Cheese has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember going all the way back to eating my great grandmothers home made goat cheese as a young boy all the way up to peeling back the wrapper on a slice of american cheese for an egg sandwich. I have even made cheese on a few occasions and it turned out perfect but since I do live in a place that has so much variety when it comes to this milky delight it hardly makes sense for me to find a cave and continue to make my own. Yes I like cheese. I have even gone so far as to try Velveeta, twice.
When my local cheese shop had a mini pont l'evique aptly named Petit Pont l'Eveque sitting right there staring at me and teasing me and begging me to take her home what could I do? It is one of the 'ancient' cheeses dating back to the 13th century and it goes great with my favorite wine of all time the Saint-Emilions. The velvety smoothness of this wine marries nicely with the outdoorsy flavor of the Normandy countryside.
Why wouldnt an ancient cheese pair perfectly with a wine from the oldest wine region in the Bordeaux area - that seems like a no brainer - in fact the only way this would be better is if I had a Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé, but I am getting distracted, this is about the cheese.
There is an art to cutting cheese so that each and every piece has a bit of the soft and most flavorful center and a bit of the concentrated flavor near the rind. How many times have you seen a person walk up to a wedge of brie and cut the tip right off like it was nothing - that is the same thing as scooping out the center of a watermelon and leaving the rest for everyone else. There is style and beauty in everything if you take the time to find it.
You will notice that I did not cut my first piece following the diagram - it is because I was taking artistic license for the photo but it will be easy for me to correct with each subsequent slice and it hardly matters anyway since I will probably be eating the whole thing myself. Oh and back to the title of this post - this cheese does have a somewhat pungent aroma but its flavor is smooth, soft and reminiscent of the grassy rolling hills that these cows frolic on. Pont l'Eveque - I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend my calendar!
41 comments:
what an opening line! your honesty is the best. I love cheese, and am fairly versed in it, but Dog, don't hate me, I cannot stomach goat cheese. Don't know why not. I've tried rolling, herbing it, you name it--just has a bitter gamey taste.
love the demo, thanksfor that
Dude, you had me at stinky ... the St.-Emilions are the cherry on the cake. This is one of my most favorite cheeses and I don't blame you a bit for keeping it to yourself!
Love, the diagram too, by the way. Good info.
I love the diagram. Saved it to my desktop as I did when you put up that beef diagram a while back. I've been fairly familiar with the popular cheeses, but more recently I'm glad that I've been introduced to so much more I never thought existed.
I adore stinky cheeses! I will look for pont l'evique next time I'm at Murray's.
p.s. - your calendar just arrived in the mail today ... its gorgeous! :)
Wow, I had no clue there was a correct way to cut cheeses! VERY useful, as my mom just brought me a big cheese (shape is sort of a butternut squash hung from the top) that I wanted to cut into. So glad I saw this diagram before I just hacked into it!
What a fancy looking cheese! I've never had this one. Next time I have to cut cheese I'm going to refer to your cool chart.
Thanks for that diagram... I so wish i had access to better cheeses
I am probably the only one who thought of something different when you said cut the cheese. How to cut the cheese. Ive been hanging with my brother in law far too long.
oh wow love French cheese wow theres an art to cutting cheese well I never LOL
I grew up with a mother that ate Limburger cheese. Mega stinky!
I love this cheese too and Brüno was trying to steal my Pont L'Eveque cheese, do you remember?
I've been thinking about your love for cheesy delights for a while, and wanting so badly to try sending you a piece of the "Gamalost" we have here in Norway. I dont like it, but you would probably find it interesting! What do you think, would a Cheese survive a trip over the Atlantic? Google it and tell me what you think!
Petit pont l'Evèque. Nothing is better. Mmmm.
Count me in the cheese fan club - that wedge is a thing of beauty. And, "stinky" is a purely subjective term - I could enhale that stuff until I die.
Love my cheese but suspect that I'm still in the minors when it comes to having tried a wide range. Pont L'eveque with Saint-Emilions - I'm happily familiar with the latter but not the former. That will have to change soon. And the diagram is excellent!
Sounds really lovely. Wish I could spend today sipping wine and sampling cheese.
I also love cheese... this looks awesome..
Ah, my husband loves Pont l'Eveque and other stinky cheeses. I, on the other hand, would rather enjoy your grandmother's goat cheese. And living in France we are huge cheese eaters. Yum!
I know we would absolutely love this cheese! The stinkier the better, right!
velvetta is not real cheese..it's like vienna sausages ya know? But I learned something new again from you, the middle of the cheese being the best thangie! Sending good vibes our way!!
mmmm, you had me at cheese, this looks so good!
Wow, Matt would LOVE this. He loves stinky cheeses of all kinds. I like some. But this one looks dangerous.
The stinkier, the better! Saint-Emillions Grand cru would be my choice too for these stinky beauties.
p.s. Christo, you might want to delete the reply in Chinese. Move your mouse over the dots, you shall see it links to a porn website.
Quite the calendar! I like my cheese mild. Boring, right?
I can smell it from here....it's kind of like a reblechon?
Nice and stinky!
You are so lucky to have such a great variety of cheese available to you! Great diagram!
I am so impressed you have made your own cheese! That is true dedication. My husband loves all sorts of stinky cheese as well so hopefully this one will be up his alley should we come across some here.
Loved the diagram!
Odd about the soft pungent cheeses.. once in your mouth and past your nose- they are fantastic!
Hey everyone: I picked up two more of these little darlings today and if I told you how little I paid you WOULD hate me -
Reminds me of France... sweet memories even if it's a little stinky!
I could literally survive on wine, cheese and bread. If I bring a good bottle of wine, can I pull up a chair and join you with that wonderful cheese?
Cheese is good!! Grilled cheese is my most favorite sandwich. Any kind of cheese will do. Sometimes I even throw in a little fresh basil or tomato slices. My daughter is ga-ga for cheese as well! It runs in the family I guess! :)
Love the blog & Passing along the honest award. Details at Doc's blog
I stole that cheese slicing chart off your blog. Where did you get it? I get so peeved at boorish cheese eaters. Taking the tip is tacky, sure but I HATE the people who scrape the brie out of the rind the most
Great meeting you last weekend! Keep in touch.
goodness, there's an art for cutting cheese!! and i thought i was a cheese fanatic (?!)
I've always said, "If cheese doesn't stink, it ain't worth bringing it home."
I don't think I have ever had a cheese I did not like ~ now mind you, some have not been repeated, but I will always give them a try.
Thanks for the cutting diagram, it will come in handy many times over...
Thanks for explaining cheese etiquette. So many people don't know. I love stinky cheese. In fact I love every cheese, hard, soft, gooey, stinky, all of them. I think instead of a sweet tooth I have a cheese tooth.
Sam
I loves me some stinky cheese. And love knowing there is an art to cutting the cheese (lol). Seriously, I will study this. Thanks!
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