Day 83: La Tomme de Haute-Richelieu

This may sound childish, but the reason I decided to get this cheese was because I was recently watching Ratatouille, and at one point, after finding some leftover cheese, Remy (the main character) looks at his brother, Emile, and goes, "Do you know what this is? It's not just any cheese, it's La Tomme de Pays! Gusteau loves this stuff!"

I ended up getting another cheese, and before I go into what I actually got, what is La Tomme de Chevre de Pays and why was little Remy waxing philosophical about it? And why was it so hard for me to find it?

Tomme - Tomme-style cheeses are the ones with a grey-brown rind, making it look sort of 'rustic' or 'weathered' and I typically think of them having a soft and creamy texture - think brie or camembert. This is not the actual definition, but since I'm more layman than cheesemonger, let's just call this a working definition because it'll help you out 90% of the time.

Chevre - means Goat in French, so it's made of goat blood. Just kidding. It's made with goat milk (obviously).

De pays.- means "from country" in French. So typically, a tomme would use the region after its name (e.g. "Tomme de Savoie" or "Tomme de Beaujolais") and since 'Pays' translates to 'Country', Remy was looking for a Tomme cheese "from country", which as you can see, doesn't make sense and so that might also explain the weird looks like received when I was asking the cheesemongers if they had "Tomme de Chevre de Pays" because that doesn't exist!

I ended up getting something called "La Tomme de Richelieu". It's a tomme from Quebec and it had that  milky, farm, nutty flavour with a soft melt-in-your mouth texture. The rind was really sticky and strong smelling so that threw me off at first. Not sure if it was because I had it in my bag for awhile. The price came to $55/kg. (for perspective, cheddar cheese is typically something like $10/kg).

On La Tomme de Richelieu

Created 12 years ago by Fritz Kaiser, Le Tomme Haut Richelieu was an invention of necessity. The fromagerie had received more goat's milk than it needed to make its soft cheese Chevrochon. Wanting to preserve the milk by making a cheese that would have a longer shelf life, they made a goat's milk version of their semi-soft cow's milk cheese.

Day 59: Raclette Cheese

Fall is here, and winter is approaching. So I decided to try out an old favourite of mine. Raclette is the perfect melting cheese. As I don't own a fondue set, or a raclette grill, I just take a ramekin and stick it in the oven beside whatever else I am cooking, and wait til it gets nice and bubbly. The ramekin keeps the heat so it stays warm long-ish, and I just take a knife and slather it on whatever you want.

The smell is a little bit strong at first, so be prepared (I'd be lying if I said it didn't at first remind me of feet). But if you can get over that, you get a nuttiness, you get a texture that is firm enough to perfectly yield to the tooth. You get raclette.

When I lived in France, this would be a special dish that we would eat in mid-afternoon, pre-dinner, and when guests arrive. We also had our own raclette grill that would keep it all nice and hot and bubbly until you were ready. Here in Canada, it's very affordable (a snack-size wedge will run you ~$5), and you can prepare it in the oven or even on a pan and then literally scrape it with a butter knife onto a toasted baguette, onto root vegetables, or if you are really hungry and short on time, just Melba toast or Paris toast.

On Raclette:

Raclette is both a type of cheese and a Swiss and French dish based on heating the cheese and scraping ("racler") off the melted part.Raclette is a semi-firm, cow's milk cheese - most commonly used for melting.

Raclette is also a dish indigenous to parts of Switzerland and the Savoy region of France. The Raclette cheese round is heated, either in front of a fire or by a special machine, then scraped onto diners' plates; the term raclette derives from the French word racler, meaning "to scrape". Traditionally, it is accompanied by small firm potatoes (Bintje, Charlotte or Raclette varieties), gherkins, pickled onions, and dried meat, such as jambon cru/cuit and viande des Grisons.

In the Swiss canton of Valais, raclette is typically served with tea or other warm beverages. Another popular option is to serve raclette with white wine, such as the traditional Savoy wine or Fendant, but Riesling and Pinot Gris are also common. Raclette was mentioned in medieval writings as a particularly nutritious meal consumed by peasants in mountainous Switzerland and France (Savoy region). Traditionally, the Swiss cow herders used to take the cheese with them when they were moving cows to or from the pastures up in the mountains. In the evenings around the campfire, they would place the cheese next to the fire and, when it had reached the perfect softness, scrape it on top of some bread.

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables and charcuterie. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The accent in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours.

Day 33: Sheep Milk Cheese with Truffle (Cacio di Bosco) from St. Lawrence Market

This cheese gets high ratings for truffle flavour. As you can see from the picture on the left, you get big large chunks of truffle, and even in the pieces without truffle, you still get a real flavour out of it.

The one drawback was the texture which was a little bit grainy, like an aged parmesan that wasn't stored properly. But having bought this from Chris the Cheesemonger at St. Lawrence Market, I feel that they would not overlook something as fundamental to cheese as handling.

A light smoke is tasted right after you swallow, and as an added bonus, you can actually taste the milkiness of the cheese, something I usually only associate with raw milk cheese which this certainly is not. On a side note, did you know raw milk cheese is legal in Canada? I used to think it was illegal. I used to enjoy it in France, and I actually found a small supplier in Ontario, and all along, I thought he was operating on a black market, which is why I never said anything to anyone.

On truffles, apparently you can't get truffles these days in Ontario because the lastest shipment got stopped at the border?? So I went to a few suppliers that might have the connections, and no one could find any. In any case, Christmastime is when we'll see the supply increase. Good thing Christmas is 6 months away, right? Although, I am certain that if I knew the right people, it would be a different story - one of the downsides in being a rookie in Toronto :P

The price tag is a hefty $90/kg.

On Cacio di Bosco (from pastacheese.com)

Cacio Di Bosco al Tartufo is a Tuscan cheese made from both sheep's and cow's milk. It is studded with tiny specks of truffles and is pure heaven to eat. The long maturation balances the taste of pecorino with the strong taste of truffle, and it has a friable and slightly sour paste.

Day 18: Smoked Gouda Cheese from St. Lawrence Market

A cheese from Chris the Cheesemonger at St. Lawrence Market. The thing I don't like about this gouda is the texture. It's a little sticky, pasting to the roof of the mouth like peanut butter.

But in terms of flavour, the actual cheese only has a hint of smoke but a touch of maple syrup flavour rounds out the aftertaste. The colour is an appealing brownish white, like the flesh of an almond. The rind is where the smokiness really comes in, and evokes childhood memories of sitting around a campfire.

Like most cheeses, the real flavours come out after letting sit at room temperature so make you enjoy it as such.

On Gouda Cheese, from wikipedia:

"Gouda is a yellow cheese made from cow's milk. The cheese is named after the city of Gouda in the Netherlands, but its name is not protected. However, the European Commission has confirmed that Gouda Holland is to be protected (although Gouda will not).

The cheese is from cultured milk that is heated until the curds separate from the whey. Some of the whey is then drained, and water is added. This is called "washing the curd", and creates a sweeter cheese, as the washing removes some of the lactic acid.

The cheese is then soaked in a brine solution, which gives the cheese and its rind a distinctive taste. The cheese is dried for a few days before being coated to prevent it from drying out, then it is aged. Depending on age classification, it can be any time between a number of weeks to over seven years before it is ready to be eaten. As it ages, it develops a caramel sweetness and sometimes has a slight crunchiness from salt-like calcium lactate or tyrosine crystals[4] that form in older cheeses.

Day 16: Aged Asiago (Asiago d'allevo) from a large cheese wheel

The origin of this cheese is, honestly, unknown. I believe that my wife's cooking teacher procured from an unknown source, but all she knows is that it came off of an enormous wheel.

Now I'll be honest, I always thought of asiago as a grocery store type food, which is its fresh variety. Something that a place like Applebee's would stick into their crab dip to make it sophistimacated...

But what I tasted was aged Asiago (it can be aged for up to 18 months). This is something completely different. I tasted a slightly grainy and flaky texture - parmesany (if that word even exists!). As it breaks in your meat, it releases a swarm of flavours... including almonds. The aftertaste reminds me of swiss cheese. I was not expecting this from Asiago. RESPECT BABY!

From wikipedia:

Asiago is an Italian cow's milk cheese that can assume different textures, according to its aging, from smooth for the fresh Asiago (Asiago Pressato) to a crumbly texture for the aged cheese (Asiago d'allevo) of which the flavour is reminiscent of Parmesan. As Asiago has a protected designation of origin (Denominazione di Origine Protetta or DOP) the only "official" Asiago is produced in the alpine area of the town of Asiago, province of Vicenza, in the Veneto region.

Conventionally its birth is dated around the year one thousand; in fact there are rare testimonies coming from the Asiago highland related to the preceding centuries.

Day 1: Goat and Cow Cheese from La Maison Alexis de Portneuf

Goat Cheese is light in flavour, but has a tart aftertaste. Its characteristic texture is that of a spreadable cheese. In fact, Feta Cheese is made partially from goat and sheep milk. Chevre de Neige (Alexis's name for Goat and Cow cheese) is mixed with Cow cheese, and so the flavour is milder, but the goal should be to hold its goat-like appearance and flavour. But also, this lowers the price point. Why is goat cheese more expensive? According to one capriolegoatcheese.com, it takes 8 goats to produce an equivalent amount as one commercial cow.

La Maison Alexis de Portneuf is a Quebec fromagerie, with over 150 years of tradition. The flavour was okay, a lingering citric aftertaste, and the texture was just vaguely powdery. The price was slightly lower than the other goat cheeses, and so was the redeeming feature of it.

According to typesofcheese.com

Goat cheese is a cheese that is made from goat milk. It is sometimes called ‘chevre’. Goat cheese comes in a wide array of forms. It can either be made firm or semi-firm in texture. It is usually a soft, smooth cheese which spreads easily and has a distinct flavour that is tangy like that of goat milk. The strong goat flavour is due to the hormones in the milk which can be reduced. Goat milk is highly influenced by what goats are eating as goats tend to eat more bitter plants which cows would not eat, hence the distinctive taste.