Category: Cheeses
The Perfect Cheese Board
When creating and serving cheese boards, nations always tend to serve them differently. For instance, here in America we actually serve cheese boards as a starter whereas in France they serve them right before dessert, and in England, they serve them as the finale (save the best ’til last, right?) The fact is, regardless of when we serve cheese boards, they are a deliciously welcomed indulgence, especially in the finer restaurants and at dinner parties.
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When it comes to cheese boards, it can vary what you put on them, they can be as simple or as extravagant as you please. However, when it comes to preparing and presenting your cheese board, it can be tricky as they tend to be like a work of art. So here is a perfect guide to help you select and display the best cheese board to be enjoyed to the fullest. Crack open a bottle of wine and indulge in your favorite cheese as you plan your next cheese board.
Selecting What Goes On Your Cheese Board
When it comes to preparing your board, it is best to serve around 4-5 cheeses, this will ensure a good selection while not overwhelming your palate at the same time. Visiting a good cheese store (such as Shisler’s Cheese House!) will ensure variety and good quality cheese. A great tip when you are selecting your cheese would be to aim for different tastes, styles, and textures.
A sample of an interesting but relatively simple cheese board would be:
– A firm cheese such as Asiago or Cheddar
– A soft cheese such as Brie or Camembert
– A blue vein cheese such as Danish Blue Cheese
If you want to go further with your selections, you should add a spreadable cheese such as fresh chevre, or an extra special cheese which is flavored with wine, herbs or spices.
Keep It Themed!
To make your board even more creative, it is great to build around a theme. An idea could be to offer only cheese from different kinds of milk- cow, sheep, or goat’s milk. Another theme could be to offer cheese from a particular country or region a.k.a all American cheeses or Italian cheeses only. Keeping themes will ensure fun and variety. You could even pair the cheese board with a selection of wines from the chosen region as well.
How To Present Your Cheese Board
Now is the important part. You could have the most delicious cheeses possible, but if they are not presented in a way that gets mouths watering, it can be a waste. The best way to begin is by choosing a tray or platter which is large enough to keep cheeses of different shapes and sizes from touching. The type of board can also vary, wood boards are traditional, whereas marble is slightly more elegant and they offer a cool surface and a nicely colored background which will contrast well to make your cheeses pop even more.
Arranging your cheeses is important for making sure they are most accessible to your guests. Put the smaller cheeses in the middle, and then place the soft cheeses around them. The hard cheeses should then be arranged on the outside of the cheese board so that they are easier to cut.
Accompaniments On Your Cheese Board
It is important to garnish your piece of art with natural ingredients. Grapes, apples, parsley, celery, tomatoes and dried berries all are natural and add beautiful colors and flavorings to the board and the perfect contrast and compliments. You might also wish to add olives, onions or lightly roasted nuts in separate dishes. To balance it all out, it is best to add a variety of crackers and bread that aren’t too strong or salty. While you want to keep it simple, that doesn’t mean you cannot treat your guests to something special. Adding slices of tangy sourdough or black pepper biscuits will definitely keep it special.
For beverages, wine, beer, and cocktails are all the popular, classic accompaniments. Put simple, blue cheeses pair well with Sauternes and Port, fresh cheeses pair well with Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc, and aged cheeses with Zinfandel or Burgundy. For more of the extravagant soiree, perhaps offer a different wine for each cheese. Again, tying it back into themes, the best way is to choose a wine from the same region of the cheese.
Tips On Serving
– Serve each cheese with its own knife to avoid mixing flavors.
– Remove wrapping from cheeses, but leave on rinds.
– Serve cheeses at room temperature for optimal flavor. To do this, take cheeses out of the refrigerator up to 2 hours before serving.
After The Dinner Party
With any leftover cheeses, you should discard any leftover soft cheese, but unused hard cheeses can be re-wrapped and replaced in the refrigerator for your next cheese board. If your leftover cheese happens to be too small or too odd in shape for another cheese board, you can simply melt it, shred it or bake it into a delicious cheese recipe.
The Probiotics In Raw Milk Cheese Are Proven Very Beneficial
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Despite the controversy, raw milk cheese just may be the perfect food. It offers pretty much all the nutrition you need, with full distribution of amino acids, balanced calories and a huge amount of probiotics which are so good for your body.
The word ‘probiotics’ itself actually means “for life”, which means we cannot sustain our lives without these vital allies. They are an extremely beneficial bacteria that we all have and need for our bowels and intestinal tracts to function smoothly, and so much more. It is said that raw milk cheeses have a wider diversity of bacteria, yeasts, and molds, which ultimately contribute to a healthy gut.
Raw milk cheese is not only good for us but it tastes incredibly delicious, with its richness and complexity of flavors. The best cheese starts with high-quality milk. To achieve this, it must come from healthy cows that feed on lush grass. When it comes to raw milk cheeses, the milk is superlative because the animals have been grazing on pasture.
Even though pasteurization heat-treats milk, which kills pathogens such as Listeria and E. Coli, Laws still stipulate that raw milk cheese in the U.S. must be aged for a minimum of 60 days, regardless of if it is produced domestically or imported from abroad.
The Power Of Probiotics
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Probiotics are proven to play an important role in maintaining healthy digestion and supporting a strong immune system. With the overuse of antibiotics, children often have compromised microbiomes and probiotics may be the key to restoring the healthy gut.
There are also studies that show that pregnant women who enjoy farmstead milk and cheese products throughout their term have children with fewer allergies, asthma and wheezing than those who do not enjoy these foods. Probiotics may also help decrease stress, prevent obesity and regulate weight. There are also studies that suggest that they also protect against respiratory infections.
So, with all these advantages to probiotics and raw milk cheese containing many, it is important to eat it, despite the controversy of raw milk cheese being bad for you. Raw milk cheese is also extremely delicious, so that alone is a plus.
Soul Food- Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are the staple to any family get together. Perhaps you’re going through a hard time or are too busy to cook something huge; that’s where mashed potatoes come in handy, especially cheesy ones!
The specialty aligot dish will have you drooling. Aligot is mashed potatoes which are thickened with cheese and will lend a hand to being that little cushion of comfort during a hard time or will make a perfect dish to bring along to gatherings.
Ideally, to make aligot, you will need a ricer, but you could use a food processor. The only downside to using a food processor is that you may risk the potatoes ending up as an unpleasant gooey texture. Besides, there is nothing more satisfying than pushing down on the ricer and seeing the hot, tender potatoes run through the tiny holes being transformed into little noodles. Plus, you don’t have to worry about lumps!
Aligot is a delicacy from France and it is traditionally made with tomme fraîche or unripened Cantal, but both of those cheeses are difficult to find in the U.S. That isn’t the end of the world though, any cheese that melts will be perfect for the dish. Great Aligot, in particular, is made with fresh mozzarella, Comté, Emmental, and Gruyère. When it comes to potatoes, ratte potatoes can be a good use, but come with an expensive price tag as they’re a variety from France.
A good way to make Aligot is by boiling the potatoes whole and then peeling them while hot. Then, you push the potatoes through the ricer and then cover the potatoes in cold butter over the heat and then add some milk or cream, whisking it until it is airy and dreamy. Add the mix of the cheese and more milk and whip the potatoes with speed and consistency as you add the cheese, building up the stringiness as it melts. Stringiness is the whole point of Aligot because it takes on all the qualities of melted cheese but remains the intended mashed potatoes.
These mashed potatoes usually take around 20 minutes to cook, which can give you time to prepare the rest of the meal or crack open that bottle of wine you’ve been craving all day!
Here’s a delicious recipe for Aligot!
What You Need
4 large potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
1 clove garlic, grated
1 cup grated cheese of your choice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
What To Do
1.Cover the potatoes with cold water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, salt the water, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain, then peel.
2.Add the cream, milk, and garlic to the pot. Rice the potatoes into the mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Add the cheese, salt, and pepper, and beat to combine. Serve and enjoy!
This Is No Ordinary Ice Cream… This Is Cheese Ice Cream!
I know what you’re thinking… Cheese…. in ice cream?! Absolutely! Now, this kind of ice cream is something completely different and unique. You might be expecting something sweet, but it is far from sweet, for all the right reasons.
Goat cheese ice cream might just blow your mind. For all you cheese lovers, this is a must try! Although it is ice cream, I wouldn’t consider it as a dessert, it is something that can be served with appetizers and entrees such as soups, spread on bread or even serve alongside some fresh salad. The possibilities are endless! This ice cream is definitely not sweet like you might expect, but it does taste delicious. The flavor is sharp and you can definitely taste the goat’s cheese. I find it best served with warm dishes so you can get that ‘melt in the mouth’ feeling to make it even more mouthwatering!
What You Need
4 oz Goat’s Cheese – Come pick up your delicious, top quality Goat’s Cheese at Shisler’s Cheese House!
3 tablespoon corn syrup
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
What To Do
1. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the goat’s cheese and corn syrup until smooth.
2. In a small pan, bring the milk and cream to a boil over high heat. Then remove from heat. Whilst cream mixture is coming to a boil, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks in a mixing bowl.
3. Mix one fourth of the hot cream mixture to the eggs to temper them. Whisk in another quarter of the mixture, then add the egg mixture to the cream in the pan. Cook over low heat, consistently stirring until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not overcook because eggs will scramble. Remove from heat and strain using fine-mesh strainer into a bowl set over a large bowl of ice water.
4. Add the goat’s cheese to the bowl and mix to combine.
5. Freeze the goat cheese base in an ice cream machine according to its instructions. It will keep for 1 week, frozen. Enjoy!
It’s Not Too Late To Get Your Easter Goodies From Shisler’s Cheese House!
Easter is a very important Christian festival in which we come together and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While it has great religious significance, it can always be an exciting time of the year, celebrating by coloring and decorating Easter eggs, enjoying special Easter Baskets and eating our body weight in chocolate!
Here at Shisler’s Cheese house, we have the answers to all your Easter food needs! Be it a beautiful Easter basket unlike any other, or a tasty Chocolate Bunny, we have what you want!
Tired of the same old boring Easter gift baskets? Send unique Easter gift baskets from Shisler’s Cheese House this Easter Season and surprise those that are special to you. If you would like to use your own unique Easter Basket Ideas, we also have custom baskets available. Just give us a call or stop by at one of our Cheese Houses!
Standard Easter Baskets Include:
– Marble Cheese
– Dried Fruit Chips
– Yogurt Pretzels
– Heggy’s Chocolates
– Wild Maple Walnut Syrup
– Muddy Trail Mix
Custom Easter Baskets can include anything currently available on our website and in store!
Also available for Easter are a wide selection of chocolate including our extra special Solid Heggy’s Chocolate Bunnies!
They are available in either milk or white chocolate and are 20 Oz.
Get your Easter goodies now!
https://cheesehouse.com/
55 Kidron Road
Orrville, Ohio 44667
330-682-2105
Traditional Easter Food From All Over The World
It is Easter Weekend this week! What better way to get us ready than explore the world’s favorite, traditional Easter dishes? You never know, you just might find some tasty ideas for your own Easter meal!
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‘Rosquillas’ From Spain
A lot of Spaniards will enjoy these special treats at Easter. These donuts can either be baked or fried. They are made from fermented flour and depending on the region, they’re either dusted with sugar, flavored with rosemary or some even soaked in anise liqueur.
‘Hot Cross Buns’ From U.K.
No Easter in Britain would be complete without Hot Cross Buns. This sweet, spiced bun is marked with a cross and has been eaten for hundreds of years in tradition to Easter. Simmel cakes which are fruit cakes topped with marzipan are also popular during Easter and they are made to resemble the Apostles.
‘Mämmi’ From Finland
Mämmi is traditionally made with rye flour, water, and powdered malted rye. It is also seasoned using dark molasses, dried powdered Seville orange zest, and salt. The name for it in Swedish is Memma.
‘Chervil Soup’ From Germany
Germans traditionally eat green colored foods on Maundy Thursday because it is known as Gründonnerstag or “Green Thursday”. Because of this, Chervil soup is a popular choice.
‘Tsoureki’ From Greece
This bread is quite like brioche. It is flavored with essence drawn from the seed of wild cherries. It’s an Easter tradition mainly because it is often decorated with hard-boiled eggs that have been dyed red, to symbolize the blood of Christ.
‘Kulich’ From Orthodox Christian Countries
Many families from Orthodox Christian Countries such as Georgia, Russia, and Bulgaria, are known to bake the Kulich cake during Easter time. Kulich is baked in a tall tin and is decorated with white icing and colorful sprinkles. The cake is also often blessed by a priest after and Easter service.
‘Påskeøl’ From Denmark
This may not be a dish as such but can easily accompany a great Easter dish because in Denmark, this is a special beer during Easter. It is slightly stronger than regular beer too!
‘Pashka’ From Russia
This dessert is in the shape of a pyramid, and for all us cheese lovers, it is made out of cheese! This particular dessert is traditionally served during Easter time in Russia. It is often decorated with the religious symbols ‘XB’, which are from “Christos Voskres”, which translates to “Christ has Risen”.
‘Pinca’ From Eastern Europe
Pinca is similar to a large hot cross bun. It is a sweet bread marked with the sign of the cross and is commonly eaten in Slovenia and Croatia to celebrate the end of Lent. In some areas of Italy, it is also enjoyed.
‘Paçoca De Amendoim’ From Brazil
This tasty Brazilian treat is often served in honor of the Easter festival in Brazil. It is made from peanuts, cassava flour, and sugar.
‘Capirotada’ From Mexico
Capirotada is a spiced Mexican bread pudding which is filled with cinnamon, raisins, cloves and cheese. It is popular during Easter and is said to that each ingredient carries a reminder of the suffering of Christ. The cloves resemble the nails on the cross, the cinnamon as the wooden cross itself and the bread as the Body of Christ.
‘Colomba Di Pasqua’ From Italy
Colomba Di Pasqua is very similar in taste to the Italian Christmas bread ‘Panettone’. This cake is candied peel stuffed and is often shaped like a dove for religious symbolism.
‘Mona De Pascua’ From Spain
This popular Easter cake is traditionally cooked in many regions of Spain during Holy Week (Semana Santa). This cake traditionally is what looks to be a large donut which is topped with a hardboiled egg.
The Wonderfully, Unique Cheeses Available At Shisler’s Cheese House!
Our fantastic Cheese House originally opened in 1958. Since then, we have come a long way and perfected our cheese to a high standard. The 2 main goals of our Cheese House have always been to provide wonderful local cheeses and gourmet foods to everyone, along with exceptional and friendly customer service.
We are currently owned and operated by the third generation of Shislers. We have 2 locations, the original being in Orrville, OH and the second being in Copley, OH. Because of our dedication of cheese and gourmet foods, we ship all throughout the United States and to over 30 different countries!
We have a wide selection of cheese, to your staple cheeses such as American Cheese and Swiss, to our more specialized, unique blends which we would love for you to try!
Here are some of our specialty cheeses:
Hot Pepper Cheese
Want to spice up your cheese plates? We have just the right cheese for the job! Our Hot Pepper Cheese has just the right amount of heat to make a perfect balance of flavor with a little extra kick! You have to try it to believe it!
Green Onion Cheese
We love to support local businesses and that doesn’t change when it comes to our cheese! Our Green Onion Cheese is made with all-natural 100% Ohio farm milk and real green onion. It contains no artificial growth hormones and is pasteurized processed cheese.
Bacon Cheese
Everyone loves bacon! Bacon and cheese make many appearances together in well-known dishes such as Chicken, Bacon Pasta Bakes, Salads, Casseroles and much more. It only made sense to make a Bacon Cheese! This cheese is mild orange cheddar which is infused with smoked bacon.
Beer Cheese
Beer Cheese is one of our Wisconsin Cheeses along with Brick, Muenster, Limburger and our American Cheeses. Our Beer Cheese is not to be mistaken for the popular Beer Cheese dips of Kentucky, it is a semi-soft combination of Limburger and Brick Cheese. The taste and smell are very strong and can be enjoyed with a nice cold glass of beer.
Chocolate Cheese
This cheese is one way to get the best of both worlds! Our Chocolate Cheese is made from a local recipe and all the ingredients are locally produced, combining fine chocolate fudge with premium cream cheese. This makes for a smooth, creamy balance of sweet chocolate and mild cheese!
These 5 kinds of cheeses are must try cheeses! Don’t hesitate, trust our family of cheese experts at Shisler’s Cheese House, and you won’t regret it!
Order your quality, affordable, delicious cheeses today at-https://cheesehouse.com/cheese.aspx
Should You Eat Moldy Cheese?
It’s always a shame when we discover our food has gone to waste because of mold. While mold is usually a sign that it’s time to discard something, it’s not as clear exactly what to do when it comes to cheese. Here is a guide which will help you differentiate which cheese is ‘good’ and which is ‘bad’ when mold takes place.
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Now there are very clear types of cheeses that must be discarded when mold occurs- soft cheese like cream cheese, cottage cheese, and ricotta cheese. Also, cheese that is shredded, sliced or crumbled should be discarded when mold appears. With these kinds of cheeses, the mold can send threads all throughout the cheese. Harmful bacteria such as salmonella, e.coli, listeria, and brucella can also grow throughout the cheese. So stay clear of any consumption if these cheeses have mold.
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There is still hope for cheese with mold, though. Mold usually can’t penetrate far into hard and semisoft cheeses, like cheddar, parmesan, swiss and Colby. So it is easy to just cut the mold away from the cheese and eat the rest. It is safe practice to cut at least an inch around and below the mold to be safe, and do not contaminate the rest of the cheese by touching it with the knife.
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It is true that not all molds pose a risk. Some types of mold are actually used to make cheeses, such as Camembert and Brie. These are safe molds to eat.
Whether or not you should eat the mold generally relies upon what type of cheese it is. It’s usually quite easy to differentiate between, but if you find yourself unsure, it is best to discard the cheese, just to be safe.
The Answer Is Feta
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Soaking chicken overnight in brine is an age-old technique. Brining a chicken seasons it through and through, locking in the moisture for tender meat.
However, unless you work in a Greek restaurant, going through 600 pounds of feta cheese a month, you probably won’t think to use feta as brine instead of plain salt water. At the Greek restaurant Souvla in San Francisco, that’s exactly what they did!
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The process of creating a feta brine involves the actual salt water liquid that preserves the cheese during storage. With going through so much feta cheese a month, the restaurant also went through a lot of the salt water solution that was used to store their feta. They were simply tired of seeing so much brine go to waste.
The brine is a lot more complex than salt water and has a fermented pickled flavor, along with an umami character which the restaurant knew could be repurposed. With that, Mr. Cervone came up with the brilliant idea to use the brine on the rotisserie chickens, which were served at the restaurant and sold as takeout. Not only did it make the chicken even more plump and juicy, it also added a pleasant earthiness to the meat. It also sparked immense popularity at the restaurant with how delicious the chicken is and now every night they go on sale, they are sold out very quickly!
Now although you may not have the commercially used feta brine, you can actually purée feta cheese in water and use that in its place. You marinate your chicken in the mix and store it overnight in the fridge. The following day, pat the chicken dry, cover it with lots of grated lemon zest, freshly ground black pepper, and dried oregano. You then roast it how you would any chicken and let your senses burst with this juicy, feta infused chicken!
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The Creamiest, Dreamiest Mac ‘N’ Cheese On Earth!
Mac ‘n’ cheese is an American staple! It is one of the most convenient, but tastiest foods you can make, pleasing all ages. Unfortunately, we are often disappointed with premade mac ‘n’ cheese, with it being too bland or worse- dry and gritty; when all we really want is fluffy pasta, smothered in a creamy, velvety cheese sauce, not forgetting the light, but perfect, crunchy topping. We want the type of mac ‘n’ cheese that is so good that we are scared to start eating it, in fear we might not stop!
Here are some top tips on creating the creamiest, dreamiest mac ‘n’ cheese you can find:
