Manchego is what type of spanish food

It also helps that Manchego's well-balanced yet concentrated flavor means a little bit goes a long way. Perhaps best of all, Manchego straddles the line between "basic" and "boutique" with ease, and so can be considered a truly democratic dairy product.

According to The Oxford Companion to Cheese , Manchego is the most popular Spanish cheese, and accounts for more than a third of all traditional cheese production in the country. Its popularity has certainly translated internationally as well. Carlos Yescas, food scholar and program director for the Oldways Cheese Coalition , explains that the cheese's soaring success in the United States is partly due to promotional efforts on the part of the Spanish government, but he also points to the milk.

Good Manchego, the first ones that were coming, they are very easy to eat—they are not super salty, not super sweet, they have the sort of tanginess of the manchega milk.

They are nutty and very well rounded. Until Manchego started trickling in, the most readily available sheep's-milk cheeses in the States were Italian Pecorino Romano and its ilk—long-aged cheeses that are delicious sprinkled sparingly over pasta, but too aggressively salty and pungent for snacking on out of hand. Yescas explains, "[Manchego] is a good cheese that allows itself to do a lot of things.

It can be eaten with honey or with Marconas, just eaten by itself or with a little bit of membrillo. It's a cheese that was presented as a dessert cheese, as a sort of fine cuisine, something that can be enjoyed that way. It was an easy sell. Like cheddar and Tomme de Savoie, Manchego is an uncooked, pressed-curd cheese; it must be made using the tangy, fatty milk of manchega sheep in their native provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, and Toledo, an area due south and southeast of Madrid that makes up the region of La Mancha.

The sprawling, dry region has been home to shepherds and cheesemakers for millennia it also happens to contain the largest continuous wine region in the world.

Wheels of the iconic cheese can easily be identified by their rinds, which are textured in a zigzag pattern from shaping in basket molds made of either plastic or traditional braided grass. The natural rind is usually treated with an anti-molding agent, and a thin wax coating is often added.

Apart from the rind, DOP-approved wheels will also include a tab or label that verifies their credentials. But overlap between the categories, as well as the additional time the cheese spends in transit and customs, can lead to confusion about the designations, which is why, here in the US, Manchego is usually advertised by its numerical age.

Manchego's firm interior can range from white to pale yellow depending on age, with lots of tiny, lacy pores that exude butterfat at room temperature.

Sheep's milk contains nearly twice the percentage of butterfat found in cow's or goat's milk, and milk from the requisite manchega breed is said to be particularly rich and flavorful. While younger Spanish cheese producers have begun to explore new styles of cheesemaking, heritage recipes like Manchego are still considered precious. The cuisine of this region is comprised of a great variety of traditional, hearty yet simple dishes which are prepared using elementary ingredients such as bread, meat, vegetables and accompanied by a wide range of wine, sheep's cheese and desserts, transporting the diner back to the era of Don Quixote and his faithful Sancho.

In Galicia, the meat used for this recipe is the lower portion of the front pork leg, or hock, and it's salt cured. I prepare it with fresh hocks, and it's also delicious.

Read More. Esqueixada is a quintessential Catalan salad. Set to age, the cheese is brushed in olive oil, locking in moisture and flavour, while still allowing it to breathe. Fresh Manchego is aged for a minimum of only 2 weeks, while some spend more than a year maturing. These natural ingredients, without fillers or preservatives, makes it completely free of gluten. For the most intense flavours, animal rennet is favoured, making most Manchego unsuitable for vegetarians. An ambassador for its Spanish culture, Manchego suits all palates and cheeseboards along the likes of Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino-Romano.

A powerhouse of tangy flavours and stimulating senses, Parmigiano-Reggiano exudes tones of toasted butter and roasted hazelnut with a sharp and lingering finish like no other. Its granular texture intersected by grains of crystallised strikes a perfect balance between the savoury tastes, resulting in ultimate umami flavour. Also praised for its firm and flaky texture. Curious about the world of cheese? Here's everything you need to know about how to store, serve and cut cheese!

How do you store your cheese — and what are the signs that the cheese has gone bad? Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. In This Article Expand. What Is Manchego Cheese? How Manchego Is Made. Types of Manchego. Manchego Recipes. Can You Eat the Rind? Featured Video. Read More. Your Privacy Rights.