Burger cheese recommendations please (smoked cheese)

[GUS]

folks,

I'm looking at purchasing some Mexican style chili blended cheese & am looking for opinions as to how it changes the flavour, as to being worthwhile or not, are there any vegetable combo's that really need to be steered clear of, ,,naturally after xmas there will be plenty of stiltons & heavy veined cheeses so perfect time to pick your brains as to ruination of a cheese or not.

Guessing that the Mexicana types from morrisons et al will be a mild cheddar with chopped chili for the kick (it's been a while since I had such a cheese), so will a good smoke dull the chili intensity or make it more pronounced.
ideally this will be for long term preservation till the uk bbq season (HA, a potentially short window) whereupon we grille down at the woodland local park for birthdays.

Can blue's, stiltons etc be kept vac sealed so long without lots of degradation? or should I set it to a definite timescale based on a shorter lifespan for this sort of thing? (but when the cheese price is premium) & how much of a smoke hammer do you have to take to the strongest cheeses in order to get both flavours typically.

Cheers, Gus.

[ozzy]

My personal favorite is extra sharp cheddar or muenster that I cold smoke myself. I vacuum pack them and let meld for at least two weeks.

[GUS]

I've a fridge full of cheddar mild through to vintage, but to me nothing is better than a nice stinky blue cheese melting into a burger & dripping onto some poutine, so getting another favourite off the list of things to try is something I may regret otherwise, thus the questions re suitability & storage.

(i've a lot of smoke sampling to try).

[wheels]

...dripping onto some poutine...

Where do you get the curds from for your poutine Gus?

As to cheese storage, I'd buy it as required. Stilton is quite cheap most of the time, and Sainsbury's Basics Blue cheese, which is basically Stilton with annato added for colouring, is also good at £7.05/kg.

HTH

Phil

[GUS]

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/Poutine-girl-eats-food, descriptive, sassy & simply put by this lady..
bare ingredients
there's better (read more pro operations) out there but it's a quick fix for me on the rare occasions I eat some chips ( home made crinkles of course).

they've got to squeek on your teeth, so a competent strain & use is preferable, once I made the link from poutine curds & paneer there was no stopping me.

[wheels]

Thanks Gus.

Phil

[ozzy]

Forgot about Bleu Cheese, gonna have to smoke some up.

[GUS]

This is a more concise version of poutine
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Recipe_CheeseCurds.html

Some nice step by step photo's.

The gravy stock / meat juices can be as tricked out as you wish, no real formula, as this Quebec vegan varient shows .. & why not!?
http://www.veganquebec.net/spip.php?article172
Though i'm not choosey I do tend to lower the salt content whenever I get the opportunity, if you've ever had US /Canadian "packet" mac & cheese it's often WAY over the top where "a little bit of salt" is concerned ...dehydrating my tear ducts in a rabid search to lower the levels from the first bite, so do play around & find a happy medium.

You will get infinitely better information from a Native though.

[wheels]

Thanks again.

Phil

[ComradeQ]

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/Poutine-girl-eats-food, descriptive, sassy & simply put by this lady..
bare ingredients
there's better (read more pro operations) out there but it's a quick fix for me on the rare occasions I eat some chips ( home made crinkles of course).

they've got to squeek on your teeth, so a competent strain & use is preferable, once I made the link from poutine curds & paneer there was no stopping me.

I have a large shipment of cheese curds coming from St. Albert along the Ontario/Quebec border, begged a friend to bring them as he was visiting there. They are arguably the best poutine curds in the world since they originate just across from where poutine was invented in Quebec. The squeak is so loud it can be audibly heard from 10 feet away! The secret to the squeak is not just the freshest curds (that is the most important thing though) but also to leave the curds at room temperature, never in the fridge. I am a huge poutine snob, perfected my recipe through two weeks of Quebec travel that I affectionately dubbed "la tour de Poutine". Got the beef bones all ready to roast for the beef gravy once those curds arrive (today I hope)

[GUS]

Well I know who to ask for a decent recipe then, i'm the only one in the family who will eat them (usually when abroad & just off the mountain or apre prior to a thick head courtesy of a few pints of red).

Annoyingly they only tend to serve poutine in the cafeterias of our local favourite mountain & down at the car park base station, not up in the "posh" on slope bar with the nice fire & lodge ceiling that doesn't drip.
Another reason to get back into town.

Sadly i've never come across "must eat" wild eyed recommendations from locals as to where to get the best poutine in Banff, it's all much of a muchness, would love to have some proper fresh stuff rather than the generic bar offerings.

[wheels]

I have a large shipment of cheese curds coming from St. Albert along the Ontario/Quebec border, begged a friend to bring them as he was visiting there. They are arguably the best poutine curds in the world since they originate just across from where poutine was invented in Quebec. The squeak is so loud it can be audibly heard from 10 feet away! The secret to the squeak is not just the freshest curds (that is the most important thing though) but also to leave the curds at room temperature, never in the fridge. I am a huge poutine snob, perfected my recipe through two weeks of Quebec travel that I affectionately dubbed "la tour de Poutine". Got the beef bones all ready to roast for the beef gravy once those curds arrive (today I hope)

I'd love the full recipe if you've got the time.

Phil

[NCPaul]

Me too.

[GUS]

What temperature kitchen do you recommend rather than put it in the fridge?

& on another note (back to veined cheese) ..would any of you folk stick it in on it's own in order to avoid stinky cheese contamination, or does (not should) the smoke deal with that aspect in it's entirety.

Would rather ask people than endanger my "precious" ((cheese's)).

[GUS]

Just a quick update.. re: blue cheese smoke.

"Don't"

It is very early, possibly too early to say or with alteration to time in smoke may bring positive results, however after the "whaddya mean you don't nibble it out of the smoker"!? & test nibble as it matures I bit the angry bullet whilst digging out some smoked port salut for side by side comparison.

It's only been wrapped a few days admittedly but was very bitter after a full smoke (with fast throughflow).
Had taken a nice colour, the blue was a mild & creamy overpriced piece of tesco schmutter.

luckily cold milk was to hand, it was a painful admission of failure & after 3 bites to assess was thrown to the darkest recesses for a lesson in behaviour & mellowing out.

When I try again it'll be marked out with 2-3 hrs of smoke as it's max I think in order to turn it around.

I don't have much hope for it toning down any, think it's essence has been removed.
Will have to add it to my fail list along with the Manchego.

Port Salut, well, it has a good flavour straight out of the fridge, smoked though it firms up & has more of a processed cheese feel (but not bitty on the teeth) & pleasant, reminded me simply of bavarian smoked, & had lost the port salut milky, creamy then afterbite taste, ...not bad though, not amazing.
Wife liked it but her palate is very limited