This cheese has got to be the best dang cheese on the planet (although I'm fond of a good chèvre,too). Made from raw cow's milk, this brie is soft with a rich, nutty taste. The only thing this cheese is good with is fresh French bread and a nice French wine. To mar it with other tastes would be a sacrilege of the worst kind. I shudder to think of the inferior brie with various toppings cooked on top that was all the rage among yuppies. Been there, done that, soooooo moved on! I thought I'd found a good replacement in Canada. It was even a double cream import from France! But I was wrong--very very wrong. The French keep the best stuff for themselves ;-).
Another cheese on hand at lunch today was an aged Mimolette, a dense orange cheese that was so intense and rich in flavour that it nearly curled my toes. It is dry and brittle and not meant for slathering like brie.
One of my in-law-to-be's specialties was for lunch today: fresh sole cooked with lemon butter. I think it's nice how French fish is so often serve with bones and skin. It makes you slow down and really appreciate what you are about to eat. It's a nice way of honoring the flora or fauna that sacrificed its life for you*.
Gone but not forgotten. Yum!
* this is true of the lobster tails and lagoustines last night--it took a while to remove the shells but it was so very worth the wait. Sorry no pictures but I was half dead from jet lag though not too dead to appreciate the great wine and the great food.
11 comments:
Very yummy looking.
I am so very jealous of your trip.....it sounds like you are stopping to take it all in and that is wonderful. Do enjoy the sites and smells and of course the tastes.
There is a shop in Melbourne that sells brie de Meaux and every once in a while there is much winking and secret handshakes as an unpastuerised wheel somehow slips through the customs net. You're right, there is nothing like it.
Oh no!!!! You've done it now. That brie has sent me over the edge. I love cheese, especially that kind of cheese. I'm so jealous (but happy for you, of course!) :)
Kalyn: very much so!
Doodles: Marcel Proust once said: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Now on my fourth visit here and half-year into accepting myself as a food-lover, a foodie, I see the world I knew made over with new tastes, smells I am allowing myself to experience this time around
neil: wow. You sure are lucky there in Melbourne! There is a cheese shop in Vancouver I haven't explored yet. I wonder...
Sher: What a laugh you brought to me and my Frog this morning. I was giggling for a while thinking about what you said. You'll just HAVE to get over to France some time. No point being jealous. Just start saving ;-)
oh that cheese looks very very good...
ah yes, please. Brie de Meaux remains my favorite type of Brie! The more 'coulant", the better!
It's been nearly twenty years since I was in France, and I still remember the bread and cheese. It was all I wanted to eat. I especially remember a soft cheese crusted with whole walnuts that I have looked for ever since, to no avail. Absolute bliss. If you find some, be sure to find out how we can get it over in the States for me! Happy Francing!
Sarah: oh it is, it is!
bea: there's nothing quite like it!
patl: I'll keep my eye out and will ask around.
Oh, the glorious French! Each of these sound so incredible! I'm so jealous...
"Gone, but not forgotten" - loved that...
Archana
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