Where do you buy your block Parmesan cheese?

MrsE_2

purpleivy wrote: »

I like the costco one,. It comes in bigger lumps with less rind:cheese.

You need a card for Costco, I don't even think there is one near me anyway.

missbargain

I think that for decent quality that is about the right price.

Incidentally, my husband bought our first Asda parmesan a few days ago (usually we buy it in our local Sainsbury's or Tesco), and it was DELICIOUS! It was Grana Padano (spelling?) in a kind of brownish packaging.
I actually commented to him as we were eating it that it was the nicest supermarket parmesan of all that I have tried (just my personal taste, of course). I haven't tried Aldi, Lidl, Somerfield, ets. It was really tasty with nice consistency, not carboardy like some other parmesans out there.
I believe that for the nice quality ones it is hard to find much cheaper unless they are on a special. I noticed when I bought much cheaper sometimes that the taste really suffered a lot to the point that it changed the taste of the dish. Although, I am now intrigued by the Lidl one that some posters have mentioned.
If you go to "supermarketcompare.com" site, you can have a look how much the equivalent costs in Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose (Ocado), but other chains are not there.
I love Jamies show and all of his cookbooks I have are excellent, but I don't have the Ministry of Food one. Yet.
Bon Appetite!

P.S.
What I sometimes do, if the cheese is extra tasty and stronger, I put a bit less in a dish than required by the recipe and it's still O.K. But I love cheese, and can easily scoff half a block in one sitting, so I often go for the second grating on top.

cowbutt

Lidl here, too. Theirs is matured a bit longer than Aldi's, but is the same price.

Penelope_Penguin

As this is a shopping question, rather than Old Style, I'll move it to the Shop Don't Drop board

Freebs2008

I've found quite a few bits reduced by half price on the Waitrose deli counter recently. They are small bits so you do get a little more rind but they have still helped us a lot (also for Jamie's book!! )

The other place I found the padano the other day is Morrison's which was 1.99p for a block which seemed very good.

arsenalboy

I buy mine from Tooters.

MrsE_2

missbargain wrote: »

Incidentally, my husband bought our first Asda parmesan a few days ago (usually we buy it in our local Sainsbury's or Tesco), and it was DELICIOUS! It was Grana Padano (spelling?) in a kind of brownish packaging.
I actually commented to him as we were eating it that it was the nicest supermarket parmesan of all that I have tried (just my personal taste, of course).

Thats the one I bought:beer: from Asda.

I will keep buying it them if its so good, there doesn't seem to be any that are much cheaper anyway.

missbargain

Yes, I really liked it when I tried it, I remember I was surprised when he said it was from Asda. Not that Asda is bad, it is just that it tasted like some of the more expensive, gourmet parmesans that I have bought before.
Maybe just use a bit less, sometimes the recipes call for too much fatty stuff (cream, cheese, butter, sugar etc.). I don't mean Jamie's recipes, but in general, I often reduce the amount of these things when cooking. Perhaps in baking one has to be more precise and use the stated amounts, but in normal cooking, I think that the quantities can be reduced a bit without considerably changing the taste. Just my opinion, of course it depends on personal preferences, too. On the other hand, sometimes I put more of something than per recipe (such as garlick or herbs, I often find that I need more garlick than the recipe asks for).
But I have to try Lidl one next time, I wonder how it compares to the Asda one

~daisy~_2

italy here too and grate it then freeze it and use it frozen

ian1969uk

Aldi's parmesan is great, about £2.30 for a nice big block.