To Brie or Not to Brie...Part 2
To Brie or Not To Brie…Part 2
By Jennifer Large Seagrave, Wine and Cheese Reviewer
By Jennifer Large Seagrave, Wine and Cheese Reviewer
Reprinted from Relationships in the City, August, 2007
Last month I promised to follow up my article on brie with one on delicious alternatives to that very popular cheese choice. Often, though I like the simple earthy, milky flavor of double crème brie, I want to present something a little different to my friends. When I want a great cheese in Salt Lake City, and I want to try it before I buy it and to know that a knowledgeable service person will be there to help me, I always go to Liberty Heights Fresh on 11th East and 13th South.
That’s exactly what I did as I was preparing to write this article. My favorite cheese monger, Antonia Horne, helped me make three exciting cheese selections. I grabbed some anise-flavored flat bread, dried figs, a few olives, an apple and a bottle of Mondavi Zinfandel, and ran over to my friend Juliane’s house for a tasting extravaganza.
We started with L’Edel de Cleron, a lightly washed rind cheese that looks and feels a lot like brie, but is wrapped with a strip of bark and made with a mountain recipe similar to a wonderful raw-milk cheese known as vacherin (small cheese). L’Edel is often called “faux vacherin” because its recipe is similar to that of Vacherin Mont D’Or, but the pasteurization of its milk not only allows it to be sold in the US, but also makes its flavor a little less intense than a true vacherin, which is generally reddish in color, taller and smaller than a wheel of L’Edel, and whose center ripens into a runny ooze perfect for dipping and pouring over fruit and bread.
When I was cheese buyer at The Pasta Shop in Berkeley, CA, I had the opportunity to sell Vacherin Mont D’Or and I can say with certainty that no L’Edel de Cleron I have ever seen or tasted was as pungent, runny, or spectacular as the Vacherin. However, I can say that it makes a great substitute for brie if you are looking for something a little different.
The bark wrapped around its rind, sometimes reported as spruce, sometimes red pine or fruitwood, lends an earthy flavor to the cheese. The center is often very soft and creamy, though I haven’t seen it runny. A mushroomy flavor develops as it ages, and a slightly tannic bitterness provides a counterpoint to the rich cream. I paid about $7 for a good sized wedge of this cheese. It was best with a few garlic stuffed green olives.
The next cheese we got into was another soft, washed-rind cheese, this one made closer to home in Fort Collins
, Colorado. It is called ColoRouge, by MouCo Cheese, and while it has certain characteristics similar to French muenster and Livarot, it is an American original. Awarded Best Washed-Rind Cheese by the American Cheese Society in 2004, it is a unique treat not to be missed.
Slightly bitter, with a hint of the pungent barnyard, the reddish colored cheese is molded into a small disc and packaged in a special breathable foil wrapper. The hand-ladled rounds are “smeared,” or rubbed, during a two-week aging process in order to help them develop their red color and distinctive flavor. I chose a particularly young disc, though more aged ones are also very good—softer, maybe even runny, with stronger earth and mushroom flavors.
I tasted butter and cheddar flavors when we tried this straight up with green apple slices. It would go great with just about any picnic food, and the wrapping makes it easy to tote and spread. At $6, I felt like it was a great deal.
Finally, Juliane and I opened the plastic container holding our La Tur. Made in Italy's Piemonte region, in a dairy near Alba, La Tur has been the talk of American cheese circles for at least eight years, and rightly so. It is out of this world.
The creamy, ivory-colored cheese has a thin, natural rind, and comes in a tissue-thin paper cup, sometimes inside a plastic container that holds any juices that run off of it. The texture of even a young La Tur, aged just ten days at the dairy, is similar to triple-crème brie: amazingly supple and velvety.
Made from a mixture of lightly pasteurized sheep, cow and goat’s milk, La Tur’s flavor is more complex and pronounced than the other recommendations I have made. Spread on flatbread and served with calimyrna figs and our red zinfandel, it was outstanding.
This selection is not for the faint of heart, as its aroma definitely will fill your car and kitchen. I keep my left-overs in the plastic container it comes in, in a paper bag, in a Ziploc bag, in my cheese drawer, and I can still smell it when I open the refrigerator door. However, as most aromatic cheeses, its odor is much stronger than its taste. The crème fraiche, herb and mushroom flavors are clean on the palate and leave a long lasting, buttery finish.
At about $10 per cup, these little cheeses make a memorable addition to any creative tasting or party. Your guests will definitely remember La Tur.
You can find out more about MouCo cheeses and Liberty Heights Fresh on their websites at http://www.mouco.com/ and http://www.libertyheightsfresh.com/. If you have any cheese or wine questions or suggestions, please email me, Jennifer Large Seagrave, Wine and Cheese Reviewer, at jenn.large@utah.edu. Happy Tasting!
That’s exactly what I did as I was preparing to write this article. My favorite cheese monger, Antonia Horne, helped me make three exciting cheese selections. I grabbed some anise-flavored flat bread, dried figs, a few olives, an apple and a bottle of Mondavi Zinfandel, and ran over to my friend Juliane’s house for a tasting extravaganza.
We started with L’Edel de Cleron, a lightly washed rind cheese that looks and feels a lot like brie, but is wrapped with a strip of bark and made with a mountain recipe similar to a wonderful raw-milk cheese known as vacherin (small cheese). L’Edel is often called “faux vacherin” because its recipe is similar to that of Vacherin Mont D’Or, but the pasteurization of its milk not only allows it to be sold in the US, but also makes its flavor a little less intense than a true vacherin, which is generally reddish in color, taller and smaller than a wheel of L’Edel, and whose center ripens into a runny ooze perfect for dipping and pouring over fruit and bread.
When I was cheese buyer at The Pasta Shop in Berkeley, CA, I had the opportunity to sell Vacherin Mont D’Or and I can say with certainty that no L’Edel de Cleron I have ever seen or tasted was as pungent, runny, or spectacular as the Vacherin. However, I can say that it makes a great substitute for brie if you are looking for something a little different.
The bark wrapped around its rind, sometimes reported as spruce, sometimes red pine or fruitwood, lends an earthy flavor to the cheese. The center is often very soft and creamy, though I haven’t seen it runny. A mushroomy flavor develops as it ages, and a slightly tannic bitterness provides a counterpoint to the rich cream. I paid about $7 for a good sized wedge of this cheese. It was best with a few garlic stuffed green olives.
The next cheese we got into was another soft, washed-rind cheese, this one made closer to home in Fort Collins
, Colorado. It is called ColoRouge, by MouCo Cheese, and while it has certain characteristics similar to French muenster and Livarot, it is an American original. Awarded Best Washed-Rind Cheese by the American Cheese Society in 2004, it is a unique treat not to be missed.Slightly bitter, with a hint of the pungent barnyard, the reddish colored cheese is molded into a small disc and packaged in a special breathable foil wrapper. The hand-ladled rounds are “smeared,” or rubbed, during a two-week aging process in order to help them develop their red color and distinctive flavor. I chose a particularly young disc, though more aged ones are also very good—softer, maybe even runny, with stronger earth and mushroom flavors.
I tasted butter and cheddar flavors when we tried this straight up with green apple slices. It would go great with just about any picnic food, and the wrapping makes it easy to tote and spread. At $6, I felt like it was a great deal.
Finally, Juliane and I opened the plastic container holding our La Tur. Made in Italy's Piemonte region, in a dairy near Alba, La Tur has been the talk of American cheese circles for at least eight years, and rightly so. It is out of this world.
The creamy, ivory-colored cheese has a thin, natural rind, and comes in a tissue-thin paper cup, sometimes inside a plastic container that holds any juices that run off of it. The texture of even a young La Tur, aged just ten days at the dairy, is similar to triple-crème brie: amazingly supple and velvety.
Made from a mixture of lightly pasteurized sheep, cow and goat’s milk, La Tur’s flavor is more complex and pronounced than the other recommendations I have made. Spread on flatbread and served with calimyrna figs and our red zinfandel, it was outstanding.
This selection is not for the faint of heart, as its aroma definitely will fill your car and kitchen. I keep my left-overs in the plastic container it comes in, in a paper bag, in a Ziploc bag, in my cheese drawer, and I can still smell it when I open the refrigerator door. However, as most aromatic cheeses, its odor is much stronger than its taste. The crème fraiche, herb and mushroom flavors are clean on the palate and leave a long lasting, buttery finish.
At about $10 per cup, these little cheeses make a memorable addition to any creative tasting or party. Your guests will definitely remember La Tur.
You can find out more about MouCo cheeses and Liberty Heights Fresh on their websites at http://www.mouco.com/ and http://www.libertyheightsfresh.com/. If you have any cheese or wine questions or suggestions, please email me, Jennifer Large Seagrave, Wine and Cheese Reviewer, at jenn.large@utah.edu. Happy Tasting!
posted by Jennifer Large Seagrave at 9:20 AM
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