Rummaging, I was, through the refrigerator searching for cheese; any cheese! I couldn’t find a single morsel. Nothing behind the half-full bottle of Sun Luck oyster sauce, nothing behind the mayo, nothing under the celery or the bok choy, nothing on the other side of the box of butter.
My anticipation was rapidly fading.
Wait! What’s that? I recognize that wrapping! Quel Fromage! What, oh what had I pushed all the way to the back of the top shelf and forgotten? More importantly, was it still edible or had it become just another moldy science project?
Lordy! Lordy! A wee bit of cave-aged Gruyère! Thanks be to the good god of all that is cheese!
I remember having used most of the originally purchased wedge in a 3-cheese sauce for macaroni, but with a shy ¼-cup of Gruyère left, there wasn’t enough for a sauce.
Gruyère is one of the firm raw cow’s milk cheeses of Switzerland that crumbles readily, but is well known for its superb melting capability. It’s the basis for any good Swiss fondue, and is preferred for au gratin onion soups. But I didn’t have enough for such.
The only recourse was to simply open my mouth and savor and enjoy each sliver and crumble. And enjoy it I did!
Because of the aging in a cave for at least 6 to 13 months to, in some cases, 3 years, and the process of washing the wheels of cheese, the taste of this Swiss cheese is more intense, more complex than some other Swiss cheeses. And especially more flavorful than most Swiss cheeses bricks and slices found in the supermarket.
I felt it stood on its own merit by eating it, rather than including it in a sauce—it was delicious! I love the words used by Sam Gugino, in the September 2008 issue of Wine Spectator magazine: “…a rich mouthfeel and a long finish.”
I didn’t eat it with crackers or apple slices because the taste was ever so slightly salty with a hint of sharp, and musty, and a complexity because of the aging, that I didn’t want to be distracted by any other taste.
In The Cheese Plate, authors McCalman and Gibbons say, “… one of the best things about Gruyère is that it’s salty on the attack but not on the finish.” I totally agree!
I did learn that a very good American Gruyère is made by the Swiss family, Wisconsin-based company Roth Kase.
Amazing the taste power in that slightly less than ¼-cup of Gruyère.
My anticipation was rapidly fading.
Wait! What’s that? I recognize that wrapping! Quel Fromage! What, oh what had I pushed all the way to the back of the top shelf and forgotten? More importantly, was it still edible or had it become just another moldy science project?
Lordy! Lordy! A wee bit of cave-aged Gruyère! Thanks be to the good god of all that is cheese!
I remember having used most of the originally purchased wedge in a 3-cheese sauce for macaroni, but with a shy ¼-cup of Gruyère left, there wasn’t enough for a sauce.
Gruyère is one of the firm raw cow’s milk cheeses of Switzerland that crumbles readily, but is well known for its superb melting capability. It’s the basis for any good Swiss fondue, and is preferred for au gratin onion soups. But I didn’t have enough for such.
The only recourse was to simply open my mouth and savor and enjoy each sliver and crumble. And enjoy it I did!
Because of the aging in a cave for at least 6 to 13 months to, in some cases, 3 years, and the process of washing the wheels of cheese, the taste of this Swiss cheese is more intense, more complex than some other Swiss cheeses. And especially more flavorful than most Swiss cheeses bricks and slices found in the supermarket.
I felt it stood on its own merit by eating it, rather than including it in a sauce—it was delicious! I love the words used by Sam Gugino, in the September 2008 issue of Wine Spectator magazine: “…a rich mouthfeel and a long finish.”
I didn’t eat it with crackers or apple slices because the taste was ever so slightly salty with a hint of sharp, and musty, and a complexity because of the aging, that I didn’t want to be distracted by any other taste.
In The Cheese Plate, authors McCalman and Gibbons say, “… one of the best things about Gruyère is that it’s salty on the attack but not on the finish.” I totally agree!
I did learn that a very good American Gruyère is made by the Swiss family, Wisconsin-based company Roth Kase.
Amazing the taste power in that slightly less than ¼-cup of Gruyère.
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