Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls - I think we have a new favorite cheese (for now at least). Let me introduce you to my new friend, goes by the name Cambozola.
Cambozola is a strange little cheese - a bit confused, he can't seem to decide if he's a camembert or a gorgonzola (hence the name, a combination of the two). He is also a ridiculously delicious, creamy, blue-cheesy, soft-ripened little fella with tons of flavor and buttery goodness to spread over everything.
As it turns out, Cambozola is fairly young as cheeses go: it was created around the turn of the 20th century and only began being mass produced and marketed to the world in the 1970's. As of right now, there is only one major company responsible for sharing this cheesy treasure with the rest of the world: Käserei Champignon, apparently a giant German cheese conglomerate. The entire website below is in German, so I could be incredibly wrong about all of this; my knowledge of the German language is limited to what I learned from Blazing Saddles. Shnitzengruben!!
Ok, here's the website for you German speakers: Cambozola: The Website (in German).
And now for the best part, the eating!
I tried the Cambozola cold, right out of the fridge, which goes against everything we've learned about cheese thus far. I couldn't help it, it looked so inviting: off white, creamy, with little flecks of blue Penicillium roqueforti mold (the best kind of mold!). The cold, buttery cheese melted in my mouth instantly and tasted of super fresh young mushrooms, with strong undertones of the typical blue cheese bite.
As it warmed, the flavor intensified and I was smitten. I have to find more of this stuff. Thankfully, they sell it at Albertson's, and Trader Joe's. I wonder if there are any artisan varieties out there...
Ashleigh took a bite and her eyes went wide. "Oh!" she said, with a very surprised look on her face. I think she was expecting a more pronounced blue-cheese flavor, but the buttery brie style of the cheese threw her off. It's good, ain't it little Ashers?
Mr. Steve Jenkins of the Cheese Primer doesn't seem to be a fan though, saying this cheese "has little character and goes against everything I believe in." Oh Steve, surely you can stray from your rigid standards of fromage-ness just this once, just this once! Try it again, try it by the spoonful, cold, right out of the fridge. Go against everything you believe in and eat more Cambozola!
Fromage! Kase! Formaggio! Our adventures in Cheesy Goodness!
Showing posts with label Brie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brie. Show all posts
Monday, July 16, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
What we thought was Brie...
Today, Alan and I decided to explore the world of Brie... or what we thought was Brie. We were in Solvang, CA, and since we still had money left over in our cheese budget after we bought a great cheese board, we were on the hunt for cheese! While Vinhus (where we found the board) had a pretty impressive cheese counter, most of them were too strong for me (bleus and camembert) or were American made cheeses (and we're trying to focus on European imports since we're so new to it. I'm sure there are a lot of great American cheese artisans, but we're just not there yet.), so our journey continued.
We went to the local natural food market, El Rancho Marketplace, and discovered that they had a great, well-cared for cheese counter! What stood out to us was their selection of Brie: there were at least 8 of them, all imports except for one. Both of us have had Brie before; it's fairly popular in restaurants and at cheese counters, so we thought it would be fun to buy a couple of different brands and compare them. The ones we picked were St. Andre and Fromager d'Affinois.
And it's a good thing we approached it that way. Bear with me through this short educational introduction. In the chapter of The Cheese Primer that discusses Brie, it explains that the term "brie" is not legally protected. There is a french board that protects the rights to the names of cheeses, similar to patents and licensing in the US. Only 2 types of Brie have been protected under this board, Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun, neither of which you can really find in the US, with the exception of a few good brands. That may not seem very important, but what it means is any old cheese can call itself Brie, regardless of how and where it's made and what it tastes like, but only cheeses that are made in a specific area of France and by a specific process can call themselves Brie de Meaux or Brie de Melun.
That means, we Americans may be eating a lot of phony Bries without ever knowing it, especially since Brie is a pretty hip cheese right now - you KNOW you've been in a restaurant and heard those hipsters in the booth next to you talking about how they're so sophisticated because Brie is their favorite cheese!
So, why were there so many Bries laying around this cheese counter in El Rancho? Let me tell you. They weren't Brie. And neither were the two that we bought today. The store-printed deli label may say Brie, and the actual cheese label from the manufacturer may say Brie, but what it REALLY is (unless it says Brie de Meaux or Brie de Melun) is a Double-Creme or Triple-Creme Soft-ripened cheese. This was really confusing for Alan and me, but I did a lot of research and it sounds to me like the overarching category is Soft-ripened cheese (which includes Double- and Triple-cremes, and Paglia cheeses... more on those when we come to them), and that the two Bries are types of Double-creme Soft-ripened cheese. That doesn't mean they're the ONLY double-cremes. Got all that?
Now we can move onto the cheeses we had today. Yum! Here we go: St. Andre and Fromager d'Affinois.
Both of these cheese are considered double-cremes, because they have between 60-75% butterfat. To achieve this, extra cream is added to the cheese before it becomes curd, resulting in a creamy and silky finish once it is formed and aged. A triple-creme must have over 75% butterfat (oh vey!), making it even silkier. According to Steven Jenkins, true triple-cremes are very rare. St. Andre had 70% butterfat, and Fromager d'Affinois had 60%.
Both of these cheeses are off-white, and look like regular old Philadelphia cream cheese, if it had a rind. They are soft and spreadable, and don't give off any kind of pungent odor. They are both cows milk cheeses. Overall, we had a pleasant first impression. The similarities end there, though.
St. Andre had a consistency very similar to cream cheese, and tasted like it too. It was slightly more mild than cream cheese, though, and was a little heavier and more buttery. Alan and I both loved it. We didn't taste anything crazy in this one like we have been, no nuts or fruits or armpits. Just clean, fresh cream cheese.
Fromager d'Affinois was also delightful, but very much its own animal. It was surprisingly silky, like almost-melted butter. This was impressive, because it has the characteristics of a triple-creme, even though it only has the minimal amount of butterfat to be considered a double!
Naturally, I did some research. I found another fantastic source, the PFI Cheese Library. According to their website, its qualities mimic that of a triple-creme because the milk is "ultra-filtered" before it is made into curd, making it very smooth. It also had an intense butter flavor, like the artificial butter spray. Or, if you've ever stuck your fingers in a stick of butter and ate it (yes, I have) then you know that flavor. It was a little too strong to eat by itself, but on a cracker it was fantastic. We loved this one too.
The verdict:
Alan: They were both delicious, and are the best ones we've had so far. It's strange that they are so closely related, but are vastly different.
Ashleigh: They are nice and safe, great for beginning cheese hounds. I love that they are creamy and not scary. But, we still have to find some real Brie.
Have a great day, and happy cheese hunting!
-Ashleigh
We went to the local natural food market, El Rancho Marketplace, and discovered that they had a great, well-cared for cheese counter! What stood out to us was their selection of Brie: there were at least 8 of them, all imports except for one. Both of us have had Brie before; it's fairly popular in restaurants and at cheese counters, so we thought it would be fun to buy a couple of different brands and compare them. The ones we picked were St. Andre and Fromager d'Affinois.
And it's a good thing we approached it that way. Bear with me through this short educational introduction. In the chapter of The Cheese Primer that discusses Brie, it explains that the term "brie" is not legally protected. There is a french board that protects the rights to the names of cheeses, similar to patents and licensing in the US. Only 2 types of Brie have been protected under this board, Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun, neither of which you can really find in the US, with the exception of a few good brands. That may not seem very important, but what it means is any old cheese can call itself Brie, regardless of how and where it's made and what it tastes like, but only cheeses that are made in a specific area of France and by a specific process can call themselves Brie de Meaux or Brie de Melun.
That means, we Americans may be eating a lot of phony Bries without ever knowing it, especially since Brie is a pretty hip cheese right now - you KNOW you've been in a restaurant and heard those hipsters in the booth next to you talking about how they're so sophisticated because Brie is their favorite cheese!
So, why were there so many Bries laying around this cheese counter in El Rancho? Let me tell you. They weren't Brie. And neither were the two that we bought today. The store-printed deli label may say Brie, and the actual cheese label from the manufacturer may say Brie, but what it REALLY is (unless it says Brie de Meaux or Brie de Melun) is a Double-Creme or Triple-Creme Soft-ripened cheese. This was really confusing for Alan and me, but I did a lot of research and it sounds to me like the overarching category is Soft-ripened cheese (which includes Double- and Triple-cremes, and Paglia cheeses... more on those when we come to them), and that the two Bries are types of Double-creme Soft-ripened cheese. That doesn't mean they're the ONLY double-cremes. Got all that?
Now we can move onto the cheeses we had today. Yum! Here we go: St. Andre and Fromager d'Affinois.
Both of these cheese are considered double-cremes, because they have between 60-75% butterfat. To achieve this, extra cream is added to the cheese before it becomes curd, resulting in a creamy and silky finish once it is formed and aged. A triple-creme must have over 75% butterfat (oh vey!), making it even silkier. According to Steven Jenkins, true triple-cremes are very rare. St. Andre had 70% butterfat, and Fromager d'Affinois had 60%.
Both of these cheeses are off-white, and look like regular old Philadelphia cream cheese, if it had a rind. They are soft and spreadable, and don't give off any kind of pungent odor. They are both cows milk cheeses. Overall, we had a pleasant first impression. The similarities end there, though.
St. Andre had a consistency very similar to cream cheese, and tasted like it too. It was slightly more mild than cream cheese, though, and was a little heavier and more buttery. Alan and I both loved it. We didn't taste anything crazy in this one like we have been, no nuts or fruits or armpits. Just clean, fresh cream cheese.
Fromager d'Affinois was also delightful, but very much its own animal. It was surprisingly silky, like almost-melted butter. This was impressive, because it has the characteristics of a triple-creme, even though it only has the minimal amount of butterfat to be considered a double!
Naturally, I did some research. I found another fantastic source, the PFI Cheese Library. According to their website, its qualities mimic that of a triple-creme because the milk is "ultra-filtered" before it is made into curd, making it very smooth. It also had an intense butter flavor, like the artificial butter spray. Or, if you've ever stuck your fingers in a stick of butter and ate it (yes, I have) then you know that flavor. It was a little too strong to eat by itself, but on a cracker it was fantastic. We loved this one too.
The verdict:
Alan: They were both delicious, and are the best ones we've had so far. It's strange that they are so closely related, but are vastly different.
Ashleigh: They are nice and safe, great for beginning cheese hounds. I love that they are creamy and not scary. But, we still have to find some real Brie.
Here's a photo of our happy cheese board, complete with the two cheeses of the night and our accompaniments, pears and salami!
 |
| Left: Fromager d'Affinios, Right: St. Andre. Accompaniments: Pear and Salami |
Have a great day, and happy cheese hunting!
-Ashleigh
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