In light of the foregoing, did anyone point that you are quite “cheesy” (in a very good way!)
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You know that when I am on the left coast we have to do a meet up?
I do enjoy you introspective posts! (After all you are from Queens, NY) You probably drank the same water as myself…and thus … Thanks for HO…
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Pardon my rant, but speaking for myself, I have read and posted in many threads on the topic of American cheese over the years, on just about every food board you have ever heard of, and still am flummoxed that so many folks who claim to be food-oriented are so misinformed about it. Note I am talking about the melty stuff (processed cheese), not table cheeses that happened to have been made in the US as were discussed upthread.
There are two key facts:
(1) American cheese is not meant for straight table use, like the fine cheeses you eat at the end of a nice restaurant meal or put out on a cheese plate for friends. It is meant for applications where melting is wanted and separated cheese is undesirable, such as on cheeseburgers, toasted sandwiches, and mixed with macaroni or potatoes. Normal cheese typically separates into butterfat and solids when melted, and becomes a mess; process cheese was developed to overcome that problem. That is its raison d’être. Some folks also like it on sandwiches rather than other forms of sliced cheese, and that’s fine if that’s what they want; it’s certainly easier to use than, say, chunks of brie, and I suppose many cheeses tend to overpower the other ingredients on a sandwich so maybe that’s why. Either way, meltability is why American cheese exists and comparing it to regular fine cheese makes little sense – they are different things used in different applications; it’s like saying that rib eye steak is better than ground chuck so you should never use ground chuck. Different thing, different use. Does anyone use straight rib eye steak for a burger or meatballs?
(2) While many seem to think that ALL American cheese is the same thing, from the stuff in the deli right down to 2 lb. loaves of shelf-stable Velveeta, so criticize it all equally, there are in fact many grades and variations. You may think Velveeta slices are bad, but it is incorrect to paint all meltable cheese with that same brush. Some are good quality and some are less so. Just as commercial swiss cheese is different from and a lower grade than true Emmenthal, even though they are both small “s” swiss cheese and all swiss cheese is essentially copied from Emmenthal.
The Serious Eats link above sets it all out fairly well. Bottom line: go to the deli or look in the dairy case for cheese labeled “pasteurized process American cheese,” which is a defined term in FDA regulations, to get the good stuff. Often those are also labeled “deluxe” these days, following Kraft’s lead. Anything that does not have those exact words is lower quality, including “cheese food”, “cheese product”, “slices”, and various others. The latter unfortunately account for the vast majority sold, which is partly to blame for the poor reputation the product has.
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We have medicine for that now…
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Send me a prescription!
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Whilst I don’t doubt they can make some good, real cheeses in the US but do they use words like “Feta”, “Parmigiano-Reggiano”, “Gouda” etc? Many cheeses have PDO status so they had better not.
I think when if they do, they add the word “style”. I noticed that in a picture of “gorganzola style” cheese above. I’ll have to check out the rules about feta; the store I use seems to carry several. My favorite is labeled “Israeli feta”.
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Here’s a list of cheeses with protected geographical status:
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Aren’t these only enforceable within the EU?
For instance, I know that within the Union feta can only be Greek yet I often see references from Americans about how good Bulgarian (?) feta is. So, as an EU member, Bulgaria can’t sell its product within the EU (at least not called feta) but can in America.
By the by, I presume that the UK outside of the EU, will lose the PDO/PGI status for the 17 cheeses which currently have that designation.
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I was following your rationale, with some skepticism, until I hit this phrase. Serious Eats is simply not a credible source. They exist to sell advertising, even when that means jiggering their findings to serve their advertisers. Is there some good information there? Sure. Unfortunately there are simply too many articles that are thinly veiled press releases from manufacturers. You can’t hide from the ads, even with an ad blocker, because the advertising is embedded in the content.
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Wow, that seems harsh! I can remember when I didn’t notice any advertising on Serious Eats, and sort of like the idea that the site has become enough of an “influencer” for Kenji to give up work as an engineer, and make a living doing something he loves. I’ve bought his book as well, which I’m thinking is supposed to make money too.
I am not as involved as I’d like to be in how people get paid to write, but I hope there will always be a way.
I found this (see protection and enforcement section):
It is also prohibited to combine the indication with words such as “style”, “type”, “imitation”, or “method”…
Outside Europe, the protection of PGS products usually require bilateral agreements between the EU and the importing countries, while protected indications may not always supersede other intellectual property rights such as trademarks.
Seems to be advertised in the UK as “Bulgarian white cheese” or “Bulgarian sheeps cheese”
The advertising in content is definitely there at SE. Look at the recent articles about appliances for new college students. Who thinks five kilowatts of gear in a dorm room is a good idea? There is a clear correlation between the recommendations and SE advertising. What else is one to think?
I’m far from the only person to see the links. I may just be a bit more clear about them.
Mr. Levine says as much: “I was all-in on a blog, or a blogging network, becoming a business.” He is pretty straightforward that readers and participants are simply product to be sold to his customers, the advertisers.
I eat parm reggiano all the time. You will never see a US labeled cheese claiming to be Italian. I haven’t seen one in my life. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but it definitely isn’t common. Gouda you will see US brands and Feta as well.
@Auspicious. Nicely done. I was trying to get that point across but you did a much better job than I did.
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I’m not saying there are no links, I am saying I still value the information I find there. I can’t say I go there for advice on dorm appliances, but it is where I start from for a lot of cooking ideas and techniques. I will be on the look out for how the ads might be influencing me going forward. I can remember at least once clicking through to buy something, specifically because I knew he would profit from it.
I JUST noticed there is now an ad on the bottom right for the Olive Oil folks are praising on another thread. I can’t tell if it is just there for me or not, because I looked at it, and now I have “cookies”. My daughter actually tracks that stuff for a living.
Mr.Levine…“is pretty straightforward that readers and participants are simply product to be sold to his customers, the advertisers.” I’ll have to think about that. I was thinking it was mutually beneficial, but maybe that’s just me.
Well I’m not going to address your claims about SE from top to bottom, but most “free” websites including this one carry advertising which is how they exist. The article was written by J. Kenji López-Alt who AFAIK is very credible in all culinary matters he addresses. I use his cooking procedures quite a lot, such as regarding Sous-vide procedures. Anyway, how about giving me a little credit; I referenced the link mostly as a shortcut – it says the same things I already know as fact from my own research done over the years, before there even was a SE or a HO, and it just saved me from repeating the whole dissertation here. My posts tend to be a bit long as it is. You can go to the FDA guidelines in the Code of Federal Regulations and read it for yourself if you don’t believe him or me. What I said about process cheese is as factual as I can make it and meant in good spirit. I’m sorry you feel the need to criticize.
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For the record, I posted it first, so that makes mea culpa; no?
I knew I had read a pretty good discourse on the subject here, but couldn’t find it using the HO search function. I tried a Google search, that article popped up, and it seemed to reflect what I had learned elsewhere. I’ve read through it again, and I’m not finding it to be “hawking” anything.
There was a forum for physicians that I socialized, I mean shared information on, for at least ten years, but it became clear that the host couldn’t keep it going strictly for that purpose. It got shut down. Lots of folks went to one on Google Groups, but it is not nearly as accessible. I am interested to see where internet communities are going, butmthat’s a different thread.
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I would think it not unlikely that the Israeli feta is made in Israel. There are several stores in Astoria that sell dozens of types of feta with different national origins:
Yes I’m pretty sure that’s true. US stores will sell cheeses with their PDO status clearly labeled because it’s considered a measure of quality here, not because it’s legally required.
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