Ralph Melton ([info]ralphmelton) wrote,
@ 2009-05-27 13:29:00
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Cheese
I consider myself a foodie, but I don't think that I have a very refined palate. For example, I don't think that I could reliably distinguish between extra-virgin olive oil and extra-promiscuous. (This is probably not the term favored by the industry.)

I found myself thinking yesterday of the number of cheeses I've sampled at restaurants and cheese counters, and how few of those I can even name, much less recall clearly. This prompted me to try to figure out how many cheeses I can recall clearly enough to identify.

To be more precise, my standard for inclusion in this list is that in a cheese plate of only these cheeses, I think that I could distinguish each of these cheeses from each other. (I leave open the possibility that I might get confused by unfamiliar cheeses on the plate.)
Cheeses on the same line are cheeses I would probably confuse with each other.

Cheddar
American
Feta
Cream Cheese / Neufchatel (American Neufchatel, that is)
Boursin
Bleu cheese / Gorgonzola / Stilton (I might be able to distinguish Stilton from the others)
Mozzarella / Provolone
Havarti
Parmesan / Parmigiano Reggiano / Romano
Halloumi
Brie / Camembert / St. Andre
Cambozola
Colby
Jack
Asiago
Gouda
Fontina (maybe)
Swiss / Emmenthal / Jarlsberg
Alpine Lace (just by the size of the holes)
Queso blanco / queso fresco
Cottage cheese
Ricotta
Mascarpone
Wensleydale
Red Dragon
Gruyere
Chevre

Some cheeses I know that I've tried but wouldn't be able to identify include Port Salut, Reblochon, Cabrales, and Manchego.

That's 27, which is a bit more than I'd expected. My guess is that this is a medium amount; I'd expect that most everyone could hit 10, some folks on my friends list would not be able to break 20, and some people on my friends list could break 50 or 100.
I'm not sure how many possible cheeses there are; I found it hard to count the cheeses at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cheeses, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese says "The British Cheese Board claims that Britain has approximately 700 distinct local cheeses;[6] France and Italy have perhaps 400 each."

I wonder how I'd do on this test with other sorts of foodie pursuits. I doubt I'd recognize such a variety with beer, for which I have trouble distinguishing a stout from a porter, or with wine, where I have only a feeble chance of distinguishing a Riesling from a Chardonnay.

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[info]ralphmelton
2009-05-27 06:49 pm UTC (link)
Another cheese that I could distinguish from the others listed above (though I've never encountered it, so wouldn't put it on the list): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu . Warning: this article is not for the squeamish.

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[info]echoweaver
2009-05-27 11:20 pm UTC (link)
Truth is that I'm not totally sure I could distinguish asiago from a softer parmesan. I eat them mixed up so often. I could distinguish manchego. The thing about gouda and some others is that they have drastically different flavor texture based on what type you have -- smoked gouda tastes pretty different from regular, and the amount of aging makes a HUGE difference.

I've tried some British Isles cheeses that I think I could identify again on a cheese plate, most notably Cornish yarg, which rocks. OTOH, I don't think I've ever tried boursin.

But basically, I also consider myself a foodie, and I think our lists are of similar length.

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[info]ralphmelton
2009-05-28 06:52 pm UTC (link)
I probably couldn't distinguish asiago from a softer parmesan either.

You're quite right about some of these cheeses coming in different types--I listed provolone and mozzarella as indistinguishable to me because of their semi-hard forms, but fresh mozzarella is more different from low-moisture mozzarella than low-moisture mozzarella is from provolone.

I like the name "Cornish yarg". I may have to seek that out based on the name alone.

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[info]echoweaver
2009-05-28 07:02 pm UTC (link)
We got it in a cheese shop because it had such a great name. It turned out to be a great cheese.

I don't know if it's true, but the legend is that Mr. Gray created a new cheese and couldn't think of a name for it :).

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[info]ralphmelton
2009-05-28 07:55 pm UTC (link)
Another cheese to seek out just for the name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_Bishop_cheese

"Though only about 20 tonnes are produced each year,[1] Stinking Bishop's notorious odour, which is said to be similar to unwashed socks and wet towels, keeps it popular in the UK and abroad."

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[info]echoweaver
2009-05-28 07:58 pm UTC (link)
Ha! Actually, we tried this, and I would definitely recognize it on a cheese plate :).

Unfortunately, I also hated it. It tasted good in the cheese shop, but when we got it home and tried it again, we both disliked it enough to just throw it out. And we had to throw it out outside b/c it stank up the fridge.

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[info]ralphmelton
2009-05-28 08:22 pm UTC (link)
But you got a great story out of it!

... which may be worthwhile in itself. I've gotten more mileage out of my "Haus der Taco" story than any other dining experience from that trip to Germany.

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[info]cellio
2009-05-28 02:18 am UTC (link)
I suspect my list is comparable in length to yours. I enjoy meeting new cheeses, but am often poor at recall.

When Dani and I eat at Casbah (a special-occasion sort of place), we usually get the cheese plate, identify two or three we really like, dutifully write down the names... and then fail to find them for sale anywhere. I'm convinced that Casbah has someone who just makes up names to confuse the customers. :-)

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[info]ralphmelton
2009-05-28 07:35 pm UTC (link)
I've had several cheeses at Casbah that are not on my list of cheeses I could identify. Unlike you, I haven't taken careful notes.

Casbah is set up for sampling cheese and wine with the cheese samplers and wine flights, but I believe that it's not actually set up well for recalling the cheeses and wines that you sample. I think my food-recalling experience would be improved if the samplers included labels (so that you could see the cheese's name as you were looking at the cheese), and if the text describing the food was present as you were consuming it (so that you could remember that the wine you were drinking was claimed to have caramel tones).

The lack of name-at-the-same-time-as-food is part of why I don't take good notes at Casbah--by the time I know whether the cheese is worth writing down, I've forgotten the name.

Casbah's service is pretty accomodating, though. If I went to dinner with some placecards and said "I'm looking for a dining experience that helps me remember every cheese I try", I bet they'd be bemused but cooperative.

For finding exotic cheeses, I would turn to Whole Foods' cheese counter. (I haven't been there in several years, so I don't know whether it would work, but that's what I'd try.)

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[info]cellio
2009-05-28 11:25 pm UTC (link)
Oh, we don't write everything down up front. They bring the cheese and dutifully tell us what each is, that leaks out of our brains almost immediately, we sample and find some we want to know more about, we ask "what's that one again?", the waiter tells us, and we write it down. :-) They're very accommodating, so I'm sure your placecard approach would not bother them at all.

Thanks for the Whole Foods tip. Does their counter support sampling (as opposed to buying a half-pound at a time and then finding out whether you like it)? That would be perfect.

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[info]ralphmelton
2009-05-29 03:16 pm UTC (link)
When I visited their counter more often, they were very generous about sampling.

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Don't go to this cheese shop
[info]sethcohen
2009-05-28 02:56 am UTC (link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3KBuQHHKx0

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Re: Don't go to this cheese shop
[info]ralphmelton
2009-05-28 07:43 pm UTC (link)
But you'd remember every cheese that you bought there...

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