Valencay

Valencay is a storied goat's milk cheese from Valencay, France.  It has an aggressive look about it, with its pyramidal shape and intensely moldy rind, but it is really quite a friendly and accessible cheese.

Cutting into that brilliant mold reveals a snow white, thick, sweet-smelling goat cheese paste.  I was really struck by the texture of this cheese - it is SO very dense that it has the texture of refrigerated butter, almost.  Very smooth, very rich, soft and yet almost firm.

The flavor is a delightful mix of the mildest aspects of goat cheese plus a lemony sweetness that reminds me almost of dessert.  This is a real stunner of a cheese that will blow your guests away with its refined taste and bold look. 

The story of Valencay cheese, incidentally, is that Napoleon stopped at Valencay Castle on his way back from a failed Egyptian campaign and noticed the pyramid-shaped Valencay cheese.  To avoid the painful associations, he lopped off the top of the cheese, making it a topless pyramid.

A delicious cheese with a rich history - you can't beat that.  I cannot recommend this cheese enough!

Etorki

Etorki at the Food Network Store

"Etorki", the name, apparently comes from the Basque word for "origin". I think it would make a good name for a sheep. Perhaps Etorki was the name of the very first sheep whose milk was used to make Etorki cheese. But I digress.

Etorki is a sheep's milk cheese, and quite a fine one at that. It is new, having been invented in the 1970s. Its flavor is somewhat similar to a nutty Spanish cheese, like an Iberico for example, but the texture is semi-soft, creamy and buttery. It also has not a small amount of that elusive flavor component that I like to call "sheepiness". And the only way to experience sheepiness, aside from drinking sheep's milk, is to eat a sheep's cheese.

There is a bit of sweetness in this cheese, and also a grassy, fresh, flowery sunny taste that will make you feel like you've landed in a meadow in springtime. Surrounded by cute little sheep named Etorki.

It's another versatile cheese that will make you happy on a cheese plate, or in your cooking, but it is rich and shouldn't be overused.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Alouette Hickory Smoked Baby Brie

Alouette Hickory Smoked Baby Brie

Alouette is the French word for a Skylark. A Skylark is a cute little bird; Alouette makes cute little cheeses. I guess it works.

I have never been a huge fan of Alouette Brie, as it never seems to age to that perfect gooey consistency that I expect of my softer French cheeses. It works fine in a pinch, though. Now, smoked brie, though? This is another issue entirely.

I had never tried smoked brie before. What could possibly be the point? The beauty of a brie lies in its simplicity, its mildness, its innocent maiden-like charm that conceals a richness so deep that it needs no accompaniment. Remember the scene in Twin Peaks when Jerry and Ben Horne nearly go mad over the beautiful simplicity of brie and butter, spread on a baguette? That is the magic of this cheese. To cover it in hickory smoke seems, well.... misguided.

And after tasting it, I believe it really is. The smoking does nothing to the brie except add a slight harshness to its aftertaste, and a slight firmness to its texture. The last thing a brie needs is to be firmer, even if this is a "baby" brie. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either.

If you really must add some sort of pizazz to your brie for your next party, such as baking it en croute or some such thing, I merely entreat you to keep it as simple as possible. The best bries need no help being delicious.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Fromage D'Affinois de Brebis

http://cheeselibrary.com/fromage_daffinois_de_brebis.html

Fromage D'Affinois de Brebis is a GREAT sheep cheese. If you've never tried sheep milk cheese before, start with this one. But make sure you are getting the "de Brebis" variety with the cute little Ewe on the label - there is at least one other variety of Affinois cheese made from cow's milk.

The texture of this cheese is ultra-soft and gooey - as it sits out and comes to room temperature, it will start to run, so make sure you contain it somehow. It smells totally sheep-y, but not bad. ("sheep-y", to me, suggests a sort of musky, earthy smell, not unlike a strong mushroom.) The rind has an interesting texture too, and is fun to eat.

Brebis tastes really awesome and complex, and I assure you that you will love it. It's kind of salty, yet buttery, creamy, nutty, and almost meaty even. There's definitely a strong aspect of what white people call "umami" in this cheese. Glop it on to some crusty bread and thank me later.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Saint Andre

http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/cheese/cheese-details-5640.asp

What can I say about Saint Andre? It's a triple-creme cheese with 75 percent milk-fat. That means that it is like butter encased in a delicious moldy crust. It's a very good cheese, and almost disturbingly buttery. Its texture is so, so rich. Velvety, really. This is not a cheese you should eat every day.

It tastes like brie, yes, but more sophisticated. It goes well with crusty bread, fruit, whatever you want, really. Wikipedia warns: "Saint-André is so fatty it can make a white wine taste sour and metallic: a crust of baguette and a light beer or simply a slice of pear are often suggested as better complements." Damn! It's so fatty that it can ruin a glass of wine! That's one fatty cheese.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

Mimolette

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimolette

Mimolette is a really cool-looking French cheese. As you can see, it looks almost exactly like a cantaloupe. It is also a very, very vibrant orange. Its flavor and texture vary with age, but I have only ever seen it available in the aged variety.

I don't really care for Mimolette's texture. It's very hard, but not crumbly as much as intensely chewy. The flavor is interesting, though. It's a very strong, bright taste that I imagine would go better with beer than with wine. If you plan on serving cheese at your next party, Mimolette would be a good choice since it's cool-looking and has a pretty unique taste/texture combination. As for me, it's not my favorite, but I don't hate it or anything. Also, its crust is made by cheese mites, which is neat.

RATING: 2 out of 5 stars

Saint Marcellin

http://www.artisanalcheese.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PC-10635

Before I talk about this amazing cheese, let me say something about "Stinky" cheeses and how they are often marketed and discussed online.

If you are the kind of person who regularly window-shops for and orders cheese online, you'll have no doubt seen the Stink Apologists on the gourmet food websites using vague, flowery language to try and convince you that the cheese doesn't really smell bad. If you see phrases in cheese descriptions like "mushroomy", "smells of the farm" (that sounds nice, right?), "unforgettable aroma", etc. , it's very likely that the cheese you are thinking of buying actually smells like a pile of rotting garbage. And the writer trying to fool you into thinking that the cheese smells of farm-fresh grass, rather than farm-fresh manure, will tend to reassure you that the actual flavor of the cheese is quite mild and innocuous, compared to the "unique" smell.

Now, a stinking cheese is not always a bad thing, of course. And there really ARE cheeses that smell nasty yet taste great. I just don't see why, if the stink of a cheese is one of its defining features, anyone would want to lie and say it smells "intriguing" when the truth is, it just stinks. I've definitely been fooled ordering cheese online before; sometimes I really do want a stinky cheese, but I need to know upfront just HOW badly the cheese is going to smell. Buyer beware.

Anyway. Saint Marcellin is an incredibly gooey French cheese. It is so gooey that (in its young form) it comes in a cute little clay pot, because it is basically liquid. You get some crusty bread and use a spoon to basically pour the cheese onto the bread. Then you eat it and go, "Holy shit, this cheese is delicious". But it stinks, and that's why I included the above ramblings. It doesn't stink terribly; on a stink meter of 1-10 I would probably rate it a 4 or 5; but you should still know that it will smell funky when you open it up. Cheese is inherently kind of a gross thing, so this is natural. The great thing about Saint Marcellin, though, is that unlike some stinky cheeses I've tried, it REALLY tastes good. It is mild, very creamy, nutty, sophisticated, multi-layered and delightful. You'll forget you ever smelled it.

Recommendations? See crusty bread above. Sure, there are probably tons of great uses for this cheese in terms of food pairings. But in my opinion, it's so good that it deserves to be eaten alone.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars