Also, the crust can be chopped up and added to risotto (as you're cooking it) and they turn into wonderful little chewy chunks.
I’m French and something that surprise me is that both Italy and France have very good cheeses, but only in France we eat cheese on its own as part of the meal: the traditional French meal is: starter / main plate / cheese (sometimes with salad) / dessert. In Italian restaurants you sometimes find them as antipasti, but not always, and (at least in my experience) at home people don’t really eat cheese on its own.
In America eating cheese by itself is usually seen as a very fancy activity.
I can’t think of the last time I had a spread of just cheese in the US, and it was probably a fancy place.
It was weirdly fancy (eating good cheese), and weirdly not (I don't think of March madness brackets as a particularly refined thing). It was all delicious though!
[1]: https://ericbirlouez.fr/index.php/activites/articles/42-une-... (fr)
We usually lean over the sink, with the bag of shredded in one hand…
that's sad. i love at home charcuterie boards and a nice bottle of wine. while much more fancy that what my dad did. I did grew up with blocks of cheese pretty much always available as he loved cheese. and no, we're not from Wisconsin
You can see remnants in pop culture, e.g. in the '80s we had a tv quiz show called "il pranzo è servito" ("lunch is served") where participants had to win rounds for each of: first course, second course, cheese, dessert, fruit.
There was also a saying in central Italy "la bocca non è stracca se non sa di vacca" ("the mouth is not tired unless it tastes of cow", which in hindsight is odd cause there's mostly sheep cheese there) but by the '90s the cheese plate had switched to antipasti only, IME.
Appenzeller medium, young Asiago, sake trappist cheese, blue brie, extra sharp English cheddar, and of course mozzarella and halloumi.
I think both the Grana and the Parmiggiano are great in some places but not everywhere, so I couldn't pick them as sole winners.
Thanks for the risotto tip; gonna have to try that. I've never tasted the rind after cooking it in soup: it's not an appealing look to my eye.
What size should the rind be chopped up for risotto?
From italian its pecorino pepato (specifc, I know) and then black truffles variants, usually also of pecorino.
Maybe cheese you mention are more of an acquired taste rather than love at first sight, can't tell but will keep trying :)
Also I always add the rind to my risotto too!
Parmigiano Reggiano is more tightly controlled, and has larger total cheese produced (by a fair bit I think).
Very good Grana Padano can be just as good, but there are lots of bulk producers who turn out younger, cheaper cheese, that is yummy, but not as good as aged Parmigiano Reggiano.
FWIW, in the USA in particular, there is quite an industry in fake Parmigiano Reggiano.
https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-08-25/c...
I mean, you do you, but you'd find me reaching for a lot of other cheeses first to go with my bread.