amscheesediary

[amscheesediary]

Cheese #00001 - American

It has been challenging for me to get started on this journey I have set myself on because cheese is expensive and I am in a difficult financial situation at the moment, so I have resolved to start with what I have available right now. I have no doubt that this will be a controversial one and will probably immediately deter a lot of people from this blog but I have been a long time defender of American cheese. I think the complaints most people have towards it are only really valid towards the traditional individually plastic wrapped slices most people are familiar with yet not so to the higher quality "deluxe" American cheese found in most supermarkets. Personally I am of the opinion that using anything besides American cheese on a burger is disgusting, less so for a grilled cheese. However today we will be doing something I don't typically do and eating it by itself. When I was a child I would eat uncooked American slices quiet often but as a grew older I found them unappetizing in this state. The flavor is creamy, slightly salty, slightly sweet with just the smallest hint of the sharpness you would find in cheddar cheese. The texture is ever so slightly elastic and somewhat chalky despite not being a particularly dry cheese. "Pairing" this cheese with anything seems silly due to its perceived lower quality but as I will be doing for some cheeses in this journey I will be preparing it in a dish where it is the main ingredient, in this case a grilled cheese. Growing up in my house typically Grilled cheese sandwiches were made with olive oil mayonnaise which I feel provides a much better flavor but today we will be going the traditional route and grilling it in a small amount of butter in my cast iron pan. The sandwich will consist of three slices of this Kraft deluxe American cheese with two slices of Kroger generic brand white bread. The texture is wonderful, American cheese is at its best melted and with three slices theirs plenty of it to enjoy (the unpleasant waxy texture the cheese has in its uncooked state is completely gone) though as someone who grew up using more toppings and seasonings on a sandwich like this I found the flavor lacking. Overall American cheese has its time and place but I feel that is limited to just a few dishes and eating it by itself is generally undesirable.

4/10

note: I likely will revisit and re-log any given type of cheese at some point in the future, if you have any suggestions for pairings or ways to prepare a certain type of cheese please let me hear them and if they sound good I will give them a try next time.

[amscheesediary]

A New Adventure

A long time bucket list item of mine has been to try all 2000 varieties of cheese that are said to exist, with the coming of a new year I have considered making it my new years resolution to complete this goal.

I have come to realize this would be an extraordinarily difficult and costly venture and that cheese is much more complicated than I originally thought. At first I had the idea to narrow the scope down to 365 different types in one year but I have realized this still is too ambitious and have now resolved to just try as many different types of cheese as I can, whenever I can for as long as I can and catalog each of my experiences on this new blog. If you have any types/varieties/brands of cheese, methods of preparing them or things they pair well with feel free to send me an ask! I hope you enjoy and If you like me a lot you should check out my art blog @arkhailcreations Cheesed to meet you.