The goat milk camembert from Goat Lady Dairy was to die for. Is to die for. I had some yesterday but there is plenty left. I took this photo yesterday a few hours after returning from the farmers' market.
Sisters and brothers! Do NOT serve cheese straight out of the refrigerator! Take it out ahead of your meal and serve it at room temperature. For a camembert, don't start storing the cheese in the fridge till you are sure it is ripe. Then you can start storing it in the fridge, taking it out at least an hour before you plan to eat some of it or serve it to your guests. Even a hard cheddar will taste better with time to lose its chill and remember its original taste and texture.
This camembert is perfect. It is runny but still a little firm in the middle.
Have this as a cheese course (after the main course -- I even sometimes have it as the main course, after a big salad), not at the beginning of the meal. Camembert is best with a crusty bread, like a baguette or ciabatta (it needs a good crumb on it as well as a good crust) but a non-crusty one will do. I tried it with a dense whole-wheat bread from a new bakery I discovered at the farmers' market and it was very good.
2 comments:
Americans have no idea how to eat cheese. In fact, it's difficult to get decent cheese in Texas. You have to go to a city Austin, Houston... like that. There is one domestic cheese that I can recommend and that's the Tillamook Sharp Cheddar. All the Tillamook cheeses are good enough for everyday. They are widely available, not just in Oregon. I used to have a list of domestic cheeses I liked, back when I traveled all the time and could buy locally. I am sure it's outdated now, even if i could find it. There's no excuse, though, for bad cheese. Thank you, Jane.
The goat lady reminds me of an incident when I was on my semester abroad in autumn 1967. The family I was living with had a small chalet in Haute Savoie and we went up there for a few days. I was standing on the lovely green hillside when a goat came up to me, quite forward, sniffing about and attempting to eat my scarf. A jolly lady with red cheeks came behind and said, "Ne vous inquietez pas. Elle est folle." I managed to incorporate this into what I hope to be volume 7 of 10.
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