Making a big meal about cheese !

And even better : cheese turns out to be able to replace (in a temporary and poncutal way, of course) together vegetables, meal, fish and more !

Why ? Its universal taste directly results from its nature : cheese can be sweet, strong and daring, cheese can appear creamy, tender, dry or rough, not to mention its aroma, its grade taste and its nutritious properties.Our organism is favorable to these targeted eating moments, the same way an animal will at some moments feed on some specific food : this brings out a renewed vitality and some new and various elements to the organism seeking for self regulation. Not to forget the pleasure to be pleased !

Here’s the method :

The choice of the cheeses : the number of cheese varieties should in my opinion stand between 8 and 16, depending on the available time and the importance we want to give to the Agapes.For a satisfying enough lunch, 12 varieties of cheeses seem to me like a good compromise.For dinner, if one wants to let the “Faconde” expresses itself / herself and the spirit join the digest, then 14 or 15 different cheeses will be necessary.

The choice of the variety will depend on multiple criteria, among which :

1- The type of milk : obviously the three classical types of milk from our national territory [ndlr : France] have to be represented, that is cow’s, goat’s, and ewe’s.

2- The ripening process : there has to be different samples, from the fresh and sour cheese to the wild and fairly strong one.

3- The principle cheese families all have to be represented : soft ripened cheeses with flowered rinds or washed rinds, hard uncooked cheeses or cooked one, and also pierced cheeses....etc..

4- Texture, taste and olfactory strength, diversification accompanied with novelty, presentation and various shapes…

5- And then why would not you choose a specific theme : today it will “white”, tomorrow you could pick up this region, or you could honor the “saints”, or even a specific shape that look pleasant to you, like a heart for Valentine’s Day !

Quantities will be reduced on purpose to favour degustation rather than consummation, and also to get the largest variety possible, keeping in mind that the last cheese must have its place too during the dinner.

The chronology of this cheese after cheese degustation has to meet several criteria. To make it simpler and avoid gustative incompatibility, you could favor an order of presentation based on an increase in the strenght and the taste effect of cheeses.

The progress of the meal will be the same as for any other meal : all the guests are to eat the same cheese as the same moment. The host always takes a special pleasure from presenting the cheeses with his own personal touch : some will serves the cheeses one after another, some will just present the cheeses in series of cheeseboards depending on the wines being served, some will display all the cheeses, which will be then degusted one after another. In any case I recommend that either all the - first sliced - cheeses are set on a mobile board which will be moved around for service, or someone is dedicated to serve everyone.

Here we are now all motivated by good intentions, ready for the milk tour, with our empty stomachs, and our spirits excited by the experience ! Yet some important details remain to be settled, like bread, wine, and other ingredients that are supposed to go with our beloved cheeses. To be continued then !

Xavier Bourgon

>> See the different "Cheese Meals"