Cheese heresy admission

[Tab]

Way back when, my family only used that parmesan cheese in the green container. To their credit, that was probably the only choice (1970's).

As my cooking developed, I gave up on the "green can" and went for either cheese I grated myself or "supermarket fresh" which was a convenient alternative if I weren't super-fastidious about ultra-freshness. I haven't used the green Kraft cheese shaker for some 20+ years (maybe 30+).

Well, the other week I had to secure some cheese in a limited time, and coincidentally the supermarket was out of the "fresh" grated cheese, so I grabbed one of these:



Goddamn, if it wasn't decently good - the parmesan and romano was fresh, had some decent bite, and really, not much different than the store-grated version. Short of doing it myself, I would actually use this on a regular basis.

However, feel free to mail the admins and get me booted for my culinary heresy.

- Tab

[inanna]

1. I'll join you.

Due to my "budget" this is the only parmesan I can afford.

My kiddo lives on the stuff.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. I used the 'green can' on my spaghetti just tonight.

And I'll go you one further. I use some sort of velveeta 'queso blanco' product on baked potatoes. It's not classic velveeta, since it's a thick liquid at room temperature, but it's some sort of velveeta blend.

[DrDan]

17. well - hate to admit this . . . but I use velveeta on my grilled cheese

this is what my wonderful Grandmother would make me with my tomato soup for lunch on Saturdays. Ate these for years.

It remains my favorite grilled cheese.

[elleng]

3. Thanks. That's good to know.

If the good stuff were unavailable, I'd probably decide to NOT make whatever I'd planned, so you've freed me up, Tab!

[hippywife]

4. Grew up on the stuff in the green can, too.

Still use it for cooking and serving some things I've been eating since childhood and probably always will.

[cbayer]

5. Sorry, I use it because it's the only option, but it's nothing like freshly grated parm or romano.

For one thing, pre-grated cheeses are an abomination. They use cornstarch to keep them from clumping up and they lose all of their taste and moisture, imo.

I am so looking forward to being back in a country where I can some real aged cheeses.

Yesterday, a neighbor who is leaving brought me some things from his fridge: 2 jarred salad dressings, some light cream cheese and margarine. I was polite, but I will never use a single one of those things.

Call me a food snob if you must, but I live to eat and do not eat to live.

[Tab]

6. When cooking for others

or playing chef, I'll use fresh grated (if I have all that) but sometimes for myself I want a bowl of soup and dump in some grated cheese or whatever, and then I'm not so picky.

[cbayer]

7. I hear you. I recently used it for caesar salad dressing and it was passable.

I am really picky about my cheeses.

I am still educating myself about mexican cheeses and getting better, but I have not found an acceptable substitute for parmesan (which I adore).

[Tab]

8. Not even pecorino romano or asiago?

Which I think is much better than parmesan. I'll take a mix if needed.

That may be what happened with the green can. I believe originally it was just (stale) parmesan. Of course, it may have been stale because it was in my parent's fridge for years, I don't know. Romano perks it up a lot. I'll use that or asiago over parm any day. I do like fresh the best.

Also, I want to clarify that I'm only talking about grated. I have yet to find a pre-shredded cheese that isn't dry as all hell. If I'm not getting fresh, I'll get grated, but if all they have is pre-shredded romano or asiago, then I just skip it all together. Fresh shredded, or fresh grated, or pre-grated, yes, but not pre-shredded.

- Tab

[cbayer]

9. I particularly love pecorino.

Cacio e pepe is one of my favorite dishes ever.

Agree about that pre-shredded cheese. That's for very lazy people who don't really care what they eat, imo.

I'm more inclined to skip an ingredient all together rather than use something I don't like.

But there really are no good aged cheeses here. At some of the great big stores, they will have packaged "parmesan" but it's just not it.

[Tab]

12. You can find some interesting cheeses here

http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/cheese_categories.asp?milk=Sheep%27s+Milk

And this has a mexican bent in addition to a variety of cheeses:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/07/best-cheeses-to-grill-halloumi-kefalotyri-queso-panela.html

Somewhere I had a list of best melting cheeses, like for hamburgers or grilled cheese, but I can seem to find that right this second.

[cbayer]

13. I used igourmet extensively while in the states and am a huge fan.

I used to buy a selection of their cheeses on sale and was rarely disappointed. No deliver to Mexico, sadly.

They have great melting cheeses here - panela, which is mentioned in the serious eats article, and oaxaca are two of my favorites. They make the best quesadillas and chile rellenos ever.

I really can't complain, but I will be glad to be places this summer where cheese is a religion, lol.

[Tab]

14. Didn't realize you were IN Mexico

Thought you were just interested in that cooking

[cbayer]

15. No, I live here (except in the summer).

I love the cooking and try to work with everything local, but cheese remains my biggest challenge…

well, that and figuring out what the different cuts of meat are. That has led to some hilarious surprises!

[Galileo126]

10. I never had the Green Can

No, really.

I lived in my grandfather's house as a kid in the 60's, and across the street was a small family-owned spaghetti sauce factory (the Lemme family). They also sold grated cheeses in glass jars, which my mom used to buy. Even after we moved to their present house in '69, my family always bought grated pecorino romano from Lemme's factory until it closed down in the late 70's. After that, my mom started buying pecorino wedges from a local grocery. Once I got on my own, I bought the wedges too.

But hey, if ya like the green can, well then you like it!

[Tab]

11. Naw, just in an emergency, but point was it's usable

My mother tells me of a time they took in two siblings from another family (I think the parents were going through a divorce, not sure). My mother made spaghetti from a box of sketti, and one of the kids was amazed that she was making it "from scratch". I guess the kid's mother just used canned Chef Boy-ar-dee or something.

[Warpy]

16. I don't find much difference between pre grated and canned cheese

However, I find a huge difference between both of them and what I shave off a block with a microplane or peeler.

These days it's Romano, the blocks of Parmesan have gotten too ridiculously expensive.

I don't find you terribly heretical in your comparison to the pre grated stuff. The canned stuff tastes fresh because of what they put into it to keep it that way.