Cheese and Cheese Courses

My friend Sarah and I stopped for lunch in a random cafe on a side street in Paris. There was a cheese course on the menu, so of course I ordered it. Our waiter brought it out quickly with some bread. It looked delicious. There were the regular kinds of cheeses- brie, Swiss, provolone, a few I didn’t know, and one kind of cheese that was really soft and pale yellow. I sampled a few, and if you are a cheese lover like me, you know how much fun it is just tasting a bunch of cheese. But when I came to the soft cheese and took a bite, I noticed that it had an odd flavor and the texture was softer than any cheese Id ever tasted, or even seen. I took another small bite, still confused. Then I turned to Sarah.

Sarah, do me a favor and taste this for me. She tasted it. What does it taste like? That might be butter. Yes I think it might be. But I’m not sure.

It didn’t taste exactly like butter, but also not exactly like cheese. So if anyone is able to identify the block of butter cheese right in the middle of the picture, please let me know so we can solve this mystery.

I’ve always wished that American restaurants offered cheese courses, but there is actually a place called Cheese Course (there is one in Miami) that you can go to, that serves really nice sandwiches and delicious cheese sample platters. If you’re adventurous and want to try new kinds of cheese, here is my list of all-time favorites.

 

Brie: A soft and mild cheese that is great baked with fruit or on crackers.

Manchango: A hard cheese with a distinctive flavor, kind of grassy.

Parrano: This cheese was recommended to me to use for pear risotto. It is a delicious mixture of parmesan and gouda cheese.

Gjetost (Norwegian brown cheese): This creamy caramel cheese is so good that I eat it by itself as a snack.

Smoked Gouda: Creamy, smoky, and delicious, great staple cheese that everyone will like.

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