The cheese guide #3: Cow cheese digest
The way I see cow cheeses is that they're great for cooking. They usually have a strong flavor, they are cheap and can be kept for a while. Here are some cow cheeses I want to talk about that are the most used in cooking and the most available:
- Emmental
- Compté
- Raclette
- Parmesan
- Mozzarella
Emmental cheese
Emmental is my favorite, it comes from the French Alps and like all the others listed above, is made of unpasteurized milk. It is made in very large round blocks and is sold as slices. It is semi-hard and for those of you who never tried it, it is basically like a slightly harder "swiss cheese" with actual flavor. Unfortunately it is not available in most American stores, but you'll find it at Whole Foods. It is by far the most used cheese in France. People use its slices in sandwiches, grate it on top of pasta and use it in various dishes, even Mac-n'-Cheese. An advantage of this cheese is that it melts easily and helps form a tasty crust on baked food, hence why the French choose Emmental when making pizza.
Comté cheese
Another great cheese is the Comté. In very short, it is a more fancy version of the Emmental. It has no bubbles, it is a little harder and has even stronger flavor. People would use slices of this cheese in fancier sandwiches, such as the sandwiches sold by Paul, premium French bakery chain. I don't recommend too much you melt this cheese, the harder the cheese the more fat you have. When you melt a hard cheese, the fat tends to easily separate from the dairy, resulting on dairy floating in a pool of oil. Just like Emmental, this cheese can be found easily at Whole Foods.
Raclette cheese
Raclette cheese is a semi-hard cheese also from the Alps. Raclette has a pretty special flavor. Unlike Emmental and Comté that are cooked in order to obtain a cheese curd, this one is completely raw. To my knowledge, this specific cheese is only used for cooking and is never eaten raw. Its most popular use is for a dish bearing the cheese's name: Raclette. The cheese round is hung and sliced with a hot electric knife, then poured onto potatoes and prosciutto, stay tuned for more on this dish!
Parmesan cheese
Now probably the most popular Italian cheese, Parmesan. I probably don't need to talk too much about this one. It is as hard as a rock and contain pieces of salt (see the white spots on the cheese in the picture). I really don't advise you purchase a slice as depicted in the picture because you very probably want to grate or shave it and that's not happening easily. Italians shave it on pasta and since it's really dry, they sprinkle olive oil on top, which goes really well. Parmesan is really available everywhere in various forms: sliced, shaved, grated...
Mozzarella cheese
The last cow cheese I wanted to tell you about is Mozzarella. It is the easiest and cheapest cheese to make. Originally it was made from water buffalo's milk, but in order to lower the costs it is made from cow's milk, resulting on something very similar. In order to obtain Mozzarella, milk is coagulated into a ball then soaked in brine. My favorite use of it is to simply slice it and eat it raw with basil and tomato. In Italy it is primarily used on pizza and lasagna.