The Cheese Board

[Mandryka]

Some music to accompany your cheesy potatoes and sausage

Such a strong accent!

[Sir Velo]

Currently enjoying on a sojourn in East Anglia Baron Bigod, a lusty, creamy Suffolk Brie de Meaux, named after a local Norman Bigwig who got up Henry II's nose, accompanied by a crusty baguette and a glass of robust Corbieres.

[Roger Webb]

Some music to accompany your cheesy potatoes and sausage

Such a strong accent!

Thanks for that, my wife will appreciate it, he visited the school in a Paris suburb at which she taught.

[Roger Webb]

............... a local Norman Bigwig who got up Henry II's nose, accompanied by a crusty baguette and a glass of robust Corbieres.....

Painful!!

[Sir Velo]

Painful!!

They devised unusual forms of torture back then.

[french frank]

Yesterday I stocked up with my usual trio of Spanish cheeses from El Colmado - Cabrales, Valdeón and semi-mature Manchego, with a large box of freshly dressed Spanish green olives. So today I thought I would treat myself to a baguette from the Guild of Dough (three quarters the size of the Coop's, twice the price and incomparable). One really needs to buy two because by the time you get home one of them would have been eaten by someone.

[french frank]

No Langres at Tesco for two weeks running so I bought some vintage Gruyere and ... because it's famous and I'd never had it before, Port Salut.

And this concludes my review

Oh, should be clear: I think the Gruyere will be fine. The stuff from the Co-op is.

[vinteuil]

No Langres at Tesco for two weeks running so I bought some vintage Gruyere and ... because it's famous and I'd never had it before, Port Salut.

And this concludes my review

Oh, should be clear: I think the Gruyere will be fine. The stuff from the Co-op is.

... isn't port-salut totally plastic and industriel ?

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-Salut_(marque_fromag%C3%A8re)




(Tho' I did like, from that wiki page -

« Tu l'as trop écrasé, César, ce Port-Salut ! » est un alexandrin et palindrome attribué à Victor Hugo ... )

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[french frank]

... isn't port-salut totally plastic and industriel ?

I don't believe most of what I'm told, so I thought I would try it. It was harmless enough just not ... choice.

(Tho' I did like, from that wiki page -

« Tu l'as trop écrasé, César, ce Port-Salut ! » est un alexandrin et palindrome attribué à Victor Hugo ... )

That altogether made the experience worthwhile. Mille remerciements!

[french frank]

José, chef at our local tapas bar, gave me a lump of Gómez Moreno Manchego to bring home with me, after which I was interested to read about it on the Gómez Moreno website (worth it for the interesting English). The piece I was given has a pale yellow rind (still with the recognisable 'esparto grass' pattern recalling the rush baskets that were once used). This type was brushed with olive oil. Pretty nice. (Yes, I ate the rind).

[oddoneout]

Seeing this thread come up again reminded me that I had what I thought was a very good blue cheese from Aldi the other week. Beacon Blue is a blue cheese - obviously - but made from goats milk. The label says "Creamy, mild and sweet" and that sums it up accurately. The mould is free of the ammoniacal overtones it sometimes gets in blue cheese and so complements the sweetness of the goat cheese beautifully, an altogether more subtle blue cheese. It isn't a hard cheese but holds together well enough to cut thin slices to sandwich between crunchy romaine lettuce leaves for a 'plate of bits' type lunch. Apparently it is also available at Tesco, so I'll have to check that out as Aldi will only have it for a while I imagine - especially as the Aldi here isn't that big so is limited as to what lines it can carry.

[Roger Webb]

Seeing this thread come up again reminded me that I had what I thought was a very good blue cheese from Aldi the other week........

The range of french cheeses in Aldi I find pretty good - although no 'Aux Cru' made from unpasteurised milk, which I prefer when in France.
We had a very acceptable Roquefort the other day....we have a petit morceau with a little glass of Sauternes (Ginestet, bought in .5 litres at the bargain price of £3.49!) instead of pudding.

Edit. And if you're in Aldi see if they have any Chateau Genlaire left, their Wine of the Week....we bought 12.... went back expecting it to be sold out...bought another 24! At £4.99, a snip.

[vinteuil]

The range of french cheeses in Aldi I find pretty good...

... sadly there is no Aldi convenient for us here (tho' on a non-cheese note, we found some excellent chocolate at Aldi (their 85% &c) - and I gather Lidl is good for chocolate too.)

But we have found that Asda is surprisingly good for cheese - during a pre-christmas industrial-scale shop there I looked at their cheeses : a much more impressive range than our normal supermarket shopping (tesco, sainsbury, waitrose) - high-end cheeses, including some rarities. Whether we were lucky, and whether they had been buying in specially for the christmas season - but we were impressed...

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[Keraulophone]

Wandering through Truro's Saturday market this morning I discovered a new cheese stall selling non-Cornish cheeses for a change, as well as local varieties. Having come home with a 250g round wooden box of Baron Bigod (apparently pronounced 'By-God' as it's so good!), the nearest I can compare it with is Tunworth (available from Waitrose), which Raymond Blanc praised as the finest camembert-style cheese. I reckon this BB is an even better brie-de-meaux /camembert-style pasteurised cheese. Absolutely delicious. Now enjoying with baguette and glass of M&S Morgon.

The Cheese Geek: 'Baron Bigod has an absolutely perfect balance between rich decadent butter, and smooth earthy mushroom. It is not sharp or salty like some Bries can be, which is crucial because unlike Camembert, the flavours are so much more subtle and can easily be overpowered. Eating Brie should feel like a really extravagant and comforting experience, and Baron Bigod delivers on every level.'