St Patrick's Day Week (Dubliner cheese!)

Happy St Patrick’s Day, Constant Readers!!!

I hope that you all have not just a wonderful day but a wonderful life.  Or, as the old Irish saying goes...As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

The Captain will be spending his St Patrick’s Day going to work and wishing he was elsewhere.  Namely, he wishes he was at The Raglan Road Restaurant and Pub at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World in Orlando.  Some unlucky timing meant that the Captain couldn’t make it there, but as another Irish saying goes…  If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough.

A few facts about St Patrick’s Day…

- The Chicago River, in Chicago, Illinois, is dyed green every year for St Patrick’s Day.

- Enterprise, Alabama has the world’s shortest St Patrick’s Day parade.  A person of Irish descent, generally dressed in festive garb and carrying a large Irish flag, is the only person in the parade. He, or she, walks one block from the courthouse to the Boll Weevil Monument and back to the courthouse.

- The world’s oldest St Patrick’s Day parade takes place in New York City.  It has been held since 1762.
- The Montreal St Patrick’s Day parade has been held every year since 1824.

On to the the second of this week’s Irish cheeses…

Dubliner, from Kerrygold, is a hard ripened cheese made from cow’s milk.  As per the Kerrygold website, it has a distinctive rounded flavour and a natural hint of sweetness. Aged for 12 months, it has elements of mature cheddar, sweet nutty tones of a Swiss and the piquant bite of aged Parmesan.  It melts well and is delicious in sandwiches, served as a table cheese or shredded and tossed in salads.  I would agree with most of the above, although I’m not sure I would enjoy it as a table cheese.  It has a very strong flavour, much stronger than cheddar.  The texture reminds me of red Leicester, in that while it’s a hard cheese, it’s quite crumbly.

So, as the Irish would say, Dubliner Cheese is good craic.

I leave you today with what I think is one of the funniest stand-up bits I’ve ever seen by an Irish comedian.  One day, I hope to make it to Sligo to visit their airport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVuUyGijoKU

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

St Patrick's Day Week (Blarney Castle Gouda!)

So to recap where we left off, Constant Readers, at the end of the Week 7 Afterthoughts post, I said that there would be a theme to this week’s posts and gave a hint to what the theme was.  The hint was “We’ll be Dublin the fun and Irish you all enjoy it”.  Have you guessed the theme yet?

Thursday is St Patrick's Day.  And so, in honour of this, we will be spotlighting Irish cheese all this week.  Much like St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, drove all the snakes out of Ireland, my goal is to drive all the cheese out of stores… BY EATING IT!!!

Before I get to the actual cheese tasting, perhaps you want to know what qualifies Captain Cheese to consider himself a worthy reviewer of Irish cheese.  Excellent question!

The Captain has Irish ancestry on both sides of his family with his great-grandfather on his mother’s side being born in Ballymena, County Antrim in Northern Ireland, and his great-great-grandfather on his father’s side being born in County Cork in Ireland.  As well, when both sides of the Captain’s family came to Canada, they settled in the Pointe-Saint Charles area of Montreal.  Today, Pointe-Saint-Charles is considered the heart of Irish Montreal, with street names like Saint-Patrick, Hibernia, Dublin Place and Rue des Irlandais testifying to its heritage.  And finally, the Captain’s family name is one of the most common in all of Ireland. (Whalen origins)
Yes, Whalen and Whelan, the two most common forms of the name,  together rank 79th on the list of 100 most common surnames in Ireland.  If you add the variant Phelan to the group, the name ranks as the 44th most common.

And now on to the cheese....

The first cheese on our tour of Ireland is Kerrygold Blarney Castle gouda. If Blarney sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you may have heard of the Blarney Stone. The Blarney Stone is a stone built into Blarney Castle.  Legend has it that if you kiss the Blarney Stone, you will be given the gift of the gab, or great eloquence or skill at flattery.  The Captain would never presume to call himself eloquent but he certainly has been accused of having the gift of gab.    

Blarney was defined this way by an Irish politician: Blarney is something more than mere flattery. It is flattery sweetened by humour and flavoured by wit. Those who mix with Irish folk have many examples of it in their everyday experience.

I have reviewed gouda before but that was a smoked gouda.  This one is not smoked.  You can definitely taste a difference between the two and I think might prefer the smoked gouda over this one.  It’s still very, very good and if someone offered me some, I would take it.  But, if I had to choose, I would go with the smoked gouda.  Also, if you were serving a cheese tray and already had a smoked cheese, this would be a good choice to replace the smoked gouda.  As per the Kerrygold website, It both feels and tastes similar to a young Dutch Gouda cheese and makes a perfect complement to fresh fruit and a glass of crisp wine, like Sauvignon Blanc.

I leave you with this poem by Francis Sylvester Mahony, an Irish writer, who has this to say about the Blarney Stone:

'Tis there's the stone that whoever kisses

He never misses to grow eloquent;

'Tis he may clamber to a lady's chamber,

Or become a member of Parliament.

"A noble spouter he'll sure turn out, or

An out and outer to be let alone;

Don't try to hinder him, or to bewilder him,

For he is a pilgrim from the Blarney stone."

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Afterthoughts - Lucky Week 7

Welcome to another week in review here at Cheese Cheese Everywhere!

Week 7.  7 is a lucky number.  And it was a good week this week.  So our luck held out.  Not every cheese was a home run but we got to try an interesting mix.  Not only that, but we happened to “luck into” a cheese tasting :)

As I mentioned in several previous posts, Sobeys is my go-to spot for cheese and almost everything else.  I made my way there Thursday evening and saw the most glorious thing: cheese samples.  It turns out that Sobeys has started a cheese happy hour, every Thursday from 6 to 7 PM.  They pick a theme, give out samples of cheeses that fit the theme along with nuts, fruits and crackers and provide a little bit of information about those cheeses.  Last week, it was cheeses of the UK.  You can be sure, Constant Readers, that I will be using these happy hours as information gathering sessions for future posts.  And if you’re near downtown Ottawa on Thursday evenings, stop by and check it out for yourself.  You might even see Captain Cheese there!

Last week in cheese…

Monday:  Fontina (simply one of my favourites, try this as soon as you can)
Wednesday: Cambozola (an interesting hybrid of a few different cheese flavours and origins)
Friday (Sunday):  Halloumi grilled cheese (A+ for effort and anticipation, D for execution, incomplete for overall grade.  I think I’m going to have to try this cheese again)

Now, you might want to sit down for this next part.  It pains me to say that, as much as I would like to think otherwise, the Captain is not perfect.  I know, I know, it’s a shocker.  So with that being said, I would like to issue an addendum to my review of Halloumi grilled cheese and point out that it was the Phantom who provided the recommendation.  Her contributions are invaluable, as always.

Cheese in the news

http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article65720262.html

This week’s cheese news story is only somewhat cheese related but it does involve Chuck E. Cheese.  From reading the article, it appears that when the manager had an unexpected emergency and had to leave, the assistant manager decided to close the restaurant, much to the chagrin of customers.

There’s a pun in there somewhere about the cats being away and the mice playing.

And in honour of this week’s grilled cheese…

Also, there’s a theme to this week’s upcoming reviews.  I’ll give you a hint.  We’ll be Dublin the fun and Irish you all enjoy it :)

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Halloumi grilled cheese

Before I get into today’s post, a milestone has been reached.  In just 30 posts, we have reached 1000 page views.  That’s a little over 33 views per post.  I’m really, really happy about that.  And we’ve added a 13th country recently, so that’s good too :)  Here’s to 2000 page views!

Today, we have a review and a recipe all in one, Constant Readers.  As you know, I do most of my cheese shopping at Sobeys.  While I was there one day last week, I came across Halloumi grilling cheese.  I was very excited as I had found a cheese made for grilled cheese!  Oh happy day!

Halloumi is a semi-hard cheese made from a mixture of goat’s milk and sheep’s milk.  It sometimes also has cow’s milk.  It comes from Cyprus.

I brought it home and waited anxiously to be able to try it.  I looked up grilled cheese recipes that went above and beyond the usual, I thought about which bread I wanted to use.  Serious planning went into this.

I finally decided on a Halloumi, bacon and tomato grilled cheese on rye bread with a side of sour cream and onion chips.

So how was it?  Here are my thoughts, presented in chronological order as they happened…

-As I’m looking up recipes:  “Wait, this cheese isn’t for grilled cheese, it’s for actual grilling.  Hope it turns out ok”.

-As I construct the sandwich:  “Oh man, this looks amazing.  This was a great idea.”

-As I take it out of the pan:  “Just right.  This is going to be good”.

-As I cut it:  “Perfection on a plate!”

-As I take my first bite:  “Oh, this is really rubbery.  Almost like cheese curds.  I don’t think it melted enough”.

-As I take my second bite:  “And all I taste is bacon and tomato.  Probably should have tried it by itself first”.

-As I take my third bite: “It says there’s supposed to be jalapenos in here.  They must be hiding.  Hiding Halloumi jalapenos”.

So in conclusion, grill the Halloumi.  And if you don’t grill it and try to put it in a grilled cheese sandwich be prepared for it not to melt much.  And don’t put bacon and tomato on it the first time.  But definitely use rye bread.  In fact, I think I’m going to use that for all my grilled cheeses from now on.

The actual recipe?  Oh, here you go…

- Butter one slice of bread and stick in pan butter-side down
- Add desired ingredients
- Put another slice of bread on top
- Butter top side of top slice
- Grill in pan until ready

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Cambozola!

So here’s an interesting thing, Constant Readers.  The blogging program I use allows me to see which countries have visited my blog.  For instance, I know that the blog had its first ever visit from Ireland yesterday.  Dia duit , léitheoir Éireannach, céad míle fáilte.  And my apologies if Google Translate butchered that.

All this to say that while trying to choose a cheese to review today, I thought it would be interesting to pick one from a country that has visited the blog.  And that is how I came across today’s cheese…

Cambozola is a German cheese that seems like it’s a little unsure of its identity.  It’s a combination of a French cream cheese and an Italian Gorgonzola.  So we’ve got a German cheese that’ a mixture of French and Italian cheeses.  I guess it’s kind of like the EU of cheeses.  It’s also sometimes known as blue brie.  The cheese has its own website but you may be asking yourself “was its das?” as it’s all in German: Cambozola

So let’s review all the things that Cambozola is like:  French cream cheese, Italian Gorgonzola, blue cheese, brie.  Even its name is a mixture, as it merges Camembert and Gorgonzola.  As I said, identity crisis.  Although to be fair, research indicates the name may also refer to Cambodunum, the Roman name for the city of Kempten, which is where Champignon, the largest producer of Cambozola, is is located.  Champignon also has their own website, which is in English: Champignon Cheese

As for the cheese itself, it’s a soft cow’s milk cheese.  As you may recall from my review of brie, I was not blown away by it.  To me, it was just too strong a taste to enjoy it.  I actually liked the texture of it but was always waiting (rather anxiously) for the aftertaste to hit.  It’s almost the same with this one.  Again, if paired with something that balances it out, I could see how this would be quite a good cheese. It apparently goes well when paired with fruits, honey or a Chardonnay.  I also think it would fit in nicely on a cheese tray to have some variety and it’s supposed to be a good introduction to blue cheese.

To summarize:  Nicht mein Favorit, aber eine solide Käse.

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Fontina!

Three posts in 24 hours.  Wow, am I glad I’m all caught up after this!

Today, we’re reviewing a cheese that I actually tried before starting Cheese Cheese Everywhere.  I enjoyed it and thought it would be fun to review it again.

Fontina cheese is a semi-soft Italian cow’s milk cheese.  It’s been made in the Alps since the 12th century.  It is noted for its earthy, mushroomy, and woody taste, and pairs exceptionally well with roast meats and truffles.

Interesting fact: Although made throughout the year, the best cheese is obtained during the summer when the cows are moved to an altitude of 550 to 700 metres (1,800 to 2,300 feet) and fed only with rich grass to give it a distinctive aroma.

As mentioned above, I enjoyed this cheese a lot.  It’s labeled semi-soft but I found it to be rather firm.  I guess some see the cheese semi-soft and others see the cheese semi-firm.  This would be a nice cheese to on a cheese board or served on crackers and might even work well melted on a burger.

Try it and I promise you’ll like it :)

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Afterthoughts - Getting my cheese fix in week 6

Welcome to another week in review here at Cheese Cheese Everywhere!

This is week 6.  I was going to put together a list of other things that lasted 6 weeks, but when I Googled that, all that came up were articles about pregnancy.  So, moving on..

This week’s schedule was all thrown off.  Captain Cheese had family visiting from out of town last weekend.  They were supposed to stay until Tuesday but ended up leaving Monday because of bad weather.  The Captain was then able to post Monday’s review on Monday but it was late so most people didn’t see it until Tuesday.  Then Wednesday’s post went up on Thursday and Friday’s recipe review only went up last night.  Now, I’m doing the review post today, when it’s supposed to go up on Saturday but has somehow morphed into a post-at-some-point-on-the weekend-thing.  

Not to worry, I do have a cheese to review for later today, and I was able to purchase ingredients for recipes for the next 3 weeks.  So we should be back on track!

On to last week in cheese…

Monday: Manchego (solid choice, and not just because it’s firm)
Wednesday (Thursday):  Ski Queen (Gjetost) (I’m still just as confused by this one, I honestly don’t understand it)
Friday (Sunday):  Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup (Wow)

To come back to Wednesday’s Norwegian cheese for a moment, I would like to add the following comments from the Phantom, which are pretty much in line with my feelings about Ski Queen…

“Haha, no. I do not. It doesn't taste like cheese should taste! It's like if cheese and fudge had an unholy union and the result is this weird brown-ish "cheese".”

Cheese in the news

Sexist cheese

While I’m not familiar with the brand in question, I thought this was a really weird story.  Ridiculous is one word used to describe the situation and I would agree with that.  I’m sure there are many different ways that this discussion could be taken (sexism, the effect of marketing on children, etc, etc) but I’ll just say that cheese should be equal and available to all!  

And finally, words to live by…

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I know, I know.  Recipes are supposed to be on Friday.  And we’re Sunday.  I promise you the wait was worth it.  How many readers are familiar with Panera Bread?  Ok, ok, I see a few hands went up.  You are the lucky ones.  Until recently, Panera Bread was an exclusively American chain serving amazing, incredible soups and sandwiches.  Think Subway but a million times better.  I say “until recently” because they now have several Canadian locations including one right here in Ottawa.

One of their best-known and most loved options is their broccoli cheddar soup.  Simply delicious.  Sometimes, we don’t feel like going out or spending money to get some. So I have attempted to replicate it, using this recipe from Allrecipes.com.  I invite you all to try this version, then go to Panera and try theirs.  I think you’ll be surprised at how alike they are.  I’m quite impressed.

The original

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups chicken stock

• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped broccoli florets
• 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots
• 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion in hot butter until translucent, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Whisk 1/4 cup melted butter and flour together in a large saucepan over medium-low heat; cook until flour loses its granular texture, adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk if necessary to keep the flour from burning, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Gradually pour milk into flour mixture while whisking constantly. Stir chicken stock into milk mixture. Bring to a simmer; cook until flour taste is gone and mixture is thickened, about 20 minutes. Add broccoli, carrots, sauteed onion, and celery; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Stir Cheddar cheese into vegetable mixture until cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

My version

As usual, a few notes and remarks after making it....

I didn’t include carrots, mostly because I didn’t feel like cutting them up.  You can throw some in, or throw in other veggies.  You can also put in garlic or other cheeses.  Anything you want, really, to make it your own.

Hope you enjoyed this week’s recipe :)

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese