The Cheese Board

[vinteuil]

I do, however, miss market shopping in France for things like cheese - we often stayed between Honfleur and Pont l'Éveque, and to buy from a stall is a revelation if one is used to supermarket shopping in this country. To be offered six or seven different Pont l'Éveques, all aux cru, and to be presented with a sliver of each on the end of a knife before your choice is made is real shopping!

... I just want you to know that in the early 1990s your tax-payer's money paid for me to be present at various cultural goings-on in Normandy, and I had to spend a week driving between the towns and villages of Pont-l'Évêque, Livarot, and Camembert. And yes, cheeses were eaten (paid for by me, not you).

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[Roger Webb]

... I just want you to know that in the early 1990s your tax-payer's money paid for me to be present at various cultural goings-on in Normandy, and I had to spend a week driving between the towns and villages of Pont-l'Évêque, Livarot, and Camembert. And yes, cheeses were eaten (paid for by me, not you).

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We live in hope that the present chancellor will spend our money as wisely......many of our trips to Normandy (and other destinations in France) were paid for by my wife's firm (a food packaging company)......we occasionally bought our own food on these trips!

[HighlandDougie]

was told freezing might affect the texture.

Having been presented by the lady who looks after/cleans the house in my absence with a1.8kg wedge of Beaufort in December just before returning to Scotland (made in the Tarentaise from the milk from the 140 cows belonging to the grandson of her "copain") , I cut it into more manageably-sized pieces which went into the freezer. Thawed out, the taste is unchanged but the texture of the cheese has been adversely affected by being frozen. It still eats very well - and makes great cheese sauce - but I wouldn't repeat the experiment.

[oddoneout]

Couldn't resist a breakfast contest: Le Rustique Camembert (3 days out of fridge since purchase, à gauche ) v Baron Bigod (bought yesterday and never in fridge, on right), both pasteurised:

Scores (on thin wholmeal toast): Camembert 6/10, Baron 9/10 (IMHO). A good Tunworth would be approx 8/10, though they tend to vary in ageing potential. Difficult to say whether the Baron is closer to Brie de Meaux or Camembert; estimate 40:60.

This picture has reminded me that due to childhood camping holidays in France I got used to eating brie and camembert before they got squishy. When we went into a village shop to buy ingredients for our picnic lunches the cheese would invariably be still at the crumbly stage(as demonstrated by the shopkeeper pushing a thumb in the top), presumably for us to 'ripen at home'. Without the means to store the cheese properly it would usually get eaten the same day. If a bit was leftover and started to get a bit lively my mother would have it. Her mother liked them when they were really far gone so, depending on which ferry we caught, we sometimes brought a runny(smelly!) one back for her.
I'm afraid I still prefer them at the crumbly or just very slightly beginning to soften stage...

[french frank]

I'm afraid I still prefer them at the crumbly or just very slightly beginning to soften stage...

When I get a camembert it tends not to go in the fridge at all (just kept very cool) as I aim to eat it pretty quickly. But then, I don't mind if I end up speading it over my bread or eating it with a spoon. I've never got my head round baking a camembert (nor eating it).

[gradus]

Gouda with cumin is also very good!

Indeed it is, we've bought that from Cornish Gouda at Newquay Farmers Market