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 French Cheese is coming into its own. Having traveled across the Atlantic, delicious, explosive, luxurious artisanal cheeses from France seem to have found a home in the States where they are enlivening comfort foods, inspiring desserts, and reaching new pairing heights. This season, The Club Fromage Quarterly
visits Culinary Institute of America’s Chef Scott Samuel who has helped turn traditional American dishes nearly upside down with the inclusion of French Cheese. We hear from the discriminating Madame de Fromage about the Champagne and French Cheese movement, explore the audacious complexity of Blues, and congratulate the latest Springtime in Paris Sweepstakes winner. For French Cheese, the best isn’t yet to come — it’s here. Come and join the party!
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| Bleu Burger D’Ambert |
No matter what country you live in, comfort food is a cultural touchstone with perennial appeal. Comfort foods are the homemade dishes of childhood; they are easy to prepare and serve, and their basic ingredients seem imbued with the nurturing qualities of home and family. But while consumers enjoy returning to their favorite comfort foods, they seek dishes that provide something special, too — a touch of elegance at home. It prompted us to ask: how do you turn home cooking into “cuisine”? Well, you know the answer — French Cheese!
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The Culinary Institute of
America at Greystone |
Through a partnership with the Culinary Institute of America, one of the world’s premier culinary colleges, our inspiration was realized: take the most popular comfort food dishes in America and add the unexpected, savory taste of French Cheese. The extraordinary result was “Comfort Cuisine,” a catalog of recipes that elevates the essentials of American home cooking such as macaroni and cheese, burgers, casseroles, and desserts by using the spectrum of flavors offered by French Cheeses. Groundbreaking and delicious, these recipes capitalize on the current trend of cooking with fromage that has ignited the culinary world, and at the same time, they capture a taste of home.
Read more →
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 Some unions are just meant to be. With origins in what the French call terroir, French Cheese and Champagne are perfect representatives of the irresistible flavors of the French regions and the magical process of fermentation. No longer tuxedos-only, this toothsome pairing has popularized conviviality no matter the occasion. But make no mistake, French Cheese and Champagne is not a passing trend: this pairing is here to stay.
With more and more people seeking a memorable dining experience at home, Champagne and French Cheese — as aperitif, for the duration of a meal, and for dessert — is part of the culinary toolkit. One reason for the momentum is that French Cheese and Champagne is a “ready to eat” indulgence. Serving something simple and sophisticated requires only a stop at the store followed by an effortless “Voilà.” The other reason, of course, is taste, or what is better described as elegance.
The elegance of French Cheese and Champagne is simply unmatched. “It’s pretty powerful,” said Collette Hatch of this greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts combination. An expert on food and wine, and known professionally as Madame de Fromage, the French-born Hatch came to the States and rose as a respected sommelier in a then male-dominated industry. She went on to manage Food For Thought, a renowned Napa cheese shop, where she did her part to help usher in America’s fast-moving French Cheese revolution. She sees the groundswell of interest in French Cheese and Champagne as rising at a similarly exhilarating pace.
Read more →
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| Bleu d’Auvergne |
Characterized by their blue veins of mold and their complex balance of flavors, Blues are one of the most exquisite of the French artisanal cheeses. Bleu d’Auvergne, for example, cheese from the Auvergne region in south-central France, where it has been made since the middle of the 19th century, has a soft pâte
possessing a grassy, herbaceous, and (with age) spicy, pungent taste. But it’s the mold that makes this cheese audacious: Blues are ripened for at least three months, and can be ripened up to nine. Blue mold introduced in the aging process is developed by air injected into the pate through syringes, resulting in the blue-gray veins that can dominate an older Blue. The taste is unparalleled on its own, but is also a perfect match for salads and pasta, or as the finishing course of a bold meal.
Read on for more tips on how to buy Bleu at its best →
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“The Côtes du Rhone reds blend beautifully with these cheeses. Try putting the cheese and wine together in your mouth and see what happens!” Max McCalman, Maître Fromager Find out more →
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Sweeps Winner Makes Plans for Springtime in Paris
The 2009 winner of the Springtime in Paris Sweepstakes has been announced. Barbara Morrill of Waldwick, New Jersey is this year’s winner, and she is currently looking forward to her own unique, tailor-made trip to Paris, France in 2010.
The popular sweepstakes, sponsored by The Cheeses of France Marketing Council, ended in May and inspired over 25,000 cheese lovers and Francophiles to show their knowledge of fromage with the fun, five-question Parlez-vous Fromage? quiz that was part of their entry. Morrill and a guest will enjoy round-trip airfare for two to Paris for a five-day, four-night stay in the heart of the St-Germain-des-Pres district of Paris. In addition, Morrill will participate in a tailored wine and cheese tasting and dinner at a fine Parisian restaurant and enjoy an artisanal cheesemaking experience.
Kathleen Collins of Pennsylvania won the Springtime in Paris Sweepstakes in 2008. Part of her stay in the heart of France included an unforgettable meal at Café de la Paix, and a dairy farm tour, where she enjoyed artisanal cheeses, wine, and charcuterie with the Director of the farm in his private garden. Collins was accompanied by her children, and as a part of the experience, all delighted in the new tastes of French cheeses along the way. “My trip to Paris with my family was wonderful from start to finish,” Collins said. “The ‘cheese culture’ parts of our trip to Paris really added to making this a once-in-a-lifetime adventure for us.”
Anyone who missed the chance to enter this spring will have another chance in October when The Cheeses of France will sponsor its newest sweepstakes — one that offers a culinary escape to wine country. This season, the winner receives a trip for two to Napa to enjoy the Auberge du Soleil Spa and Resort and private cooking lessons at The Culinary Institute of America. Anyone with an interest in French Cheese can enter by going to The Cheeses of France
website this fall. Good luck!
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