Cheese! (he said)
by Kent 8 Jul 2011The Wikipedia entry on French cheese runs to dozens of pages. Heather has a 781 page book, The Cheese Lover’s Companion, on her iPad. A lot of people before me have talked about French cheese, so I won’t pretend to add anything new or unique to the discussion. However…
French cheese is really good. I mean it’s REALLY, really, good. And the variety is almost infinite. You can of course find hard cheese, soft cheese, mild cheese, smelly cheese, plus cheeses with a whole rainbow of molds, not just the blue mold we’re used to in the US. There’s white mold, gray mold, black mold, and yellow/orange mold. There are cheeses with very delicate, subtle flavors, and there’s cheese that looks (and smells) like something the cat horked up. As Heather points out, only in France could someone forget their cheese in the cellar, come back six months later to find it covered in mold, and think, “oh, that looks delicious, I think I’ll try it!”
One wonders why in the United States, with all the dairy production, and all the different climates, and all the different cows, we’ve managed to give the world… cheddar. Oh sure, we have mild cheddar, and sharp cheddar, and I guess cheddar actually came from England originally, so we really don’t have any cheese we can truly call our own after all, although I think well-aged Vermont cheddar is pretty tasty. And I guess we invented both Velveeta and String Cheese, which sort of makes my point in a round-about, not completely crystal-clear way.*
Yes, we can buy French cheese at home (but only the pasteurized, ie., not as good, kind), and there are cheeses from other countries that are pretty tasty (Parmigiano, Asiago, Stilton), but it seems like there should be special regional cheeses in the US. Many states are experimenting with wine production in the US, why not some specialty cheeses?
Early in my France travels I was content to use the throw-a-dart method of buying cheese, and just bought whatever looked good. It was too difficult to a) remember and b) keep track of all the different cheeses anyway, and I rarely had any big failures with this method, so all was well. This summer, though, with a full ten weeks at my disposal, I set out to modify my cheese acquisition strategy to a more rigorous, empirically verified method. I avoided the pre-wrapped cheese in the grocery stores and instead made the most of open-air markets and cheese specialty shops, where I could get un petit goût (a little taste) before buying. This has paid enormous dividends, for in the past month we have truly hit the jackpot, fromage-wise. I have successfully narrowed the vast universe of French cheese to four main favorites, Brebis, Vieux Cantal, Salers, and Époisses de Bourgogne (your favorites might vary!)
Brebis is made from sheep’s milk, and has a firm yet soft and creamy texture. The flavor is medium strength, and the rind is natural, and is meant to be eaten along with the center. Brebis simply translates to female sheep, so there are numerous different types and styles and flavors of this kind of cheese.
Cantal is made from cow’s milk in the Cantal Mountains, near Toulouse, and the cheese is sold under different names after different lengths of aging. Vieux (old) Cantal has been aged at least six months, which gives the rind a moldy, savory firmness, and which makes the cheese itself almost grainy in texture. During long aging, the various chemicals in the cheese start to crystalize, which is what makes this interesting transformation. If you’ve ever eaten very sharp Cheddar, you’ll recognize the consistency. The taste is of little spikes of different flavors, which combined yield an overall tangy-nutty sensation.
Salers is made from raw cow milk, and is semi-hard in texture. It takes its name from a town 2,900 feet up in the Cantal Mountains that has been making the cheese for 2000 years, and is considered an elite form of Cantal. The AOC requirements are rigorous; it must be made only from May through October in stone huts called burons, when the special breed of Salers cows graze in the high mountain pastures. Outside of the summer months the milk goes into regular Cantal manufacture. The taste is out of this world – very complex, savory, and nutty. With aging (3-18 months), the natural rind thickens to about a quarter inch of moldy, pitted, decayed deliciousness. It’s almost like you can taste the “terroir”, a word usually associated with wine, but in this case, you can taste just a hint of blue skies and green pastures. Really!
Époisses de Bourgogne, from cow milk, has been called the “king of cheeses” by famous gastronomic types, although fans of Roquefort will tend to argue the point. It was invented 500 years ago by Cistercian monks in the middle of Bourgogne (Burgundy). It is very, um, aromatic. The texture is creamy, becoming more fluid as it ages. The cheese sticks all over the inside your mouth, so you get to savor it for a good while. The rind is washed during ripening by a brandy called “Marc de Bourgogne”, which somehow promotes the desirable, orange bacteria to flourish on the surface. In the store it looks like a small, orange wheel of Brie. I find it interesting that while the smell can be almost overpowering, the taste is very delicate and savory.
I’m not sure what your chances are of finding these cheeses outside of France. A couple years ago my very favorite wife managed to find a small wheel of Époisses in a specialty cheese store right in our hometown in Virginia. That is more the exception than the rule, though. My recommendation, if you like cheese, is to get your passport up to date and make the trip over here to enjoy the best cheese in the world!
[continue to my next post about French cheese, in Part 2]
* Ok, yes, we also invented the “Jacks” (Colby, Monterrey, Pepper, etc.), not a major contribution to the universe of dairy products, IMHO.
Wonderfully done, you’re right about American cheese although just saw a special on cheese from America’s Dairyland, they have a lot of unique cheeses there. Can’t get them outside the state but sounds like worth a trip. They sure don’t compare to the selection you found in France! Well they have had a few hundred years head start–maybe there is still hope.
Renee Sharman writes …
Very much enjoyed the cheese post Kent, and I think I may be able to shed some light as to why we have not developed fine cheese production in the U.S.A. I consider myself a cheese lover as well, although having been exposed to the limited US varieties, I would agree that you can’t go wrong with a good pepper jack, and my family’s favorite European cheese is Gruyere, which is simply referred to as ‘stinky cheese’ in our household.
This leads me to the core reason Americans are not fanatical about great cheeses. While the words you used in your blog were spot on in their description of fine cheese, they would not be words typically found in describing yummy foods in America. (i.e. mold, sandy, gout.)
I’ll begin with the Brebis – made from sheep and has a natural rind. Would that be natural, as in formed during the aging process, or natural as in wrapped in some other edible part of the sheep – similar to the ‘natural rind’ of haggis? Cantal – so old it crystallizes into a sandy or grainy texture. Ever tried to make a sandwich at the beach, being ever so careful to keep all the ingredients on the clean paper plate propped on top of the ice chest, only to have some happy child run by and kick sand all over your food? That tooth grinding texture is something we generally try to avoid. Other misunderstood cheese terminology: un petit gout (well anything that’s going to give me a little inflammation of the joints should be avoided.) Tangy (if I bite into a food which tastes tangy, and that tanginess is a result of the aging process, I know to spit before swallowing and immediately dispose of the fermented item.) Moldy (anything which has a hint of nap on it should be tossed before the nap spreads further.) Liquefy (If you open a container of food which started out firm, but which is now watery, it will probably make you sick.) Aromatic (get real…what you really mean is ‘stinky’.) But since our favorite cheese IS ‘stinky cheese’ perhaps I need to stop emptying my refrigerator of cheeses which have developed the above characteristics, and start sampling them with an appropriate bacteria killing wine.
When you return from your adventures, give Rob Schwartz a call. He is also a huge cheese lover and recently found a great cheese shop in DC, where you may be able to acquire some of the fine French cheeses you describe. Of course he returned from said shop with a bag the size of a lunch sack, only half full of $90 worth of cheese.
As stated, many entrepreneurs have jumped into the wine business in Virginia. Perhaps you and Heather will produce the US’s first wildly successful fine cheese. We certainly have cows and sheep in here in the valley. You could lease some and let them graze on the upper slopes at Bryce. The only North American Four Season Resort Cheese Producer with a Christian label!