Sharona wrote:Trader Joe's has a very nice Italian Truffle Cheese. It sells for $9.99 a pound and we made grilled cheese sandwiches with it the other day. It's a fairly mild white cheese with bits of black truffle throughout.

Probably boschetto al tartufo, but maybe pecorino al tartufo.

Sharona wrote:Trader Joe's has a very nice Italian Truffle Cheese. It sells for $9.99 a pound and we made grilled cheese sandwiches with it the other day. It's a fairly mild white cheese with bits of black truffle throughout.

Sharona

ugh...if you think *that's* a truffled cheese then you got another thing comin'...they might've well've just sprinkled bits of ash throughout the matrix as little truffle flavor as you get with that "truffle cheese"...feh...

Whole Foods carried a couple lovely, truffly, medium-soft cow's milk cheeses awhile back then discontinued...fie! on you WF!

then they got in some goat's milk, hard, glutamate-encrusted, truffle-smeared wheels of something(s) or other and, still, had very little truffle headiness compared to the earlier cheeses...

I was on a truffle cheese kick just awhile back and I say avoid the Trader Joe's offering...it's so...so MOR.

Christopher Gordon quote: "I say avoid the Trader Joe's offering...it's so...so MOR."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOR

So you're saying (if I chose correctly from the many things MOR could be) that the cheese a poster talked about was Middle of the Road?

I'm realizing that maybe I am on a kick within this post about "if you like it, enjoy it" - see my post earlier - Really, folks, I don't see why if someone enjoys their TJ's truffled grilled cheese sandwiches we can't celebrate that with them.

Messy

I like to hear different opinions. That way I can make more informed eating decisions.

T.P.

As with most prepackaged cheese, the quality varies. I've had some good, some okay experiences with the truffle cheese @ TJ's -- some even contained the "headiness" that Christopher Gordon suggests cannot -- hell, never -- be found with that cheese. Other times, the truffle flavor has been mild to non-existent. I think it varies with freshness, as with everything else. Figure in the reasonable price, there's little risk in trying it, even if it can be hit-or-miss.

Christopher Gordon wrote:

Sharona wrote:Trader Joe's has a very nice Italian Truffle Cheese. It sells for $9.99 a pound and we made grilled cheese sandwiches with it the other day. It's a fairly mild white cheese with bits of black truffle throughout.

Sharona

ugh...if you think *that's* a truffled cheese then you got another thing comin'...they might've well've just sprinkled bits of ash throughout the matrix as little truffle flavor as you get with that "truffle cheese"...feh...

Whole Foods carried a couple lovely, truffly, medium-soft cow's milk cheeses awhile back then discontinued...fie! on you WF!

then they got in some goat's milk, hard, glutamate-encrusted, truffle-smeared wheels of something(s) or other and, still, had very little truffle headiness compared to the earlier cheeses...

I was on a truffle cheese kick just awhile back and I say avoid the Trader Joe's offering...it's so...so MOR.

I'd say better to have had MOR truffled-cheese than never to have had any truffled cheese at all. Especially for a grilled-cheese sandwich!

I've never been that happy with TJ's cheeses. I've gotten good gouda there, but even that has been somewhat inconsistent.

As for truffled cheeses - I've had good pecorino with truffles. In Chicago, previously at least available at JP Graziano's - see this thread from this point on.

J.P. Graziano Grocery Co., Inc.
901-905 Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60607
312-666-4587
312-666-4604

sazerac wrote:I've never been that happy with TJ's cheeses. I've gotten good gouda there, but even that has been somewhat inconsistent.

As for truffled cheeses - I've had good pecorino with truffles. In Chicago, previously at least available at JP Graziano's - see this thread from this point on.

J.P. Graziano Grocery Co., Inc.
901-905 Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60607
312-666-4587
312-666-4604

at the risk of derailment

I've never had great cheeses from any Trader Joe's. I know all about the return policy...but, eh...shrug...

they're good for a cheap, plebian smoked gouda or similarly, an innocuous brie, but anything else...blah...

and to return to the topic(s) at hand:

that TJ's truffle cheese I bought, while budget-priced, had no, I iterate, no truffle flavor whatsoever...it didn't even taste of cheese, really...

must've been an unlucky batch

Thank you, Messycook and Pedro for your support in my truffled grilled cheese sandwich maiden voyage. The cheese I got the other day did taste fairly truffley and it made for a very good sandwich at home as an impromptu lunch with roasted butternut squash soup.
I'm just now starting to explore the truffle and its many offerings. Haven't bought any lab-made truffle oil yet, but not sure if I will. And I just thought I'd throw the cheese out there as an option for people who wanted to try it for a pretty reasonable price. Sorry I'm not such a seasoned expert as you, Christopher.

Sharona

gleam wrote:In this regard, truffle oil is very much like imitation vanilla.

Didn't Cook's Illustrated discover that their tasters couldn't tell the difference between real and imitation vanilla?

LAZ wrote:

gleam wrote:In this regard, truffle oil is very much like imitation vanilla.

Didn't Cook's Illustrated discover that their tasters couldn't tell the difference between real and imitation vanilla?

Yes, but they also noted that the price difference is so small, there's no reason not to get the real stuff (at least as far as supermarket brands are concerned).

I am a bit confused by the negative comments on truffles.
I would bathe in the stuff if I could afford to, let alone eat it on everything, ever.

I have gotten oil at Binny's, which I remember as being the same brand offered at Whole Foods, though at least some of the Whole Foods will offer more than one brand.
A really great place to get oils is the City Olive. We occasionally stop in for oil tastings and we now regularly get our white truffle oil and aged balsamic there.

Truffle oil is very strong and we generally use a couple drops (literal drops) per portion. My wifes favorite food is steamed fingerling potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and what ever other veggies are around with olive oil, fresh garlic juice, lemon, salt pepper and truffle oil. Pretty much an al-dente broccoli rob with tubors and some truffle oil.


http://www.cityolive.com/

Sharona wrote:Thank you, Messycook and Pedro for your support in my truffled grilled cheese sandwich maiden voyage. The cheese I got the other day did taste fairly truffley and it made for a very good sandwich at home as an impromptu lunch with roasted butternut squash soup.
I'm just now starting to explore the truffle and its many offerings. Haven't bought any lab-made truffle oil yet, but not sure if I will. And I just thought I'd throw the cheese out there as an option for people who wanted to try it for a pretty reasonable price. Sorry I'm not such a seasoned expert as you, Christopher.

Sharona

gimme a break

too bad you find my highly subjective observations so alienating, I never once addressed your, apparently-sacrosanct quest for the perfect grilled cheese...I merely mentioned how crappy I find Trader Joe's offering(and cheeses in general)

if that makes me a "seasoned expert," well woopdeedoo

I just tried a new truffle cheese, and it is the best one that I have ever had. It is made by Cypress Grove, and is similar to their Humbolt Fog (another excellent cheese), but had bits of white and black truffle in it instead of the ash. I believe that it is mostly (all?) goat, but it gets runny and delicious. Excellent truffle flavor. It is on sale at whole foods for $20/lb, at least in Deerfield.

-Will