Breads and cheeses

[stigmata]

My favourite cheeses, by Nationality:

UK: Stilton
France: Roquefort, but it's such a difficult choice....
Spain: Manchego (con Membrillo!)
Germany: Emmental
Italy: Dolcelatte
Greece: Feta
Switzerland: Gruyère
Cyprus: Halloumi
Holland: Gouda
Norway: Jarlsberg
US: ROFL @ american cheese

[Deveroast78]

My fave is probably smoked Gouda, but I understand your laughing at Yank cheese. No taste to it really, singles are basically veggie oil, salt, and curd.

Also like a quality mozzarella w/ tomatoes, but hard to find good bufala mozz. here. I should move to Provence or something, have all the cheese and wine I can stand. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[stigmata]

I agree smoked gouda is great. "Old Amsterdam" is the best Gouda I have tasted - unsmoked however.

I really like the Northern European harder cheeses such as this. But France just kicks everyone elses butts with their artery-clogging goo-monsters. Where do you even start? The best cheese experience is going to some Southern French market on a summer day, picking up 3 or 4 ripe local specialities you have never even heard of, some bread & local wine, and enjoying a long evening devouring......

[Analyst]

[ QUOTE ]
My favourite cheeses, by Nationality:

UK: Stilton
France: Roquefort, but it's such a difficult choice....
Spain: Manchego (con Membrillo!)
Germany: Emmental
Italy: Dolcelatte
Greece: Feta
Switzerland: Gruyère
Cyprus: Halloumi
Holland: Gouda
Norway: Jarlsberg
US: ROFL @ american cheese

[/ QUOTE ]

ROFL at somebody whose total experience with cheese made in America can apparently be summed up in two words: Cheese Wiz.

Just as Budwiser is not the pinnacle of American Beer, Kraft Singles are not the peak of American made cheese.

[stigmata]

I know, I know, i was just joking around with being a snob.... kinda cheap shot I guess [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] In fact, you could probably insert most non-european nations in the place of "ROFL @ american cheese"

Please, name me a US cheese that compares to anything on this list and I will definately get some and be excited about trying it.

[Edder11]

Stigmata - you seem to hae some knowledge and taste. You might want to try St. Agur - a top, top blue cheese best served room temp. Gruyere at different strengths as a breakfast/lunch/dinner cheese is one of the best hard cheeses

[stigmata]

Hey edder, I've tried both of these.... I eat ALOT of cheese [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I love Gruyere and it would have been on my favourites list, had I remembered (EDIT: LOL, it was on my list). St Agur is a fine reccomendation too.

[potato]

[ QUOTE ]
Please, name me a US cheese that compares to anything on this list and I will definately get some and be excited about trying it.

[/ QUOTE ]

A few quality cheeses from the US and A:

any Sally Jackson cheese
Maytag Blue
Humboldt Fog
Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam (Cowgirl also distributes Neal's Yard cheeses in the US, I believe. If you don't know about Neal's Yard, do yourself a favor and look into it.)

[bdaddy]

That's right. Kraft Singles aint got [censored] on the deliciousness of Velveeta

[tsearcher]

Sad to see there is no love for rye bread here. I think this might be for a couple of reasons. First it's not trendy now. So the bakeries you are going to don't offer it or they do a poor job of baking it. Second, grocery store (including Whole Foods) rye bread is usually pretty bad.

For good rye bread, you need to go to an ethnic bakery/deli. Polish, Jewish, German, Lithuanian and Russian are good places to go. Super markets that specialize in ethnic foods such as Garden Fresh, Treasure Island and Supermarcado are also good sources.

I noticed that several of the breads suggested here have non-bread like ingredients inserted into the bread. You don't need to do this with rye bread. Rye has enough flavor on its own. You don't need to juice it up. Of course you could always top it with baked garlic or other ingredients, but you don't have to dedicate a whole loaf to it.

Rye works especially well with stronger more powerful toppings. Such as horse radish mustard, the stinky cheeses, salami, smoked hams and fish. And of course corned beef has no business on any type of white bread. Rye is also great open faced with some fresh unsalted butter spread on top.