Brie has become so devalued as a cheese you forget what it's like when it's perfectly matured. Too often it's too cold and slightly chalky in the centre or allowed to age to the point where it's oozing over the cheeseboard and the rind has acquired a bitter, slightly ammoniac smell.
But this is how it should be, as served at a Parisian bistro called Le Baratin I've just reviewed on my natural wine blog. Beautifully rich and buttery with a delicate mushroom flavour, evenly matured right the way through, it was just a joy to eat and shows the benefit - as if it needed pointing out - of buying cheese from a supplier or shop where they know how to treat it.
I enjoy it oozy but certainly not chalky!
ReplyDeleteHeavenly. I love it with honey!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, I agree. I love it when a cheesemonger tells you how he/she would eat it and what with. thebeachhutcook.com
ReplyDeleteEric at La Cave a Fromage did two most fantastic bries for my enormous birthday cheese board (along with blues, comte and goats) and the brie was just so very very good. So rich and deep in flavour and texture, it had many, many, many comments throughout the day.
ReplyDeleteIncluding how different it was to the insipid cheap brie sold in supermarkets...
Funnily enough it's the french who are the worst culprits I think, Kavey. The French dairy industry is dominated by industrial giants. I think you can generally get a better brie in an English supermarket than a French one
ReplyDeleteyou get what you pay for. And Yes sometimes it is the strangest places that have the best produce, although hard to believe that the English supermarket has better brie than The French.
ReplyDeleteNot much tops the joys of a perfect brie de meaux. It isn't called the king of all cheese for nothing.
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