More Goat Love

As you may or may not know, I think goats are some of the cutest critters out there. They aren't the most efficient milkers - approx 1 gallon/goat/day vs. 10 gallons/cow/day. This is not to say that I don't also think that sheep and cows aren't pretty awesome, because I do. I just think there is something sprightly about goats. I don't specifically seek out goat cheese. I always aim to be "fair and balanced."

Last night, I shared some tasty cheese with my friend TS at Cube on La Cienega. We put ourselves in the capable hands of our waitress, who didn't disappoint, bringing us four amazing cheeses (and four incredible salami). I knew we were good when I realized that one of the cheeses she brought us was the Roaring 40s blue cheese from Australia that I'd had before and loved, loved, LOVED. Such a great, crumbly, mild, cow's milk blue that I could just eat all day.

Anyway, in addition to this gem, we shared a washed rind Mosur Cru Blanc from Switzerland which had just the right amount of "stinky." Without the rind, it was just delicious. A little mushroomy, but still tasting like grassy mountains. The rind made it a little more aggressive, which wasn't that much of a bad thing! We also had some Wildspitz from Switzerland - a semi hard, mild cheese made of cow and goat's milk with a hint of mushroom. Delicious with the pistachios and craisins it came with.

The big surprise of the evening, though, was a TRIPLE CREAM GOAT CHEESE(!!) from Coach Farm in the Hudson Valley in New York. Who knew? I have always thought of triple cream as being the provenance of cow's milk cheese, but the extra cream (have also never thought of goat's cream as something to use...small mind expanding quickly!) makes it taste so rich and buttery, but unlike some triple creams that just taste like butter, this one tasted like butter, but with just a little tangy-ness that gave it a little more depth. Just amazing. Served with dried apricots. YUM!

So, back to the point, I guess that I tend to root for the underdog, the one who makes the least amount of milk, the one who's cheeses get stretch marks, the ones that for some inexplicable reason my BFF just hates, and I guess learning about triple cream goat cheese just opened my mind. It's times like this that I really realize how much more I have to learn. It just makes me excited for the future of my cheese education!

Sweet goat cheese dreams to all (except Jordan - if you're reading this! You can dream about sheep's cheese)!

(photo courtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida)