Editor’s note: As we head into the holiday season with many people worried about the economy, we felt the time was right to start a new series dedicated to finding the great values in the cheese department. Certified Cheese Professional contributor David Phillips will be highlighting some terrific picks. In his role as cheese buyer and department manager he is responsible for selecting and ordering cheese for his customers at Potash Markets in Chicago.
Some cheeses get no respect. Others are so good that one might be surprised to learn that they don’t carry a super-premium price tag. Some cheeses are so sublime, or so familiar that they attract less fanfare than they deserve. You might call them the underpriced and underappreciated. Lucky for me, I have been invited to explore some of these in a series of Cheese Professor posts, in the hopes that they will never go unnoticed.
Mimolette:Disrespected
A great place to start is with a cheese called Mimolette. It’s a hard-pressed cow’s milk cheese that is unique in many ways. One of the few French cheeses colored with annatto (the seed extract that gives many cheeses their orange hue) it is also shaped like cannonball and looks a lot like a cantaloupe. Mimolette is hard as a bowling ball, so it’s a bit of a challenge to break down.
Many turophiles will have read a very comprehensive guide to old world cheeses by Stephen Jenkins. In his Cheese Primer (1996), Jenkins went after Mimolette with a viscous vengeance, calling it waxy, and flavorless. I would beg to differ. I think this cheese has an intriguing, toothsome texture, and its salt-forward meaty flavor brings to mind a nicely-aged steak. We haven’t even mentioned the mites, and can save that for another story. Try Mimolette. You will probably NOT hate it, and it looks great and performs well on a cheese plate.
Widmer’s Extra Aged Brick Cheese: Underpriced and Badly Impersonated
Widmer’s Brick Cheese photo courtesy Widmer’s Cheese Cellars
Your supermarket deli will sell you a cheese called brick. It’s okay for sandwiches, but it’s not the real deal. Widmer’ Extra Aged Brick Cheese is the real deal. People in the biz know all about it. Real brick cheese is a washed-rind cheese, so it’s fragrant on its sticky rind, but it has a pleasant, mild flavor. Okay it’s stinky. You might think of it as a more approachable Limburger if anyone *sniff* remembers Limburger. The real thing employs actual bricks to press the whey from the formed cheese loaves. It has a springy texture with tiny openings.
Other Wisconsin traditionalists make real brick, but at Potash Markets I only carry the Widmer, and I sell it at a very reasonable price. It is a good melter, so ideal for grilled cheese sandwiches and burgers, and I have a customer who uses it when making his own Detroit-style pizza. Get you some.
Hornkuhkäse: The New Kid
Hornkuhkäse photo courtesy of Zuercher & Co
Hornkuhkäse (a.k.a. Alpenhorn) has been available in the U.S. for just about five years, and depending upon where you live, it might be tricky to find. It’s well worth looking for. This is a Swiss specialty Alpine-style cheese that’s a bit like a younger, softer Gruyere (it’s aged 8-10 months) with some traits of Appenzeller. Like other good Alpines, it offers a complex flavor, with notes of sautéed onion, and hazelnuts. It has a beautiful appearance, with a natural golden paste and an attractive aroma of fresh tobacco. A few weeks back I gushed on social media about this cheese after opening a wheel, and in doing so, planted the seed for this series. We sell Hornkuhkäse for about five-dollars per pound below the price of our standard 12-month Gruyere. Ask for it by either name. Melt it, nibble it, and amaze your friends with it.
We will bring you a few more would-be wallflowers soon. Meanwhile, be curious. Try more cheeses.