Funky cheeses: How'd you develop a taste for it?
Took a cheese class last sunday that focused on great American cheeses. We tasted two that really, totally threw me for a loop and made me want to wipe my tongue with a napkin (I resisted.)
Rogue Creamery's Rogue River Blue and Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk really made me hurt. A lot. But I was in a tiny minority (4 of us in a class of 30?) that hated them - especially the Red Hawk.
Funky Cheese Lovers - tell me how you developed your love for the really pungent, stinky, strong cheeses? Did you start out hating it, then loved it later? Was it immediate love? Is it like cilantro - some people just straight up love it, others will never like it at all? I feel like I'm missing out.
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21 Comments:
Learned to love them all as a young child actually, as did my sister and cousins. Cocktail hour at the family cottage always included a tray of nibbles (nuts, wild mushrooms on toast points) and cheeses. The more the adults tried to keep us out of the treats, the more we wanted them....also where I developed my love of Vodka Gimlets and Manhattans, by begging for the booze-soaked limes and cherries!
Cary at 11:53AM on 09/15/09
For me, I hated cheese as a child, but then the only cheese around was the orange variety that came individually wrapped in plastic or huge 2 lb blocks. I didn't get to have really good cheese until well after college, when I met some of my Foodie friends (these people loved food well before it was fashionable to be a Foodie). It just takes 1 really good cheese that makes you crave more. For me that was a wonderful domestic brie (yes, domestic, quite shocking). I followed it up with an awesome blue cheese from Wisconsin (I think it was called Blue Hook) in a blue cheese/apple/pecan salad that blew me away. Then I discovered the Holy Grail of Parm-Reg and I've never looked back. Cheddar took a while to appreciate ( I think because it looked an awful lot like that orange stuff from childhood) and yet again, I didn't love it until I had an outstanding Vermont Cheddar (extra sharp) on a simple cheeseboard with some grapes. I developed the love for cheese even more when I lived in Austin, TX. Central Market had the best cheese counter that I had seen up to that point. And that cheesemonger was really good and I got more into the stinky goat and sheep's milk cheeses. I'm still working on stinky sheep's milk cheese, so I'm still a work in progress.
AnnieNT at 12:05PM on 09/15/09
I'm w/ Cary. We always had mountains of cheese varieties at home growing up.
I still can't bring myself to enjoy the Limburger variety: any tips?
hungrychristel at 12:22PM on 09/15/09
Tiny child for me, too--my mom started us on Limburger--scant schmears on crusty pumperknickel as an early, early food. Once you get past the smell, the taste is heavenly...or at least for those of us indoctrinated early. And a plus there was that virtually every cheese introduced after was so tame in comparison, so me and my sibs have yet to meet a cheese we don't enjoy and sometimes pine for (Manchego[sp?]...ah!)
BobbieAnne at 12:23PM on 09/15/09
I didnt really encounter really funky cheeses until I was older. Although not my first exposure to bleu, I once took a class on Mushrooms and Fungi (awesome class, btw) and we had a "lab" day with a bunch of different stations. One station was just a cooler with 4 types of bleu cheese to try on crackers: stilton, danish, gorgonzola and roquefort. I fell in love with them. oh man.
As for learning to like them... I think it helps when taken in small amounts first, and paired really well with something. In smaller amounts, you can get past the "funky" part that turns you off and maybe detect the other flavors.. nuttiness or sweetness, etc. A certain type of cracker or fruit or wine or chocolate can really complement a stinky cheese well.
Unfortunately, I dont have a specific combination in mind that works.
Then again, I think some people just have a weak spot for stinky foods. This is coming from a durian-lover... so... maybe its just a personal thing. :P
engmcmuffin at 12:33PM on 09/15/09
Cheese can be tough. I LOVE cheese but my boyfriend thinks it's rot. "It tastes like rot." Anyways, I agree with BobbieAnne that a little bit paired well does magic for the cheese. Also, you need to work your way up like a ladder. You can't expect to like a sharp strong Stilton if you feel so-so about a mild blue...The more you can appreciate the subtle flavors of a certain genre of cheese then the stronger you go up you may learn to appreciate it more. That being said, some people just don't like stuff. I don't like yogurt, or oatmeal, wished I did, but I don't.
kmgagne at 12:44PM on 09/15/09
*sheesh* Now I want a whole block of grainy 5-year white cheddar with green grapes. And a bottle of wine.
I see pumpernickel as a suggested pairing with the Limburger. I could attempt this. Anything else?
I just remember waaaay back when I was a kid and actually asking my Papa to keep it in the back porch because the entire fridge was whofting with
Limburg-aroma....perhaps if I could pair it with something that would help me get over the smell. It reminds me of my aunties' feet. yehk. But I feel un-cool that I can't handle it!!!!
Probably my favourite salad right now is an arugala-based salad with braised pears, candied pecans, red onions and crumbled aged blue cheese. I think I had it at the Grand Floridian in Disney World and I cannot get enough of this combo.
hungrychristel at 12:53PM on 09/15/09
I didn't grow up eating gourmet cheeses, but I like funky cheeses. I think all that stinky fermented foods in my country helped.
hmw0029 at 1:02PM on 09/15/09
I have always (minus ages 7-9) loved cheeses, but didn't realize until recently how much I liked strong cheese, though i'm still working on loving the bleu.
I was at London Borough Market with some friends, and went to a cheese shop to pick out something to have with brunch. As we tried one cheese, I looked to the cheese-man and asked for something stronger as they simultaneously said the cheese was far too strong.
It was at that moment I realized...my name is veggieout and I have a stinky cheese problem.
veggieout at 2:13PM on 09/15/09
It started in college when my friends and I would gather with a bottle of good red and whatever cheeses looked interesting (not familiar) from the local cheese shop. I mostly looked for either imported or very local cheeses. It was great and I really developed a taste for the creamy-centered soft-ripened cheeses with strong rinds.
A port wine cheese ball covered in nuts (WisPride or the like) was the most exotic cheese my parents put out at parties. Teach your parents well...
yayfood at 2:43PM on 09/15/09
My grandfather loved all varieties of cheese. When I was a toddler it became a game for him to see just what kind of cheese he could get me to eat. I loved sharp cheeses and funky blues. He lost me with limburger though.
dhorst at 3:31PM on 09/15/09
I loved strong, stinky cheese from the moment I tasted it, which fyi wasn't till I was in my early twenties. But with liver (chicken, calf, etc.), I hated liver the first time I tried it. But something about it made me want to come back and try it again and then again. Years later, liver and onions with polenta and chicken-liver pate are staple foods for me. Who knows, maybe in a few years you'll be addicted to Red Hawk :)
EliEats at 4:04PM on 09/15/09
It really depends on the kind of cheese but I love strong sharp hard cheeses. Something about the intense flavor seems to justify the consumption of cheese (that often has high fat content) so much more!
Chew on That at 5:17PM on 09/15/09
@lorelei76 -- what would you term funky cheeses?
For me, I remember starting off with those orange blocks of cheddar in my childhood. Later on, I developed a huge love for the aged white cheddars. My foody cousin was the one to introduce me to feta cheese, and on a separate occasion took me to a restaurant where they serve a memorable four-cheese baked gnocchi dish. My husband loves to utilise blue cheese on his burgers; his brother and wife, both major cheese lovers, have widened my horizons with an annual "Cheesemas" celebration over the holiday season.
avaryne at 6:48PM on 09/15/09
I like just about everything, but I'm another who can't get limburger past my nose. Years ago we would get a very sharp Canadian cheddar, Black Diamond, which was so sharp it bit your tongue, but I loved it.
dmcavanagh at 7:09PM on 09/15/09
Thanks you guys - I'll try doing the salads with blue, and pairing small amounts with other foods. I thought I would like the funky cheeses - I grew up eating fermented shrimp pastes and rotten/fermented fishes and all sorts of funky stuff, so I thought that I'd be ok with Red Hawk or that other blue cheese in class.
I love cheese. I really do - but I tend to stick to the safer ones - soft, creamy camamberts (the rind is awesome!) or sharp, salty hard aged cheeses. This was the first time that I tried (unadulterated) FUNKY cheese. When I was growing up, the only cheese I ate came in a blue can, or came in large orange blocks, or Cheez Whiz.
@avaryne - blue cheeses count as funky to me. The Red Hawk has just...wow. I mean, WOW. I really felt like such a lamer when everyone else was ooh-ing and aaah-ing over Red Hawk, and all I wanted to do was wipe my tongue with my sleeve.
lorelei76 at 9:54PM on 09/15/09
For my tongue, fourme d'ambert got me liking blue. It's got enough creaminess to that you're not trying to irrigate dry crumbles of blue into swallowable solution. It does not have that crystalline crunch of some more aggressive blues but is genuinely full flavored.
But, as a general thing....it'd say it's dilution. Take them with bread, cut them with fruit, nuts, jams, veg, etc. Even a little of something, say, mixed into mashed potatoes. You get the essence of it, the hints and the sich, then you wean yourself. Similar to people take their coffee black. Eventually they just like coffee and stop needing sugar then cream.
Also, try them with friends. So much of food is memory, as many above have stated. If you haven't been exposed early, ok, create your own pleasant associations.
tryptophan at 11:25PM on 09/15/09
i hated blue cheese. that's the only cheese i can remember having a distaste for. other than that my mom use to love the stronger cheeses...so i guess i just tried it one day and it was instant love. i love Roquefort cheese...the way it almost seems to hit a sour note and makes your mouth water and pucker...delicious. For me, it's easier to savor and enjoy a tiny piece of a 'funky' cheese than a slice of a milder cheese. In a way, I can't stand mild cheeses. If we have cheddar in the house, it HAS to be extra aged sharp cheddar (etc etc on the emphasis of not mild) or none at all.
I despise cheese slices.
eggyzhe at 8:43AM on 09/16/09
I guess we were just a cheese family. I never really realized that blue cheese was anything to write home about! My parents (mom esp) liked all kinds of cheese, so we were raised that way. I haven't tried Limburger yet,and now I am dying to try Red Hawk! In all of my cheese eating, the ONLY cheese I dislike is PepperJack. yuck!
mhurst826 at 3:47PM on 09/16/09
I love Limburger, myself. I eat it on Jewish seeded rye bread with sliced onion. It smells like death, but it tastes surprisingly mild and creamy - the onion's way sharper than the cheese, to my taste.
Then again, I'll pretty much eat anything.
BangieB at 9:20PM on 09/17/09
one of my favorite memories of paris is being served a cheese plate after dinner, in a restaurant on ile st louis. one of the cheeses smelled exactly like cat piss, but oh, was it delicious. i couldn't stop laughing as i ate it.
cybercita at 10:36PM on 09/17/09