Neufchâtel: I “heart” cheese.

Neufchâtel Coeur de Bray

Given the abundance of cheese France produces, I’ve decided to tackle the subject once a month in a series of posts that bring some of the lesser known cheeses, (at least outside the France borders) into focus.  Some cheeses have a complicated history which I try to boil down to what makes them unique and notable, and others simply developed from “farm cheeses” made to be consumed where they were produced.  Either way, “Cheese” gives me a chance to explore one of the gastronomic delights of France and justify my excursions to a cheese monger as “research”.  And the research can be oh, so grueling…

Neufchâtel, a French cheese from Upper Normandy, is made from unpasteurized cows’ milk.  It is a soft cheese, and is in the same family as a Camembert or Brie.  Its taste falls somewhere between the two, not overly sharp nor sweet and mild.  According to legend, during the 30 year war (1618-1648), young French girls would show their attraction to English soldiers by giving them cheese in the shape of a heart.  Nowadays, the heart shaped cheese is called “Neufchâtel Coeur de Bray”, and the cheese itself is fabricated in other forms and sizes.

The French Neufchâtel should not be confused with the American counterpart, which was created in the late 1800’s by a New York dairy farmer.  His attempts to recreate the French cheese failed, but what he had instead was a low fat version of cheese cream now sold in supermarkets.

Cheese: Selles-sur-cher

Selles-sur-cher

I love this subject, but more importantly, I love doing the research on this subject.  Sometimes, it can be a bit grueling, tasting all that amazing cheese and all, but I sacrifice myself for the knowledge and for the possibility of sharing that with you.

This month’s cheese is Selles-sur-cher; another unpasteurized goat cheese, which is timely for the season.  Most goat cheeses are at their peak in spring and summer, and some fresh varieties (think softer, younger cheeses) are only available for short amounts of time.  Selles-sur-cher is available year around due to industrial production, but if artisanal, it has limited availability.

The first notable characteristic about this cheese is its rind, which is bluish-black and is a fine mixture of ash and salt.  A thin layer of mold forms on this which is not to be removed when eaten.  The rind is responsible for the cheese’s lightly salty and smoky taste.  The white interior is mild, firm, and slightly nutty.  Overall, this is a creamy dry cheese, but it is considerable light.

Selles-sur-cher is produced in the Centre region of France in the community of Selles-sur-cher.  Selles-sur-cher is a mid-sized town of approximately 4,500 inhabitants and is located about 115 miles southwest of Paris.  The town is also known for its historic château and its abbey (Notre-Dame-la-Blanche) which was constructed in the 12^th Century. 

The origin of the cheese is humble.  It started out as farmed produced for family consumption, but it grew in development during the 19^th Century.  In 1986, it was declared AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée) and later gained the title AOP (appellation d'origine protégée) in 1996 making Selles-sur-cher a cheese controlled by its conditions of production and its geographic origins.

Château at Selles-sur-cher

Cheese: Rocamadour

Cheese and spring.  One might think they do not go hand in hand, but I beg to differ.  Cheeses, just like fruits and vegetables, are seasonal and nothing compares to the plethora of flavors springtime brings to cheeses.  Evidently, what animals graze upon influences their milk and thus the cheese produced from it. Springtime flora is particularly rich and abundant, and the cheeses made from it can vary considerable.  One of the most popular cheeses of the season is chèvre, or goat cheese.  There is a very wide range of goat cheeses, ranging from creamy fresh spreadable cheeses to crumbly and dry.  And while I love them all, one chèvre holds a particular place in my heart: Rocamadour.

Rocamadour is a non-pasteurized cheese made from the Alpine or Saanen goat breeds.  It’s small (35 grams or less than the weight of two tablespoons), soft rind, and extremely creamy.  It comes from the Midi-Pyrènèes in Mid-Southern France and is named after the medieval village baring the same name.  In 1451, a law allowed la dîme, or tax, to be paid in rocamadour by the peasants.  It gained AOC or l’Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée standing in 1996, which means it has a controlled designation of origins and must be manufactured within a certain region.

Rocamadour has a distinct aroma.  Once familiar with it, it is difficult to miss this very present characteristic, which grows stronger as it ages.  Full bodied wines, such as those from Cahors, are well paired with this cheese.

Each year on the Sunday of Pentecost, (May 27^th, this year) the village of Rocamadour holds La Fête des Fromages to highlight the values of this cheese and those who produce it.  While I don’t know if it will happen this year, I plan one day to make my pilgrimage to pay my homage to those who preserve this gastronomic patrimony.

Pleasures of the Season: Baked Camembert de Normandy

I couldn’t help with the clichés in the photo, but it’s true: nothing goes better with an aged Camembert than a darn good baguette and a glass of red wine.

“Pleasures of the Season” is a series of posts which appear from time to time.  They focus on something special that occurs only seasonally, often fleeting, and something we anticipate.  The posts are sometimes food related, sometimes not, but highlight moments of what I’ve learned about living with the seasons since moving to Southern France.

Camembert cheese, a product of the Normandy region in Northern France, is probably the most widely consumed cheese in France.  Supermarket aisles are reserved for it alone, and consumers take their time choosing one.  A good cheese needs to be soft and it needs to smell.  If it doesn’t, the cheese is put back with a grimace and another one is picked up for inspection. The wooden boxed stored cheeses are opened, smelled, and squeezed.  I’ve witnessed heated discussions over cheeses and Camembert coinsures have probably spent days over the course of a lifetime picking out the right cheese.

Traditionally produced from unpasteurized cow’s milk, Camembert was first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a farmer from the Camembert village.  Caving into market demands, most mass produced Camembert cheeses are now made with pasteurized milk, and therefore cannot carry the label AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée), which is only reserved for those traditionally made with unpasteurized milk.

Camembert cheese is what American nightmares are made of; it is stinky, strong, and builds character the more it’s aged.  We bought a wheel two weeks ago and let it sit in the fridge.  Three days went by and the smell was getting so strong we had to pop it into a Tupperware.  We opened it Saturday night and were almost knocked to the floor the odor was so strong.  Our timing was perfect; it was ripe, soft, and ready to be cooked.

We bake our Camembert in a true country style: in the chimney.  The wooden box is wrapped in foil and placed on glowing ambers.  I’d be hard pressed to find a Parisian who would admit to doing this; however, anyone I’ve spoken to about it speaks rather enthusiastically, so I’m convinced this is a guilty hidden pleasure.  I refuse to hide my guilt; this is a simple gastronomic bliss.  Camembert is rich, creamy, and unctuous.  We reserve it mostly for the winter months when fresh cheeses are scarce, and when it can be devoured in front a warming fire.

Cheese: Mont d’Or

            In the department Haut Doubs of the region Franche-Comté, an unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese of uncompromising quality is produced: Le Mont d’Or.   This slightly pressed, soft cheese holds AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlée) standing and is produced just along the Swiss border.  There are many particularities about this cheese.  First, it is also produced in Switizerland where it also carries an AOC standing, and together the two cheeses are referred to le vacherin.  Second, the pastures are at least 700 meters in altitude and consist of rich grasses which add to the color and mild creamy texture of the cheese.  The cheese is produced only from mid-August to mid-March from Montbéliarde cows.  Milk from these same cows is used to create Comté cheese in the spring and summer.  Once aged, the cheese is encircled by pine bark before the aging is complete in its cylindrical wood box.  The bark adds a slight flavor that becomes milder closer to the center of the cheese.

            Mont d’Or has a slight aroma, and to some might even be considered a “stinky cheese”; however, I find it to have less of an odor than a Reblochon or Camembert de Normandy.  It’s actually quite mild and delicate.  The rind is slightly stronger in taste, but that is common in soft mold cheeses.  It can be served at room temperature, or warmed in in the oven then spooned over boiled potatoes or served with bread.

Cheese: Reblochon

As January slowly moves past, and February threatens snow and cold in France, one thing is on many people’s minds: spending the winter vacation skiing.  France is full of ski lodges from high in the Alps to south in the Pyrenees Mountains, and after a long day of hitting the slopes one hungers for a filling dish as satisfying as a day on the mountain.  That is when one’s mind starts to drift to a tartiflette.  A ski lodge favorite, tartiflette is a winter time dish that consists of sliced sautéed potatoes, caramelized onions, smoky bacon, and a little white wine drenched in a melted rich cheese that harmonizes all the ingredients together, and that cheese is none other than reblochon.

            Reblochon is another cheese from the Haute-Savoie region that is Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée.  This region is north of Italy and just west of Switzerland with pastoral lands that are at least 500 meters in altitude.  Reblochon is a pressed, uncooked cheese made from unpasteurized cow’s milk; it is soft, flat, and round and weighs roughly just over a pound.  Reblochon is unique, not only for its creamy, mild flavor, but also because it is produced twice a day directly after milking and is made using milk from a single herd.

             This cheese was first produced in the 13^th Century and during that time, any farmer who rented land in the region paid the landowner according to the amount of milk produced.  When the landowner would come to measure the milk, the farmer would only partially milk the cows.  Then, once the landowner was gone, the farmer would re-milk or reblocher the herd.  The milk from this second milking was creamier and richer in fat, and was then used to create the cheese known today as reblochon.



Tartiflette



Cheese: Tomme de Savoie

            “Tomme” is a category of cheese whose principle characteristic is that it is farm made.  Tommes can be made from any type of milk and are often weigh between 2 – 5 pounds.  During fabrication, the milk curds are pressed, but not cooked and are not intended to be kept for long periods of time.

            The Tomme de Savoie comes from the Rhone-Alps / Savoie region and has the IGP title (Indication Géographique Protégée) which means it must be made within the region to carry the name Tomme de Savoie.  Unpasteurized cow’s milk is pressed for 5 – 8 hours, and once turned out of the mold, is aged in caves between 8-13 degree Celsius for 1 to 3 months.  During this time, each cheese is regularly turned and brushed with salt to develop its semi hard gray rind.  The cheese itself is rich and mild, but develops more character as it ages.  It is best to serve with a fruity red wine such as a Côte du Rhône or a Côte de Brouilly.

            Tomme de Savoie is the oldest cheese from the Savoie region and dates back to the 14^th Century.  It was created by rural farmers who used the milk byproduct from butter and modern cheese makers contest that this humble origins continue to contribute to the cheese’s rustic appearance.

Cheese: Roquefort

This may come to a surprise to many Americans, but the world of cheese has more than just two flavors: white and orange.  The color coding is easy, the white goes on pizza and the orange goes on tacos; they can even be mixed together and already shredded for convenience.  Sometimes we dare to put some jalapeno or dill in it, but into the garbage it goes at the first sign of mold.  Only the brave dare to cut the mold off the 8 ounce block, and often, only if no one is watching. 

On the other hand, there are the French.  They inject their cheese with mold.  In fact, the molder the better; it’s a sign of quality.  That’s right, I’m talking about Roquefort.  It is perhaps the best known and most feared French cheese in the United States.  Roquefort is a type of blue cheese, and is made from raw milk of a specific breed of sheep (Lacaune).  Yes, it is an unpasteurized cheese.  I know there is a heated debate about the health factors of this type of cheese, and I don’t want to get into that, but I do want to expand the repertoire of what we Americans call cheese.  I’m not getting on a high horse, I too like white and orange cheese, but there is so much more to it than just that.

Think about it, this cheese had a documented history dating back to 1070 and has strict laws on what the sheep eat, where they can graze, and how the cheese is fabricated.  This is the same time of the Byzantine Empire, the completion of St. Mark Cathedral in Venice, and the foundation of the city of Marrakesh.  That is what we call eating a part of history.

In production, the cheese is injected with Roqueforti Penicillium, a mold, and left for three weeks to develop the spores.  This is where the “blue” comes from.  Then, it is aged in special caves for at least 3 months.  And remember this rule with most cheeses: age = flavor.  Roquefort was the first cheese to be given the title Appellation d’Origine, or label of origin in 1925.  Now, it’s status has been elevated to  Appellation d’Origine Protégée, or ‘protected label of origin’.  This means no cheese can bear the name Roquefort if it is produced outside its specific region or it if doesn’t follow its rules of fabrication.  Basically, that moldy product is carefully and lovingly handled from sheep to plate, and I don’t know if that can be said about the cellophane wrapped orange food stuff.  How cool is that? 

This is France, and I love cheese, so expect the subject of cheese to revisited from time to time.