Showing posts with label Coulommier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coulommier. Show all posts

Brie: That Wonderful French cheese.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

      

Brie, the cheese.

Brie is a 27.5% fat, semi-soft, French cow’s milk cheese aged from six to ten weeks before sale and holds second place on the cheese world popularity stakes; camembert is number one. Brie and Camembert are both semi-soft cheese with similarities in their method of production and texture, but with clear differences in their tastes.
   
Candied pine nut and crusted brie salad.
www.flickr.com/photos/foodista/3694879890/
       
A brie may be eaten just as soon as it's sold, but if the cheese is very firm when pressed in the center that indicates it is not ripe.  A perfectly ripe brie will feel soft when pressed in the center and when it is cut it will show a slightly bulging center. When brie begins to run, it is over-ripe.
A ripe wedge of Brie de Melun.
www.flickr.com/photos/vialbost/8751715300
  
The origin of Brie's name.
    
Brie’s name comes from the historic French region called Brie Française, now part of the department of Seine-et-Marne in the Ile de France region next to Paris. That historic region gave its name to the cheese, which has its own history dating back to the Middle-Ages. The bread called Brié (note the accent over the é) is a bread from Normandy that has no connection to the cheese. For more about French bread click here.
  
Brie on French menus:

Brie Croustillant et Truffe Tuber Mélanosporum – A crisply baked brie served with the black Périgord truffle.

Entrecôte au Brie de Meaux – An rib-eye steak grilled with Brie de Melun.
    
Smoked salmon and brie.
www.flickr.com/photos/sfllaw/3225927554/
  
Escargots de la Butte de Marolles en Brie et sa Crème d'Ail Petit Gris snails from the respected Butte de Marolles snail farm prepared with brie and a Cream of garlic sauce.

Rôti Porc Farci au Brie De Melun – Roast pork stuffed with Brie de Melun.
   
Terrine de Brie de Meaux aux Herbes Fraiches et aux Noix, Sorbet Vinaigrette – A pot of Brie de Meaux mixed with fresh herbs and walnuts served with a vinaigrette sorbet.
    
Truite Poêlée au Brie Parfumé à l’Estragon Trout fried with brie and flavored with tarragon.
  
 
Brie and brie type cheeses are also made in other parts of France, though only two bries, the Brie de Meaux, and the Brie de Melun carry the Pan-European  AOP (AOC) label for their unique origin and method of manufacture. Both bries are still made in the historic Brie Française region with unpasteurized milk; pasteurized milk versions are available for export.  Despite their lack of AOP labels, there are other French bries and brie-like cheeses that are really excellent. 
      
Buying a Brie.
      
If you are considering buying a brie in France, to take home, be aware that it will not continue to ripen once it has been opened.  Go to a fromagerie, a professional cheese shop, and ask for a brie that will be ready in a day or two, or week, no longer.  Have the cheese vacuum-wrapped and when you get home keep it in the refrigerator, not the freezer.  Take the cheese out of the refrigerator an hour before serving; any brie left over should be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator. The leftover brie should be served over the next few days as after that it will begin to dry out. For a lexicon on buying cheese in France and taking it home click here/
   
France’s two most famous Bries.
   
Brie de Meaux AOP
      
A whole Brie de Meaux weighs close to 3 kilos  (6.5 lbs), and its diameter is that of a large pizza,  approximately 36 cm (14 “), and  3 cm (1”) thick. If you are in France and a true brie lover, then visit the town for dinner as it is just 22 km (14 miles) from Euro-Disney and 55 km (34 miles) from Paris, 45 minutes by train. On the second Saturday in October join in the annual Fete de Brie de Meaux.
   
  
The annual Brie de Meaux celebration is held at the same time as the Autumn fair of Meaux; this celebration is organized by the Confrérie des Compagnons du Brie de Meaux, the brother, and sisterhood of the Companions of the Brie from Meaux.
  
   
Meaux is not only famous for its cheese but also for its old style mustard, entirely different to Dijon mustards. To check dates and see what else can be enjoyed in and around Meaux see the town’s French-language web site using Google translate or Bing translate at http://www.ville-meaux.fr/
     
Brie de Melun AOP
  
A whole Brie de Melun is a smaller cheese that the Brie de Meaux, but still weighs 1.7 kilos (3.75 lbs), and is four cms (1.6”) thick.   Meaux is just 18 km (11 miles)  from the Château de Fontainebleau and 42 km (26 miles) from Paris, 40 minutes by train. The town of Meaux celebrates their cheese on the first Sunday in October at their annual Fête du Brie de Melun organized by their confrérie, the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Brie de Melun, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of the Knights of the Brie from Melun.
    
Apart from tasting the cheese and other local products at their fete, many restaurants in the area will be offering brie centric menus. To check the dates and to see what else is in and around Melon use Google or Bing translate with the town’s French-language web site at www.ville-melun.fr.
   

Tasting Bries.
 
I was able to taste the two famous bries together; both were perfectly ripened, and incredibly they were served with a glass of white port. That was a uniquely enjoyable experience in an exceptional Parisian restaurant and cheese store.  Both are great cheeses and with their slightly different tastes, and I can only confirm that they are both excellent; neither can take second place. By the way, a brie’s rind may be eaten, it has a different taste and texture to the cheese but eating a small amount of rind will add to the enjoyment.

One note about brie tasting; any brie that smells of ammonia is stale and far past its sell-by date. That smell means the cheese is really off, send it back, or if at home, throw it in the bin, I don’t think that even mice will eat stale a brie.


There are other bries and brie-like cheeses made in France with the most famous being the Coulommiers’ cheese.  Coulommiers is often called the Petit Brie de Coulommiers, the Small Brie of Coulommiers, as the cheese’s taste may easily be mistaken for one of the two famous AOP Bries. Coulommiers like the two more famous bries is made in the historical region of Brie Française
The Coulommiers cheese.
       
The Coulommiers brie-like cheese comes in a thin wooden box with a 500 gram (1.1 lb) cheese. The box may make you think of a Camembert; however, the cheese tastes like brie and its box is clearly marked.

Taste many wines, cheeses and the best bries of France.
 
To taste all the best Bries and many other kinds of cheese visit Coulommiers during its four-day Foire aux Fromages et Vins, their wine and cheese fair. The fair has nearly 400 exhibitors with wines, many wonderful cheeses including all the best brie and brie-like cheeses. The fair begins on the 2nd Friday in April through the following Monday. This very popular fair is visited by over 60,000 people annually.
   
The route to the Chateau de Fontainebleau,
and Melun,Euro-Disney, Meaux, and Coulommiers.
© Google Maps.
  
Coulommiers is just 29 km (18 miles) from Eurodisney and  64 km  (40 miles)  from Paris and  1 hour and 20 minutes by train. Coulommiers is also just 28 km, (18 miles) from Meaux and 50 km (31miles) from Melun.
 
Brie cheeses around the world.

Brie cheeses, like many other French cheeses, are copied all over the world. After you have tasted a perfectly ripened brie in France, only then you may then judge where the best bries come from.
   
Tasmanian Heritage Double Brie Cheese

Bries like many other originally French cheeses have lost the  copyrights to their name; however, imported real French Bries are available in most countries when made with pasteurized milk and a good cheese shop should offer a well-ripened brie,

-------------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2014, 2019


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Coulommiers Cheese. If You Want a Great Brie That Costs Less Try the Petit Brie de Coulommiers

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

   
 
Coulommiers’ cheese.
www.flickr.com/photos/inra_dist/25697945155/
 
Coulommiers’ cheese is a creamy, 25% fat cheese with some farm-made versions made with unpasteurized milk.  When ripe, like the best Bries   Coulommiers is spreadable and has an ivory grey pate and a naturally wrinkled white rind.  The cheese, depending on the milk used, is aged for five to eight weeks before being sold when it will have the light nutty taste of the best brie’s. The cheese is sold in 500 gram (18 oz) wooden boxes,
 
The Coulommiers’ thin wooden box may make you think of a large Camembert; however, the cheese tastes like a brie and the boxes are all clearly marked with the cheese’s name. 

Coulommiers, the town that gave the cheese its name is a pretty, small, floral, typical French town with a long history. Even today it has less than 15,000 residents and retains much of its Middle Ages architecture along with the obligatory narrow streets

The town of Coulommiers and its Cathedral.

The cheese is also called the Petit Brie of Coulommiers as its taste is very close to that of France’s Brie de Meaux AOP and Brie de Melun Brie AOP cheeses which are produced in a similar manner in the same region. Despite its lack of an AOC/AOP the Coulommiers farmers and dairies are very highly rated.
 
Taking a whole Brie de Meaux home is not option with EasyJet or most other airlines. A Brie de Meaux weighs 2.70 kilos (6lbs), and its diameter is similar to that of a large pizza, approximately 36 cm (14 “) across.  A whole Brie de Melun is smaller but still weighs 1.7 kilos (3.75 lbs). When you take home cut wedges of Brie, Camembert or other ripe semi-soft cheeses they need to be eaten within a week of arriving. Cut wedges of semi-soft cheeses never improve in the refrigerator, and quickly begin to lose flavor.
  

Coulommiers, the only cheese on the cheese plate.

A whole Coulommiers weighs 500 grams (1.1lbs) but still cannot be taken on a plane as a carry on. Gels, creams, and pastes over 100 grams ( 3.50 oz) must be placed in the checked baggage  When you go get home, within 24 hours or so, of starting your return journey a whole Coulommiers will keep well for a month in a wine cooler or cold cellar. Never freeze cheese.
 
Caveat Emptor, taking home an unpasteurized Coulommiers presents no problems with the UK customs, but the USA does not permit unpasteurized cheeses that have not been aged for at least sixty days.  For the USA buy a pasteurized Coulommiers cheese, one that says pasteurized on the box. Like other excellent cheeses made in pasteurized and unpasteurized versions, only the real gastronomes can tell the difference outside of a blind tasting so worry not
   

A ripe Coulommiers
www.flickr.com/photos/zigazou76/4159786719/
 
Coulommiers cheese may not be well-known outside of France, but inside France, it is one of top ten of cheeses sold locally. Every supermarket and cheese shop sells this popular cheese. Unfortunately, not all Coulommiers.are equal, and you have to look where the cheese is made as copies may be made anywhere in France and are legally sold with the name Coulommiers.
 
France’s two AOP brie cheeses and Coulommiers cheese comes from the old French province called Brie Française; now part of the department of Seine-et-Marne.  The town of Coulommiers is just 60 km (37 miles) from Paris, 28 km (17 miles) from Meaux and  50 km (31 miles) from Melun. The recipe for these two great Bries and the Coulommiers cheese, according to those who study these matters, is the same.
 
Is Coulommiers a brie.

With so many copies of this cheese being made in other areas of France the cheesemakers of Coulommiers have requested a Pan-European  AOP.  They may not get the AOP they want, but they certainly are entitled to a PGI. However, they have not given up and with such an excellent cheese they are fighting for their AOP label. In 1980 the brie cheeses of Meaux and Melun received their AOC gradings, and I believe at the time the cheesemakers of Coulommiers must have been sleeping on their watch. 



Coulommiers cheese made with unpasteurized milk.
 
Buy the Coulommiers that you are going to take home in cheese shop that can vacuum pack it for travel and, ask for a cheese that will be ready in five to ten days. To buy cheese in France along with suggestions for taking cheese home and keeping an imported cheese at home see the link: Buying Cheese in France. Bringing French Cheese Home. A Cheese Lexicon for France.
 
When visiting you will see above the town a relatively well-preserved castle of the Knights Templar that was built in the 12th century; shades of the DaVinci Code.   Within the town, the office of the French Ministry of Tourism provides walking routes across the bridges crossing the Grand Marin River and three canals that are part of the town. When looking up Coulommiers on a map or on the web do not confuse it with the town called Coulommiers-la-Tour, that town is over 130 km (81 miles)  away in the region of the Centre-Val de Loire
 
For those of you who enjoy the spirit of France's local culinary fetes consider visiting the Foire Internationale aux Fromages et aux Vins de Coulommiers, The International Fair of Cheeses and Wines from Coulommiers. The dates of this fair change every year between March and April, but the French Government Tourism Office can advise you of the exact dates of the next fair. The exhibits include sheep and goat cheeses along with locally produced butter, honey and beer.  For immediate consumption are locally made bread, cakes, sausages, pates, and many other goodies. There are not too many wines produced close to Coulommiers, but those that do are exhibited and sold along with wines from slightly farther away.  
   

Exhibiting at the fair.

You can order, ahead of time, places for their celebratory dinner and dance. Expect a few speeches in French, and, of course, the cheese plate towards the end of the meal will only be their own Coulommiers cheese.
   

The Confrerie des Amis du Brie de Meaux,
The brother and sisterhood of the friends of the Brie de Meaux, visit the Coulommiers fair.
Are they checking on the competition?
 

Part of the fair is for the local farmers who can meet, discuss and show their lambs, beef and milk cattle as well as working horses that are unique breeds. Seeing a genuine farmers' meeting and market can be an enjoyable change to regular tourist routines so check the times and dates.
   

Stables in Coulommiers
  
Below is the French language website of the Coulommiers fair and it can easily be understood in English using the Bing or Google translate apps.

       
Connected Posts:
  

  
 

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 3,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.
        

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018.

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