Rogue River Blue Cheese

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ex-khobar Andy
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Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

Normally I wouldn't put the words 'American' and 'cheese' in the same sentence. Some things just don't belong together, like 'Trump' and 'common sense.'

Rogue River Blue is an Oregon cheese which took first prize at the 2019 World Cheese Awards show. I'd never heard of it nor could I remember ever seeing it but I stored the knowledge away for later use. We had a dinner party to celebrate Twelfth Night Eve yesterday and my wife suggested a cheeseboard. She's lactose intolerant so I got to choose. Kroger has some sort of agreement with Murray's, the famous Greenwich Village cheese shop, and a local Kroger has a Murray's branch inside.

It ain't cheap. $49.50 a pound; I routinely buy whatever cheese they have on sale at half price as it is close to the sell-by date which has never bothered me, so I am used to finding decent Brie for $7/lb or extra sharp English Cheddar for maybe $6 or Gorgonzola Dolce for less than $10. I managed to hide a little piece of Rogue River Blue in the cart while she wasn't looking; and then had second thoughts (as in 'what if my friends eat it all? - I'd better get a second piece') while she was distracted in the celery aisle.

Well a couple of people didn't show and as usual we had too much food so I'm eating cassoulet and trifle for the next two days. That is absolutely OK with me. But we never got around to a cheeseboard. If I'm abstemious I can make these two little pieces last a couple of weeks.

All I can say, if you like blue cheese (and extraordinary to say, some people don't) it is wonderful. Creamy and buttery and fruity and bitter. It has a wrapping of grape leaves soaked in brandy. It is a wonderful wonderful cheese. It's strange coming from the same country that introduced the world to Velveeta. Try it.

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TPFKA@W
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by TPFKA@W »

I love blue cheese which my husband finds appalling. I will try and find some of your discovery.

Ever eat the blue cheese stuffed olives?

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Bicycle Bill »

My mother used to love blue cheese dressing for her salads when we would eat out together, and when we were at a salad bar with blue cheese dressing on it she would literally dredge the container trying to get all the cheese bits off the bottom.  I kept kidding her about it, telling her that it was just moldy cheese in sour cream, and if she were to find either one of these things in her refrigerator separately she'd throw them into the garbage.  But put 'em together and she was willing to pay extra for it.
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Guinevere
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Guinevere »

I ordered half a pound of Emmi buttermilk blue in my most recent Whole Foods order (WF Amazon Prime delivery is a godsend). It was on sale for under $15/pound. Instead of the Emmi, they sent me 2/3 of a pound ($30+ worth) of the Rogue River Creamery Organic Blue (listed at $44.95/pound, but they charged me the Emmi price). I don’t have any idea how that happened or worked out, but Wow. What a spectacular blue cheese. Its creamy, nutty, sharp but fruity. You get the scent of the soaked grape leaves when you unwrap the cheese. Its lovely at room temperature spread on a fig cracker. I finished the first 1/3 piece for dinner on Saturday, and haven’t touched the second piece yet. It needs some Port - I may have to go find a vintage bottle, to accompany it. So good. Thanks WF, for screwing up!
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké

ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

TPFKA@W wrote:
Ever eat the blue cheese stuffed olives?
A definite guilty pleasure.
Guinevere wrote:
It's lovely at room temperature spread on a fig cracker.
I hadn't thought of that. Today's shopping list = fig crackers. Thanks Guin.

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Guinevere
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Guinevere »

Trader Joe’s sells some, and there is another version I get at WF (rainforest crisps, possibly).

Blue cheese olives + gin = a once or twice a year martini. Delicious, but only occasionally.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké

Big RR
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Big RR »

Blue cheese olives also go well with vodka martinis (shaken or stirred).

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TPFKA@W
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by TPFKA@W »

Anyone here like limburger?

Big RR
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Big RR »

I've never had it, but I used to like liederkranz, which, I believe, was similar to limburger. It wasn't my favorite cheese, but it had an interesting pungent flavor (and got a terrible ammonia like smell if left too long) I don't think liederkranz is made anymore, as it has been many years since I saw it in any stores.

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Sue U
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Sue U »

Okay, Guin & XKA, I'm on their website and I can't identify which cheese in particular either of you is talking about:

http://www.roguecreamery.com/store/category/2/11/Blues/

Help me!!
GAH!

ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

It's no longer available on line from the Rogue River people but you can preorder the 2020 vintage.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... A/viewform

Murray's say it's out of stock until the next batch is released in fall. Price will be $56/lb.

Could be I was just lucky and got some of the last bits.

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Guinevere
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Guinevere »

Sue U wrote:Okay, Guin & XKA, I'm on their website and I can't identify which cheese in particular either of you is talking about:

http://www.roguecreamery.com/store/category/2/11/Blues/

Help me!!

I texted you a screen shot of the page from WF Prime.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Bicycle Bill »

Image
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ex-khobar Andy
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

Bicycle Bill wrote:Image
Image
-"BB"-
I didn't know that Procter and Gamble made cheese. Now I understand where Velveeta comes from. It's all beginning to make sense.

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Sue U
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Sue U »

ex-khobar Andy wrote:
TPFKA@W wrote:
Ever eat the blue cheese stuffed olives?
A definite guilty pleasure.
XKA, you will be horrified to learn that Velveeta is a cheesy (cheese-related? cheese-adjacent? near-cheese experience?) guilty pleasure of mine. During a particularly rough patch in the early '80s I was a recipient of "government cheese," which was pretty similar to, if not actually, Velveeta. I don't know what kind of endorphin-stimulating compound they sprinkled in there, but ever since then I get an occasional craving for the stuff. (It's never as satisfying as I remember it, though.)
GAH!

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TPFKA@W
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by TPFKA@W »

Sue U wrote:
ex-khobar Andy wrote:
TPFKA@W wrote:
Ever eat the blue cheese stuffed olives?
A definite guilty pleasure.
XKA, you will be horrified to learn that Velveeta is a cheesy (cheese-related? cheese-adjacent? near-cheese experience?) guilty pleasure of mine. During a particularly rough patch in the early '80s I was a recipient of "government cheese," which was pretty similar to, if not actually, Velveeta. I don't know what kind of endorphin-stimulating compound they sprinkled in there, but ever since then I get an occasional craving for the stuff. (It's never as satisfying as I remember it, though.)
Shut your mouth. In no manner was the government cheese anything like velveeta. I can only assume that government cheese is what they hand out in one's welcome basket at the pearly gates. I too sometimes have a hankering for it.

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by BoSoxGal »

All cheese - processed cheese food and top end artisanal - has addictive properties and can trigger cravings because it contains the protein casein, which breaks down into casomorphins in the body - these compounds attach to dopamine receptors in the brain, the same receptors that are at play when opiods are present.

I once devoured nearly a whole can of that crap aerosoled cheese food product - I was pretty hungry, but also just couldn’t stop putting more on another Ritz cracker and gobbling it down. That stuff is pretty hideous compared to a really fine cheese, but it’s got loads of casein just like the other.

Beware of cheese! :lol:
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Guinevere
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Guinevere »

Wahlburgers uses “government cheese” on their burgers - a riff on their childhood growing up in a triple decker in Dorchester. I always assumed it was American cheese, and maybe it was provided in a block for slicing (like in the deli case). How is government cheese different?

Velveeta is too soft to slice, so I didn’t think government cheese was like that.

ETA - my guilty pleasure isn’t processed cheese, but the probably even worse processed cheese crackers like Cheez-its.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké

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BoSoxGal
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by BoSoxGal »

I just had Cheez-its for the first time since childhood - it was a snack choice at the Red Cross blood drive I donated at last week.

OMFG CHEEZ-ITS ROCK!!!!

I am NEVER EVER buying any, as I would turn orange.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan

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Long Run
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Re: Rogue River Blue Cheese

Post by Long Run »

I had government cheese in the 70's and it was mostly a blend of real cheeses including American. Maybe the recipe changed over the years, but I recall it being much better than Velveeta. Planet Money recently had a story on the why and how of government cheese, and they interviewed someone who had been with the program and he stated the cheese met a pretty high standard of quality.

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