Weeks 30, 31, and 32 – More hanging out with Dominic and Byron!
I know, I know, I know. Getting real lazy with the multiple weeks in one. But to be fair, if I didn’t combine these they’d be three short entries with just Dominic and Byron, and outside of getting caught up on our John Oliver episodes, we just haven’t been that interesting. I do promise my next entry will feature a beautiful cheese plate from a cute little place called The Observatory, so you all can have that to look forward to…in approximately 4-6 weeks. I kid, although at the rate I'm going, maybe not.
The boys must have gotten my hint, and by hint I mean grew tired of my bitching, since we paired down the amount of cheeses each week to less daunting, more manageable amount. There have been times that I’m behind on reviewing 10 or so cheeses and it just leaves me feeling stressed out. “Hey we all get overwhelmed. If a problem seems too big, try breaking it up into smaller chunks, it’s called "chunking" there’s a really great TED Talk about it.”*
*On a side note, the TV show You’re the Worst has taken over my life. In a real obsession sort of way. In an I-don’t-know-where-my-life-ends-and-these-characters-begin way. Is anyone else watching this show?! Let me know, because I want to talk obsessively about it. Until then I’ll just continue watching the first two seasons on an endless loop. (Season three is airing now! Whoohoo!)
The cheeses:
Week 30: Herve Mons’ Bethmale
Week 31: Emmi Roth’s Pavino Emmi Roth’s Kaltbach Le Gruyère
Week 32: Atlantique Baby Swiss
“Honestly I’m not even that into cheese” – Byron, follow by my baffled expression and an endless amount of back tracking on his part. I mean, he and I alone have must have done about 20 cheese nights and you're just telling me this now?!
Bethmale: Bethmale (pronounced bet-mall) is a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese (although it can also be made from sheep’s milk, the one we had was cow’s), from the Pyrenees region of France near the Spanish border, from a village of the same name. Also referred to as Tomme de Couserans, one of the first mentions of Bethmale comes from King Louis VI who first tasted it in the 12th century (I swear, these kings and their cheese obsessions, sign me up.). The cheese is uncooked and curd pressed, the rind is salted two days, and then left to cave age between 2-3 months, being turned throughout the process. Looking at Bethmale, the rind has a dusty brown/grey salted texture which directly adds to the flavor, the inside has distinctive irregular eyes (as opposed to the circular ones that you would find in cheeses such as Swiss) throughout. Bethmale has a pungent ‘footy’ smell, but is milder than you would guess in flavor. Being naturally cave-aged, it has an earthy quality to the taste, with some meaty mushroom notes, followed up with a salty kick from the rind. Bethmale pair well with a full-bodied red, as well as some hearty meats (salami, ham, etc.) or just melted on a baguette (although you will see the glisten of its high fatty content).
(Pavino on top, Kaltbach Le Gruyère on the bottom)
Pavino: Here is one of those cheeses that just doesn’t have a whole lot for me to research. It’s a semi-hard, cow’s milk cheese, cellar aged for at least six months, with a natural rind, made on Roth farm is good ol’ Wisconsin. It has a mild flavor, with nutty undertones, and pairs well with a Pinot Gris or fruit like apples or pears. It also works well shredded, in a pasta or tapas style.
Kaltbach Le Gruyère: Let me just tell you, we’ve done a lot of Gruyère’s at this point and this one by far has been the best. Dominic and I couldn’t get enough, gushing about how good it was while munching away. Kaltbach Le Gruyère is a hard, unpasteurized cow's milk cheese from the Lucerne region of Switzerland. Firsat mentioned in 1115, this cheese is aged for three months in a dairy then caved aged another nine months in sandstone caves of Kaltbach, developing its brown, washed, rind. The flavor of the Kaltbach Le Gruyère is rich and fruity, with crunchy salt crystals, and a slight nutty after taste. It’s much milder in flavor than any of the other Gruyère’s I’ve tried thus far, and would pair nicely with something that could enhance its fruity undertones such as apples, pears, or a sweet Riesling. Out of the four cheese we tried, this was by far the fan favorite.
Baby Swiss: So here's the thing, on its own I don't think Swiss cheese is very good. Don't get me
wrong, it's great on a sandwich, in a Cordon Bleu, or on a Chicky Chicky Parm Parm (if you don't get the reference we are no longer friends), but as a ‘table cheese’, it just has a waxy texture and flavor that I don't really care for. Also, fun fact! Want to know how to piss a person from Switzerland off? Refer to it as 'Swiss cheese'. That’s right, Swiss cheese is about as Swiss as French fries are French. Swiss cheese is an American basterized version of Alpine cheeses, specifically Emmentaler (also called Emmental) cheese. Regarding the ‘eyes’, and I’ve touched on this before (also this is a very simplified explanation), there are three different bacteria’s that make up the cheese. In the cheese making processes, lactic acid eats up the bacteria and releases three chemicals, one of which is carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is what creates the holes in the cheese. The larger the holes the more pronounced the flavor is, giving the bacteria more time to ferment. Another fun fact! Swiss cheese without any holes is referred to as a ‘blind’ cheese. Ours just happened to be a blind Swiss! So what is ‘Baby Swiss’ then? Baby Swiss is the same, however, aged far less (2-3 months), has a softer texture, and a milder flavor. As far as cheese night went, I had a little nibble and called it square.
