Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Cheese: Parmigiano Reggiano
Country: Italy
Type: Raw Cow

Today, the king of cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano. The only cheese that I know has an entire series of television commercials and a show tune. Salty, slightly sweet, hints of grass and small crystals... delightful. Most people would use it as a garnish, or to boost a dishes profile. I just ate it in big happy bites. Right now there is a shortage of Parmigiano due to an earthquake in Italy, so production has slumped and price has gone up. This particular piece was quite a bit moister than I'm used to from Parm, not quite sure if it was a younger age or something else.

There along side it is a duck and hazelnut terrine, some olivers, and cornichon.

Not Wednesday, February 19, 2013

Cheese: Paillot de Chevre
Country: CanadaType: Goat

This week we went to Janice Beaton's early, one of our coworkers has his last day tomorrow so we are going out for a celebratory/mourning meal that will probably include all sorts of delightful meats. So today we do the last Janice Beaton Cheese run we'll do together for a while.

Paillot de Chevre is a lovely goat cheese, typically sweet and mild. I pared it with some dried pears and a beet salad, which was a lovely combo. The centre is a slightly dryer texture, so you get a nice range of smooth to crumbly as you eat the cheese. Pretty good for a Canadian goat.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Cheese: Parrano
Country: Holland
Type: Cow, hard



Parrano tastes like a cross between a cheddar and a gouda, slightly sweet with a hard mild rind. There are small holes in the cheese, giving it a slightly emmental-esque aroma. A good entry level cheese, nice for eating with crackers or a slightly sour preserve.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Cheese: Burrata
Country: Canada
Type: Mozzarella/Bocconcini

Today we have an amazing treat, it's a fresh soft mozzarella style cheese from Canada called Burrata, made by Santa Luchia. This version was made here in Canada, but I'm sure there are local versions all over the place. Normally I consider mozzarella something like cottage cheese, boring and useful for a crispy toping on something flavourful. Burrata though was a surprise, it had the typical chewy mozzarella outside but buried in the middle of the cheese was this amazing creamy slightly salty slightly sweet creamy awesomeness.

This cheese would be awesome melted on anything, and I ate it straight paired with some tiny olives and some sausage. Great for a salad, great for pasta. A really excellent cheese.