Serious Cheese 12 Tips for Cooking with Cheese

It's no surprise that kids love cheese. If you want them to eat their veggies, throw some cheese on there. Timeless kids' snack? Crackers and cheese. Children and cheese are as inseparable as, well, melted cheese on...whatever it's melted on. Adults aren't without a love of cheese, too, but when you imagine an adult's culinary relationship with cheese it calls to mind images of cheese platters with paired wines limited to a cocktail party or in the form of some kind of amuse bouche at a fine dining restaurant. Well, as it turns out, this does not have to be the case! As an adult, you can enjoy cheese in the same stretchy, melty, lip-smacking, slurping, ooey gooey way that children do, but with a touch more sophistication and flare for cuisine. How, you might ask? Well, it's fairly simple...just start cooking with fine cheeses! While enjoyable in their own right sliced on a platter, fine cheeses hold great potential as incorporated ingredients in many daily dishes that could use a bit of elevation.

Serious Eats, a culinary website, features a fantastic article covering the do's and don'ts of cooking with fine cheeses. This informative set of 12 tips and tricks covers everything from how to treat the rind of certain cheeses (leave it on, grate it, toss it, etc.) to the melting properties of certain cheeses. Feta may never completely melt, but it's that distinct crumbled texture that makes it a star in a ton of delicious recipes. No longer limited to Greek salad, this hearty tangy cheese can add a bit of kick to a scalloped potato dish, or give texture and pizzaz to a homemade pizza with spinach and artichokes. This info sheet also discusses the different approaches to supplementing sauces with cheese, ie, turning a B�chamel into a Mornay. While the lingo may seem a tad fancy for the everyday kitchen, the methods are truly simple and the instructions are clear and inspiring. This how-to also addresses potential problems with texture and consistency, offering tips and tricks for amending a dish to accommodate adding particular cheeses should it need more liquid or more bulk.

What would you add fine cheese to if you could? A favorite pasta dish perhaps? What about a clubhouse that's dying for something a little more intense than cheddar? There are so many options that hold such inspiring potential to think that something traditionally high-brow, reserved for those practicing the culinary arts, could be so accessible to the average person to dabble in and enjoy. Who would have imagined that brie, gouda, or even Roquefort would find their way to your table in, who knows, a bowl of mac and cheese?! To read up on this new culinary trend and see how you can get cooking with fine cheeses, follow the link to Serious Eats just below!