Cheese of the Week: Manchego sheep cheese

I do not think I have ever had pure sheep cheese before. And if I have, it’s only been feta (to which, you may be interested to learn, only up to 30% goat’s milk may be added).

And I don’t think I’d ever even heard of Manchego cheese before, so I knew this would be an interesting evening, when Amy and I picked it up.

She wasn’t sure about it — it looked a little bit too much like a Parmesan, she though, and it was in that section with all the other hard cheeses that you have to grate. But I countered that the cheese had much more give to it than those other cheeses, and I was pretty sure we could slice it and enjoy it without resorting to the grater.

When we unwrapped it, it did have a characteristic Parmesan-like smell, but not overpowering. It also had a “pressed” appearance, like all the whey had been forced out, leaving it slightly dry and flaky looking, but not in an unpleasant way.

Slicing into the cheese was easy — it had a firm resilience, but it wasn’t as solid as a Parmesan. It was strangely soft and crumbly for its firmness, actually.

On crackers — and with wine — this was a very, very good cheese. All present were impressed. It had a Parmesan-like taste and texture, but almost as if the Parmesan had been mixed with feta. It was salty, but not overly salty. And it had a cheese-like smell, but not one that also smelled like adolescent-male socks.

As a slicing cheese, it wasn’t perfect; it was difficult to keep thin slices together, and it was fairly crumbly.

But it held its own against a deep red wine, and yet had a discreet enough taste that you could eat it on a cracker without being overpowered.

This is a versatile cheese.

And you know, in the end, I grabbed a grater to try it on a Caesar salad, instead of grated Parmesan.

Boy, was I glad I did. Even against the Caesar dressing, this cheese held its own on my palate, and it added a twist to the flavour that stood out without overly, well, standing out.

It grated nicely, too.

Highly recommended for those of my readers who wish to branch out from their standard cheeses into something that’s quite a bit different, and yet aren’t ready for a “funky” cheese like gorgonzola.