[eBook Code] Creating the Perfect Cheese Plate In a Day For Dummies (eBook Code, 1st)

Introduction 1

What You Can Do In A Day 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Chapter 1: A Hard Look at Soft (And Blue) Cheese 5

Soften Up: Understanding the Soft Cheese Basics 5

Getting Fresh 7

Surface-Ripened Soft Cheeses 8

Bloomy-rind soft cheeses: Fluffy, furry, velvety rinds 9

Washed-rind soft cheeses: An odiferous array 10

Mold-ripened: Wrinkly soft cheeses 11

A Semi-Softie at Heart 12

Pressed, brined, and dry-salted fresh semi-soft cheeses 12

I’m (not) melting! Fresh semi-soft cheeses that stay in shape 13

Semi-soft rindless cheeses full of buttery flavors 14

Down to earth: Mushroomy, grassy-tasting semi-softs 14

Semi-soft washed rinds 15

Feeling Blue 16

Mellow blues 17

Blues with attitude 17

High-octane blues 18

Chapter 2: Grate Tastes: Hard Cheese 21

Hard to Beat: Understanding the Basics 21

Going Topless: A Rundown of Rindless Hard Cheeses 23

It’s better buttery and mild 23

Going mild for rindless cheeses 24

Looking at Natural-Rind Hard Cheeses 24

Buttery cheeses with natural rinds 25

Earthy natural-rind delights 25

Natural-rind nutty cheeses 26

Bursting with flavor: Sharp natural-rind cheeses 27

Washed-rind and Wonderful Cheeses 28

Nice and nutty 28

Slightly stinky cheeses 29

Trying Out Coated-Rind and Clothbound Hard Cheeses 30

Coated-rind cheeses with a nutty flavor 30

Sharp to earthy coated-rind cheeses 31

Sweet, butterscotchy coated-rind cheeses 32

Chapter 3: Figuring Out What You Like 33

Discovering What You Like and Don’t Like 33

Evaluating the Characteristics of Cheese 35

Using your common sense(s) 35

Ten “technical” (if sometimes odd) terms used to describe cheese 36

Taking the Cheese Challenge 37

Chapter 4: Crafting Your Cheese Plate 41

Where to Buy: Exploring Your Options 41

What’s in store 42

Online offerings 44

To market, to market: Buying direct 47

Serving Basics 47

Cutting to the chase 47

Serving at the ideal temperature 49

Putting together a cheese plate  50

Arranging your items: General principles 50

Creating Great Plates 52

How much is enough? Deciding on serving size 52

Selecting cheeses for a plate 53

Arranging your plate 54

Putting Your Cheese to Bed: Successful Storage 55

Chapter 5: Cheesy Accompaniments 57

Picking Sides 57

Savory 58

Sweet 58

Composing the Components 59

Keeping it simple and other tips 59

Suggestions from your pantry 60

Cheesy Accessories: All about Knives and Boards 61

Knifestyles of the rich and famous 62

Chairman of the board 63

Chapter 6: Where to Go from Here 65

Taking Your First Steps 65

Visiting dummies.com 66