lovvvvveeee Rocamadour!
haha ...jigger my socks! love this ! yes, it is the Auchan in Pau...from a farm (if i remember right-Whetshire ? farm-) super good. eating some now!
I didn't know this...thank you!
For those wanting to try summat different, look for Vieux Gouda at your supermarket, best ever export from Holland after Old Genever. Stuff here isn't as good as you get from a proper cheesemonger in Holland but isn't half bad.
In an ideal world Leigh toaster, rarely seen south of the M56 makes the best cheese on toast but an asset to any cheese board. ( or if we have to stick to French 'Blue brebis'
Agree...on the (large) cheeseboard...I place a couple of pears...one cut in half...some walnuts in a little bowl, some grapes and figs and always a little pot of honey and a jug of washed celery on the side. The honey and walnuts are made for goats cheese..and I love the mix of nuts and fruit with cheese...especially ripe figs...a few sprigs of mint and parsley ideal...a freshner for the mouth after finishing the cheese.
Cantal or Salers Vieux is a mature, white, cheese similar to a mature cheddar but with a lovely rough crust.
Forme D'Ambert is beautiful creamy blue cheese.
Both these cheeses are wonderful to offer to guests.
here (Bergerac) I can buy Cathedral City and another mature chedder..though expensive of course...
when we first came here we were in the Languedoc and it was the only way of getting my much loved cheddar which I use in preference for most cheese sauces....cheese on toast, toasted cheese sandwich or pitta...and mac and cheese. So it wasnt all bad freezing...if you are going to cook it anyway its fine...just not good to eat on a cheese board.
Well jigger my socks, I wish our Auchan did.
Laguiole is close to cheddar, (but avoid the rind).
Our Auchan sell a nice own brand Coulommiers de Charactère which is a cut above most Brie/Camembert, providing you eat it on or after the sell-by date.
Here's my go-to cheese tray: Papillion (bleu), compté, delice de Bourgogne (or Brillant Savarin), maybe a tomme des Pyrénées. Then a knob of goat cheese, rolled in walnuts or chopped parsley. Throw a few berries around with some mint sprigs to make it pretty!
A good Cantal is a substitute for Cheddar, and indeed better than many of the compressed curd blocks that UK supermarkets like to call cheese.
Sandra's list is pretty comprehensive and we totally agree with Carol's 'rules' - Roquefort is the king of French blue cheeses and always sensational, particularly with a ripe pear but if there is a local blue cheese from your region, you might want to include that (it'll be a lot cheaper too!). Cheddar is fantastic when you can get it - we can't here, and have been looking for a hard or semi-hard alternative - you might want to try a Morbier or a Salers (that packs a punch!) which are both semi-hard instead, if you can't get Cheddar. The camembert is a must - it's practically a religion in our house - and the crottin is delicious, totally agree with those.
This might sound like a great deal of detail, but my blog is 'The Livarot Diaries - Adventures in Cheese' so I've spent the last 6 months choosing, tasting and researching all matters fromage!
Standing up for my (currently) adopted area, anyone who hasn't tasted it should try an AOC Bleu de Gex, but only really between now and the end of January. I believe that it's been made since Roman times, but what makes it different is that it's a totally natural blue. Apparently, the cattle consume high (Jura) pasture herbage that gives the cheese a natural mottling. The reason for the seasonality is that it should only be made after the cows have been taken up the mountain, and doesn't keep more than about 3 months. Otherwise, it can be rubbery and not at all good.
Chaource, a mature conte, St Agur
Cantal or Comte as the 'hard' cheeses, and Blue d'Auvergne as the Blue. A chevre is essential but doesn't need a branded one - or a Rocamadour.
Freezing cheese kills the micro-organisms and enzymes that are active in the maturing process and actually begins a process of decay when it defrosts which is the hardening and crumbliness. Uncut cheeses can be stored in cellars and similar places with no light and a constant appropriate temperature to each type. We have an ideal cellar for hard cheeses such as pecorino, grana padano, parmigiano-reggiano and one soft cheese valtellina casera. We need to try French cheeses to see which last and mature. But freezing... cheese is sacrosanct...
The 'rules' Sandra gives are what I was advised years ago when doing cookery courses....all cheese boards should have that selection choice....though I notice now sometimes there is just a hard, soft and a blue.
agree....I have gone to the lengths of buying a huge quantity in the UK, dividing into cheese board size pieces and freezing...but you always lose some texture when you do that...makes it crumbly rather than waxy and creamy.
Y Fenni, we used to buy direct from a producer when we lived in Wales, anybody who wanted to import that and really good mature farm cheddars could make a fortune!