Tallegio Cheese

So the wife decided to go with this dish for New Years which is called "Miracle Rice" (it's a Giada DeLaurentis dish).

I won't post the recipe here because you can easily look it up if interested, but it is essentially a bunch of cheeses mixed together with cooked rice, scallions and topped with Prosciutto Cotto and garnished with parsley and peas. It is served with a cheese tomato sauce. And it looks absolutely fabulous. Now, on to the point of my post.

As noted, this dish has a number of cheeses in it. It has all the usual suspects like Parmesan Reggiano, Mascarpone, etc., but it also has Smoked Mozzarella (which we don't often see) and a cheese I'd never had before called Taleggio. So we ordered some in, and a taste test was in order.

HOLY COW!! Taleggio cheese is the absolute BEST cheese I think I've ever eaten, and I've tasted a lot of really nice cheeses! It definitely ranks up there in the top 5-6 of all time.

Taleggio cheese has the consistency of Bree, complete with the rind. And the flavor is this spectacular multi-spectral experience. At first it reminds you of Bree, then the flavor develops into a Gruyere flavor and then finishes off with this Bleu cheese like flavor. It is absolutely UN-REAL!

I strongly recommend trying Taleggio cheese if you ever get the opportunity. Even if you have to order some, it's worth it just to try!

I'm glad my wife got more than we need for the dish, but even still it's going to be awful hard to keep my mitts off that cheese for another 5-6 days!!!

WOW!!

I still think Humboldt Fog is some of the best cheese I've ever had.

We lucked into finding some in one of our local cheese cases at a specialty grocery and I picked it up for a cheese and charcuterie board one Thanksgiving. Once I got started on it, I couldn't stop.

I'll have to keep my eyes out for Tallegio though. I like all the ones you mention as flavor notes, even a bit of bleu cheese.

a reply to: ketsuko

I eat bleu cheese right out of the pack! Can't resist.

As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever met a cheese I didn't like.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I am getting a dual thermostat controlled wine fridge for Christmas to start my Cheese operation. If you are interested in making not just eating I suggest checking out cheese forum .com

Check out a recipe for your new favorite washed rind smear ripened cheese.

Taleggio

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I actually don't like Swiss although baby Swiss is OK (now when I say this, I'm talking about straight up eating, not as eating it in things).

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

Interesting! I read all about how to make one of those back a few months ago, almost bought all the gear to do it too. Only part which spooked me a little was the humidity part. Dehumidifying is a lot easier than humidifying (evenly anyway).

I'd still like to do it though. I'll be interested to hear your progress. I understand it takes quite a bit of practice to get a cheese right.

a reply to: ketsuko

If I had to pick a cheese I don't particularly care for (and that is hard), it would have to be...Havarti.

I just find it bitter and off-putting most often, and I don't like the texture either.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Havarti I like, with or without dill. But Swiss is just ... that aftertaste gets too strong for me. Baby Swiss is milder there, so I do like it.

And I am not much of a texture person, so I rarely find mouth feel to be off-putting for anything. That doesn't mean that texture is meaningless when I eat, I do enjoy it, just that it rarely ever is going to be something I will avoid a food for. To illustrate, texture is one of the things I love about salmon roe, but if it didn't have the texture, I'd still enjoy it because of the flavor.

a reply to: ketsuko

Interesting! I don't particularly care for dill in dishes either. I like dill pickles (garlic kosher dills), but I'm not a big fan of dill as a spice in foods. I use it sometimes if a dish calls for it, but sparingly.

So, different taste preferences I guess. That's what makes the world go 'round.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Husband drives me nuts because he ranks texture above flavor, and I personally don't understand that.

a reply to: ketsuko

Texture is probably as important as taste to me in most cases. Liver is a good example. I just can't get past the texture, so the texture starts making me think it tastes different than it does. I love the smell of say liver and onions, but I'm done after one bite.

And just to give a more specific example, I love sushi and sashimi, so it's not a soft texture which turns me off. It's when I expect a certain texture based on a smell, and then that texture is completely different. So if ice cream was chewy like steak, I probably wouldn't like that either, and if my steak was creamy like ice cream I can't get past that either.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Maybe that's it. My sense of smell has never been the greatest (bad nasal passages), so I live through the taste. And because I can seldom smell clearly, I don't tend to develop preconceived expectations based on the smell.

Darn near starved to death the one time I lost my sense of taste. There was just no joy at all in eating, so I had no enthusiasm for it and lost weight like crazy. That happened early in my pregnancy. To say my OB was upset would be an understatement.

That recipe sounds delectable. Taleggio is a great cheese, but in the grand mix of Italy's variety of cheeses it's about average and mainly used for cooking.

We have 487 varieties, about 300+ of which are officially recognised; the rest being local specialities. Some are pretty unique, containing walnuts, pistachios, red wine veins, chili peppers, olives, truffles, etc. FCD, you would have field day!

I love them all except one... Casu Marzu that originates in Sardinia (Casu martzu) and Corsica (Casgiu merzu), but is also made in most of southern Italy. It's based on a sheep milk cheese, which is fine. The part I'm not too keen about is that it contains live insect larvae, more specifically, the cheese fly.



It probably tastes great, but I just can't bring myself to eat it.

Happy Holidays ATS

a reply to: Encia22



I don't know if I could get past the part about it crawling, but supposedly, it does taste decent.