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03 July 2003
thursday at the cheese store-bh: 3 july
Dominick is on vacation, but the other staff at The Cheese Store are as helpful as ever, and today's trove included a taste of culatello, a wedge of Roaring Forties blue cheese, a crottin of the mysterious no-name goat cheese, and a practically (but not quite) oozing wedge of Brie de Meaux. Details, in reverse order:
Brie de Meaux (in photograph): Brie de Meaux is a cow's milk cheese with a rich, mushroomy aroma--much more developed than the typical Brie that one finds in most markets and cheese shops. Not only does the Cheese Store carry it, but it was at the peak of ripeness; meaning, take it home and eat it tonight. (And we complied.) Hard to find but quite an experience, particularly with the right Burgundy or Bordeaux.
The mysterious, no-name goat cheese: This was the little wonder that arrived at the shop two weeks ago, when I last visited with Dominick. It's fuzzy and greenish-blue-grey on the outside, gorgeously snow white on the inside. Yum!
Roaring Forties blue cheese: A treat from down under: According to iGourmet.com/World of Cheese/Australia,
Roaring Forties Blue Cheese is made by the Kings Island Dairy. Kings Island is situated south of Melbourne, Australia at the western end of Bass Strait. Dairying is the largest primary industry among this island’s 1,500 inhabitants. According to local legend, grass seeds found in King Island’s soil are believed to have been washed ashore in straw mattresses from some 60 eighteenth-century French and English shipwrecks that are strewn along the King Island coast. For almost a century now dairy herds have grazed on these unique pastures. The quality of these pastures, combined with a pristine environment, combined with a year round growing season, enables the dairy farmers on Kind Island to practice traditional feeding methods. The cows are reputed to produce the sweetest milk in the land and from this milk comes a range of dairy products acknowledged throughout Australia and rapidly earning the same sort of reputation in the international marketplace. Roaring Forties Blues is a full-flavored blue with a sweet, nutty character. The cheese is matured in blue wax thus retaining its moisture and creating a smooth and creamy texture.· Made from pasteurized cow’s milk.
Really delicious.
Culatello is proscuitto taken to another level. Soaked in white wine during the aging process, it develops a distinct flavor different from it's cured cousins.
Until next Thursday...