I'm guessing many others here miss the amazing cheeses from America. European cheeses are TERRIBLE! I miss the cheese from the Americas: Monterey Jack (especially Pepper Jack), Colby, American cheese, queso, and everything else. The only good cheese in Europe is cheddar and I cannot find nearly as many varieties of cheddars as in the US. I need certain cheddars to make some American and Mexican style cheese dips and American cheese. I'm so tired of the terrible cheeses here that I am planning to make my own Monterey Jack cheese wheels at home... If I ever figure out how to keep it at the right temperature. If someone has a wine cooler, maybe we could make a deal xD
Often. You need rennet, culture, a plastic form and a cheese press (all available on Amazon) and just need a coolish room to ripen it in - we don't use a chiller.
Through trial and error I can give you a few tips:
- Follow the recipe precisely - the way you cut the curd and the various timescales have a big effect on the end result. - Make sure everything is sterile, cheesemaking is basically controlled decomposition so the only bacteria you want to be there are the bacteria you choose. Boil the cheesecloth first.
- If you're using a cheese press with no pressure gauge, less is more. - Start with the easier kinds, a simple Farmhouse Cheddar or a Mexican Queso Fresco. - Don't expect to make a big wheel of cheese - you would need a very large commercial sized pan to create the curd, a huge form, many gallons of milk and a giant press - small cheeses are easier.
A little trial and error and you'll have a result better than anything produced commercially here.
The only good cheese in Europe is cheddar and I cannot find nearly as many varieties of cheddars as in the US
I'll throw in here that the cheese referred to as cheddar US is not really like the "English" cheddar I've had. American cheddar is more like what gets called mimolette in Poland, not sure what that's called in the UK.
As with beer and wine, there are a lot of artisan cheeses here in the States that can rival the best of their European counterparts. As you know, Poland is not a cheese country. Polish cheese are like bland, versions of American commercial cheeses, and are never matured. I found only one Polish cheese worthy of distinction: Bursztyn. But that's not the kind of cheese the OP is looking for.
I found masa in one of the international food shops in Wrocław, Kuchnie Światów, I think. They have branches in Warsaw, too, so check them out. As for other Mexican products, the thing I found hardest to deal with was the lack of a good range of dried chiles like anchos, guajillos and secos, and fresh chiles like Hatches. And if you want to make a good mole or killer tamales, you're going to have to have someone from back home send you the ingredients that you can't find in Poland. Same with pozole. And I ended up growing my own cilantro, and forget about sweet onions. Used to live in San Diego, and spent a lot of time in Baja, Sonora and Chihuahua, and also other points further south. I don't like Tex-Mex quite as much.
As for shortening, I'm a northern boy, so we never used it. We preferred butter for things like cakes, biscuits and cornbread, instead, and farm lard for pie dough. We had a can of Crisco in the house, but never used it. It was probably bought before I was born, and is still probably there under the sink 57 years later. But Yankee cornbread is rich, yellow and moist and very sweet, with lots of eggs and cream and honey. I remember my first encounter with southern cornbread. It was a shock. Never could stomach it.
American cheddar is more like what gets called mimolette in Poland, not sure what that's called in the UK.
This makes sense, Poland is rapidly getting good at the kind of cheddar found in England, so I wondered what the OP was talking about. Even Biedronka has a perfectly good mature cheddar these days.
But...American cheese? People really miss those tasteless yellow strips?
"Even Biedronka has a perfectly good mature cheddar these days" That's actually ok for cooking with. Typical Polish yellow cheese isn't since it doesn't melt properly.
American cheese? Yuk. I bought some once when living abroad somewhere. It was called Kraft Cheese, in a sort of block and was inedible, worse than the cheapest you could ever find in Britain.
It was called Kraft Cheese, in a sort of block and was inedible, worse than the cheapest you could ever find in Britain.
I tried it once somewhere in London, and I remember wondering what on earth could be so tasteless and bland. Mafketis, maybe you can explain why your countrymen seem to miss it so much?
I'm guessing many others here miss the amazing cheeses from America. European cheeses are TERRIBLE!
Seriously? What are you missing? The preservatives that keep your industrial American cheese mold free for a couple of decades, or the trans fats that block your arteries and slowly kill you? The reason why you don't like European cheese is a different one: you are not used to quality and clean food... :)
As with local beers: local cheeses in the US can be quite good, though.
It's like British people missing so-called "baked beans", which are considered poverty food in the States. People develop strange affinities for the foods of their childhood, even if they are of abysmally low quality.
For example, when I was in Poland, I had a friend from Newcastle who went back home for Christmas and brought back canned salmon, brownie mix, and, I kid you not, M&S Yorkshire pudding mix. I didn't even know there was such a thing like Yorkshire pudding mix. What need could it possibly fill? Like it's that hard to make from scratch. Any child could do that. Rocket science it is not. When I pointed that out to him, he said that no, the M&S mix is much better. Go figure. And brownies from a mix? How much more gauche can you get?
I've been shuddering for the past half hour at the thought of that Kraft 'cheese' stuff.
"baked beans" I never understood the point of those things. Tinned salmon though, despite being unfashionable now, is actually very good - certainly better quality than tinned tuna.
@ Delidope "But...American cheese? People really miss those tasteless yellow strips?"
Not everybody in America is poor. This is certainly not the kind of cheese he's talking about and you know it! Its just another one of your cheap shots at Americans.
@Jon "It was called Kraft Cheese, in a sort of block and was inedible, worse than the cheapest you could ever find in Britain".
Its the cheapest cheese you can find in America as well, its processed.
@zagadka314 "I'm guessing many others here miss the amazing cheeses from America."
These guys have never been to Wisconsin nor have they ever tasted the real and best cheeses from America.
They look discredit anything American. Im glad they can't their grubby paws on our delicious cheese`s. Let them eat that kraft plastic crap.....LoL
It's true though that compared with Europe, American food in general is tasteless, above all, PROCESSED, both in texture and ingredients! Poles, Germans, most of all, the Italians and the French bellyache bitterly about US meals, so much so that on certain tourist menus in Paris, there is offered "cafe" or "cafe americain":-) Don't even ask about our bread, vegetables, and fruit. Polish apples for instance really DO taste better!!
Needless to say, no self-respecting Frenchman would order anything American-style LOL
These guys have never been to Wisconsin nor have they ever tasted the real and best cheeses from America.
Obviously, the OP has never tasted any real European cheese. Otherwise he would know that you don't buy that stuff off the shelf, but purchase it from a special cheese counter that most grocery stores have. There ... problem solved ...
Its the cheapest cheese you can find in America as well, its processed.
That's what he was referring to. The nasty strips of yellow processed cheese.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cheese
He wasn't referring to cheese made in America, he was referring specifically to this. The cheap, nasty, tasteless crap that somehow is legally called cheese in the US.
And there's no need to discredit anything when that kind of junk is consumed.
but purchase it from a special cheese counter that most grocery stores have. There ... problem solved ...
I was just thinking this, there's plenty of good cheese available from the counter in my local supermarket to meet all tastes. The cheapest stuff is bland, but there's plenty of imported cheese on offer.
Of course, at specialty stores and high-priced eateries, one can get anything of stellar quality as good as anywhere in Europe, but this is the exception, not the rule. Since I luckily have a choice, why in the world would I waste my money on Velveeta when some tasty imported Camembert or Gouda is readily available??
Some California wines however, do measure up to the best of the Rhone, I'm told:-)
Joker they have never been to America to afford the quality and world famous cheeses so they put their inferiority complexes into cheap shots at superior American products.
The State of Wisconsin is the cheese capital of the world. (Google will be burning up on Wisconsin cheese in the next ten minutes) Wisconsin makes more cheese then the whole country of Britain put together, lol In fact, if you want to take a world tour of the most popular cheeses, you can pretty much do it all with domestic cheeses here in America.
Start with a world award winning Wisconsin Parmesan, ease into a smooth, creamy Brie, savor a nutty, buttery Swiss cheese descended from the famous Emmentalers, and finish with a razor sharp Wisconsin Cheddar cheese.
Anyone that would suggest to use a Kraft cheese to compare other cheeses shows utter ignorance. America made has gotter'.
These guys have never been to Wisconsin nor have they ever tasted the real and best cheeses from America.
I'm pretty amazed by the local cheeses here in Vermont, too. Light years ahead of anything you could find in Poland, and on par with the best European cheeses.
They're actually really easy to make, just separate (full cream, not uht) milk with rennet, cut to a fairly large size, strain off the whey and dry over a couple of days. You can press them a little if you want extra squeaky.
It sure is as all of your examples have been for the provoking sake of argument. Again, the Eurps are jealous to think the U.S.A. has so many different products to choose from. From the cheap that most of them can afford to world class that us Trumpsters can afford. This thread definitely shows their inferiority complex towards America.
When we lived near Maspeth, my wife and I were always going to our local Polish deli for almost everything.
Really ! when I lived in Hamtramck I was always going to Polish deli's because that is all there were. And the point here is ???????
