I definitely have a favorite cheese; it was, in fact, the subject of the very first review I wrote for this site. But these days when it's time to buy more cheese, I search the TJ's shelves for some variety that I haven't had before, both for the sake of gaining additional blog material and for expanding the range of my personal experience. So the choice of Iberico cheese was spontaneous and arbitrary. I knew nothing about it. (You can become better educated than I was. Read here about this type of cheese.)
To cut right to the chase, I found this terribly dull. It is sufficiently bland, mild, and neutral that you could probably use it in all sorts of applications. I did nothing but have slices of it on various kinds of crackers. My impression every time was that it conveyed a generic sense of "cheese," but that's about it. To its credit, it is of a consistency that makes slicing it relatively neat and easy.
Will I buy it again?
Not for myself. I can imagine maybe including it as part of a gift of several different kinds of unusual cheeses for a foodie friend, or putting it out as one of several choices for a cheese-and-cracker platter for a party, but if I'm going to be the one eating it, I want something more flavorful.
Nina's View
I liked this cheese considerably more than Bob did. I don't find it bland:
it has a nice nutty flavor, and its texture is just right for slicing and
eating out of hand, or on one of those excellent Raisin & Rosemary Crisps.
As I reduce my dairy consumption, I am committed to eating less and less of
the congealed pain juice. *sigh* Which is going to be difficult because it is so
so tasty.
How this person finds Manchego cheese "dull" is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteOf course, we all have our preferences, but boy, that cheese is anything but "dull."
Maybe next time you should head to the sliced cheese section and get one of those 'stake flavored' ones or similar.