Tete de Moine Cheese: Real Gourmet Swiss Cheese

September 1st, 2010

The real masterpiece among all Swiss cheeses is the Tete de Moine, and is by all accounts the definition of a true gourmet cheese. This particular Swiss cheese is only produced in nine dairies in the northwestern portion of the Swiss Alps called the Bernese Jura, a part of Switzerland where French is the predominate language.

According to history, Tete de Moine is the “Cheese of the Monks” since it was thought to have been produced by the monks at the Bellelay abbey dating as far back as 1192. However, the Tete de Moine has only been fully noted for production and sale in 1520. Originally, this cheese was referred to as Fromage Bellelay, after the place where it was produced but was renamed Tete de Moine in 1970.

The literal English translation of Tete de Moine is “monks head”, referring to the tax (paid with cheese) by the abbey to the French kings and the shaved circular bald spot on the monks’ heads.

Tete de Moine is an unpasteurized, pressed curd cheese made from pure cow’s milk that is lightly cooked. The milk used to produce the Tete de Moine is delivered to the local dairy twice a day to make sure that it is fresh. The milk is then processed within modern facilities but without forgetting traditional cheese making methods. Although the taste of the Tete de Moine is very similar to other Swiss cheeses, the Swiss government emphasizes that it is NOT a factory made cheese.

Tete de Moine is served in small wheels and is cut using a griolle – a tool that allows perfect shaving with minimum effort. and has either a sticky or a hard brown outer rind that depends on the dairy. Its interior paste is firm and comes in straw color, but darkens as it ages. The unique feature of the Tete de Moine is that it ages from the outside to the inside, so the part closer to the rind looks darker or browner. This feature is often mistaken by some first time Tete de Moine tasters as a sign of poor quality.

One very distinctive feature of the Tete de Moine is its aroma. Aside from its natural brown edges, it gives off a very delectable smell even before cutting it. It smells like roasted nuts mixed with earthy wine and musty wood that will transform any room into a cheese heaven. When you taste the Tete de Moine, you will get a full bodied flavor as well as very complex hints of nuts and sweet fruit.

Ask any cheese monger, and they will tell you that the Tete de Moine cheese has much more flavor and smells greater than Emmental and Gruyere. If you are looking for a real gourmet Swiss mountain style cheese, then the Tete de Moine is your best choice. Go and try one today!

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Brie De Meaux: Soft and Creamy French Cheese with a Place in History

August 25th, 2010

If you are wondering what kind of cheese the French have been eating since before you were born, Brie De Meaux is the closest you will to the real thing. Its light pungent taste that is a mix of intensely mushroomy and grassy notes has captured the hearts of everyone since the Middle Ages.

In the 19th century, the Brie De Meaux was considered as the cheese of the kings, as it was often preferred by Diplomats because it tastes rich and luxurious in the mouth, but not cloyingly buttery. Brie De Meaux was said to have helped make world peace – in one of the many heated Vienna proceedings, the Frenchman Talleyrand proposed a friendly competition (to lighten the tension between  parties) to find out which country had the world’s best cheese.

An English Lord argued that the English Stilton was the best, while a Swiss gentleman peddled for Switzerland’s Emmenthal. Talleyrand remained reserved until one man arrived with his nominee, the Brie De Meaux. One historian recorded the Brie De Meaux to have rendered its cream to the knife; it was a feast, and no one dared argue from then on.

But before that incident in the Congress of Vienna, the Brie De Meaux has already marked its place in history. The emperor Charlemagne is chronicled to have tasted the Brie De Meaux in the year 774. Not only that, facing death in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Louis XVI is reputed to have asked as his final wish for one last taste of the Brie De Meaux before his execution.

As its name implies, the Brie De Meaux originated from the region of Brie about 50 kilometers east of Paris. It used to be strictly a Parisian cheese, but has now become far more widespread due the spread of railways. But the AOC has made sure that the Brie De Meaux is produced only in certain provinces surrounding Paris in order to ensure consistency and quality.

The Brie De Meaux is made from raw and unpasteurized cow’s milk. The secret of its creamy and soft texture is the massive 23 liters of milk that are used to make each wheel of Brie De Meaux cheese. Although the cheese is heated during the renneting stage, it is never actually cooked. And faithful to twelve centuries of tradition, the Brie De Meaux is molded by hand on a “pelle a brie”, or a perforated ladle.

Brie De Meaux is smooth and creamy on the tongue, richly flavored with hints of hazelnut and fruit. The best way to serve the Brie De Meaux is to let it come into room temperature to enjoy a full range of flavors. If you were looking for the right pair to your red Bordeaux or Champagne, you will find a perfect match in the Brie De Meaux. So go and get one today!

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Blue Stilton Cheese: An Accidental Discovery

August 17th, 2010

Known as the King of British Cheeses, Stilton Blue Cheese is a mouthwatering cheese that makes a versatile ingredient in several delicious recipes. It is a rich, strong-flavored British Blue Cheese that is best served with a robust red wine.

Blue Stilton cheese is easily identified because of its unique characteristic – the blue-green veins running from the core of the wheel, out. Blue cheeses are made from either cow’s, sheep’s or goat’s milk and tend to inspire uniquely strong feelings to connoisseurs. So people either love it or hate it.

Actually, blue cheeses like the Stilton are commonly thought to have been made by accident. According to the story, a hapless cheese maker left a half-eaten hunk of rye in the cheese caves. And when he returned a few weeks or months later, he found that the mold covering the bread had transplanted itself onto the cheese. The daring cheese maker tasted the cheese infested with mold, and instead of tossing it, blue cheese was born.

Stilton is a creamy blue cheese marbled with rich blue veins whose rich flavor mellows with additional aging. It is known for having a sharp after taste, which complements many foods as well. Because Stilton cheese is not pressed, it remains crumbly and flaky, making it a perfect ingredient for salads, pastas, and pizzas. Sometimes, Stilton cheese appears on desert platters, lending a distinguished creamy flavor to the table.

This British blue is one of the few protected origin cheeses made from pasteurized milk. It is made by heating the milk with rennet, allowing curdling. Stirring with the mold in with the curds, cheese makers make sure that the mold is evenly distributed in the cheese. The interesting part of making Stilton cheese is this – metal rods are inserted at random points all throughout, allowing air to penetrate. The rods remain in the cheese until it begins to grow mold because of the bacteria.

Blue Stilton Cheese is usually eaten during Christmas in Britain, where its rich flavor is enjoyed with a glass of fortified wine. There is just a magic that happens in your mouth when you eat a pungent blue mold with salty cheese crystals while chasing it with a delicious Port, with all its sweet and fruity goodness. That unique kick of Stilton offsets the sweet Port, while the wine makes the strong blue seem less powerful and more shaded.

Thanks to serendipity, we can now enjoy a delightful cheese while sipping by the fire during the unseasonably cold winter. Especially ideal for the holidays, Blue Stilton Cheese can definitely warm the cockles of your heart. But if Christmas is too long a wait, make everyday a holiday and get Blue Stilton Cheese today!

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Cheese and Beer Pairing: Start with Gouda Cheese

August 10th, 2010

A gastronomic revolution is taking place that challenges the supremacy of wine as the cheese pairing beverage of choice. As a partner with cheese, beer rarely lets us down.

Let’s say for example one day, you bought some beer and you want to buy some cheese to go with it. There are two things that you can do: First, you can choose to be very specific about the process and carefully pair the flavors in a particular type of beer with a specific type of cheese. Or, you can simply buy a few “safe” cheeses that are generally friendly to all types of beer. If you do not have the patience to get caught up in details, then perhaps option number two is for you. I recommend that you start your beer and cheese journey with Gouda cheese, because whatever beer you are having, there is no room for disappointment with this type of cheese.

Just like balloon skirts, politics, and diets, a number of cheeses go in and out of fashion. Even Holland’s best-known cheese, Gouda, has felt a decline in its reputation for quite some time. Sneering connoisseurs believe that this particular cheese is ridiculously bland, with a texture that only kids can appreciate, and has no character at all. But before you look down on this sweet and tasty little cheese, Gouda cheese has more than what meets the tongue.

It is true that Goudas are milder cheeses, with a smooth and buttery texture. However, that depends on how long it has been aged. You see, the shorter time the cheese is ripened, the softer and the creamier the cheese will be. Some purists who turn up their noses at young Goudas have far greater respect for the more mature relatives of the clan. Just like other more aged cheeses, aged Gouda tends to be harder in texture than young Gouda, almost the same texture as Parmigiano Reggiano. Aged Gouda has a complex flavor – an intense, butterscotch caramel, salty yet leaning on the sweet side taste – often described generally as caramelized of toffee-like.

And because of its exceptionally sweet taste, Gouda cheese is considered as the best pair for beer. Actually, beer is the de facto complement for cheese in several cultures all around the world. When you come to think of it, cheese and beer practically grew up together on the farm and the grain used to make beer is almost all the time the same as that which is fed to milk-animals that produce cheese. Aside from that, the flavors of beer and cheese – that earthly, yeasty, musty, fruity, rich, and floral taste – coincides in such a way that wine and cheese cannot.

Gouda cheese is salty-sweet, nutty, and sharp. What better way to wash down this flavorful cheese than with a refreshing swig of beer? Invite your friends over and pair your beer with Gouda cheese today!

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The 3 Best Cheeses to Use on Pizza

August 3rd, 2010

What does a cow, a sheep, and a buffalo have in common? A pie!

If you have always been partial to white pizzas like myself, then you will agree that the perfect combination of the different cheeses melting on the pie can definitely make any tomato sauce devotee a believer in the power of the white sauce. The interesting thing about white pizzas however, is not the pie itself, but the union of the cheeses – usually an impressive trio of Due Latte, Fontina, and Buffala Mozzarella.

Pizza has become a staple in every home. It is one of America’s favorite dinners and has already saved thousands of people’s dinner problems. With such fast paced lives, being able to order pizza on the way home or while waiting for your kids to come home from school is the next best thing to water heaters.

Ask any chef, and you will get the same answer – the not-so-secret ingredient that makes pizza a pizza is the cheese.

Have you ever asked yourself how your favorite pizza would taste like if there was no cheese? Perhaps something close to tomato sauce on flatbread, yes?

Choosing the right cheese for your pizza is as important as making sure that the oven is heated at the right temperature. So in order for you to have only the best tasting pizza possible, make sure that you use only the best cheeses for your pizza.

Fontina (cow’s milk cheese)
Fontina cheese is a kind of Italian cheese that can both have semisoft and firm texture, depending on where it was made and how long it was aged. Its flavor can also vary, from mild and creamy flavors to intense and pungent ones. Fontina cheese is very popular in several Italian dishes.

All Fontina cheeses must be made from cow’s milk. The milk has to be raw, and be as fresh as possible. And because it melts extremely well without ruining its toothsome taste, it is a must in every pizza.

Due Latte or Robiola (sheep’s milk cheese)
Robiola Due Latte comes from the south of Alba in Northern Italy. Although Due Latte cheese are made today using a fine blend of cow’s and sheep’s milk, traditionally Due Latte cheese is made from unpasteurized sheep milk.
Due Latte cheese is neither salty nor intense. It is creamy and mild, complimenting the incredible milky tone set by the other cheeses.

Buffala Mozzarella (buffalo’s milk cheese)
Buffala Mozzarella cheese will fill that intended spot of mozzarella in every pizza, while adding a more milky taste that cow’s milk mozzarella cheese sometimes lacks. Yes ordinary mozzarella cheese is creamy, but the buffalo mozzarella is higher in moisture. It is richer and is sweeter than cow mozzarella too!

The Due Latte, Fontina, and Buffala Mozzarella are the three best cheeses to use in your pizza. Perhaps they are all melt well, or perhaps they have varying fat content that creates a perfect balance. Either way, the combination of these three cheeses on a pizza is just plain heaven.

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