Get ready to grate! You can send your favorite cook a selection of fine grating cheeses from iGourmet. Photo by Y. Yang | IST.
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STEPHANIE ZONIS focuses on good foods and the people who produce them. KAREN HOCHMAN is Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.
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September 2007
Updated November 2008
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Grating Cheese: It’s Great To Grate
Page 8: Cheese Tasting Party
This is Page 8 of an eight-page article on grated cheese. Click on the black links below to visit other pages.
Have A Cheese Tasting Party
If you can’t find the cheeses locally, you can get
excellent-quality varieties from igourmet.com.
They’ll also send lovely gift packages to your
favorite Italian cook. |
Perhaps the best way to determine which of the four cheeses to use is to conduct a tasting. You may want to organize a tasting party, and assign different people dishes or wines to bring to taste with the cheeses.
- Buy a quarter pound* each of Asiago, Grana Padano, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano from a good cheese store or e-tailer.
*Amount will vary based on the number of tasters.
- Grate a little of each cheese and cut a few small chunks of each.
- Taste the cheeses plain, both chunked and grated. Clear your palate between tastes with water and plain Italian bread or a baguette (don’t use flavorful breads—they just add more flavors when you’re trying to clear your palate).
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- Then, taste each with the same food. If you’re having a party, you can make all of these dishes:
— Caesar salad
— Minestrone or other soup
— Pasta with olive oil or butter
— Pasta with marinara, tomato basil or other simple tomato sauce
— Your favorite complex pasta dish
— Risotto
— Cheese plate with honey, aged balsamic vinegar, strawberries or other seasonal fruit
— Italian wines (Barbaresco, Barbera, Barolo, Chianti, etc.)
Be sure to keep notes: Amid the festivities, you may not remember what cheese you felt paired best with what food. And then you’ll have to have another tasting party to be sure!
Sources
Go To The Article Index Above
Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their respective owners.
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