Limburger Virgins and Puttanesca Whores
Today out of curiosity I bought a block of Limburger cheese. I was shopping for the ingredients of Pasta Puttanesca with the requisite capers, anchovies, garlic cloves, linguine, etc. Also, as it's that time of year, I bought some Chestnuts.
The Pasta Puttanesca is for tomorrow. A couple years ago, I was living in New York City and an opera singer friend of mine whipped up a batch of the "whore's pasta" as it's commonly known or "pasta of the peasant prostitute" as I've now decided to call it forevermore. Whatever. Back then I had never heard of capers and was intrigued. In short, I ate and loved it and obviously haven't forgotten about the dish though I no longer have the slightest bit of memory as to how it tasted. Well, I've decided to find out... again.
As for the Limburger, it also has long intrigued me. When I saw it mixed in with the other cheese such as Asiago, Feta, Blue, Goat and Havarti, I knew it was the one I wanted to try tonight. The name sounded familiar. I remember seeing it from time to time in the grocery. Also, and this will prove significant, I felt a sense of unease as I surfed through my mind for any sort of clue as to what I should expect when I opened the foil wrapper and cut off a taste. There flashed a foggy warning inside my mind that left no specifics of what I ought to beware. I dismissed it.
[If only I had studied entomology, perhaps I would have thought differently. Limburger is one of the few known Mosquito attractants.]
Later, at home in the kitchen, I tossed the chestnuts in some vegetable oil and roasted them in an iron skillet over medium heat after cutting an 'x' in each of their shells to prevent explosions. As they roasted, I unwrapped the Limburger and took a generous up-close intimate sniff.
Horror of horrors! Instantaneous three dimnesional memories of past encounters with dirty feet, undeodorized underarms and unhygenic old women flashed throughout my nostrils. Nevertheless, still curious (morbidly?), I took a knife and cut a small piece of the cheese and placed the morsel in my mouth. Surely the odor is an illusion and this famous fromage sold in stores all over will reveal itself to be a secret delight to the tongue, I thought.
Not so! Now instead of the nostrils it was my tongue which experienced something I would honestly imagine as equivalent to eating tofu bathed in corpses (yes morbidly!). But don't get me wrong - I like tofu. It's the corpses part which had awoken taste buds I never knew I had. There was even a weird tingling sensation that I suppose might be due to the enzymes listed as an ingredient. I really don't know.
[It turns out that a main ingredient in Limburger is a bacterium that can be found on the human foot.]
In the end, I wrapped the Limburger in plastic then tin foil and then plastic again and threw it in the fridge. I had thought of tossing it but then thought about how I had payed good money for that monstrosity and how I feel it my obligation to save the cheese in order to share the experience with unsuspecting visitors - preferably Limburger virgins like I had been. And also, there's part of me still curious.
Online, I listened as the last remaining maker of Limburger in the United States revealed that the older generation are mostly the ones who still buy Limburger. He mentioned that sometimes it is enjoyed with a thick cut of raw onion as a sandwich. Sometimes it is enjoyed with sardines and horseradish on pumperknickel bread. And sometimes it is eaten with strawberry jam and toast as breakfast. I wonder if I might discover that - with such accompaniments - the taste would grow on me...
The Chestnuts finished roasting with a bit of water thrown in during the last five minutes for softening. I ate half of the bunch with a little salt. Unfortunately, they were not as delicious as I had hoped. Too dry. They probably needed an open flame or perhaps I simply cooked them too long. I remember buying a small bag of them from a street vendor in Switzerland during my college semester abroad. Loved them then.
Even so, that Limburger taste lingers still on my tongue. I'm glad I tried the cheese and even a little excited by the pungent power of its smell and taste. But ultimately, I'm disappointed. I can't possilby imagine enjoying it spread on a toasted Everything Bagel nor do I possess the courage to act on my curiosity and give it another try. If only I had thought to combine the Limburger Cheese and Chestnuts. Well there's always tomorrow's Puttanesca...
What was your first time like with Limburger? Any Limburger lovers out there? I'll understand if you wish to remain anonymous.
I love cooking and I love cheese, although Limburger probably isn't on my list if I really thought about it. I do use it occassionally though.
The key to enjoying Limburger is knowing the date it was made. When it is real young, up to one month old, it is very firm, crumbly, and salty, much like feta cheese in taste. At six weeks, it's soft on the corners but still has a hard core that's salty and chalky. The bacteria works from rind to center. At two months, the core is almost gone. Most people prefer Limburger between six weeks and eight weeks old. From two to three months, the core is gone, it's soft and spreadable, the salt has blended in, and the cheese has a kind of sweet flavor. Older than three months, there's intense smell, intense flavor. It's pungent and almost bitter. If you like it, you're a real Limburger lover.
To control the odor of Limburger, rinse the rind or cut it off altogether. And by all means, store Limburger in a glass jar. This will contain the smell without adversely affecting the cheese.
Limburger is a table cheese, while you can include in any meal (at breakfast with toast, in a sandwich for lunch, with potatoes for dinner), you won't often find it listed as an ingredient in recipes. It doesn't cook well because when you warm it, the heat intensifies the smell. Use very young, still-salty, shredded Limburger as a pizza topping.
Here's about the only way I can eat it, although sometimes it's good with anchovies:
-Rye bread (dark or light, pumpernickel, sauerkraut rye, etc.)
-Mustard (sweet-hot, brown, whole grain, etc.)
-Sliced Limburger (at any age you prefer, washed or not, rind-on or rind-off)
-Thick slices of sweet onion (Vidalia, Walla-Walla, etc.)
Layer the ingredients as you like into a sandwich. Sweet-hot mustard on one slice of bread and mayonnaise on the other is alright. Then, wash it down with a beer!
Thanks Steve for the tips. Now, after reading your comments, I want to give it another try. Plus I haven't checked the date so perhaps it's quite old considering. Limburger on pizza? Wow! I wonder how that would go over if I didn't tell my guests it was Limburger... :)
I like Limburger although I'd say it's an acquired taste. As you found out, the American version is a bit of a lost specialty and that's one reason I love it. Some of these regional specialties are in danger of disappearing in the face of bland corporate products that have dumbed down the populace. It would be a shame if they went extinct. Another endangered cheese is called Pinconning from the Michigan area. It's a kind of aged Colby and is really so much tastier than the mainstream Colby.
I'm a big fan of smelly and or old cheeses. Me and the BF will drive up to WIsconsin to get 8 or 10 year old cheddar on occasion. Good stuff.
The smelliest cheese we ever had was called Herve which we tried in Brussels in a little bar by the name of Chez Moeder Lambic. They also had something like 800 different beers. Beer and cheese go together perfectly. It was a soft cheese and we were eating it spread on some fresh bread. There was a big old dog in the place and he kept watching us with a look like "even I wouldn't eat that stuff". It made Limburger seem like Cream Cheese. My eyes were watering. It's similar to Limburger though and quite popular in Belgium which isn't surprising since Belgium is the original home of Limburger cheese.
I also like real Dutch aged Gouda. So much better than the boring American version of Gouda. It's tangy and sharp and not bad grated.
So give it another try and try a few others if you get the chance. OK, maybe the fridge will get a bit ripe but you can always put a box of baking powder in there to sop it up.
I think it was Confucius that said you'll live an extra 100 days for each new food you try. With something like Limburger it might be worth 200 days.
Thanks for the suggestions xeric.
I love trying new foods and especially cheeses. Recently I've been eating an Asiago with Pesto cheese that I stuff into a baked chicken breast during the last 5 minutes or so in the oven. And Goat cheese with an apple... Yum.