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

[french frank]

Went to our local bistrot a couple of evenings ago (and soon to close down ). I ordered a cheese board (à partager) to take away (as I was already replete). It had two pieces each of six cheeses of which only one (Morbier) have I identified definitively. The blue may be Fourme d'Ambert, the small rounds with ash-coloured rind I thought was a goat's cheese (Sainte Maure de Touraine?), a thin wedge of Cantal? Which left a pale cream (goat also?) wedge, and a small spongey-soft cuboid (left, as in not right). Any ideas?

[vinteuil]

Went to our local bistrot a couple of evenings ago (and soon to close down ). I ordered a cheese board (à partager) to take away (as I was already replete). It had two pieces each of six cheeses of which only one (Morbier) have I identified definitively. The blue may be Fourme d'Ambert, the small rounds with ash-coloured rind I thought was a goat's cheese (Sainte Maure de Touraine?), a thin wedge of Cantal? Which left a pale cream (goat also?) wedge, and a small spongey-soft cuboid (left, as in not right). Any ideas?

Are you sure these are French cheeses?

I think what you think is a morbier is not a morbier - the line of ash in a morbier goes half way up the cheese - and i'm not sure the grey line here is ash
I think the thin very pale one is a hard goat cheese, possibly cave-aged

Isn't this a Somerset cheese supplier?

[french frank]

Are you sure these are French cheeses?

Yes, because most of their supplies come directly from France and part of the reason they're closing down is because the price of the foodstuffs - e.g. raclette, now off the menu - has gone through the ceiling. If not morbier it could just be me misidentifying, but it depends how he'd cut the piece as the line can apparently wobble:

https://www.pongcheese.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Morbier-AOC-_1280x800.jpg

[vinteuil]

Went to our local bistrot a couple of evenings ago (and soon to close down ). I ordered a cheese board (à partager) to take away (as I was already replete). It had two pieces each of six cheeses of which only one (Morbier) have I identified definitively. The blue may be Fourme d'Ambert, the small rounds with ash-coloured rind I thought was a goat's cheese (Sainte Maure de Touraine?), a thin wedge of Cantal? Which left a pale cream (goat also?) wedge, and a small spongey-soft cuboid (left, as in not right). Any ideas?

... certainly the fourme d'ambert looks like a fourme d'ambert

Might the spongey soft one something like a saint-nectaire - or was it pongy enough to be a maroilles?

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[Roger Webb]

... certainly the fourme d'ambert looks like a fourme d'ambert

Might the spongey soft one something like a saint-nectaire - or was it pongy enough to be a maroilles?

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Perhaps a Coeur de Neufchâtel might be appropriate for today...I've noticed it in those inclusive deals in supermarkets as an alternative to dessert.

[french frank]

... certainly the fourme d'ambert looks like a fourme d'ambert
Might the spongey soft one something like a saint-nectaire - or was it pongy enough to be a maroilles?

Second piece now in the fridge so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to judge how pongy it is (glad you couldn’t bring yourself to write spongy either). But I don't know maroilles.

Perhaps a Coeur de Neufchâtel might be appropriate for today...I've noticed it in those inclusive deals in supermarkets as an alternative to dessert.

Or even a Cœur d’artichaut ?

[Roger Webb]

Second piece now in the fridge so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to judge how pongy it is (glad you couldn’t bring yourself to write spongy either). But I don't know maroilles.


Or even a Cœur d’artichaut ?

That could induce a crise de coeur, or if not fatal une épidémie de pets! Not quite the ticket for Valentine night!

[french frank]

That could induce a crise de coeur, or if not fatal une épidémie de pets! Not quite the ticket for Valentine night!

I was thinking of the globe variety rather than the topinambour!

[Roger Webb]

I was thinking of the globe variety rather than the topinambour!

We grow the Jerusalem type, or rather they grow in a swathe , planted by the previous owner, who recommended Artichoke soup.
We tried, but now boil and pickle. They do grow to 7 feet and produce a nice yellow flower.