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The cheese stands alone, Hi-ho, the derry-o, the cheese stands alone

2008-07-23

I'm sure you're familiar with this cheese phenomenon. You enjoy a particularly pungent, stinky cheese as part of dinner, perhaps with a well-chosen bottle of wine and some fresh bread. Then, when you're filled to the gills with your favorite dairy product, you wrap up the rest and put it in the refrigerator.

The next morning comes and you stumble to the kitchen to have breakfast. As you're pouring the milk, you notice a peculiar odor that your corn flakes/granola/lucky charms don't usually have. Oh NO, you've just become the victim of a stinky cheese! Lovely with dinner, not so lovely after its smell has merged with everything in your fridge!

Which brings us to today's question:

Are you for or against stinky cheese and why?

Julie from Washington D.C. states, "If I don't like the smell, I sure as heck don't like the taste." Elaine from Pennsylvania suggests, "I enjoy strong cheeses as an accent, but not as a meal. They can overpower other foods, but with fruit or crackers they add flavor and interest." Jeff from Boston says, "In general against. The reason being is that it always makes me think it's gone bad. And if stinky cheese actually goes bad? I for one don't want to be at ground zero."

I guess that's one vote for, two votes against stinky cheese. I do believe there's some logic to Julie's connection of smell and taste. Who'd want to eat something that smelled awful? That being said, there are quite a few incredibly stinky cheeses, and some other stinky foods like cabbage or sprimp paste (used in my southeast Asian dishes and quite tasty), that we'd miss out on if we didn't sometimes ignore the advice of our overly picky nose.

Without a doubt, I agree with Elaine that stinky cheese makes a better appetizer or cheese course separate from a meal as it will definitely steal the show if you do something foolish like try to cook with it or serve it alongside the roast! Just as the fridge will start to remind you of that delightfully stinky cheese, so too will everything else on your plate.

Finally, Jeff makes a comic, but legitimate, point that a stinky cheese gone bad has got to be the worst case scenario. There's no going back into the kitchen after that one! But does cheese really "go bad" in the same sense that other food does considering that it's meant to age and ferment by definition?

The CurdNerds blog makes a great point about this in their post Does Cheese Go Bad? (a follow-up on an informative DiBruno Bros: the Queso Files article). They point to Époisses, and I would also add Limburger to the list, as a cheese that, "smells spoiled even when it's perfectly ripe."

I guess at the end of the day, it's really a question of what you like. If the idea of eating stinky cheese that smells like old sweat socks to you turns your stomach, it's probably best to avoid it (leaving more odiferous cheese for the rest of us!). But if you can stomach the idea of eating socks, go ahead, live a little, give that cheese a try. You may be glad you did!

And next week's fabulous cheese inquiry is: "What's your favorite cheese-wine pairing?" See you then with wine glass in hand.


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