Tenth Square: Cheese: A Simple Guide

This post may help with tomorrow's post, as you're going to want a snack and (spoiler) cheese pairs well with wine. As with all things craft, lately, cheese has certain seen its fair share of popularity growth. I generally like to get cheese for special occasions from a cheese shop where you can try stuff and someone can walk you through a major decision like picking out a cheese, like Caseus in New Haven. In the past few years, though, I've noticed that the selection at larger grocery stores is not too shabby.

Texture

There are four main categories of texture when dealing with cheese.

Bloomy: Soft, creamy, with a soft rind. Think Brie or Teleggio.
Hard: Stiffer, crumbly, often times more flavorful or sharp, often aged. These are the fattier of the cheeses. Think Cheddar, Parmesan, or Gruyere.
Blue: We all know blue cheese; stinky, moldy, can be creamy or hard. Think Gorgonzola or Stilton.
Fresh: Soft mild cheese, usually not aged. Think Ricotta or Mozzarella.

Milk

While cheeses from every type of milk exist, I'll keep it simpler and focus on the three most common, that you'll be able to find examples of at most grocery stores: Cow, Goat, Sheep. While the thought of eating a dairy that comes from anything but a cow might seem off-putting to some; I think that some of the best and also some of the least adventurous cheese are goat's milk and sheep's milk cheeses. Here's what I would go with for a typical get-together with some wine and friends:

Cow: Delice de Bourgnone is a bloomy French cow's milk cheese with something for everyone. The inside is buttery and creamy, while the rind is a little more pungent and flavorful.

Creamy goodness.

Goat: Humboldt Fog is a semi-soft (between bloomy and hard) cheese from Cypress Grove in California. I like it because, like Delice de Bourgnone, it's got several different layers with different qualities. The inside is creamier and more spreadable, while the outside is more crumbly.

Layers.

Sheep: Manchego is an aged, hard sheep's milk cheese from Spain. It is available at different ages, the younger cheese being semi-soft and lighter in color, and the older cheese being harder and more crumbly with caramel color. I like older Manchego, myself, and I think this offers a nice contrast to the creamier and softer cheeses I've chosen above.

Pairing

I'm not talking about pairing wine with cheese, because I don't really know that much about it. There are not really any "rules" governing it, and the qualities of each cheese react differently with the qualities of each type of wine. It's more about finding what you like and sticking with it until you are drunk/full.

What I am talking about is pairing cheese with meats. Because yes.

Different people like different kinds of meats, and you can't always just eat bacon, so I think it's a good idea to have one of each of the following types of meat to snack on:

Dry-Cured: Like Prosciutto or its more delicious smoked cousin Speck