Community Rules
You must post before you leave
Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).
Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.
Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.
Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".
Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.
Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.
Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.
Avoid AI generated content.
Avoid misinformation.
Avoid incomprehensible posts.
No threats or personal attacks.
No spam.
Moderator Guidelines
Humboldt Fog is an American cheese and is my favorite fancy cheese. I hold it above French and Italian cheeses, it's freakishly good.
I would buy American Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food slices for grilled cheese sandwich or burger, but the individually wrapped slices piss me off too much. The white (not swiss) American cheese on Cuban toast is a staple breakfast here. It is delicious.
All cheese is processed.
is that cheese processed? If it's processed I don't want it
the outcome of any process is cheese
Y'all know we have other cheeses in the states too, right?
Imagine if a chinese company made its own shitty version of tofu, and named it "chinese tofu," and then someone somewhere else concluded that all tofu in China was this shitty kind. That would be the same kind of fallacious assumption as what's going on here.
"American cheese" is more like a product category than a description of any cheese produced in America.
Just like "Canadian bacon" refers to a specific cut/style of bacon, despite most of the bacon I (a Canadian) have eaten is the kind most probably think about when they think "bacon".
I don't think I've ever had French toast from France, or Italian sausage from Italy.
And if someone didn't like Canadian bacon (can't really blame them; don't hate it but don't love it either) and concluded that all bacon produced in Canada was shitty, I can't say that I would care one way or another. Nationalistic pride never made sense to me. I don't make Canadian bacon or other bacon. That's Jim down the road (though don't tell him I don't love Canadian bacon).
"Kraft" literally means "power" in German.
Kraft durch Käse
"The one true product", completely ignoring Texas BBQ
American cheese is just cheddar cheese + sodium citrate. You can make it yourself with cheddar cheese, lemon juice, and baking soda. The sodium citrate acts as an emulsifier, which prevents the cheese from separating when it melts. You can make some really high-quality American cheese, but since this is America, we have agro-businesses creating the cheapest, filler-filled shit possible
Yeah, I get that it's funny to rag on all things American and all, but American cheese is still cheese, in the same sense that a sausage is still meat. It's been processed, yes, but aside from some additives the stuff that comes out is the same stuff that went in.
Ummmm.... no? I can go to a store and buy a sausage that has 3 ingredients: meat, pepper and natural intestine it's packed in. I can also go to a store and buy a sausage that has mean, water, salt, sugar, stabilizer, antioxidant and preservative. Are both still just meat? The additives and the processing are the problem. The more of it in food the less healthy it gets.
Nobody's talking about health, we're discussing if it is or isn't what it claims to be. And yes, your second sausage is still meat. Meat with a ton of additives, yes, but still meat. And likewise, you can have high-quality American cheese that is mostly cheddar with a pinch of sodium citrate, or you can have shitty American cheese that's almost half additives. I know there are shitty products out there, that is, again, not what the conversation is about. The point is just because it's American cheese doesn't mean it's not cheese.
By the American government's own definition most of it legally cannot be called cheese. Instead its "IMITATION PASTEURIZED PROCESS CHEESE FOOD" or something similar.
Even the stuff that can be labeled cheese only has to be 51% cheese, and 49% can be something else.
Then it's not American cheese, is it? It's imitation cheese food. The package in that photo doesn't even claim so, it just calls itself "singles." I'm aware there's a race to the bottom to make the cheapest shittiest substitute for just about anything in the US, but that's not the discussion.
The discussion is something being American cheese doesn't automatically mean it's not cheese. Going back to my own analogy, you could argue the same about sausage if you held up a picture of sausage-style meat type food.
Best part is when those people think we don't have access to any other cheese, the ignorance is something else
IIRC, “American” is a technical term of art referring to this process, so theoretically one could have American French cheese and so on.
I've made american cheese out of parmigiano reggiano. Technically, it's not just cheese and sodium citrate; you also need extra water depending on how dry the cheese is. It's a good way to add flavor because you can use stock, or beer, or mountain dew, or whatever.
It's a good way to add flavor because you can use stock,
I see
or beer,
Hm. Interesting
or mountain dew
*rebel-base alarms go off, personnel evacuating*
That's my secret for cheese sauces that don't break. I make the sauce and throw in the tiniest bit of sodium citrate. I'm talking 1/4 tsp per quart of sauce. If you can't find the pure stuff, a single slice of American cheese produces the same effect.
I've made cheese sauce out of cheese that shouldn't be used for cheese sauce, like romano, and feta, to make absolutely divine sauces that don't break even when refrigerated.
My grocery store just sells sodium citrate, is that not normal? Love the stuff!
It depends on the area. I've never had issues finding it in larger cities, but some of the small towns I've lived in and visited didn't seem to carry anything but the basics.
According to wikipedia:
A mix of ingredients that must include at least 51% cheese (such as a traditionally made cheddar or Colby) is ground, combined with emulsifying agents and other ingredients that may total up to 49%
At least it's mostly cheese. Probably. Good old 'Murica never fails to underwhelm.
The stuff you get at a restaurant is frequently 100% actual cheese + emulsifier. Even Dairy Queen. The stuff in a grocery store is hit or miss, though. Kraft Singles for example cannot even legally call themselves American Cheese. They are a "Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product". Always check the small print on the label for "American Cheese" that's on its own.
The burger was not an import from Germany, rather, many ground meat products were referred to by a German city name, Wiener (Wein being Vienna), Frankfurter (Frankfurt), Berliner ( US president John F Kennedy), ECT
So when they made a sandwich using a style of ground beef introduced by immigrants from Hamburg it got called a “hamburger”, but the practice of frying a ground beef patty and making a sandwich out of it is not from hamburg.
You'll never guess which German city the cheeseburger was named after
That's mighty confident!
My understanding is that there are plausible competing theories, one of which is that hamburgers were iniquity made in Hamburg.
See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hamburger or like a book or something
The style of ground meat certainly was, but, there are no records or references to it being cooked as a patty and served as a sandwich in Hamburg.
The first references and evidence we have for it absolutely come from the US, wether it be menus, mentions in news papers, or other textual evidence.
Lots of different claims as to who did it first, but who ever it was, all the historical evidence shows that the concept originated in the US. Probably none of the people who claim to have invented it actually did, but, we do have records from the time that show the concept spreading between diners along the east coast.
This is immediately and indelibly part of my worldview. Blocking and hiding any contrary comments
I mean, it's called Kraft cheese. Does that sound American to you? No! Thats the German word for power. What kind of power? Well you won't hear me saying it's nuclear power, but the coincidence is too big.
(Agreed, you shouldn't listen to the denialists)
Funny thing is I think I like melted Swiss cheese more on my burgers.
Same; but I also hate the taste of American cheese-product with a complete passion. I prefer a pure cheese, in any context.