Extreme Cheese: Get Your Teut-on

Whereas France, Italy, and Switzerland have been basking throughout the cheese spotlight for lots of of years, totally different nations in Europe have quietly been perfecting delicious, sensible, down-home cheeses which will undoubtedly rival their additional well-known counterparts. Germany and Austria, two nations not broadly recognized for the cheeses they produce, have been at it for a really very long time, and are solely starting to get noticed proper right here throughout the States.

Definitely, for many who love smelly cheese, these two nations are making some amazingly pungent specimens that may downside your very notion of “edible.” New York Metropolis’s Murray’s Cheese currently began carrying a whole spate of unusual German and Austrian cheeses, 4 of which had been specializing in proper right here, after the bounce.

Romadur is a supremely delicious raw cow’s milk cheese, with a supple texture and a rich, yeasty fashion. It’s a smear-ripened cheese, which suggests that the rind is smeared with brine by means of the 4-6 week getting previous interval, with a function to encourage the growth of micro organism that help break down the cheese and make it tasty. It’s made by the Bremenreid Cooperative throughout the Allgäu space of southwest Bavaria.

Weisslacker (or “white lacquer”) is a square-shaped, crumbly white cheese whose small dimension belies its intensely tart, pungent fashion. I’m afraid to say it’s barely too extremely efficient to let free on a cheese plate, besides you’re serving it to some brave cheese lovers. Alternately you possibly can presumably grate it and serve it over Spätzle, or one other type of noodle, which, in accordance with Murray’s, is strictly what the Bavarians like to do with this one.

Bergkase Alt—truly “earlier mountain cheese”—is an Austrian variation on Alpine cheeses like Gruyère or Comté. It’s a raw cow’s milk cheese, aged for about 10 months, and its texture is straightforward and elastic, and dotted with small pea-sized eyes (holes). It’s a bit drier and additional grainy than its Swiss and French cousins, nonetheless it has the an identical nutty, sweet style that characterizes such cheeses. It may be good in fondue, or melted proper right into a grilled cheese sandwich on pumpernickel.

Bachensteiner, from the Bregenz Forest in western Austria, is effectively in all probability probably the most foul smelling cheese I’ve ever encountered. I can not, in good conscience, relate to you exactly what this cheese smells like, for concern that it might break your urge for meals. However it absolutely tastes good! The cheese is rather more delicate in your mouth than your nostril. It’s obtained an earthy, meaty style and a semi-firm texture that goes good on a hefty darkish bread. It’s a raw cow’s milk cheese, aged only for 4 to 6 weeks, and shaped like a gold bar. Warning: this cheese must solely be served to close buddies and sympathetic kin. It’s odor would possibly flip off even in all probability probably the most open-minded foodies. You may be forewarned.

When you’re an daring caseophile, it is advisable to take into accounts getting your fingers on just a few of those. They’ll just about undoubtedly improve your cheese horizon. Moreover, I honestly can’t think about a larger time of 12 months to interrupt out your lederhosen, pour some Riesling, and feast in your super-stinky variety of unusual Teutonic cheeses.