Alas already sold out at Zabar’s. My wife picked up the “Vaccarinus Petit Vacherin” on recommendation from the cheesemonger as a replacement which I gather is a similar cheese from Switzerland. She says “I think it’s the most perfect cheese I’ve ever had.” Hopefully there will be some left for me to try tonight.
Thanks for the thread- this cheese is new to me but sounds intriguing!
So if you’re in Portland, Cheese Bar has the Rush Creek Reserve. For the Harbison, both Costco and Murray’s have it with Costco about half the price.
Got the same recommendation from my Cheese Monger, when looking for Mont D’Or. Haven’t tried it yet. Waiting for family to show up this week and I know they’ll all want a taste.
I picked one of these up in Boston yesterday and will be eating it with my mom and brother in Vermont today! Getting hungry…
(even better this cheese is made in WI!)
Was so waiting for that LOL!!!
Man, I’ve become a cheese whore. It’s terrible; I lose all dignity when somebody brings Vacherin into the room.
I’ve never been much of a cheese connoisseur but this thread inspired me and I got a wheel (?) of Rush Creek Reserve from DTLA Cheese in Grand Central Market in LA today. The whole experience kinda reminded me of when I was a whiskey newbie and had heard about Pappy online (mostly at the straightbourbon forums) and went into stores looking for it without knowing much about bourbon or whiskey in general; of course, this was a couple of years before Pappy became an elusive unicorn, and it was still on the shelves in places.
Anyways, I had called earlier and then went in later, and it was such a consumerist pleasure/relief to be able to purchase it on the spot. I asked the counter person whether we could age it longer, like 100 days like some people were saying above, and she almost laughed at me, telling me that I’d likely need a special fridge with specific temp/humidity controls, and recommended eating it within a week. This was just before I asked about the Epoisses sitting right next to the RCR and pronounced it in the worst American-English accent possible; I’m grateful that she corrected it with the correct French pronunciation with a straight face.
After all that buildup, tasting the cheese itself was really pleasurable. I think we had it too cold, not warmed up/room temp sufficiently, and it was a little subtle, kind of like a tight wine needing decanting. But it was rich and I could taste the slight smoked-meat flavor, and it went really well with a Pepiere muscadet. I’m really looking forward to exploring more of the cheese there at dtla cheese and sharing in this journey, thanks for the recs!
I picked up my first batch ctoday. They feel like they need a week or so before they are ready to eat. YMMV.
Mark - that was our impression of the first wheel. But since we were leaving town, we ate it anyway.
Planning to open one tomorrow night.
Should I move it from the refrigerator to the wine cellar?
We received three wheels last week and hope to try one on Wednesday (15th wedding anniversary) It will be our first time and I think I’ll heat it in the oven as recommended in the pamphlet that came with the cheese. What else should we serve it with?
Dried cherries, marcona almonds, mild paté
Mel, I would say nothing at all - just let the cheese shine by itself. My wife and I paired up the Rush Creek & the Harbison with a fresh, crusty baguette. To me, the flavors in the cheese are so complex that anything else would simply serve to detract, but YMMV.
Yeah, on their website, Uplands recommends letting it warm up to room temp for at least an hour before consuming, they also have instructions for warming a wheel in the oven.
This is exactly what I did with the Rush Creek (and what I always do with most any cheese of a similar style); a great baguette adds contrasting texture, extremely subtle flavor enhancement and the perfect vehicle for delivery.
So I thoroughly enjoyed the Rush Creek Reserve. Maybe it is indeed the best cheese made in America as 2011 World Champion Cheesemonger Steve Jones claims but also, I think the cheese is cheating. It’s so savory and meaty, it behaves more like pâté than cheese. I’m half kidding. It’s delicious.
We had our 2nd wheels of both the Rush Creek and the Harbison for Thanksgiving (and I am polishing off the remnants of the Rush Creek as I type this - I can safely say it won’t see Saturday ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
).
One thing I will note is that there is “bottle variation” in both cheeses. Our 2nd Rush Creek was much “cleaner”, for lack of a better word - my wife preferred this wheel, but I actually liked the earthiness of the first wheel better.
And the 2nd wheel of the Harbison was much less creamy; no real change in taste per se, but the consistency of the cheese was definitely different/less spreadable.
All gone! The cheese guy at Whole Foods in the Pearl told me on Tuesday that they are allocated 4 for Thanksgiving and 4 for Christmas. This one was funky and delicious. The last bites, closest to the spruce bark, were the best.
I hope you kept eating after that photo. The rind is tasty.
We all enjoyed our first RCR even the dog
Our cheese monger, whom we generally trust implicitly, urged us to cut holes in the RCR, insert garlic or truffle, pour wine over it and put in the oven. We did not do this, but I thought I’d pass along to those who like to experiment.