Roquefort......

 The king of cheeses...
Le roi des fromages     -    Die Könige unter...... die Käse....
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Hailing from a tiny corner, strictly limited - Geographically and in quality - this "modest" little cheese has everything you can imagine.
Taste, tradition and - of course, like all good things - it is suffering on all sides.
Supertaxed in the USA, as "luxury" - banned for a while from being exported/imported in European lands, USA and Switzerland, on the basis that it is a "Fromage cru" (any cheese made from raw, untreated milk - of any animal) and therefore susceptible to poison people (!) it has had many barriers to overcome. This, in itself, shows proof of its' quality.
Even in the USA - luxury taxed as opposed to the other things the Americans call "Cheese" - it still sells, even if it is sold in smaller quantity.  There are always people, everywhere, who want the best, and who can pay for it.
Here in France, it is still one of the favourites, not with younger people - it is an "acquired" taste, but its usefulness in many dishes, in particular simple omelettes filled with Roquefort, give an idea of the variety of French Cuisine, affordable for everyone - as it should be in a country where my ancestors had their heads sliced off....!
I'm going to give you a couple of "legends" and traditions, but first of all - What is it, exactly...?
Well - it is a cheese made from  "ewes" milk.
What - you didn't know that female sheep give usable milk? Well now you do! Obviously much smaller quantities than cows milk, this is the start  of the reasons for higher prices.
It is made, naturally, under the extremely strict laws regarding "AOC" products (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée), which means roughly "Zone of Origin Controlled".
Only milk from ewes born and raised in the small area comprising Larzac, the Aveyron, in France  are eligible to be used, and this is STRICTLY adhered to. The local producers guard jealously their secrets and their product. It is the only product, basically, that this area of France has, Internationally reputed............  and they have no intention of losing the reputation - as the Region of Camembert already has.
Larzac itself is perched high on a plateau, surrounded by extinct volcanoes, a "moon landscape" and until recently used mainly by the military for troop manoeuvres, now a part of the "obligatory" Tourists Tour de France, for both its countryside and its cheese!
I had the pleasure to be permanently stationed there as a Representative of the British Army from 1964 to 1967, and during that time, I had the great honour of being "befriended" by local people, most of whom earned their living   with some connection to the cheese, so I spent quite some considerable time with them in their homes and at their places of work.
In fact - the only reason that I left the area was because the then "boss" of France, Gen de Gaulle, changed the staus of France within the NATO organization, from full member to limited "non-military" status - so we had to leave!
You see - Roquefort has always had problems  with the politicians of this world...those who had good taste, and those who didn't!
Usable in all forms imaginable, here are a few:

 some little "choux" pastries...stuffed with Roquefort cheese....Simply in a green salad...used as "stuffing for all sorts of things...... the inevitable and not to be avoided "quiche" ....which I shall name
"Quiche Lozerian" or "Quiche Larzacienne" or something equally exotic!
Because....the history and legend of Roquefort cheese is quite "exotic".
It is said that the origin dates back over centuries, when a local shepherd, stuck up on the plateau all by himself, received daily visits from his "patron's" wife, who brought his daily meal if bread, cheese and wine with her.....Being French, this daily close contact could only lead to one thing...........amour, amore, liebe, love.....!
Of course, this often meant that the supplies were not consumed immediately, having other things "on his hands" or "on his plate" the shepherd often hid his foodstuffs in caves or rock fissures, to be consumed later - after consommation....! By the nature of "love triangles" the third angle, namely the husband, found out about these "goings on" and nipped them in the bud - or elsewhere, byforbidding his wife to take any more food to our poor Shepherd! This wouldn't work nowadays - the wife would simply sue for divorce and high alimony, but back in the good old days, she had to accept it!
Our shepherd waited and waited with rising impatience and other things.
Finally he recalled having hidden a day's supply some time before, and with hunger gnawing,.. he went off to find his lunch!
What he found was bread hard and mouldy and the cheese as well. Starving, he tried the cheese and found it remarkably good, even the "mouldy" bits.
In fact - later studies showed that the caves of Roquefort had the humidity exact to produce the fungus family "Penicillin" - the green bits in the cheese, and Roquefort cheese was born!
It's a nice little legend!
Whilst in Roquefort I had the honour and pleasure of being asked once if I could replace the English and German tourist guide for the tour of the "Society" caves, who had fallen ill - Of course I could - and did! Afterwards, my reward was a whole Roquefort cheese and a set of slides showing the tour! I also got the few francs some of the Tourists slipped into my hand...! 
I'll be coming back to the subject another time to develope "Legends & Anecdotes" of Roquefort....
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iwmpop (mr le marquis)           -          Vauvert, France         -        Octobre 2010

Les fromages - The cheeses - Alles Käse....!

Na nu - Alles Käse...? Wenn es um das Käsebrett geht - hoffentlich.....!
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The cheeses - on the cheeseboard hopefully....
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Des fromages - pas uniquement utile a table....
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The photo above shows one of the World's greatest cheeses in a state of perfect ripeness.
It is only at this stage that the full taste, the delicious taste and texture is apparent.
To get to this stage, various things are required. Firstly, it has to be a Camembert made from raw milk (lait cru), made preferably in that part of the world known as Camambert (a village in France), be made from milk from that region, and NOT (as in many, many cases from imported milk). The cheese must be turned over many times, and at home should not be put in the fridge after purchase, but left in room temperature (assuming normal temperatures) and turned frequently.
Only after it has been cut, for consumation, should what is left (if it's a good one, there won't be any left!), be kept - well protected, in the fridge, at the highest temperature point (normally in the vegetable part of the fridge).
"Camembert" made one of probably the most costly errors in the history of the Kitchen world when the area did not take out a "trade mark" protection, right from the start!
This meant, and still does, that many "forgeries" are to be found.
Camembert from Germany, other parts of France, Holland even USA are to be found - and avoided like the plague!
Yes - they are always cheaper, and this is generally an indication - low price = low quality, and you'll probably end up throwing away more than you eat!
The same applies to a cheese called "Brie", which has become a sort of "collective" name for anything resembling the original "Brie de Mie" except for the taste and texture.
It's the difference between Beluga caviar and coloured cod roes! Don't touch them!

A certain Frenchman, General and Président, once said "How can you govern a country which boasts more than 3,000 different types of cheese" - and he was right - with difficulty, but then again, with palatial pleasure...!
France - in spite of the amusing adverts from "the other country of cheese - Holland" is the number 1 address in the world for cheese, there is no doubt, only rarely being rivalled by other countries for certain types of cheeses, Italy for its "Parmesan" - Switzerland for it's various semi-hard cheeses like Appenzeller or Gruyère etc., certain "older" Dutch cheeses (although Dutch friends assure me that they only export the rubbish) and I'll even go so far as to mention England for it's "Stiltons" and "Double Worcesters".
On the whole, if you stay with French, you can't really go wrong. There is something for everybody, and for all occasions, from the blue/green veined Roquefort, to the really ripe "Munster" (the only cheese I know capable of chasing any HM Inspector of Customs and Excises).
Yes - expensive, I recall a certain young man who, having left the parental home where he consumed large quantities of cheeses, had to constat that "Hey Dad - you seen the price of cheese.....!"
But...value is when you don't need a lot to have the quality bursting open your mouth with the full flavour and taste.
Cheaper things like best price "Emmentaler" (often already grated) finally end up in your mouth like bits of elastic rubber bands, and finally in the bin, together with the food it was supposed to give a crusty brown gratiné.
And now - the large companies in France are complicating the issue even more.
They decided some time back that "raw" milk cheeses were dangerous to the health, but since vheese made from "sterilized" milk didn't have the taste required, they came up with the idea of a sort of mixture between raw and cooked, and imposed it, through their size and sales politics, upon the general public. In France, at least, avoid them, you'll eat better, and you'll support the smaller producers. The prices don't differ enormously, but the quality does,
They neglected to mention, naturally, that their concern was more in fulfilling European and Swiss laws which bans the exportation of raw milk cheeses, than protecting our health!
Incidentally, the Swiss ban even the importing of han or pork products, they claim "swine fever" is rife elsewhere, but not in Switzerland! I've even been obliged to dispose my ham sandwich for the journey in the rubbish bin when entering Switzerland - not the only reason for me to avoid Switzerland and the Swiss!
Should have had my "ripened to perfection Munster" in the car - for the Customs inspector - my fault!

Here is a link to pass away some time on the subject:





http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/all-about-cheese/stinky-washed-rind-cheeses/

Did you know you were breaking International law even when you took that cheese to eat on the journet back to the UK.....?
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