Archive for September 14th, 2010

When I started this blog, cheese is one of the things that I had in the forefront of my mind.  The problem with me and cheese is that I’ll buy or eat some random interesting cheese and then forget what it was a few days later.  The end result is that I’ve had lots of cheese I like, but I’m still always unsure what to go for at the cheese section.  Tonight I am changing that.  My goal is that whenever I try a new cheese I’m going to do a little post about it.

Tonight’s cheese is Pecorino Romano.  It’s described as a hard, salty Italian cheese, suitable primarily for grating, made out of sheep milk.  I got it today at Whole Foods while getting some needed ingredients to make pasta.  It was right there next to the Parmigiano Reggiano (aka the really good parmesan cheese) but about $6 less per pound.

Trying a slice by itself, it reminded me of Parmigiano, though much more mild in flavor–less bite and edge.  It was savory and a little salty.  The texture is also much more smooth than Parmigiano, in that it doesn’t have that pleasant crunchy graininess.

I made a nice simple pasta (really, the days of canned sauce are over!) and grated it on.  Once added to the pasta it imparted a nice bit of depth and salt, very similar to Parmigiano.  In all, it may be showing up on my plate as a lower price point Parmigiano substitute.