From the Lombardy region, Gorgonzola is one of Italy’s oldest cheeses. It is named after the village that was once a resting place for cattle returning from their summer grazing in the Alpine pastures.
David, one of The Lady’s favorite cheese friends, gave her a sample piece to bring home for his favorite feline foodie (that would be me) to review for you, my loyal readership. Thanks, by the way, we are approaching 60K hits in less than 22 months of writing about my favorite food (that would be cheese). When the day comes and I am about to return to the Mothership and The Brain, unlike those aliens in Men in Black, I’ll be stuffing my bags with every imaginable cheese that humankind has to offer. And if there is extra room, I’ll also include some Golden Glen Creamery’s Farmstead Butter… but I digress… according to The Lady I do that a lot…
This particular offering of Gorgonzola was produced by the Mauri Company and I have to tell you I was, constantly throughout the cheese plate dinner, fighting The Man to get my fair share of this Gorgonzola. Someone really needs to explain the humankind concept of “sharing” to him. You’d think David sent this sample home to The Man…hello… he sent it home to the Feline Foodie and let me say it one more time…that would be me!!
The blue veining in this gorgonzola is almost a navy hue making for a beautiful cheese on the cheese plate The Lady had prepared. I’ll be reviewing all four cheeses today and although this was the last we tasted, I decided to throw cheese caution to the wind and review it first… I hope I’m not breaking some cheese plate etiquette and if I am… well… who gives a Rattus norvegicus’ patooty? Actually, that sounds better the way The Lady says it when she’s not talking like a lady… Oops… that digression thing again…
We had fresh, warm French baguette with the cheese plate and this Gorgonzola was perfect on the bread: rich, creamy and just spicy enough without over-powering the palate. As mentioned above, The Man would have eaten it all if I hadn’t put my paw down…
The Lady doesn’t carry this cheese at her cheese kiosk and this is a loss for her customers… my guess is that David has plans to change this and The Lady and I are both hoping he is successful.
I give the Mauri Gorgonzola 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got… unless there’s something in the local water that might change that at a later date… just saying…)
Serving Suggestions: Cheese Plate; with grapes, pears and most any other fruit; it would also make a killer salad dressing… I also came across this Gorgonzola Cream Sauce (for filet mignon) at foodchannel.com and since The Lady has a ribeye (which was dry-aged for 28 days) on the menu for this evening… you do the math…
Wine Pairings: Dessert wines are the best with Gorgonzola of this quality: a Port or a Muscat.
Beer Pairing: Robust, yeasty Trappist-style ale would be a perfect pairing to stand-up to this cheese.
Source: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk
Trivia: The mold in blue cheeses starts out green and oxidation is what turns it blue… and as it ages it turns darker.
FTC Full Disclosure – The cheesemaker/manufacturer sent me their product, hoping I would review the product/cheese.
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I love this cheese as well, and the spiciness will be perfect on the 28 day aged ribeye.
Enjoy