Fuck that. Last year, I had two resolutions: to try head cheese and limburger cheese. My head cheese experience was awful but on the upshot there's a different (and likely better) brand of head cheese that I can try this year, thereby getting two years out of the same resolution.
I waited until the last minute for the limburger experience but it happened, thanks to a holiday gift package from a "friend" who wanted to help me meet my limburgerine goal.
I don't know where she found it (update: now I do) but it's imported from a place I'm guessing is The Netherlands:
I could barely catch a whiff of the cheese while wrapped. After unwrapping, I have to say I was astonished-- maybe even a bit disappointed-- at the absence of the olfactory assault for which I had prepared myself for two days. There was hardly any "smelly feet" aroma with this particular limburger. I presume this has at least something to do with its age (riper = smellier).
It's a semisoft cheese, sliceable but not really spreadable. I tried it on rye bread, first with red onion:
The limburger had a creamy texture and mellow flavor, like a muenster except with taste. Red onion is potent so it can overwhelm the cheese if there is too much in one bite. This combination was tasty but I felt like it could get to the next level if there was something spreadable on the bread. I will come back to this.
Next I tried it with anchovies:
I liked the combination of the salty anchovies and the creamy limburger. This is a good little snack. I would think a tapenade would also work, especially for people who freak out when they see anchovies.
As far as the missing spreadable ingredient, I am going to try liverwurst and then the chicken liver mousse I made for a party, most of which is leftover because nobody wanted to try it even though it's really good.
Conclusion: I will eat limburger again. If it's good enough for Gomer Pyle, it's good enough for me.
5 comments:
Damn, you're much braver than I about the limburger. I've always had an urge to get one at the Cincinnati food fairs.
Head cheese however, not ever. Not once. Not while drunk, not for anything. Not with a mouse in a house here or there or anywhere.
"like a muenster except with taste"
You, sir, know your cheeses.
My Grandfather loved Limburger. He used to tell me that when he was a kid he and his buddies would use it in one of their favourite pranks; they would open up the hood on someones car (you could access the hood externally back then), and they would put a really smelly block of Limburger right on the engine block. Once the engine got good and hot and the cheese melted all over it, and you could never get that smell out of the car, so Grandpa claimed.
As to head cheese, might I suggest that you go to Krause's down at Findlay Market and have them slice you some Usinger's Sulze. It's a really delicately spiced head cheese, and it's very tasty. Do have them slice it very thin, and try it on some of their hearty, authentic German rye bread with some good mustard and perhaps some lettuce. It makes a great sandwich.
i always suspected that my grandfather liked Limburger because as we age our senses dull.. LOL.. you actually make me rethink that theory!
Can I put in orders for this chicken liver mousse, please? What is it going to take for me to be able to try some of that shit you whip up in your kitchen?
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