April 30, 2007 - 8:21am
? for the west-of-the-rockies coterie
Hensperger's Bread Bible has a recipe for a bread almost Asian in its simple elegance. I've made it successfully with local Cheddar but it specifies Tilamook which is now available here for the better part of $10/lb. My background lives in Wisconsin & Vermont, both of whom claim extensive bragging rights as per cheese. Is Tilamook worth the hefty price tag, and if so would I really want to experience it in bread rather than on it?
Share
Not at all. I love taking my kids to the Tillamook cheese factory, but their cheese is nothing special. Frankly, I'm typically more satisfied with the store brand cheese than Tillamook's.
That she explicitly calls out Tillamook cheese in that recipe has always bugged me. Either she has poor taste or is adding unnecessary qualifiers to her recipes to appear more refined. I'm inclined to think the latter.
I've mentioned elsewhere that few things irk me like cookbook divas. Could you imagine if we took that tone here?
Give me a break.
I though Tillamook was a store brand, or at least the Andronicos grocery stores here in Berkeley sell it as such. The liquor store around the corner from my house sells it for about $3 for a half pound and I have never found it to be that special. It's great in that I can go buy it at 11:00pm at night with a 5 minute walk for those late night munchie attacks.
Anyway, if I were you i'd ignore the cookbook lady and get some nice apple-smoked cheddar or something of that caliber. Sounds like she might be getting a check from Tillamook...
Not a "Store Brand" per se - the factory is in Tillamook Oregon, on the coast out here. They have awesome "squeaky cheese" curds which are only squeaky and good if you buy them at the factory (and they have to be eaten with 2 days or they no longer squeak which is the main appeal, but it's not a special cheese by any means. Much as we try to buy local, we actually prefer the store brand to the Tillamook stuff here.
We can buy Tillamook at the mainline groceries and don't see anything special about it. Use whatever you like best!
Susan
browndog..Cabot's is the best!! What I found interesting is that while Tillamook sells here in OR at $13.00 for their aged premium loaf, Cabot's (black label) same weight sells for $7.00. Back home in CT..I'd have to pay $13.00 for it..so exotic..foreign commands the price..supply & demand! Still, I think Cabot's is a better cheddar!!
I get Cabot extra sharp cheddar at Trader Joe's, and I think it's under $5.00 a pound. Sharp and dry....mmmmm, now I want to bake it into some bread.
Sue
Floyd, I'd seen your remarks per this book and though I hadn't really shared the sentiment, this Tillamook thing was under my skin, despite the fact that usually my sales-resistance is impeccable. You have all reaffirmed my cynical world view and I thank you for it. Apparently this is the sister phenomenon to restaurant meals that take a paragraph to title. (Not that I would know firsthand- the only restaurants I frequent offer things like "Happy Family and One Ex-Wife, that type of thing.) Where I live Cabot could almost be mistaken for a store brand--quite ubiquitous, but so is good cheddar generally, we have lots to choose from. So what do I do when I want to indulge? I go to Hanover and buy something British- Cheshire or Gloucester or Cotswold (chive heaven), and just catch me putting that into bread! There's a somber lesson here. ---Dstroy, In Wisconsin the rural landscape was dotted with tiny factory outlets, little storefronts with enough room for a cold case and a couple of customers..we went to the one nearest home for ONE reason, and that was the squeaky cheese curds!
it is a cheese company in Vermont and they make many types of cheese, all very good.
in fact they make butter, sour cream, yogurt--but no milk as I can recall! I'm a Vermonster, Paddyscake, the factory is about two hours from me. What I especially like about Cabot is that it's a cooperative--farmer owned. http://www.cabotcheese.com/
although the only thing I can find here in Oregon is the cheese, of which I'm very thankful. Certainly alot harder to find than another Vermont product..Ben & Jerry's : ) So..you're a Vermonster..does that mean I was Connecticuster until 4 years ago?
I never knew Vermont was once called New Connecticut. I was a little concerned when I saw your version of "Basic Bread" with us grated! Good thing I'm not mild : )
I live in the dairy state(Wisconsin) and have traveled the World looking for nuggets of local flavor. Quite by accident I discovered an old family run cheese shop in upstate , New York, Ilion. The name brand is Herkimer County Cheese. For years I have been buying and shipping as gifts what I consider the very top of the heap when it comes to aged cheddar. I've never tasted anything that comes close to the creamy and very sharp bite of this indulgence. Our stores are loaded with all kinds of local cheeses and none hold up to Herkimer. In my opinion, nothing can beat a crisp red delicious apple, with sharp cheddar and a tear of french bread. Oh and a wash of dry red wine :0)
http://www.herkimerfoods.com/
Eric
Herkimer is also another fine cheese company! Can you tell, I love cheese!!
Tillamook.... just let the word roll around in your mouth and you know it must be exotic. Unless you've been there. It's a nice little community with great Pacific delights. But is the cheese good? Sure. Great? Probably not. It's a factory cheese. Is cheese hand made by someone who loves doing so, who possesses exquisite skills, in a little place like upstate NY? More likely.
But, you tack on a large price tag, have a great name rife with inherent mystery, and you can be quite successful. After all, each of us love something which convinces someone else that we have no taste in the matter. How many of us, even quite good musicians, love some really stupid song from our past? All of us? What's with that? A little known fact about the great depression: only the high dollar and the discount hair salons stayed in business. The middle priced ones went away because the impression was of mediocrity. Go cheap and save the money, or show the world you can afford it. So when you market at a distance, raise the price; locally, make it cheap because you have no mystery.
If you want something really great from Oregon, buy Pendleton Woolen Mills. Interestingly, it isn't made in Pendleton, Oregon...
Lee
of course that's the draw! I hadn't thought of it like that--if the recommendation had been for 'Frank's real good cheese from Cleveland'*, my only thought would probably have been, "yeah, right, I have some good cheese in the fridge." Interesting bit of history, too. *(-not that there's ANYTHING wrong with Cleveland.)
I find it quite amusing that you know of a cheese place less than 3 miles from my house, and I have never even heard of it until you posted a link. Ha, ha . And I get out alot.. Its pretty bad when people from other places have to tell me whats in my own back yard.
I actually prefer another NY cheese called "FLy Creek Cider Mill" This cheese is aged in our underground caverns in Howes Caverns, NY and is produced by Fly Creek Cider Mill. http://www.flycreekcidermill.com/marketplace.asp?p=market
And yet another favorite is "River Rat XXX". This is an EXTREMELY Sharp cheddar, but wonderful to the palate in flavor. And it too is from Upstate NY.
Just my 2 cents...
Thanks
TT
TT, funny the same thing happened to me actually. I was living in Rome at the Air Base and my parents were visiting. My mother had found an ad for this cheese shop we went to check out. That was in 1972 and I've been a customer ever since. Thanks for the tip I'll try your place also. Stop in and try a sample of the older stock,---yummmy.
Eric
I will definately check it out.
TT
TT, I wrote to the folks at Cider Creek Mill about their cheese. After telling the guy how I found him and where I am from, he offered to send me a sample. I think he said "I would do a lot to ship cheese to a guy from Wisconsin". Yesterday it came and I pounced on it. That is some very nice sharp aged cheddar. It has that creamy yet flaky quality that is so unique to just a few places I have tasted. Maybe it is the caves where they age the product. Sad to say we can't get that quality here that I am aware of. I will definitely be ordering some soon. Thanks for the heads up. Be sure to stop and tell them thanks some time.
Eric
Glad to see they treated you right Eric. And I am glad you liked the cheese. I will definately bring up your compliments to them next time I visit.
TT
We cross border shop(sounds illegal doesn"t it) Costco US is half the price of cheese than Canada. We find tillimook medium cheddar better than most cheddars available in Canada(B.C.). The aged white tillimook is to die for...sharp and literally melts in your mouth. Dairy products in Canada are a controlled substance, meaning a marketing board. Production of dairy products are regulated to price.
I will concur, their sharp chedder is quite good. Their smoked chedder is decent too.
http://www.wischeesemakersassn.org/uscontest/2007/past_results.php
Check out the "Secret Tips"