Liptauer Cheese

Is there anything more dispiriting than accidentally over salting a dish?

There is nothing more vexing for me. The time spent assembling the ingredients, the cost incurred, the hope that the next taste will tell you that it's just your imagination...

I over salted the Liptauer Cheese, and I think the recipe and I should share the blame equally.

If you don't know what Liptauer Cheese is, it's a cheese spread that you make with either cream or goat cheese, which such tasty items as shallots, anchovies, capers and caraway seeds thrown in.

My fault: I substituted anchovy paste for minced anchovy fillets. I didn't measure either, I was sort of casual about it (not that I know how much paste=fillet, but I was assuming about a teaspoon.)

Their fault: the recipe reads, "add paprika, capers, anchovies, shallots, caraway, and salt and pepper to taste and beat until well combined." Now, you can't taste until after something is mixed together, and I know this but threw in a pinch of salt anyway (literalist that I am).

It's just too much. It hits you about mid-palate on the roof of the mouth, and it's going in the trash.

Blech!