The Cheesemonger's Tales

by Arthur Cunynghame

  Lilian says of his approach to wine making: “Wine is first and foremost a ‘terroir’ (that alchemy of land, microclimate, grape variety and not least the vine grower himself). It is also a profession and, above all, a passion. Sandrine and I look after all the work in the vines from pruning to harvest, which remains manual. Following on from this is the winemaking itself, right up to sales. Each stage is inseparable and receives as much care and thought as the last.”

  Lilian and Sandrine’s Juliénas has aromas of violet, raspberry and blackcurrant. Relatively deeply ruby coloured for a Gamay, it is nonetheless quite light in comparison to most red wines. On the palate it is vigorous and brimming with rich fruit flavours of cherry, strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrant.

  Cuisine à la Lyonnaise

  Just south of Lyon, the river valley narrows, and the wide plain and gently rolling hills of Beaujolais are replaced by steep-sided slopes, on which the vines hang precariously.

  At Condrieu, where the river bends gently to the east, sits Hôtellerie Beau Rivage. The building itself is of no great architectural merit but the welcome is warm and the impression one of quality. Already there is an air of the South of France. At the tables under the chestnut trees, diners on their way south can look forward to lazy days under a Provençal sun; for those on their way north, it is perhaps a last reminder of all they have enjoyed before returning to the bustle of Paris or cooler climes further north.

  It seems a million miles from Lyon, but in fact is only 30 kms and chef Reynald Donet’s menu is very much in the style of Lyon which, of course, means that St Marcellin and Beaujolais are served alongside the more local wines and cheeses.

  One speciality I enjoyed was a mulled wine sorbet. Simply delicious.

  Keeping cheese at home

  Cheeses are intended to mature as a whole cheese, not as slices; so you should not keep cut cheeses for too long; a few days is generally the longest you should keep a slice. Buy ‘little and often’ should be your motto and eat the cheese as soon as possible after you have bought it.

  Having said that, inevitably, you are going to need to store cheese from time to time. If this will be for more than a few days, try to buy a whole cheese; a small one maybe. A whole Camembert, which weighs 250g, will keep better than a 250g slice of Brie de Meaux. It is more difficult to do this with hard cheeses because, to get the best quality, hard cheeses generally need to be made in large sizes. A small cheddar of less than, say, 5 kg is never as good as a cheddar made in the traditional 25 kg size. So all I can recommend here is to buy the largest wedge you possibly can, as this will keep better than a small slice. Such a wedge of cheese should keep reasonably well for a week to ten days.

  Even keeping cheese for a few days requires you to follow certain principles, although how these are interpreted will vary from cheese to cheese and even from season to season. In general cheeses kept at higher temperatures will mature more quickly whereas lower temperatures will retard maturation.

  I am often asked “Should I keep my cheese in the refrigerator?” The ideal answer is “No” because most fridges are set at about 4˚c which is too cold for most cheeses. Do you have somewhere which is naturally cool? A cellar is ideal; or a garage or an unheated room. Although professional affineurs will mature different cheeses at different temperatures, for the purposes of relatively short-term storage at home, 10˚c is a pretty good temperature to aim for and suits most cheeses. True aficionados amongst you will follow my example and have a separate cheese fridge set at 10˚c. It works a treat. If you use your regular fridge, just make sure the cheese is well wrapped and keep it for as short a time as possible. Too cold a temperature and the cheese will crack and dry out; too hot and it will ooze an oily fat and become mushy. I do not recommend freezing cheeses as it is likely to affect the texture or consistency of the cheese. Hard cheeses tend to crumble, while soft cheeses lose their delicacy of texture. Flavours are not generally affected too much by freezing.

  The other important point when storing cheese is humidity. Generally there is more risk of low humidity leading to hard cheeses which crack and soft cheeses which dry out; but occasionally too high a humidity may result in the excessive growth of moulds on the cheese. For the scientific amongst you, a relative humidity of 80 – 90% is ideal. A low temperature makes it much harder to achieve a high humidity.

  Keeping the cheeses covered is likely to be the most practical way to maintain their humidity. Over many years I have tried a number of different wrappings for cheese and I find that the best is waxed paper. Do not use wrappings such as cling film, or other plastic wrappings, which do not allow any moisture to escape from the cheese, leading to soggy cheeses which quickly acquire off flavours. Waxed paper allows the cheese to breath whilst protecting it sufficiently to stop it drying out. I use kitchen foil for many blue cheeses because it maintains more moisture than waxed paper and, I find, blue cheeses aren’t generally so susceptible to becoming soggy. Keep cheeses like Camembert, which come in their own little boxes, in those boxes. Keeping cheese in a closed container such as a sealed plastic box may encourage mould growth but do not be afraid of moulds, they are an integral part of many cheeses (for example the white mould on Brie and the blue mould in Stilton). But if you find them unattractive, you can always scrape them off – the cheese underneath will be fine.

  ‘Best Before’ dates and ‘Use By dates’ need a little explanation. Cheeses are notorious for ripening at unpredictable rates, and it is therefore extremely difficult to set a date by which they should be eaten. The best one can hope for is that the cheesemaker, using his experience, can give his opinion of the date by which the cheese is likely to be at its peak. That is why most cheeses carry a ‘Best Before’ date. It does not mean that the cheese will definitely remain good until that date, nor that it will be bad as soon as the date has passed.

  Your cheesemonger should advise you on the maturity of a cheese and, if they advise that the cheese is still in good condition, don’t let the date worry you. I have had cheeses which are better after their date than before and I have had cheeses which I would not eat, even before their date.

  Use By dates are not, in my view, appropriate for ripened cheeses because it is actually illegal to sell a product which has passed its ‘Use By’ date.

  Today’s Food

  Despite the gastronomic delights of Hôtellerie Beau Rivage and many equally good restaurants in the UK, there is currently a widespread questioning of the direction in which our food production and distribution is heading, especially in retail shops. Coming out at the far side of this debate is a realisation that we have taken some wrong decisions regarding the mass production and over-processing of our food. High salt, sugar and fat levels, which the government is now trying to highlight through a ‘traffic light’ scheme, are the standard bearers of what I hope will be a move towards ‘New Agriculture’. In the words of Slow Food, ‘New Agriculture’ is “a productive philosophy that is based on quality, biodiversity, respect for the environment, animal well-being, landscape and the health and the enjoyment of the consumer. This agriculture is part ecological and part gastronomic, and it throws aside the outdated and self-destructive parameters of quality (with instant, high profits and high long term costs). With this ‘New Agriculture’, we also throw aside dioxides, mad cow disease, overdosed anti-parasite treatments and chemical fertilizers, intensive breeding, added colouring, preservatives, flavour additives and all the rest.”

  The seemingly endless quest to eat more cheaply is flawed because, although the price of food may come down, we pay for it in other ways, as many costs of apparently cheap food are hidden; such as transport costs subsidised by the tax payer through the provision of roads; obesity costs subsidised through the National Health Service; farming subsidies financed through the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

  So, if you would like greater diversity in your food, more naturally produced foods, healthier foods and a more pleasant shopping experience, here are some sugge
stions as to what you can do about it. They’re not gospel but may help you to enjoy your food just that little bit more:

  • PAY A LITTLE EXTRA. Reallocate your spending budget with a little more on food and a little less on other things. Treat yourself to good food.

  • COOK MORE YOURSELF. Buy less pre-prepared food. Use fresh ingredients

  • BUY FROM INDEPENDENT SPECIALIST SHOPS, farm shops, organic box schemes etc. Small producers depend on independent retailers for their market. So, if the retailers go out of business, so do the producers and we end up with our food being mass-produced and over-processed, because that is what the big producers and retailers do best. Specialist producers are often too small to supply even one branch of a supermarket and in any case the difference in business culture between the two is often so great that they are unable to do business together. Over 75% of food is now sold through just 4 chains of supermarket (Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda & Morrisons). Include all multiples and the figure rises to a staggering 88%. Be individual and buy small.

  • BUY LOCALLY PRODUCED FOODS. Buy imported foods only if they cannot be produced in this country.

  • WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL COUNCILLOR, MP & MEP

  – Ask why regulations are strangling artisan food businesses

  – Ask why government policy encourages food imports and does not support farmers and the rural community

  – Suggest schools bring back home economics

  – Request they ensure that regulations are appropriate to each business they control

  – Ask them to ensure that legislation and enforcement are proportionate to the risk

  – Ask them to provide compensation to businesses affected by circumstances beyond their control (eg TB in herd)

  – Ask the Monopolies Commission to limit any one supermarket to 10% of the UK food market

  – Ask local planners to limit the size of any store to 20,000 sq ft.

  – Ask local planners to impose restrictions on large stores; such as part of the car park to be available for a weekly farmers market and guaranteeing 15% of produce is produced locally to the store

  • TREAT FOOD AS IMPORTANT. Discussing food is good fun. I love finding out more about the food I eat. Pass on the good news about special foods which you find. Above all, take time over your food. We all live busy lives, but time set aside for meals pays huge dividends in improved lifestyle.

  Traditional artisan producers have had a hard time over the last half-century. There are opportunities for them now, but only if you support quality foods by patronising independent shops and buying locally-produced foods. Many specialist food shops find their sales increase hugely at Christmas; but why not use them all year round? They won’t survive if they’re not busy throughout the year. Good food is not just for Christmas.

  FRANCE LOSES A WAR: THE WORLD GAINS A CHEESE

  Brie de Meaux: Fromagerie Dongé

  The authorised Brie de Meaux production area covers a large area of gently rolling but predominantly flat countryside, stretching east, roughly between the rivers Seine and Marne, from the eastern suburbs of Paris, through the Ile de France and Champagne provinces, to the borders of Lorraine. Fromagerie Dongé, way out at the eastern extremities of the Champagne region in the small village of Triconville, is a family affair. It was established by Etienne Dongé in the 1930’s and is now run by his grand-daughter Madeleine Dongé and her two sons; Luc Dongé is the salesman and Jean-Michel Dongé the cheesemaker. Now employing 45 people, they are one of the finest makers of that legendary cheese, Brie de Meaux. I say legendary because, along with Camembert, it is perhaps France’s best known cheese. The two cheeses are, in fact, very similar – apart from their size. Brie de Meaux weighs in at just under 3 kg and is some 35 cm in diameter. Camembert weighs only 250g with a diameter of 11 cm.

  Brie has been made in the region certainly since AD 774, when Charlemagne is said to have approved of it, and probably for long before that. But it was in the early 19th century when the cheese came to the attention of the world. As the Congress of Vienna dragged on from 1814 to 1815, the diplomats who had assembled to decide how to organise the states of Europe in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat, chose to discuss the merits of each nation’s cheeses at one of their many banquets. Talleyrand, the great French diplomat, brought a wheel of Brie de Meaux and, no doubt after much discussion, this was acclaimed by those present to be ‘Le Roi des Fromages.’ Prince Metternich is quoted as saying that although France may have lost a war, the world had gained a cheese! And the world took Brie to its heart, not only making it perhaps the most easily recognised of cheeses but also making copies in their own countries.

  At that time, the region was dominated by dairy herds grazing extensive pastures. But, from the last half of the 19th century, the region has been beset by wars which have left their mark. The Franco-Prussian War, The First and Second World Wars were all fought over this countryside causing massive destruction. The number of dairy cows, farms and dairies was dramatically reduced and when cheesemaking was gradually re-established in the 1950’s and 60’s it was generally of an industrial nature.

  When I visited Fromagerie Dongé, Jean-Michel showed me round with evident pride. The ripened evening milk is mixed with morning milk and poured into large basins. It takes 25 litres of milk for every cheese and the appellation contrôlée rules specify that this must be unpasteurised. Jean-Luc adds animal rennet and a natural live starter culture. The curd is cut with a knife resembling a sword and then transferred, using hand ladles, into tallish moulds, with secondary, shorter moulds outside. As the whey drains and the curds subside, the tall moulds are removed and the shorter ones are tightened. When Jean-Luc considers the time is right, the cheeses are taken out of the moulds and sprinkled with salt and sprayed with the penicillium mould spores which will grow into the white fluffy coating on the rind of the cheese. At no point is the cheese pressed; just drained naturally, which means a lot more moisture is retained.

  For about seven weeks the cheeses are carefully ripened under Jean-Michel’s critical eye before they are ready for dispatch. Jean-Michel considers the ripening to be just as important as the making in achieving a Brie de Meaux of great quality. He is always anxious that his cheeses will be well looked after for the final 1 to 3 weeks after they leave his care and before they are eaten.

  The surface penicillium mould on the rind means Brie de Meaux, like all soft bloomy-rind cheeses, ripens from the outside towards the centre. That is why an under-ripe Brie de Meaux will have a chalky layer in the middle. You can tell if a Brie de Meaux is ready to eat firstly by looking at it. The rind should be velvety with slight reddish brown flecks. If the rind is totally white it is probably an industrial cheese and likely to be bland. If the pigmentation is too much, with heavy brown patches, especially around the edge, the cheese is likely to be too old and will taste sharp and aggressive. Secondly, smell it. It should smell fruity. If there is no smell, it is likely to be too young or industrial. If you smell ammonia it is likely to be over ripe. Thirdly feel it. It should be gently yielding from the outer edges to the centre. If the edges yield but the centre is hard, it indicates that the centre will still be chalky and it is not yet ready. If it is very soft everywhere, it is likely to be too ripe. Soft cheeses should be supple and yielding in texture, never runny. You need to chose your Brie carefully because, once cut, the cheese will no longer continue to ripen properly.

  Brie de Meaux can be a temperamental cheese, ripening well or badly for seemingly unfathomable reasons. Occasionally, one comes across a ‘dead’ Brie, which refuses to ripen and stays stubbornly solid. At other times, the cheese can become runny almost over night. The summer can be a particularly difficult time, even with today’s refrigeration. Of all the different makers I find Dongé to consistently offer the best cheeses. The cheese I tasted recently was superb, giving off an enticing faint whiff of mushrooms and with an appearance which was sufficiently rustic to be interesting but not too shabby to cause alarm. Once cut
into, the buttery-coloured paste was revealed, gently bulging from between the rind without ever quite loosing its shape. No hint of ammonia. The flavour was full and fruity with hints of mushrooms and even sherry but above all opulent and rich.

  Other deliciously creamy soft cheeses

  Brie de Melun is the other great Brie cheese. Some say it is the original, though this is disputed. Smaller in size and bigger in flavour than Brie de Meaux about sums it up although I would add that, to me, the bigger flavour also means less finesse. Unusually, rennet is not used and coagulation of the curd is effected just by lactic fermentation which takes longer. Melun is a town some 50kms to the south of Meaux and the production area is similar but slightly smaller.

  Brie de Coulommiers, or Coulommiers for short, completes the triangle of towns which have given their names to Brie cheeses. It is smaller again than Melun being some 15 cm in diameter. Often the mildest of the three, its small size makes it the most convenient to buy as it will keep well until required for eating.

  Camembert is another French cheese of global fame but, once again, there are far more poor examples than great ones. The first thing is to look for ‘Camembert de Normandie’, ‘Au Lait Cru’ and ‘Moulé à la Louche’ on the label. With those three, the chances are that the cheese should be good. A particular favourite of mine is made by Reaux at Lessay on the Cherbourg peninsular. It is quite a big dairy, turning out 3 million Camemberts a year, but they achieve a great quality by replicating exactly what would be done on a small scale. So the vats are small and they employ 10 times as many people as a dairy producing one tenth of their output; they don’t cut corners to achieve economies of scale, as would all too often be the case in England.