Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Cheese: Raclette de Savoie
Country: France
Type: Semi-soft Cow

On the weekend I was able to identify a cheese in a restaurant from across the room, Morbier with an ash layer, and was hoping to score some today. Sadly, there was none about, so I grabbed a piece of Raclette de Savoie. Slightly pungent, soft and gooey when melted, and mild. A great cheese to eat with meat, in my case a big dollop of Bacon "Jam" (sort of a bacon based tapenade). Normally this cheese is melted, since it's an excellent melting cheese, but I also enjoy it as is.

The bacon jam was also awesome, as anything with bacon should be.

Wednesday, November 21, 2011

Cheese: Lappi
Country: Finnland
Type: Cow, partially skimmed milk.

Lappi, the Finnish cheese that's hard to pin down. Sort of like swiss, sort of like cheddar, sort of like emmental. I find it very mild, like a toned down swiss but there is a bit more creaminess to it. There is almost a buttery aftertaste similar to a havarti or german butter cheese. To be honest I'm not really sure whether this is best for making sauces or melting or just eating. Since it's such a neutral flavoured cheese I'd recommend eating it with some fruit compote or a nice tart jam.

To be honest it is so mild that I doubt I'd rush out and buy it again, but that could have been because I was pairing it with strong agressive flavours in the rest of my lunch. The cheese was really overpowered by the chorizo in heavy cream sauce that I was eating, so my palette may not have been doing justice to any subtle flavours in the cheese.

On the up side it has minimal stink factor, so is office friendly (unlike some of the other cheeses I bust out at lunch time).

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Cheese: Salt Spring Island Goat Cheese w/Basil
Country: Canada
Type: Soft goat cheese

Peter (a co-worker of mine) and I like to call the Salt Spring Island goat cheese cups 'low carb pudding'. The cheese is a pretty standard soft goats cheese, slightly sour, slightly sweet, quite creamy. Today I'm having the Salt Spring Island cheese with olive oil and basil, it's pretty tasty, but I find the basil is hardly showing up on my palette.

There in the background of the picture are the exciting things for today... terrines! They are making in-house terrines at Janice Beaton's now, which is awesome. I had, from the top going clockwise; Duck with pistachio and cherry; Lamb Merguez, and Pate de Campagne.  As much as I love pistachios and duck, I have to say my favourite of the three is the lamb. Quite lovely, a little spice to it. One comment I have about the terrines at Janice Beaton's is they are a bit dry, I think they need more fat in them... but I bet for the typical scared-of-fat customer it's just perfect.

Wednesday November 7, 2012

Cheese #1: Truffo
Country: France
Type: Soft rind cow

Cheese #2: Pont Leveque
Country: France
Type: Soft rind cow, washed rind

Double cheese, so intense!

We have a guest from France (our marketing manager at work, Benoit) so in honour of our visitor I'm having two cheeses from France. First, Truffo, a delightful soft rind cheese that is exceptionally creamy and sweet. It's like a really soft cream cheese and doesn't have that ammonia flavour I associate with a brie. Best of all it has a line of black truffles nestled right in the middle adding their earthy awesomeness to the flavour. For fun I melted some over the cabbage I had in the rest of my lunch, and it melted nicely and tasted fantastic. I highly recommend this one, it's delightful.

Up next is Pont Leveque, another soft rind cow cheese. This one seems to be slightly fermented (washed rind), and it has a punchy stink to it. Flavour wise it's surprisingly strong, almost yeasty and sour. I like it, but I'd only eat it in smaller amounts and with something to break the flavour up. In my case some trail mix (almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and raisins). Paired with the fruit and nuts it was nice, but I'd say not for the feint of heart.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Cheese: Etorki
Country: France
Type: Sheep Semi-Hard

I had appointments at lunch yesterday so I had to do my weekly pilgrimage today.

Etorki is a mild semi soft creamy cheese, I find it has a nice neutral palette half way between a gouda and a mozzarella in flavour, and melts in your mouth like a nice brie. What makes this cheese fun is the rind, which has a slight stickiness to it and a bit of a pungent punch. A little leathery in flavour, but not so overpowering that it drowns out the mild taste of the cheese itself. Etorki is an awesome eating cheese, and I wager it would melt nicely and hold up to a wee bit of baking.

Wednesday October 24, 2012

Cheese: Avonlea Cheddar
Type: Cow, Raw
Country: Canada

With a mild fruity aroma and a nice sharpness this is a lovely eating cheese. It isn't a super old cheddar, but it has been aged just long enough to get those delicious crunchy crystals in the body of the cheese. Today I paired it with some sweet pickled chipolini onions and a big hunk of pate. If you want a cheese that isn't to funky and low risk (and raw milk, a rarity in Canada) this is a good bet.

Wednesday October 17, 2012

Cheese: Dragons' Breath
Country: Canada
Type: Live Unviened Blue

So I'm back from vacation and it's time for CHEESE!

This week they have a new cheese that I have never seen before, or heard of, it's a blue cheese that has not been ripened or veined, but is still active (live). Basically they coat the cheese in the bacterial culture that causes the moulding, and you open it up and the air activates it. Over a week or so it gets progressively more 'blue' as it ripens before your eyes! Unfortunately for the bacteria I'm not that patient, so I ate the whole thing in one sitting. It's a delicious cheese, creamy and slightly hard, a bit salty and fairly mild. Because the cheese hasn't gone blue yet it doesn't have those sharp overtones that a blue usually has, but you do get this interesting sour/tart hint in there from the bit of brine that the cheese has been waxed with. A fun cheese for kids and party tricks, and those who pace themselves while eating.