Past Newsletters
Vol. 6 No. 5
A Three Nation Tour of Cheese!
While last month we opted to focus in on three of the great cheeses of Great Britain, this month we expand our horizons and journey to three separate nations to obtain our featured goodies. First, we bring you Chimay, a Belgian cow’s milk cheese known for its sophisticated and complex flavor profile. Next, Italy’s Piave, an Alpine mountain cow’s milk cheese replete with notes of walnut and a caramel-like sweetness. And finally, Drunken Goat, a little known cheese from the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain. Taken together, these represent a world class ensemble of traditionally made, hand crafted gourmet cheeses. As we enjoy the full swing of Spring, these cheeses will provide a wonderful evening treat to enjoy with wine, bread, fruits and vegetables. Enjoy!
Chimay—The Divine Curd
Despite its small size, Belgium has a remarkably
varied landscape and an extraordinary rich culinary culture. Although better
known for its beers
and chocolates,
it is home to many wonderful cheeses, but they’re a bit of a secret.
Belgian cuisine reveals a variety of influences from other countries. Their
cheeses are most directly influenced by the French, largely because many Trappist
Monks fled to Belgium from France in the 19th Century.
Historically, Christian religious orders were the source of many original European
cheeses and wines. The Monasteries and Nunneries prided themselves on their
hospitality and the high quality of food and wine that they served their visitors.
The cheeses made by these religious orders, most of which were founded in France,
Belgium, and Switzerland, share a basic recipe and milk type; they are semi-soft,
cow’s milk cheeses made from uncooked curd with washed rinds. And each
has a pronounced flavor and considerable aroma.
Just north of the French border lies the town of Chimay (she-MAY), perhaps best known for the Trappist brewing monasteries there. Not far from the town of Chimay, near the hamlet of Forges, the Abbey of Notre Dame stands on a small hill called Scourmont. The Abbey was built in 1850 in the Romanesque style, and in 1862 the monks added a dairy and a brewery to generate funds for their livelihood.
It was a natural transition for them to make cheese produced from their dairy’s milk, and it became immensely popular at local marketplaces. As with beer, the role of the Monasteries in the development and production of Belgian cheese has been vital. During the Middle Ages, there were fifty Abbeys in the territory now called Belgium. In vying for political and economic influence, they also vied for superiority in the cheeses they produced. And so now we would like to introduce you to a cheese that has been perfected over these last 150 years!
Belgium Makes 300 Cheeses…One for Each of its Beers!
Churchill said, “Any country with two hundred cheeses must be in good health,” and DeGalle said, “Any country with three hundred cheeses is ungovernable.” Which leads to the probable conclusion that Belgium, with as many cheeses as France, but only 1/5 the population, is in a revolutionary state of fitness.
Belgians consider beer an exceedingly appropriate partner for cheese, and any self-respecting Belgian understands that the pleasure of his beer will be greatly enhanced by the taste of Chimay cheese. In Belgium the most common bar food is a version of an amazingly simple fare, first suggested by Dom Perignon: cubes of semi-soft cheese sprinkled with celery salt. The result of this pairing is unquestionably alchemical, as the godfather of Champagne well knew. To quote him, “a sandwich prepared in this way made bad wine drinkable, and good wine heavenly.” And of course it serves great beers just as well.
Italy’s Piave—as Versatile a Cheese as You Could Ever Want!
Piave, the cheese,
is named after Piave, the river, which flows from Mount Peralba in Val Visdende,
in the northernmost part of the province of Belluno,
Italy. The river serpentines through the valley landscape, following a path
that leads it to the bottom of the valley, finally reaching the plain at the
foothills of the Prealpi Venete mountains in the province of Treviso. Much
as the river Piave flows through the region, carrying with it minerals and
currents throughout the land, Piave cheese dots the landscape, bringing with
it the cheesemaking traditions of days gone by. The scenic landscape surrounding
this ancient river has borne witness to centuries of cheesemaking craftsmanship
in which methods and recipes have been refined, or, as some of us would say,
perfected!
Another favorite Italian cheese from roughly the same region is Montasio (which we’ve had the pleasure of featuring a few times in the past six years). Like Montasio, Piave is made using the milk of two milkings, which partially accounts for their similarities in flavor. This technique, in which milk obtained from morning milking is mixed with the milk collected in the evening, is employed in the making of many cheeses. In the specific case of Piave, the evening milk is partially skimmed to remove its cream before the two are combined. When you’re talking about cheese, you’re really talking about milk (just a different form, no?) That’s why we must pay homage to our bovine buds without whom this gourmet delight would be impossible. Piave is produced with milk from the Bruna Alpina cows who enjoy a diet of fresh foliage from the region’s various mountainous pasturelands. Their milk is rich and high in protein, making it particularly well-suited for cheesemaking. The abundance of herbs and grasses in the alpine pastures infuses Piave with a sweet and delicate finish that you’re sure to adore. In fact, this is one of those cheeses that just about everyone can enjoy! Its flavors are accessible enough to appeal to the cheese naïve, yet complex enough to please the palates of the frommage cognoscenti. Whichever category you find yourself in—enjoy this difficult to find Italian treat!
Drunken Goat—A Culinary Treasure!
This incredible goat cheese is made
in the village of Jumilla in the Murcia region of Spain, which is on the southeastern,
Mediterranean coast. This area
has a typical Mediterranean climate and beautiful landscape that is known for
its hot summers and mild winters. It has a robust fishing industry from the
nearby sea and is also rich in fruits and vegetables, as the climate is ideal
for various types of agriculture, including various vineyard acreages. In the
high lands of Jumilla, cheesemakers are beginning to make a name for themselves
with their own version of Spain’s king of Cheeses, Manchego.
Drunken Goat is quite unusual and in fact it is especially challenging to find. But thankfully, our traveling gourmand friends at Zingerman’s were able to procure enough to supply our lucky members. So you must be asking yourself, much like we were, what’s with the name? ‘Drunken Goat’ conjures up images of goats weaving about the pasture, teetering, maybe sparring, and perhaps even snoozing on their backs with their hooves pointed to the area’s azure blue skies. But just to clear the air, neither wine nor beer, or any other form of spirits are fed to the goats. The name is a figurative one referring to the manner in which this goat cheese soaks up the sumptuous red wine that it is bathed in.
The Murcia region of Spain is especially famous for its Doble Pasta wine, and of course, its excellent goat’s milk. The milk used to make this cheese comes exclusively from Murciana goats. It is high in both fat and protein which gives this cheese its amazing creaminess. Drunken Goat is aged for a short period of time before being immersed in the Doble Pasta wine for about 72 hours. The effect is not only to add flavor to the pate, it also imparts an incredibly stunning violet color to the rind. Usually rinds are various shades of brown or cream, sometimes with moldy patches of blue. However, it is exceptionally unique for a cheese to have such a brilliantly colored, violet rind. Some have likened the hue to the fiery sunsets seen in the region where it is made. After the cheese has had its luxurious bathing, Drunken Goat is then aged for an additional 75 days to allow full maturation and intermingling of the cheese and wine flavors.
Don’t Forget About Dad!
Dear ol’ Dad—always there for you, ready to lend a helping hand. Now’s your chance to give back a little of that generosity and caring with a gift membership to one or more of our monthly clubs. They make great gifts that last well beyond the day you give them! As long as you wish, in fact. From our Microbrewed Beer of the Month Clubs and Premium Cigar of the Month Clubs to our Boutique Wine of the Month Clubs and Gourmet Cheese of the Month Club (not to mention our Fresh Cut Flower of the Month Club and Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club), we offer flexible club combinations that let you mix and match different clubs for the special Dad(s) in your life. You can customize the ideal combination of club memberships as you see fit—you’re limited only by your own imagination! Visit us at www.monthlyclubs.com to check out our clubs, or, if you still like interacting with real live human beings, give us a call at 800-625-8238 and a member of our friendly customer service team will help you sort through the many options we offer!
Tasting Notes
Piave: This traditional Northern Italian cheese is characteristically dense—devoid of those darned space-taking holes; nothing but solid cheese here! It has the texture of a young Parmigiano-Reggiano, with similarities to other favorites such as Gruyere (in terms of nutty flavors) and aged Gouda (with which it shares a certain sweetness). Slightly sweet and delicate tasting, expect to taste hints of walnuts and a subtle sweetness that many liken to caramel. Fully aged varieties (10+ months) are quite hard and excellent as grating cheeses, commonly used over salads and pasta or garnishing oven-baked polenta. When a bit younger and softer (about 6 months), this is the ideal snacking cheese. In either case, Piave is made even more pleasant with a white Zinfandel or Sauvignon blanc.
Chimay: While its aroma is quite strong, the taste of the cheese itself is somewhat mild, but certainly not bland. This is a semi-soft cheese which has a nutty, well-finished flavor. This is a good cheese to take your time tasting—carefully noting the variety of flavors it offers will help you to cultivate your palette. We suggest taking notes as you taste, recording the aroma, then the flavor, and the all important finish. For the purposes of taking tasting notes, regard each of these as separate experiences—which they are—but as you know, they way each of these components meld together seamlessly is not only a mark of great cheese, but a confounding element to generating your notes. Enjoy this cheese with an appropriate libation—we recommend Chimay’s Grande Reserve—try the blue-labeled, 750ml bottle for a truly heavenly beer tasting!
Drunken Goat: The Doble Pasta wine which once bathed your Drunken Goat is a young wine and consequently, its flavors pronounced. It gives this cheese its vinaceous color and its flavor also permeates it. You can expect to smell the aroma and taste the wine in the finish. The flavor begins mild and oh so creamy, but finishes with a wonderful tangy sweetness and a fruity, luscious grapey aroma. Serve it with desserts or as an appetizer. There’s no need to pair with wine as its inherent wine flavors may be overpowered if you pour yourself a liquid accompaniment.
