Cheese Please
OMGosh - my husband has found the best cheese shop ever! I guess I figure that I’m going to enjoy the decadence calories contained in cheese, I really hope it is some of the finest cheese to be found in our city. This posting is a sampling of a recent expedition taken to the cheese store.
The Cheeses
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Katlbach Alpine Extra
Morbier Fermier AOC
Queso Romero
Comte Poligny Extra
Comte Montagne Vagne
Baluchon - cow/unpasteurized/Quebec - A cheese with a rich aroma of milk, flowers and hay.
Cambozola Black Label - cow/pasteurized/Germany - Triple cream, soft ripened blue cheese. Mature in special cold cellars. Suggested to enjoy with truffle honey or balsamic reduction. We enjoyed this sinfully smooth and creamy cheese on a very very plain cracker as we needed something to put this soft cheese on that wouldn’t in any way detract from the delicate blue flavour suspended in this triple cream.
Cambozola - this is a pasteurized cow cheese from Germany. It is good…but the ‘Black Label Cambozola’ above is in a far superior flavour and texture class :).
Montboissie - cow/unpasteurized/Auvergne, France - Montboissier is a morbier style cheese, produced in France-Comte. Insted of the signature ash, it has been replaced with grape must.
Grand Creme - cow/pasteurized/France - Triple cream brie! Wow and Yum!! excellent with a Grand Cru champagne ;)!!!
Another brie we have enjoyed in the past is Campagnier d’Affinois.
Tomme de Savoie - cow/unpasteurized/France, Savoie - Traditionally, if there is not enough milk to make a large cheese such as Beaufort, it is instead separated with the cream used to make butter, and the remaining skim milk used to make Tomme de Savoie. It is said that there are as many tommes in Savoie as there are mountains and valleys. Recommended wine pairing is a classic red bordeaus or similar style.
Gruyere (top missing from this photo :)) - cow/unpasteurized/Switzerland - there’s grocery store gruyere, which can be rubbery in texture…and then there is this fresh smooth easy going gruyere.
Champagne Cheddar - Rich, medium flavoured and oh so deliciously creamy! Everything you want in an outstanding farmhouse cheddar.
Comtomme - cow, organic and unpasteurized from the Eastern Townships, Quebec.
Bleu Dauphin - a French Double Cream (cow) Bleu cheese, need I say more ;)? This one is ridiculously smooth…and yet it’s a blue cheese…2 thumb’s up!!
Comte Montagne 24 - Charles Arnaud “Reserve’ Aged 24 months - who doesn’t love a story or attention to detail?! Well, here goes for this special cheese. It is an unpasteurized cheese from Jura, France and made exclusively from Montbilliard cattle. It takes 530 liters of milk (the daily production from 30 cows) to make one 45 Kg wheel of Comte. This cheese is produced and aged at above 1150m, where it is further aged in the caves at Fort des Rousses.
Tomme des Croquants - a pasteurized cow cheese from south west France. A lovely cheese that is brushed with walnut liqeur while it ages.
Brebicet - this picture almost captures the pillowy softness of this cheese - It is a pasteurized sheep cheese produced in the Rhone-Alpes, France at the Guilloteau Creamery, using a proprietary filtering process that results in a silky, smooth textured cheese with a pillowy bloomy rind.
Grand Creme - a cow triple cream brie from France. okay, so…anything with the name ‘Grand’ in it and Triple cream has a lot to live up to and this chesse certainly did :)!!
Sauvagine Reserve - this is a cow pasteurized cheese from Quebec and it seems those that write about cheese have a similar mindset as mine. How do you make a great cheese? Add cram to it, making it triple cream. Isn’t interesting how the triple cream cheeses are the first to disappear in the cheese shop ;)!
Queso de Cabra al Romero - this is a pasteurized goat cheese from Castille-la-Manch in Spain - it is aged 4 months and covered in rosemary.
Chaumes - this is a pasteurized cow cheese from Aquitane (Dordogne/Perigord) France. Let’s just say I put this cheese out for 3 people to savour…and I managed to get one small taste before it was all gone :).
Le Marechal - this is an unpasteurized cow cheese from Switzerland. It is brushed with wine and herbs on the outside as it ages. This one came with a suggested wine pairing of a Selbach ‘S’ Riesling, Germany.
Bra (DOP) - Usually made from unpasteurized cow milk from Bra, Cuneo, (Piemonte) Italy. However, has been known to contain a mix of goat and sheep milk occasionally.
St. Nectaire Fermier - an unpasteurized cow chees from Auvergne, France. This AOC cheese is made on the farm and not in a factory. It’s aged in rye straw. The smell out of the wrapping is not necessarily pleasant but the flavour, once sliced and the skin removed, is lovely.
Abondance - An unpasteurized cow cheese from Savoie, France. Made exclusively from unpasteurized milk produced by the Abondance, Montbeliard and tarinne bread of cattle AOC since 1990. Aged a minimum of 3 months on specially prepared spruce boards.
The Cheeses - Starting with the creamy Brie and then going clockwise around our cheese board:
Campagnier d’Affinois (Brie like):
PH - …a cheese for royalty!
EH - …An elegant after dinner indulgence. This cheese had an ‘in the package’ strong smell and yet ‘out of the package’, this was the mildest creamiest brie ever!…
Cow/ Pasteurized/ Rhone Alps, France
“The technique of ultra-filtration, pioneered by Fromagerie Guilloteau founder Jean-Claude Guilloteau, along with modern lactic fermentation, are used to boost the protein and calcium levels in the curd. Cream is added for flavour and texture. Named for the golden wheat fields in the nearby countryside. Compagnier has a washed rind and a deep amber colour.”
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PH - …engaging cheese with a smooth texture and a hint of body
EH - …moisture is somewhat like a mozzarella and easy going like a mozzarella
Cow/ Thermized/ Charlevoix, Quebec
“A few hundred cattle imported from France between 1608 and 1670 gave birth to the ‘Canadienne’ breed. Less than 1% of the 500,000 herd from 1900 to today. MF 30%”
Katlbach Alpine Extra
PH - …nice bodied cheese enjoyed with a glass of wine in a corner cafe in Paris
EH - …slightly crystalline and dry texture with moderate tasting strength, a teenager
Cow/ Unpasteurized/ Switzerland
“Aged to perfection in the Katlbach caves located on the edge of the Wauwiler Moos area in Lucerne. Made with milk from cows fed only grass and hay. Aged a minimum of 5 months.”
Morbier Fermier AOC
PH - ….taste of fall in the Loire valley while fires warm stone houses
Eh - …a beautiful entry level blue cheese…but it’s not a blue cheese, the line down the centre is ash
Cow/ Unpasteurized/ Franche-Comte, France
“Easily recognized by its black layer of ashes separating it horizontally in the mibble. The bottom layer consists of the morning milk, while the top layer is made from the evening milk.”
Queso Romero
PH - …very special cheese bring back memories of roast chicken on a fall night
EH - …one of my favorite cheeses, imbued with the sublime essence of rosemary, a summer afternoon cheese…a stand alone or a stand out!
Sheep/ Pasteurized/ La Mancha, Spain
“Manchego style cheese. Hand rubbed with lard and rosemary.”
Comte Poligny Extra Aged 9 - 12 months
PH - …thinking of a nice white wine from Burgundy or a Pinot Noir, a beautiful morning on a farm in France with cows
EH - …a polite mild-mannered cheese
Cow/ Unpasteurized/ Jura, France
“Only those top scoring wheels graded 15/20 or higher are given the classification of ‘Comte Extra’”.
