"cream" news and stories

Photo: travelbex, Flickr.

Fontainebleau. Photo: Marie-Anne Cantin

This summer Slashfood blogger Max Shrem is apprenticing at renowned Paris cheese shop Fromagerie Trotté. For the next two months, in 'Le Cheese Course,' Max will share his impressions and opinions of French cheese à la francaise!

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.

• Strawberries are ripe for more than just whipped cream: They work well with lots of dairy like mascarpone, fresh ricotta and sour cream.
• Baco Noir "Southern Oregon" is one of the state's best reds, and Nebbiolo d'Alba "Briccola" is an steal for an Italian red at $22.95.
• Lucini Gran Riserva Balsamico wins a taste test to determine a good and proper balsamic vinegar.
  
• Cutting through the confusion, the Oregonian explains the terminology behind the different varieties of cream that clutter grocery shelves.
• A recipe for Smoked Salmon Hash, which was once a breakfast favorite at Portland's Heathman Restaurant.
  
• Instead of throwing your rhubarb in a pie, stir it into a chutney.
• Fresh market fungi are perfect for crepes.
  
• Small Bites nibbles on everything from Danny Meyer's new cocktail book "Mix Shake Stir" to the phenomenon of "pine mouth."

Yesterday a friend of mine brought by a jarful of lovely, snowy heavy cream from the local dairy, spoils from his job at a coffee shop. I used some of it to make my favorite fleur de sel caramels, but I've still got a cup or so sitting in the fridge. And I can't figure out what to do with the darn stuff! This is the same problem I have whenever I buy cream to cook or bake with and don't use the whole carton - the rest inevitably ends up souring, unused, next to the jar of capers. I am determined to find a better solution. So I've turned, of course, to the trusty interwebs.

Love Food, Hate Waste has a few ideas - creamy tomato soup, quickie pasta carbonara, apple crisp. The Chowhound message board has some good thoughts - cream scones, mashed potatoes, bread pudding, Alfredo sauce, herbed sauce for fish. I especially like the idea of make-and-freeze soups and pasta sauces, as baking scones with the leftover cream seems like it might just result in wasted cream and wasted flour and sugar. Cooks.com has some of my favorite ideas, with suggestions for recipes utilizing slightly soured cream and milk, like Boston brown bread and sour-cream cake filling.

What are your favorite ways for using up leftover cream?

Need a little non-dairy addition to your coffee?