So there I was in the speciality food store, trying to decide whether I really wanted to pay $17 a pound for the particular Parmigiano-Reggiano I had read about, without tasting it first. $17 a pound isn't a lot to pay if the cheese is good, so it was a bit of a gamble.
This cheese has a reputation of having a rich nutty, tangy flavor, and claims to have a great texture, it won "Best in Show" so it should be good, right! But that was best in show here in America, where I'm sorry, but I find the cheese here usually rather tasteless... I normaly look for imported cheese from Europe.
Being English I am very choosey about my cheese. I grew up near Cheddar, where they make the best, really the best, tastiest cheese in the world. I've always found American cheese to have a slightly plastic consistency, and almost always lacking in flavor. Each year I go back to the UK, and bring a suitcase full of cheese home with me.
Anyway, moving on...
I have heard, and read only great things about this particular Parmigiano-Reggiano, it boasts a good balance of creamy, fruity, nutty Parmigiano flavor, and I really wanted to try it. I was looking at the other Parmigiano-Reggiano's on offer, all of them around $9- $12 a pound, when I suddenly had a flash back, and remembered something that happened years ago that totally changed my way of thinking when shopping.
My husband and I were having dinner at our friends house, (this was about 30 years ago) we had just finished eating the most scrumptious meal, and she was serving us coffee, when she said "sorry about the coffee it taste's like crap, but I had to buy it because it was so cheap"! For whatever reason, that stayed with me. The cheap coffee absolutely ruined the lovely meal.
I would rather pay 10 times the price to have quality, just enjoy it less often, than have crappy, nasty, tasteless stuff every day because it was cheap.
You pay peanuts you get monkey's.
OH, and the cheese was actually not that bad... BOAR'S HEAD Parmigiano-Reggiano
This cheese has a reputation of having a rich nutty, tangy flavor, and claims to have a great texture, it won "Best in Show" so it should be good, right! But that was best in show here in America, where I'm sorry, but I find the cheese here usually rather tasteless... I normaly look for imported cheese from Europe.
Being English I am very choosey about my cheese. I grew up near Cheddar, where they make the best, really the best, tastiest cheese in the world. I've always found American cheese to have a slightly plastic consistency, and almost always lacking in flavor. Each year I go back to the UK, and bring a suitcase full of cheese home with me.
Anyway, moving on...
I have heard, and read only great things about this particular Parmigiano-Reggiano, it boasts a good balance of creamy, fruity, nutty Parmigiano flavor, and I really wanted to try it. I was looking at the other Parmigiano-Reggiano's on offer, all of them around $9- $12 a pound, when I suddenly had a flash back, and remembered something that happened years ago that totally changed my way of thinking when shopping.
My husband and I were having dinner at our friends house, (this was about 30 years ago) we had just finished eating the most scrumptious meal, and she was serving us coffee, when she said "sorry about the coffee it taste's like crap, but I had to buy it because it was so cheap"! For whatever reason, that stayed with me. The cheap coffee absolutely ruined the lovely meal.
I would rather pay 10 times the price to have quality, just enjoy it less often, than have crappy, nasty, tasteless stuff every day because it was cheap.
You pay peanuts you get monkey's.
OH, and the cheese was actually not that bad... BOAR'S HEAD Parmigiano-Reggiano
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