Text 2517, 81 rader
Skriven 2013-07-18 05:19:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: more picnic tastes 878
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The Shipps also offered a generous board of cheeses that
they had preserved at home using their cold-smoke method
and then aged in vacuum pack for what may have been two
years. Three kinds -

sharp Cheddar - very much like what I remember from my
childhood as "smoked Cheddar," but a bit less milky. Good
smoke flavor, nice firm but smooth texture; the tangy
Cheddar quality was not obscured, though;

extra sharp - similar, in fact almost indistinguishable
from the above. Dale speculated that the long aging had
allowed the sharp to kind of catch up, a likely explanation.
I thought that it might have been a little crumbly compared
to the other, but I am not at all sure;

pepper Jack was unpeppery and altogether too dairy-tasting
for me. I'm sure it's a pleasant snacking product but it
lacks Michael appeal for sure.

Stephen and Ruth had gone through Columbia on their way
to their upstate family obligation and had left some treats
for the picnic. Chief among these was a jar of kefir, which
is a live yogurty substance (very good for you I'm told,
but I think I'm an exception) that is also not my style,
despite the lactose being much diminished. I think that
Burt and Shirley were eventually entrusted with it, I'm not
certain.

There were two examples of kefir cheeses to show the
versatility of the stuff. These are sort of between cottage
and farmer cheese but with a tiny bite; and in the interest
of completeness I too had a tiny bite of each of them.

The one flavored with Mexican oregano had a strong herbal
taste; I thought it might be good spread thin on good sturdy
bread and run under the broiler for a few seconds.

I was slightly puzzled by the texture of the other one,
mixed with paprika and Italian seasoning. It tasted mild and
milky, so I thought it would go well in a beef or lamb stew,
but again I wouldn't be the one to do the experiment.

Dale's famous pastrami came out - this is made in a similar
way to the Plasencia recipe except instead of waiting for the
pastrami elves in the fridge is smoked out in the box smoker,
which adds a dimension of flavor. One end had a good clod of
fat, so I of course was given this. Its spice rub was intense
enough for me to have to eat it in a sandwich, though. Which
reminds me that there can't be a sandwich or perhaps a picnic
without various breads, which I usually ignore. We had some
French loaves from the Ithaca Bakery (good in an ordinary
way, went well with the escargot especially), a pumpernickel,
a light and dark swirled rye, a honey wheat, and a regular
wheat (my first choice as milk-free and caraway-free: I am
as sparing in my use of dill and caraway as I am generous with
cumin). My second choice was the sourdough whole wheat pide
from the Hafflys, made from a Turkish recipe, which I used
with sweet things. There was a morello (sour) cherry preserve
in the fridge that I won't say anything about except that it
tasted sort of like Annie's pie filling, and then another
item from the bounty of the Indian store in Columbia - Ahmed
brand rose petal spread (25% rose petals, 75% sugar), which
was surprisingly dark and sludgy and surprisingly delicious.

Another taste that went well with the pastrami: Wegmans hot
pepper spread, a rather oily mess of peperoncini diced up
(too many seeds and membranes, but I didn't mind, as that's
where the flavor is) in a light vinegar cure

This was liberally watered with cheap Genesee Cream Ale,
expensive Pilsner Urquell, Abita Amber, Pyramid Hefeweizen,
and those Sam Adams monstrosities that I've mentioned before.

We ended the evening with a think session on what to
surprise the others with tomorrow.


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