Age, moisture and protein structure affect a cheese’s meltability.Įgg Strata with Caramelized Onion, Gruyère and Thyme by Katie Quinn If you’re looking to cook with cheese rather than present them on a cheese plate, it’s helpful to consider how the cheese will melt with applied heat.

Cooking with cheese: The best melting cheeses Once you’ve got your cheeses, additions to the cheese plate like nuts, dried fruits, olives and crackers are always welcome accompaniments. a buttery, salty manchego)Ī blue cheese: a cow’s milk favorite like Stilton, or you could have fun and get a goat’s milk blue (like Harboune Blue from the U.K.) a milky, nutty Comté)Ī hard cheese: a sheep’s milk cheese (e.g. a mushroom-y, melty Brie-style Baron Bigod)Ī hard cheese: young Alpine-style cheese (e.g. Tola)Ī soft cheese: a bloomy-rinded cheese (e.g.

If you are putting together a bigger cheese plate, you can widen the subsections within those three categories by selecting:Ī soft cheese: a goat’s milk cheese (e.g. The blue cheese could be one of the cheeses I mentioned above (Gorgonzola, Stilton or Roquefort). The hard cheese could be a young or mature cheddar, Asiago, Gouda or Comté. The soft cheese could be a goat’s milk cheese, or bloomy-rinded cheese (such as a Camembert of brie-style cheese) or a washed rind cheese (like taleggio).īaron Bigod (a Brie-style cheese). Traditionally, though, a common three-cheese platter would include a variety of categories of cheese, such as: a soft cheese, a hard cheese and blue cheese. Related: In a time when we can’t have in-person celebrations, we can remind ourselves of the days communal dining by plunking down beloved ingredients onto a board. (Try it: Get a Gorgonzola, a Stilton and a Roquefort, and have fun taste-testing!)

For example, I know a blue-cheese–lover who has made entire cheese boards with just a variety of blue cheeses. I’ll tell you what we told our customers: “The first rule is that there are no rules.” And it’s true! Cheese, like all foods, is a personal thing it’s subjective and therefore the perfect cheese plate is different for everyone. When I worked as a cheesemonger, I fielded countless questions about how to put together the “perfect” cheeseboard. (Katie Quinn) What to look for when putting together a cheese board Curds being made for cheddar at Quicke's Farm in the U.K.

Cheese whiz can