Do you find the idea of selecting cheese for a dinner party daunting? Here's a quick guide to arranging a cheese course.
Posts with tag cheese course
Tip of the Day - Creating the Perfect Cheese Plate
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The Art of Affinage - Cheese Course
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| Pipe Dreams Demi. Photo: Max Shrem. |
Like Voltaire, the 18th-century French philosopher who compared the intellectual work of assembling the Encyclopédie to cultivating a garden, Anne Saxelby also compares affinage to tending a garden: "I check up on them [the aging goat's milk cheeses] every half hour, moving stuff around and turning the cheeses," says Saxelby, who has been aging cheeses now for about two years.
We decided to try an un-aged Pipe Dreams Demi next to one that's been aged a week and a half to taste the difference (visually, they're extremely apparent – see the photo above). Upon cutting into the younger one (on the left), the paste tends to run from under the beautifully developed bloomy rind. The taste was surprisingly pungent and aggressively remained on the palate for several minutes. On the contrary, the aged Pipe Dreams Demi seemed like an ideal redistribution of the younger one's tanginess. The spicy taste, reminiscent of walnuts and similar to an aged Pouligny Saint Pierre, came in nearly perfectly measured successions.
Abbaye de Belloc - Le Cheese Course
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| Abbaye de Belloc. Photo: Max Shrem |
When it comes to firm sheep's milk cheeses, most Americans are more or less familiar with Italian Pecorinos, like Pecorino Romano, and, of course, the renowned Spanish Manchego. But, in the Ossau valley in the French Pyrenees, cheesemakers also craft unique sheep's milk cheeses, like the famed Ossau-Iraty, and the less known Abbaye de Belloc.
These cheeses stand out due to their particularly sweet delicate flavor and firm, creamy texture that gradually melts on the palate. Among them, Abbaye de Belloc remains a gastronomic gem with its exceptionally well-balanced, smooth, unctuous texture, a result of the milk of the red-nosed Manech ewes (not to be confused with Santa's red-nosed reindeer, Rudolph).
"The best way to appreciate this kind of consistency is to eat a very thin slice," says Fromagerie Trotté's Jean-Philippe Trotte in Paris. "The thinner the slice, the better you'll take in the very sain [French for uncontaminated, healthy and wholesome] taste of the cheese's milk."
Roquefort 101 -- Le Cheese Course
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| Roquefort. Photo: Furey and the Feast, Flickr |
In the United States, Roquefort -- which has undergone quite the year in the press -- most frequently winds up in salads. Stateside cheese shops usually carry just one or two varieties.
In Paris, however, the stinky blue fromage is a staple; it's nearly impossible not to find several varieties at local supermarkets and an abundance at the fromageries, where varieties range from mildly spicy and sweet to pungent and creamy.
Three main factors cause this: the specific culture of Penicillium roqueforti (the fungus used to create the blue veins in the cheese) used; the types of caves and the quantity made. There's a bit of mystique, too: "What distinguishes one strain of Penicillium roqueforti from another one is part of the cheesemaker's secret," says Mme. Barthélémy, fromagère at Paris's Barthélémy cheese shop, which sells a to-die-for artisanal Roquefort.
Five fave Roqueforts after the jump.
Pouligny Saint Pierre -- Le Cheese Course
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| Pouligny Saint Pierre. Photo: Vincent M, Flickr |
Those interested in the aesthetics of chèvres that come in striking shapes and sizes will certainly be seduced by Pouligny Saint Pierre, a classic French goat's milk cheese shaped like a pyramid. Hailing from the region of Berry, close to the renowned châteaux of the Loire valley, this cheese has a distinctive floral aroma and grassy, nutty taste.
When it comes to French goat's milk cheeses like Pouligny Saint Pierre (and many others like Valençay) there are key differences in flavor and texture between ones imported to the United States and those eaten in France. In the United States, Pouligny Saint Pierre is sold fresh and has almost no rind, giving it a mild, fresh taste and cakey yet creamy texture. In France, however, because the cheese is made with raw milk and is aged to various degrees by affineurs, it comes in many more varieties.
Fontainebleau - Le Cheese Course
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| Fontainebleau. Photo: Marie-Anne Cantin |
This odd-looking fromage is oh-so-French (and, in fact, available solely in that country). Those planning a trip there would be wise to look up the delicious Fontainebleau, which is here pictured with the net that covers it when it is sold.
France has many varieties of creamy cheese, from crème fraîche and fromage blanc to petit-suisse and Chantilly. Combining characteristics of all four mentioned above, Fontainebleau, which must be eaten the day it's put out for sale, is especially worth trying for a rich, sweet taste and fluffy, light texture that's similar to whipped cream.
It's so light, in fact, it requires strange packaging. "The reason for the cloth is to protect the very light structure and to maintain the freshness," says Thomas Le Goff, cheesemonger at fromagerie Marie-Anne Cantin.
Brique Des Flandres - Le Cheese Course
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| Brique Des Flandres. Photo: Max Shrem |
While many French cheesemakers tend to stick to age-old techniques, numerous others break away and establish new methods. The quirky, hard-to-place Brique des Flandres is a result of an innovative process that involves a mixture of two well-established cheesemaking methods: the one that produces stinky Livarot (pronounced lee-vah-ROH) from Normandy and that of Dutch-inspired Mimolette from the Calais region.
Brique des Flandres is a raw cow's milk cheese featuring the same washed rind as a Livarot and an identical bright orange interior paste to Mimolette. After the jump, I'll explain what sets it apart from both.
Fromage Blanc - Le Cheese Course
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| Fromage Blanc with pears and honey. Photo: Marylise Doctrinal, Flickr |
If you like eating thick, creamy French cheese such as Chaource, you're likely to enjoy fromage blanc. At Fromagerie Trotté, customers come in weekly for what at first blush resembles chunks of cream, large pieces of mascarpone or crème fraîche. They are not ordering cream, of course, but are lining up for fromage blanc -- also called fromage frais, which literally translates to "fresh cheese."
Fromage blanc is a young cheese that is made from cow's milk. It's essentially an un-aged fresh cow's milk cheese – that is, it represents the beginning stages of cheesemaking before the addition of rennet and salt. Therefore, its texture is soft and milky, similar to that of cottage cheese and yogurt. Like yogurt, it has a relatively low fat content (assuming that there is no added cream.)
Tasting and Testing a Wheel - Le Cheese Course
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| A wheel of Comté in Paris' Rungis Market. Photo: Max Shrem |
For many of us, tasting a cheese just involves swiping a cheese plane or knife against the surface (or the pâte) of a cheese and popping it into our mouths. In France, amongst fromagers (cheese mongers) and affineurs (cheese agers), a dedicated process involves not only tasting the cheese, but also touching it to feel its texture.
Faire la sonde is a cheese ritual in which a slender, curved instrument called a sonde à fromage is used to remove a small cylinder of cheese from a wheel. It's like performing surgery on a cheese to inspect the flavor development.
Continue reading Tasting and Testing a Wheel - Le Cheese Course
Little Bloom on the Prairie - Cheese Course
Usually, the thought of goat's milk cheeses conjures up images of small, freshly ripened, creamy-to-crumbly chèvres, like the French Valençay or Brad Parker's ashed log, which come in pyramid and log shapes, respectively. Little Bloom on the Prairie, from Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign, Ill., defies all such expectations. When ripe, its texture turns into a succulent cream that slowly oozes from its rind. (Trust us, that's tastier than it sounds).
Little Bloom on the Prairie is a goat's milk cheese with a bloomy rind similar to Mont Vivant, but with a luscious consistency that make its texture more comparable to a rich Brie. Still, even though the cheese's silky touch matches that of a bloomy rind, its flavors are distinctly herbal, floral and even grassy (tastes often associated with goat's milk cheeses). In short, based upon its texture and appearance (this bloomy rind cheese is in the format of a smaller Camembert), Little Bloom on the Prairie seems like a typical runny cow's milk cheese.
As with life, however, appearances can be deceiving: A bite of this fromage reveals an unexpected yet pleasant tang.
Continue reading Little Bloom on the Prairie - Cheese Course
Lancaster Duet - Cheese Course
Gouda fans and those who love sweet, butterscotch-like flavors in their savory snacks may well go wild for Lancaster Duet, a cow and goat's milk cheese from Farmstead First in Lancaster, Neb.A bite of this beautiful caramel-colored cheese initiates a complicated succession of flavors that begins with notes of dried dates and apricots, evolves into honey and candy and finally tapers off with a mild, sweet and milky tang. Its texture mimics its broad range of flavors: dense, with a sturdy exterior, it yields at a bite to reveal an incredibly creamy center.
In layman's terms, this is a handcrafted gastronomic masterpiece cave-aged to perfection. The complex cheese comes courtesy of Farmstead First, a collaboration between Krista Dittman (right) of Branched Oak Farm, 15 miles north of Lincoln, and Charuth Loth (left) of nearby Shadow Brook Farm. The name "duet" refers to the collaboration itself and the use of two different milks in the cheese. (Incidentally, this means Lancaster Duet is not officially a "farmstead" fromage, which must use milk from only one farm).
Learn more and find out where to find the cheese after the jump.
What's Shape Got to Do with It? - Cheese Course
What's shape got to do with it?
Well, if you're a cheese, lots. From log-shaped ashed goat to pyramid-shaped Mont Vivant, the cheeses we've been covering in recent weeks come in different shapes and, believe it or not, those structures have a lot to do with how they taste.
A cheese with less surface area is often also a dense cheese, and sometimes needs to be aged longer for the flavors deep within the structure to fully develop. Consequently, small chèvres, such as the disc-shaped Rond Vivant from Rainbeau Ridge Farm may be more pungent. As Lisa Schwartz from Rainbeau expresses it, "the differences in surface area produce more than subtle variations in flavor."
Continue reading What's Shape Got to Do with It? - Cheese Course
Mont Vivant - Cheese Course
Pressed onto a baguette, crumbled over salads, or eaten straight, we can't get enough of goat cheese in springtime.
This year, voluptuaries and gastronomes seeking a decadently rich and creamy goat's milk cheese will go wild for Rainbeau Ridge Farm's Mont Vivant. Unlike other mold-ripened goat's milk cheeses (like Selles sur Cher or Valençay), this offering from Bedford Hills, NY has an exquisite bloomy rind (unusual in goat's milk cheeses) that seems to impart a more complex and cakey texture, as if it were a cross between Valençay and Brie.
Pipe Dreams Farm Ashed Goat Cheese - Cheese Course
Locavores and others yearning for an American alternative to French springtime goat's milk cheeses like Montrachet and Saint Maure de Touraine will most definitely delight in the ash-coated log from Pipe Dreams Farm in Greencastle, Penn.
This dense, 12-ounce "ashed log" of goat's milk cheese tastes mildly grassy, nutty and slightly peppery towards its edible ash rind. When the cheese is sliced, its paste exudes a seductive floral aroma with hints of citrus fruit. In a word, it's exquisite. But goat cheese is goat cheese, no?
Continue reading Pipe Dreams Farm Ashed Goat Cheese - Cheese Course
When Should You Eat the Rind? - Cheese Course
Cheese rinds: To eat or not to eat?
Tia Keenan, fromager at Manhattan's Casellula Cheese and Wine Café, divides rinds into three categories: manmade (plastic or wax, as on Gouda) that should never be eaten, natural rinds not recommended (due to an unpleasant taste) and natural rinds that should always be eaten. Let's start with the third category -- rinds that should never be treated as fromage trash. Keenan explains that the rinds of bloomy rind cheeses like Camembert, Brie and Brillat-Savarin are a crucial part of their flavor profiles. According to her, choosing not to eat these rinds "is like eating a cake without the frosting or a pie without the crust."
Many food enthusiasts eat all natural rinds (which arise out of the same mold and bacteria that comprise the cheese) because they view them as part of the overall flavor. Sergio Hernandez, cheese expert and the manager of the soon-to-open Brooklyn Larder (an offshoot of the highly-acclaimed Franny's restaurant), states that eating the rinds of a cheese allows him to develop a "sense of memory."
"When I recognize a cheese just by smelling it," Hernandez says, "it is because I remember very specific things that I tasted in that rind." Keenen eats every single natural rind she encounters because they "can add great dimension and flavor to cheeses and are often a work of art."
In short, whether or not you want to eat all natural rind cheeses is a matter of taste, but keep in mind Keenan's words: "We know how hard cheesemakers work to make beautiful bloomy rinds, and it's heartbreaking to see someone dig the cheese out of the rind on a Camembert."
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