Showing posts with label Sheep's cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sheep's cheese. Show all posts

Roquefort Cheese - Roquefort Fromage AOP. The Roquefort Sheep's Cheese is The King of French Cheeses.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

   
Roquefort cheese.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milstan/5304118608/sizes/m/  FF

What makes the Roquefort cheese special?
    
This cheese is the famous, blue-veined, semi-soft, 33% fat, sheep's cheese, made with unpasteurized milk.  It has a medium to strong flavor and has no rind.   It is slightly pungent, crumbly, and somewhat moist.  The cheese comes from the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in the department of Aveyron in the Occitanie. 

This is the cheese that many call the king of cheeses and was the first cheese to be awarded an AOC (in 1925),  and that was before the first wine carried those initials.  The cheese is aged for five months before it may be sold in the natural damp, aired caves that are close to the village.

Roquefort is one of France's oldest known cheeses; it was probably already appreciated by the Romans when they occupied France in 121 BCE.  Roquefort is not unique because it is a sheep's cheese or because of its age; however, it is unique as it is the first recorded blue-veined cheese inside or outside France.
   

Roquefort cheese aging.
Photograph courtesy of Per-Olof Forsberg FF

Comparing Roquefort and the other blue cheeses.
   
When discussing blue cheeses Roquefort's name will always come up and I read an article recently where Roquefort was compared to English Stilton. However, Roquefort and Stilton are not the same at all!  Their tastes and texture are very different. Even more to the point, Stilton is a cow’s milk cheese and Roquefort is a sheep's milk cheese.   Both are excellent blue veined cheeses and much appreciated on their own or with a glass of Port and a few grapes but there the similarity ends. 
   

The village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon
    
The village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon may have given its name to the cheese but today since there are less than 700 inhabitants in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon you may be sure that most of the farmers come from outside the town.   The cheese is ripened in the local limestone caverns called Causses; these caverns are part of the Parc Naturel Régional des Grands Causses.  You may visit the park, with its mineral and hot springs and see the limestone caverns. For a few Euros you may try the cheese and or buy one. If you speak French you may still have some difficulty listening in on the local’s private conversations that is because many of them, amongst themselves, speak the local Occitan dialect, the traditional language of the area.
     

Entrecote with Roquefort Sauce and French Fries.
   

The Grands Causses Regional Natural Park has an English language website.
 
https://www.parc-grands-causses.fr/en
 
When in the area you will also find other local blue-veined sheep’s cheeses on sale. They are not made in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon and have no AOP on their label; however. some are very good, and they are also much less expensive! Do not forget that within the Midi-Pyrénées there are many excellent cheeses and three more that hold the AOP grade. These are the cow’s milk Bleu des Causses. the cow’s milk Laquiole,  and the goat’s milk Rocamadour.
   

Salad with Roquefort and walnuts

   
If you are looking for a local wine to accompany your Roquefort cheese, consider the Entraygues-Le-Fel AOP and Estaing AOP  these are whites, roses, and reds that were probably originally planted in Roman times.
   

Entraygues Le Fel AOP

Also, try the red and rose Marcillac AOP wines.  This is a wine brought to the Mediaeval village of Conque 125 km (78 miles) away from Roquefort by the monks who also saw their abbey become a major stop on the Saint-Jacques de Compostelle pilgrimage on the way to Spain.

Connected Posts:
    
   
   
 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2016


Ossau-Iraty AOP. One of France’s Two AOP sheep’s cheeses.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
   

Fromage Ossau-Iraty
Ossau-Iraty AOP Cheese.

  
Ossau-Iraty AOP – A 50 % fat, non-pasteurized, smooth, firm to crumbly sheep’s milk cheese. This is a semi-hard cheese with a white to ivory color and a subtle, slightly nutty taste; the rind is yellow-orange to reddish gray. The cheese is aged for a minimum of two to three months before being sold. The aging of this cheese is very important and is done in damp, temperature-controlled cellars; the cheese is turned and brushed every few days to ensure that each cheese matures evenly.
  
The most well-known sheep's cheeses.
 
Ossau-Iraty AOP is one of the two sheep's milk cheeses granted AOP status in France. (The other is Roquefort AOP). Whole cheeses weigh 4 -5 kilos ( 9 – 11 lbs) each. Ossau-Iraty will not only be on the cheese trolley it will also be on many menus:
   
A wrapped Ossau-Iraty Cheese.
 
Ossau-Iraty on French Menus:
 
Ossau-Iraty et sa Confiture de Cerises Noires – Ossau-Iraty served together with black cherries.  This is a popular dessert
 
Figues Fraîches au Jambon Sec de Montagne et Ossau Iraty: -Fresh figs served with cured mountain ham and Ossau-Iraty.
   
Omelet melon and Ossau-Iraty cheese.
Photograph courtesy of Guillaume Simon
 
Jambon Cru, AOC Ossau-Iraty, Piment d'Espelette, Pommes de Terre Risolées, Sorbet Griotte.-  Cured Ham, Ossau-Iraty AOP Cheese, Espelette pepper, deep fried rissole potatoes and a sorbet of sour cherries.
 
Le Merlu Étuvé Lentement, Poutargue et Ossau-Iraty, Slowly steamed whiting the fish. Here, it is served with portargue, the salted and dried roe of the gray mullet, and Ossau–Iraty.
   
Aging Ossau Iraty Cheese
  
Demi Magret de Canard, Cuit au Sel de Guerande, Céleri au Miel et Galette de Pomme de Terre a  l'Ossau Iraty. Half a duck’s breast cooked on the salt from Guerand, along with celery with honey, a potato pancake, and Ossau Iraty.
.
Brochettes aux Figues Fraîches, Ossau Iraty et Jambon Sec de Modena. - Skewers of fresh figs, served with Ossau Iraty cheese and cured ham, from Modena, Italy.
 
Salade Tiède de Poires Comice, Ossau Iraty et Noisettes Torréfiées – A warm salad with comice pears, Ossau-Iraty Cheese, and roasted hazelnuts.
    

The cheese’s most important producer.

There is an age-old dispute over who first created this cheese; the dispute is between the historic regions of Béarn and the Pays Basque, the Basque Country.  Until the 1970’s the same cheese was called Ossau in Béarn and Iraty in the Pays Basque. Then someone said let us work together to market this cheese properly; that may mean increased incomes, maybe a new television, maybe a new car, maybe Common Market subsidies?. Then, voila, after hundreds of years of disagreement, a compromise was reached, and since 1970, the cheese has been called Ossau-Iraty AOP. Economics won out; the cheese itself has not changed.
 
Ossau-Iraty AOp will be on many local menus and may be offered with a salad or used as a gratin on the main dish. The longer the cheese is matured, the stronger tasting it becomes; matured Ossau-Iraty cheeses will be on the cheese trolley and in the supermarkets and, fromageries, cheese shops all over France.
 
Ossau-Iraty AOC is an important part of the local economy and you may obtain a map for their Route du Fromage AOC Ossau-Iraty, the Ossau-Iraty cheese road. This special road is prepared for just one cheese, and it does direct you to many farms that produce it, and you may taste it at different stages of maturity. Nevertheless, many of these farms make other local cheeses, and that will make your tasting more enjoyable. Wine cellars, shops, and other farms along the route may also offer, for a small additional charge, local wines that include Irouleguy and Madiran.  Those farms that make other local, though less well-known, cheeses include other sheep’s cheeses as well as cow and goat's milk cheeses. Tasting requires a small contribution to the local economy. (see AOC and Basque).

Ossau-Iraty has a French-language website. Using the Google and Bing translation apps makes their information very clear.


On the same website, you may download a PDF with their Route du Fromage:
 

  
Connected Posts:
 
 
 
 

 

 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Copyright 2010, 2016, 2024.
 

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