Talking about cheese...again! Cheese plates

Ok, everyone, If you were to put together the ultimate cheese plate, what cheeses would they be?

Clockwise from the top, St-Marcellin, St-Marcellin, St-Marcellin, St-Marcellin, and Humboldt Fog.

[Jenise]

Stuart, wonderful as St. Marcellin is, it has now been exceeded for my tastes by Soumantrain. Or is it Soumaintran. Something like that.... Humboldt Fog could certainly have a place there, it IS my favorite goat cheese. Cabrales is my favorite blue...and I guess I don't have any other 'ultimates'. Perhaps a cheese I don't know the name of, a Canadian-made gouda that's sharp and well-aged in the flavor of the best 3-4 year old gouda and yet brie-like creamy, a shocking contrast of flavor expectation vs. texture that's as brilliant as it is surprising.

Stuart, you don't love manchego anymore???

Whilst at Jason and Lynn's recently, had a Brillat-Savarin that was pretty damned sumptuous.

Oh, wait...Do you get Brillat-Savarin at your local Guns & Groceries on the corner? Awww, I'm sorry.

Ok, everyone, If you were to put together the ultimate cheese plate, what cheeses would they be?

They don't currently make a plate large enough, Maria.

Maria, there are so many great cheeses I would find it difficult. Not to mention the fact that at any one time it would be very hard for me to assemble because I have to mail order for anything really special.

In very general terms though I like to try and coordinate the cheeses in some way. It is very disconcerting when a bunch of cheeses [ usually too many ] are thrown on a plate without any consideration of how they relate to each other or to what has come before or what follows. I almost always serve cheese at the end of a meal having at most 3 options of different texture. Depending on the meal I might do all one consistency but from different milks or organize them by origin- all Pyrenees/Spanish/Italian...

Not what you were looking for but FWIW

Hi Maria

I guess I'd just fill it with the cheeses I love, regardless of how "balanced" a plate it creates.

Gorgonzola dolce and St Agur for blues, some Italian cheeses (Provolone Straveccio and either an aged Parmesan or sharp Pecorino), some St Andre if I was flush, King Island cheddar, and the new "melt-in-the tub" double brie I've recently discovered :



Cheers, Celia

Epoisses.

-Paul W.

Fun question Maria.

Manchego
Gouda (aged)
Comte
St. Andre Triple Cream
Stilton
Dill havarti (I know, I know...)
Pepperjack (I know!! I know!!)

D'Affonois Double cream Brie
Huntsman Double Goucester w/Stilton
Manchego
Morbier Morning and Evening milking, seperated by vegetable ash
Ilecester Applewood smoked English Cheddar

Stuart, you don't love manchego anymore???

Of course I do. And it's probably easier to find good manchego than a bien affinee St-Marcellin. But this was supposed to be the "ideal," I'm assuming I get better St-M than one gets in the US, and there's no better match for Cote-Rotie...

[David M. Bueker]

There an artisan cheesemaker in Vermont called Lazy Lady. I could do an entire cheese plate (and have) from just their cheeses.

I can't wait until I get some more.

I'd go along with the St-M. Also Rogue River Blue, Gorgonzola and I happened to have a weakness for super-aged white cheddars, the kind you can't even slice...

Interesting exercise. Much like wanting only 2-3 wines maximum for consumption at any given point of the meal, I would only want 2-3 cheeses for full concentrated consumption.

And, in that case I would have to go with 1) something hard, aged, and Sheepy, 2) something fatty creamy, and Cow-y, and 3) something fresh vibrant and Goat-y.

I love blue cheeses for cooking and buy them several times a month, but I don't need them on a cheese plate.

When I was still at school, the girls in our year level had "finishing classes". A very elegant middle aged lady, who drove a very elegant middle aged car, came once a week for the term and taught us about which knives and forks to use, how to wear a headscarf (and look like the Queen!), how do do a home manicure, and all sorts of similar things. Every week there was a "thought for the week". One was, "A woman's crowning glory is her hair - but only on her head". That was supposed to remind us to shave our legs. But I digress.

One of the things she told us was that when you make up a cheese platter, you should have one strong cheese, one mild, and one European. Every time I make up a cheese platter I can hear her cultured tones. I've always ignored the advice, apart from thinking about getting together a mixture of flavours and textures.

I love wensleydale. Crumbly, tangy ... lovely with dried or fresh fruit. Not widely available here ... must re-visit the cheese shop at the central markets. Ask me tomorrow, and I'd choose something different, but tonight's "ideal cheese platter" would be: wensleydale; the sharpest, crumbliest cheddar I could find; and a runny brie. Served with softly ripe pears and crisp sour-ish apples.

I want a stinky, runny cheese, a crumbly blue cheese, and a sharp dry cheese.

Thanks everyone!

For those of you that gave a basic outline, ie "stinky cheese" or "a hard sheep's milk cheese", could you be more specific?

Also, I am looking for other sheep's milk cheeses besides Manchego, Roquefort, and Pecorino. Also, I am looking for washed rind cheeses that you may like.

I have done a few cheese plates lately, and these are what I've used:

Brie, Humboldt Fog, St. Peter's Blue Cheese, Aged Gouda, Manchego, A very sharp Vermont cheddar.

you should have one strong cheese, one mild, and one European.

What strange advice. It's like saying a dinner party should be a balance of people who are shy, gregarious, and left handed.

It makes no sense!

"a hard sheep's milk cheese", could you be more specific?

When I think hard sheep's milk cheese I think of the Pyrenees and Ossau-Iraty, which is the AOC and the cheese most commonly found in the US. There are all sorts of producers and brand names which vary according to your local cheese shop (there is also some variation in age of the cheese). There are also domestic producers who make cheeses in this style and I have found some very good ones here at the DC farmer's markets. Others may think of different things but that's what I think of.

I'd go for St. Agur for the bleu, a really good Pecorino for one hard cheese, a great aged cheddar for the other, Gres des Vosges or Epoisses or maybe Red Hawk from Cowgirl creamery in the washed rind category, and Humboldt Fog.

Can I put deep-fried cheese curds on my plate?

Can I put deep-fried cheese curds on my plate?

Only if you pair it with Pabst.

Also, I am looking for other sheep's milk cheeses besides Manchego, Roquefort, and Pecorino. Also, I am looking for washed rind cheeses that you may like.

A washed rind you can probably find easily is Taleggio.

Sheep's milk: Berkswell; Azeitao; Evora; Lavort.

Examples of stinky cheeses:

- French washed rind such as Epoisses, Citeaux, Pont L'Eveque

- Limburger and genuine Munster from Alsace (as opposed to the bland stuff you get in the US)