I Love Bleu Cheese Thread!

[OldLarry]

Aside- covers up the weed on your breath better than pretty much anything around. Seriously.

[yentna]

Oooh... there's a restaurant around here that has a salad with pear slices and blue cheese. Yummy.

Where? Let's go have dinner...

[skiing-in-jackson]

Ahhh...the Blue Cheese Bacon Burger... Oh Yeah!!!

Attachment 16596

[JBrian]

I'll add Roaring Forties Bleu to the list of recommendations, along with a proper Zin or Syrah to wash it down with..

Cambozola is the shit too, part Camembert (like brie) and part Gorgonzola - yum.

[Chinaski]

If you get a chance, try blue cheese from Rouge River Creamery (OR) or Point Reyes (CA). Both make awesome domestic blues.

[TheDingleberry]

FUCKIN cheese snobs. Ehhh maytag, gorgonzola, stilton, roquefort...Lames.

Pull some Cabrales from Spain and then come and talk to me like you know blue cheese.

[TheDingleberry]

Using that logic we would have to assume fermantation is bad. If fermantation is bad then beer is evil, then isn't this an indictment of our food pyramid in general? I put it to you, Snow_Slider- isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

so if i put the cheese in a closet for 3 weeks I'll have a great beer?

[Pura Vida]

After graduating from college my first job while looking for a "real job" was a cheese monger aka cheese slanger at a yuppie high end/organic market. Anyways we had one of the best cheese selections in the USA and part of being a cheese slanger is trying the product. So got to try the good, the bad and the ugly. My 2 cents on some notable blues:

Best Stilton: Neal's Yard Colton Basset Stilton or the Colton Basset Shropshire. Hand's down one of the best cheeses we sold. The stuff coming from Neal's yard is the original recipe and tastes unlike any stilton you've ever had. Likely hard to find in most places, but if you see it, try it.

American Blue: Maytag, the standard but consistenly good. Very versatile from putting on burgers, stuffing in mushrooms, or throwing on a salad. BTW the Pt Reyes blue is the same exact recipe as Maytag. Usually not as good and sometimes just bland; as the cheese became trendy they could not keep up with the demand and began to release their cheeses earlier than Maytag = less depth of flavor.

Italy: Mountain Gorgonzala (aka Naturale, Picante): The real deal (which you can tell by the stamp on the foil) is another great blue. very piquant and creamy. Also notable is its younger more mild and sweeter cousin gorgonzola dolce.

France: St Agur, another good one for those that think they don't like blue cheese. Super creamy and rich. Spread it on some bread with a nice glass of wine and you're stoked.

Spain: Cabrales, this is a BIG blue. bold and really makes me feel almost sick after eating it as its usually so intense. Not one I ever buy, but good if you're into the gnar.

After working there I found that for the most part the smaller, raw milk dairies produce the best cheeses. I'd choose the small farm raw milk cheese over the "organic" factory products anyday, as a lot of the times the small dairies are "organic" but don't have enough money to get the certification.

A favorite treat of mine I came up with one day:

Maytag Stuffed Mushrooms with carmelized shallots and Bacon
Ingredients:
Chunk Maytag Blue cheese
Crimini Mushrooms, with stems removed
Hatch diced green chiles
Shallots
BACON, the real kind, diced
Bread Crumbs

Cook bacon to lightly crispy, remove from pan. Carmelize shallots in the bacon drippings, as they begin to carmelize, add shallots and green chiles with the chile juice, (and the chooped crimini stems if desired), cook 1-2 minutes more untill the juice has reduced. Remove mixtures and cool. After cooling crumble as much or as little Maytag into the mixture, fold in the cheese till it all comes together. Stuff the mixture into the hollowed out mushrooms and finish them off with a light dusting of bread crumbs. Cook on the grill or in 375F oven till the mushroom are cooked and the cheese is melted. enjoy. It's all about the bacon and the Maytag really seems to highlight it.