Every now and then you come across a cheese that by all rights should be delicious but is not. It's from the right family, it got the right education (work with me on this metaphor we're almost there), it even hangs around with a decent crowd, but for some reason or another it just can't do right. This is the story of the handful of European cheeses, such as our Dutch friend Landana, that are at best disappointing and at worst to be avoided altogether. No matter the country, the style, or the associations; no cheese is above judgment.
Enter Bel Paese, Italian for "beautiful country". Normally this cheese is sold as a semi-soft product similar to but firmer and more buttery in flavor than mozzarella, but the novelty piece I brought home was a disk about the size of a quarter and wrapped tight in green foil; Bel Paese Crema.
Origin: Lombardy, Italy
Milk: Cow, pasteurized
Rennet: Animal
Affinage: Fresh
Notes: Looks like a tab of butter, but a little glossier. Costs nearly nothing for a single package, so really the rest isn't a huge loss.
Thoughts: Appearances and even the texture upon first glance would suggest that this fresh cow's milk cheese will be similar unto the paste of a Brie, perhaps like an authentic version of those nasty rindless bries you can buy all wrapped in foil. This is nothing like brie. This is more like butter that has been left out on the counter for an hour or two and stamped into cylinder shapes. The flavor is literally sickeningly sweet, like drinking a nice big glass of those single serving coffee creams you find at IHOP. If you can get beyond that there is a hint of smoky, nutty flavor hidden deep in the paste, but the intense sweetness of the cream and the firm but unpleasantly sticky texture make it not worth the effort. The world is full of smoked cow cheeses, such as Spain's San Simon, and in any case Italy has a host of better options for fresh formaggio.
Always more of a hands-on learner, I believe the best way to realize how bad a cheese is is to try it for yourself. If you can find these tiny disks of malleable cheese then drop the 50 odd cents and buy one, but if you see the larger firmer variety next to it do yourself a favor and bring some of that home to compare. Bad cheese is a universally occurring phenomenon, beware.
Caution
If you are ever uncertain about the purchase you are about to make simply look the person behind the counter in the eye and ask "(Sir/Madame), is this product high quality?". If they have an honest looking face and they respond "yes" you're in the clear. Honest looking faces don't lie.
Enter Bel Paese, Italian for "beautiful country". Normally this cheese is sold as a semi-soft product similar to but firmer and more buttery in flavor than mozzarella, but the novelty piece I brought home was a disk about the size of a quarter and wrapped tight in green foil; Bel Paese Crema.
Milk: Cow, pasteurized
Rennet: Animal
Affinage: Fresh
Notes: Looks like a tab of butter, but a little glossier. Costs nearly nothing for a single package, so really the rest isn't a huge loss.
Thoughts: Appearances and even the texture upon first glance would suggest that this fresh cow's milk cheese will be similar unto the paste of a Brie, perhaps like an authentic version of those nasty rindless bries you can buy all wrapped in foil. This is nothing like brie. This is more like butter that has been left out on the counter for an hour or two and stamped into cylinder shapes. The flavor is literally sickeningly sweet, like drinking a nice big glass of those single serving coffee creams you find at IHOP. If you can get beyond that there is a hint of smoky, nutty flavor hidden deep in the paste, but the intense sweetness of the cream and the firm but unpleasantly sticky texture make it not worth the effort. The world is full of smoked cow cheeses, such as Spain's San Simon, and in any case Italy has a host of better options for fresh formaggio.
Always more of a hands-on learner, I believe the best way to realize how bad a cheese is is to try it for yourself. If you can find these tiny disks of malleable cheese then drop the 50 odd cents and buy one, but if you see the larger firmer variety next to it do yourself a favor and bring some of that home to compare. Bad cheese is a universally occurring phenomenon, beware.
Caution
If you are ever uncertain about the purchase you are about to make simply look the person behind the counter in the eye and ask "(Sir/Madame), is this product high quality?". If they have an honest looking face and they respond "yes" you're in the clear. Honest looking faces don't lie.
I come from an Italian/Italian-American family, and this isn't a cheese you really eat straight. More than anything, it's kind of like cream cheese mixed with butter--if you look at the ingredients, it's a mix of actual cheese, milk, whey, and butter. Kids will eat it straight, and I'll spread it on toasted bread, but the real place this shines is for topping hot pasta. In particular, stir one or two of these into pastina (the really tiny pastas) along with some parmesan or pecorino, and you've got a favorite early-childhood food.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds absolutely delicious. It doesn't help that I'm starving right now LOL.
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