Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cooking and cheese

Mascarpone: Not Just for Tiramisu Anymore

goingonit — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:58:45 -0800

I have an ungodly amount of mascarpone cheese in my refrigerator. What should I make with it? Bonus points for savory recipes. I acquired about a pound and a half of mascarpone cheese the other week, and it just keeps sitting in my fridge, staring me down. I know I could make a big thing of Tiramisu, but I don't really want to. Things I have tried:

Blintzes

"Alfredo Sauce" with the mascarpone in place of butter

Spreading on bagels (not as good as cream cheese)

I've heard mascarpone makes a mean risotto, but other than that I'm out of ideas. Thanks in advance!

Chipotle Overflow

netbros — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:15:05 -0800

I happened to mention to a well-meaning friend that I liked the taste of chipotle. Soon afterward, I received a care package just loaded with chipotle products. Please help me make mouth-watering concoctions. The package contained chipotle salsa, hot sauce, mustard, adobo sauce, pickled chipotle peppers, BBQ sauce, even some chipotle cheese. I am drooling with anticipation. Now I just need some recipes. Please help.

More Cheshire than I know what to do with

aramaic — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:35:42 -0800

What do I do with all of this Cheshire cheese? Due to a miscommunication with my cheesemonger, I find myself in possession of half of their remaining Appleby's Cheshire (rather than half a pound)!

So, err, now what? I'd intended it for the usual wine/cheese/fruit sort of use, but I've got far more than I need for that. Obviously I can just use it like a generic cheese, but I'm wondering if anyone has ideas that work especially well with Cheshire, rather than just treating it like generic cheapo cheddar.

Unusual ideas are also welcomed.

No-carb carnivore cooking and diet tips?

korpios — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:08:31 -0800

What are some cooking and diet tips for an ovo-lacto carnivore? (No, that wasn't a typo.) After reading Good Calories, Bad Calories, I swiftly changed my entire dietary regimen over to a near-zero-carbohydrate diet. I still eat leafy greens — but other than that, I barely touch single-carb foods and refuse to eat anything with more than a single carb per serving. The bulk of my diet now consists of meat, eggs, and cheese, along with servings of spinach leaves here and there. While I've gotten creative with mixing ingredients into omelettes, I'd like to expand my culinary horizons a bit while staying within the boundaries of my chosen diet. Does anyone have any suggestions for doing so? (Examples: ingredients to try, useful cooking techniques, or recipe sources.)

Note: Please do not reply with either moral or major health concerns regarding my diet; that's not what I'm asking for. Minor health concerns, e.g., "you might want to take a Vitamin C supplement", are okay.

Iron Chef: Potluck Edition

missjenny — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:36:58 -0800

Help me win the work potluck challenge. The ingredients? Chocolate and cheese. The official rules state it can be one or the other, but I think the winner should have both. I want to do something a little bit more creative than chocolate cheesecake, but I don't know enough about cheese or chocolate to come up with good pairings to begin thinking of a dish. Any ideas?

dook day farmage?

cmoj — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:37:54 -0800

What's a good cheese-making book for me? A fairly recent question actually got me into making cheese, and I'm no fromagier, but after scouring Mr. Fankhauser's excellent information (and name) along with some other web resources I've dug up, I'm sort of at a loss as to how to learn more about all of this.

Looking at different recipes for different cheeses, I see that there's very little difference in the basic steps and all of the difference lies in the details, but at the same time there can be a wide variation among recipes for the "same" cheese.

So, I don't really want a cookbook with rote recipes, I want a cheese-making book (or website for that matter) that talks about the difference it makes to inoculate at 90 degrees versus 120 or to cut the curd versus stirring and breaking it. I'm looking for a book about the mechanics of making cheese, not just the recipes. A little chemistry wouldn't hurt my feelings either.

Help Me Make The Best Cheese Fondue I Can Make

ThePinkSuperhero — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:02:58 -0800

What's your secret for a delicious cheese fondue? I've made a few fondues at home in my crock pot, and I'm ready to take my fondue skills to the next level. Fondue lovers, please share your secrets. Is it the cheese? The liquid? The spices? Something else?

Roasted chèvre, please

gentle — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:44:24 -0800

Mmmm... cheese. I went to a tapas restaurant the other day and one of the things we ordered was roasted chèvre — essentially a sticky warm blob of goat's milk cheese in a dish. The edges were brown, perhaps caramelized, and it tasted deliciously sweet. How do I make it? And do I need a butane torch to do it?

Brie to bake

melangell — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:56:40 -0800

How do you bake a brie? I just bought a brie from the local European grocery. I remember my friend used to buy bries and then just warm them in the oven and serve them to guests with crackers, but I do not know how to do it myself. When I tried looking for recipes online, they were all more complex than temperature, time, and type of baking dish needed. Please help, MeFi friends.

P.S. If it helps, it is a Martin-Colet Petit Brie (soft-ripened cheese double creme; 17 oz.)

Oh how refreshing. A question about travelling to France.

Deathalicious — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:20:33 -0800

TravelinginFranceFilter: I know there have been loads of questions about France. We're looking for beautiful places in the countryside, great cheap food and reasonable accommodations. I'd love to have the perfect trip that matches my favorite things: We're spending 18 days in France during June. We're planning around a week in Paris which leaves another 10 days or so for just traveling the countryside.

We're both really into food. I love open air markets. I'm crazy for fruits and vegetables, so places where those are particularly fresh or delicious would be great (I'm sure that's all over France, but there must be some markets that knock you flat).

Also I love cheese. What are some places famous for their cheeses, especially cheeses which, for legal or logistical reasons, are difficult to get anywhere else?

I love cooking, so if anyone has a suggestion of a good place you can stay that has a kitchen -- or even, dare I say it, cooking lessons? -- that would be fantastic.

Speaking of food, I've heard that a lot of dishes are cooked with bacon or lard in France. As a non-pork eater, is there any way for me to make sure that there isn't pig in my food?

My friend is a music lover, both punk/indie and world music, so if there are any towns that are small but known for their music scene, that would be great too.

I'm quite into stuff that is underground, so suggestions of catacombs and caves and other underground areas would be great. We also like hiking so that would be very cool too.

Neither of us is that into wine. Don't worry, I will be drinking it with meals, it's just visiting a vineyard for its own sake does not appeal to me.

Also, we are not planning on renting a car so ideally the place would be accessible by train or other forms of public transportation.

Outside of Paris, we'd like to stick to a budget of $50-60 per person, per day (that is, $100-120 total). Is that at all possible? We care a lot more about the quality of our food than the quality of our room.

Sorry this post is so long, and I realize this is really a bunch of questions (although all of them are really the same question: What should we see and do in France? just made a little more specific). Thanks all!

Help my homemade cheese.

pithy comment — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 08:31:07 -0800

I'm looking for tips to add some excitement and variety to this homemade cheese. I made it once before and the basil kind of wilted and didn't look too nice, the sun-dried tomatoes were good. What else can I mix in? Are there better recipes? I'm going to make this next week for a Halloween pot-luck (so something gross sounding might be nice) and I'm planning on making several batches in December for holiday gifts, so 'winter' and 'holiday' suggested variations would be great, too.

Ricotta rotta! Fix my cheese, please

fourstar — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 16:21:37 -0800

I just tried to make homemade ricotta cheese with a gallon of whole milk (to avoid burning) and a quart of buttermilk. Nevertheless, the majority of the ricotta burned to the bottom of the stainless steel stock pot I used, and the cheese which didn't burn, had that burnt-flavor. What gives?