought a new computer and saw Star Trek today! Woo hoo!

No cheese today.

Colby, Week 19

Happy Mother's Day!

Before I begin with this week's posting, I want to take a moment and grieve over Snofrisk.  I brought a croissant and Snofrisk in to work for breakfast, and it was just delicious.  When I returned home, I was caught up playing with my favorite dog and quickly forgot about my precious cargo.  The next day, I went to pack my breakfast again, but there was no Snofrisk in my fridge!  Where did it go?  My handbag!  You know it's been excellent week of cheese when it upsets you days later that your cheese spoiled.  Dear Snofrisk: It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

Today, however, another letdown.  My computer does not particularly feel like recognizing my photo card.  I have Googled my way to "reset your computer and try again," but no luck.  Perhaps my PC knows I've been looking for another...and browsing the Apple Store.  I am finally free of some stress for awhile, and it goes and stages revolt.

When my PC decides I'm worthy, I will post photos of the cheese of the week, Colby.  It was rather rainy and gloomy last week, and I just had a craving for macaroni and cheese.  Yes, there was an entry about Cheddar Mac & Cheese all the way back during Week 8, but this is different, I swear.  

I took the basic Baked Macaroni and Cheese I recipe from AllRecipes.com and traded the Chedda' for something betta'--- Colby.  I also doubled the bacon, which was seasoned with red pepper while it was frying.  There is definitely a trick to making the cheese sauce.  Between melting the butter just so and intense stirring with heat resistant spatulas for the flour and milk, it's much more of an art than it seems.  I've learned the hard way about thickening creamy sauces and soups with too much flour at a time (endless straining and Cuisinarting is just no fun).

I wish I could show you my Colby photos.  That macaroni and cheese was the best I've made in years.

Verdict: Colby just happened to be a cheesier and more delicious alternative to Cheddar than I thought possible. It was so soft and melted wonderfully. I'm rating it higher than Vermont Cheddar because of this, but lower than Irish Cheddar because it wasn't as distinctive.

End tally: Midnight Moon > Lamb Chopper > Manchego > Paneer > Comte > Irish Cheddar > Colby > Vermont Cheddar > Emmentaler > Bucheron > Delice d'Argental > Brie > Snofrisk> Oaxaca/Asadero > Red Square > Port Salut > Stilton > Pecorino Romano > Monterey Jack

Appreciation for Cheese, Week 17

This past month has been a busy one for me, and I've not been able to keep up with the blog as I would have liked.  I think things should be calming down soon, and I am enthusiastic about continuing to try more cheeses!  Some people have asked about last week's cheese-- if I liked it so much, why was it rated so low?  The simple answer is this: I have been eating really, really good cheese this year.  There are just a couple of cheeses I probably wouldn't get again.  For example, my last ranked cheese, Monterey Jack, can be a great cheese on its own.  In comparison to the other cheeses I've had, it was just a little on the boring side.  Perhaps another brand would have changed my mind.  I certainly hope I'm not offending too many Monterey Jack aficionados out there.  :)

This week I had a craving for plain old grilled cheese with my pre-blog favorite, Muenster.  After buttering my sunflower bread, placing some pre-sliced Muenster inside, and grilling, I just knew it would be delicious.  I was shocked!  Something just didn't taste...right.  Had I become a cheese snob? Would I never be able to eat deli cheese without remembering my delights with Comte and the Lamb Chopper?  Thinking my grilled cheese could have been subpar because of 'butter' spread, I tried Muenster plain...but to no avail!  Come back favorite cheese, come back!

While I didn't try a new cheese this week and I still have Irish cheese in the fridge, I increased my appreciation for cheese.  

I'm off to do more work and have a Muenster grilled cheese for dinner.

Have a great week, readers! 

Brie, Week 12

This was another fun week for the cheese blog.  On Friday, Madeline of the Rachael Ray (fan) Blog, listed my post about her Cheddar Beer Soup recipe in a weekly round-up of all things Rachael Ray in the blogosphere.  If that wasn't exciting enough (I know, I know), I had a fun mystery cheese event that evening, too.  Fun because I went to my good friend Kate's place with friends; mystery because I had zero knowledge about the primary purpose of the event-- watching the series finale of Battlestar Galactica.  Not only had I never seen an episode of 'BSG', I never watch the SciFi channel.  In fact, I can only be counted on to watch two shows a week- The Office and Chuck.

Nevertheless, I was thrilled to be invited to the BSG showdown and offered to bring the cheese.  It was then I learned that not a whole lot of the BSG world was that cheesy. Casey remembered something about a toaster, and the closest thing I found was BSG toast with jokes I didn't get:

Clearly, this inspiring toast gave way to Brie toasties. 

Brie

Smell: Pleasant and mild

Cost: $5.49/lb and $7.99/lb

Step One: Heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and prep Brie wedge. For the baked Brie, we put some golden raisins and chopped pecans.  Just when the cheese looked especially soft around the edges, we took it out and added some green onions as flare. This picture was taken just before the great Brie bake.

Step Two: While one Brie bit is baking, make lots of toast!  I thought using the whole French loaf would be too much, but we ended up running out of toast before cheese.

Step Three: Let other Brie wedge come to room temperature and top with store-bought mango chutney and green onions.  I was a little hesitant to put the two together on the cheese, but the flavors complimented each other so wonderfully, I will certainly use this combination in the future.  Serve SciFi-style with doilie and dried apricots.  Enjoy!

Verdict: The Brie was nice on its own- both the Trader Joe brand and the (tad bit nicer) French Belletoile.  The price of Brie is just great compared to the other cheeses mentioned on the blog and normal deli cheeses.  The toppings on the baked and softened Brie were really what made it so tasty, though. It reminded me of Bucheron, except less adventurous.

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

P.S.- I'm a little behind updating the Google Map and Spreadsheet of Cheese.  Hopefully, I'll get to them next week.  Thanks for reading and commenting, Happy Spring!

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

Manchego, Week 2

Lessons learned this past week:
1) Having a cheese blog makes me think about cheese a lot. When I say a lot, I mean it. I felt the need to eat cheese, any kind, everyday. The more people I told about the blog, the more I absolutely had to have it.

2) I bought too much cheese last week. Comte was great, but Comte with six meals in a row was a tad overwhelming.

3) Seriously, why did I eat cafeteria mac-and-cheese last week? Cheese cravings.

Follow-up questions about my blog:

1) How often will I be writing/trying new cheeses?
A) One cheese per week. I will post every Sunday. If I have leftover cheese, then I will probably write about it the following week.

2) How do you pick your cheese-of-the-week?

A) I don't have a system...yet. Feel free to leave a comment with a suggestion. (You don't have to have a Google Account to do so.)

3) Are you judging the cheese by itself or by its use in a recipe?
A) Just plain. I'll get a cool matrix of cheeses up soon.

4) Why Ready, Set, Kate? Do you have a cheese nickname?

A) I picked out readysetkate.blogspot.com way before I thought to blog about cheese. I just thought the title sounded fun and had recently decided to go by the name Kate. (That makes me Kate, the blogger formerly known as Katie.) I don't particularly have a cheesy nickname, although I was addressed as "Cheese Girl." My initial reaction was not positive. If you leave a comment written to Cheese Girl, I won't respond. (But secretly, I would still be thrilled to have comment!) Cheesekate was another nickname mentioned to me. I do like cheesecake. This is a "possible" for approved-by-me nicknames.

That said, I had no particular inspiration for this week's cheese. In spite of thinking about cheese all of the time, I ended up picking one out at random at Harris Teeter. Without further ado, I present:

Manchego

Price: 19.99/pound

Smell: Good! Fragrant and oak-y

This week, I decided to make a hearty brunch and more importantly, use all of the cheese! I did not use a recipe, but I'm fairly certain that this is, thus far, "Kate's Ultimate Omelet."

Step One: Shred Cheese. All of it! (.35 lb) Sorry about the fuzzy picture, having some weird problems with the the good photo of the shredded cheese. Blame my excitement and ridiculous amount of sugar and caramel syrup in my coffee.

Step Two: Melt a generous Tbsp of real butter and caramelize half of a yellow onion. (This smelled fantastic! I am a sucker for the melted butter smell, and was super excited for omelet time.)


Step Three: Add chives to onions when they are translucent. Remove from pan and set aside. Whisk 4 egg whites and three eggs together with a splash of milk for omelet base. (This was too much egg goo, I would use one less of each next time.) With heat on low, pour eggs into pan. Salt and pepper it up for fun. Once the egg sets up and looks just about firm, add shredded Manchego (save some for on top) and onion-chive mix.

Step Four: The Flip. The most nerve-wracking part of omelets for me is the The Flip. Typically, this results in The Flop-- a scrambled egg and stuff concoction that tastes yummy but looks super messy. I used two flippers and was extra careful just so the blog would look pretty. Score!!


Step Five: Top with leftover Manchego and chives. I also had cantaloupe (buy one get one free, folks!) and fresh-squeezed Honeybell orange juice. Honeybells are the fruit of the month from Hale Groves in Florida. Kate <3 Citrus. Enjoy!

Result: Manchego > Comte. Manchego was firm, mild, sweet, and smelled nicely. Also, I tried the rind-- it was a tasty snack!

Thanks for reading!

Comte, Week 1

On Friday, January 2, 2008, I finally decided what my New Year's resolution would be.  I had just read this article about the "Ultimate Grilled Cheese" in Saveur magazine.  I was hungry.  I went grocery shopping.  And I saw it.  Yes, the very cheese so exquisitely described in the article (Comte) was staring right back at me.  I had to buy it, and then it dawned on me: this is what I've been waiting for!  A reason to blog AND a new hobby!  

I've been a blog reader for years, but everytime I've wanted to put myself out there and do it, I've come up blank with ideas.  I definitely didn't want to write about work or grad school...because that just sounded like work.  I also didn't want to write solely about my friends and family...because that seemed too boring and invasive (even if I changed their names-- and honestly, who else can I count on to read this?).  What else is left in my life-- food and sleep.  Sleep is a no-go, so food it is!

As much as I love cooking, I'm no gourmand.  In fact, I barely know anything about cheeses that don't regularly star in deli sandwiches.  This should be fun.

So, first up: Comte

Price: $10.99/lb, purchased smallest hunk for $8.02 at Trader Joe's

Smell Factor: Kind of nutty

Recipe Time:

Step One: Shred Cheese. Shredding cheese for grilled cheese didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, as the bread of choice, sourdough, was tiny.  I didn't know what to do with the rind, but I tried some anyway. Result= tasted like it looked, nutty and hard.

Step Two: Grill cheese.  Is this even a recipe? According to Saveur, yes.  As much as I piled up the shredded cheese on the sourdough, it just didn't want to stay there.  Now, I have a lot of leftover Comte, and only a week to do something with it.  I discovered that Comte that fell on the pan was pretty darn tasty.  Note: Comte crisps would be delicious on salads.  

Step Three: Eat. Okay, the step thing is sounding a tad ridiculous.  Just wait until I start the ultimate showdown of cheeses.  I'm thinking brackets by season or (and?) by price.  Go quantitative or go home, my friends!

The grilled cheese was okay. It took a long time to toast it "just so," and because the cheese melted as much as it did, the result was less than the super-cheesy grilled cheese that I had in mind for my "Ultimate Grilled Cheese."  However, the Tomato-Basil soup I made to go with dinner and eat for lunch all week was fabulous.

Dinner is served!