from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Bleu de Causses
Bleu des Causses AOP is a semi-soft, 45%
fat, cows’ milk cheese made with pasteurized milk. It is white to ivory with
greenish-blue veins aged for at least 21 days before being sold. It has an
earthy smell with a spicy, nutty taste and a creamy pate changing to slightly
crumbly as it ages. Cheese shops keep this cheese in two or more ages to
satisfy the pockets, tastes, and needs of their customers. A whole cheese will
weigh over 2 kilos (4.40 lbs), but a wedge kept in aluminum foil and a vacuum
pack kept cold in the hotel mini-bar will travel well for 24 to 36 hours. When
home the cheese must be kept in the refrigerator, (never the freezer) in
aluminum foil and plastic wrap. This cheese is made with pasteurized milk, and
so it can be taken into the USA, but for more about buying cheese in France and
taking them home click
here.
Bleu de Causses
France has a large selection of blue
cheeses made with cow’s, sheep’s or goat’s milk along with a few that are made
with mixed milks. Textures vary from creamy to crumbly and tastes run the gamut
of mild to very spicy. What boosts the Blue des Causses in the restaurants'
popularity stakes is this cheese’s flexibility.
Many blue cheeses will age with a more piquant taste coming with age,
but until you actually take them out of the cave or aging room and taste them,
you cannot be really sure how spicey and or crumbly it is. Bleu de Causses has its rind removed after
the minimum aging of 21 days when it is replaced with aluminum foil. That allows the cheese to be aged at slightly
higher temperature cellars for up to six months and properly controlled its
taste and texture changes like clockwork.
Map of
the cheese making centers in the causses.
Home to
some of France’s most famous cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses.
When a chef wants a light note that
will not overpower a fish dish he or she will pick up the phone and ask for a
21 or 30-day old cheese. For a quiche, a
45-day aged cheese may be ordered, and for steaks the chef will ask for a
90-day aged cheese. The fromager, the cheesemonger who supplies the cheese,
doesn’t need to taste it, the date stamp says it all. After120 days the Bleu
des Causses will only be on the cheese trolley though the cheese’ aficionados
know that five months will be better than four with the real mavens saying that
the very best is six months old. N. B. Any older it begins to fade.
The Tarn Gorge seen
from the Millau Viaduct
The Causses that
gives this cheese its name are limestone plateaus in France’s Massif Central. The
gorges are created by the rivers Tarn, Dourbie, Jonte, Lot and Aveyron running
through the limestone and making for arresting scenery.
www.flickr.com/photos/allan_harris/2647320054/
The cheese comes from around the towns of
Sainte-Afrique and Millau and they are just 28 km (17 miles apart) in the
center of the department of Aveyron in the region of Occitainie. The department of Aveyron has
two other AOP cheeses with Roquefort AOP sheep’s milk cheese being made just 11.6
km (7.2 miles) from Sainte-Afrique and the Laguiole AOP cow's milk cheese which is at the heart
of many of the tastiest Aligots 120 km (63 miles) to the north of Millau.
Bleu de Causses will be on many menus:
Dorade Marbré au Bleu des Causses, Mascarpone aux Noix, Confiture de Courge Musquée - The striped seabream or sand steenbras prepared with the Bleu de Causses
and Marscapone cream cheese with walnuts (France’s favorite nut) accompanied by a
butternut squash jam. The striped seabream is caught in the Mediterranean as
well being raised in sea farms, and it will be on many menus. Its taste is very
similar to the Daurade Rose, the Bluespotted Seabream. While Marscapone is an Italian cream
cheese don’t be surprised to see it on a French menu as there are many parts of
France with strong Italian connections such as the city of Nice on the Cote
d’Azur, and many Italian cheeses are close to the heart of French cuisine with Parmesan, the leader.
Faux Filet de Bœuf Sauce au Bleu Des Causses - The UK sirloin and the US strip steak grilled or fried and served with a Bleu
de Causses sauce. Faux-filet makes great
steaks; they come from just below the French entrecote, the UK and US ribeye.
US strip steak – The French faux filet
www.flickr.com/photos/edkohler/2196323585/
Pièce de Boucher et sa Sauce Au Bleu
Des Causses - The butcher’s cut served with a Bleu
des Causses sauce. The pièce
de boucher is one of four French cuts that are amongst the tastiest and
tenderest of steaks from the rump. The French names for these cuts are Araignée
de Bœuf, Merlan de Rumsteck, Poire de
Bœuf, and the Langue de Chat, and there are no English names. You won’t find
anything like these tender and tasty cuts in plastic wrap in a UK or USA supermarket, and the butcher’s outside who
are willing to prepare these cuts are few and far between.
Steak Tatar
www.flickr.com/photos/hdv-gallery/7138285281/
Quiche au Bleu de Causses
et sa Salade – Quiche made with Bleu des Causses served
with a salad. The origin of all quiches is the Quiche Lorraine in North-Eastern France now part of the region of the Grand Est and while they made all
around the world the name is a direct link to their origins.
The Bleu de Causses was traditionally
made from a mixture of sheep's milk mixed either with cow's or goat's milk, and
it competed in the same market as Roquefort.
Then as the producers and the government tried to make sense of competing
demands for names and manufacturing secrets the cheese was made from cow’s milk
that resulted in a milder taste than Roqueforte. To the mavens, there is a slight difference
between the Bleu des Causses produced in winter and summer. Cheeses made in
winter are lighter in color than their summer as the cows are fed in barns with
the dry grasses, herbs, and flowers from summer pastures that also results in a
slightly drier pate; both versions have their admirers.
The Millau Viaduct
www.flickr.com/photos/jaapv/42932279492/
The town of Millau stands out among those
traveling in the center of southern France as the Millau Viaduct is the tallest
bridge in the world is here. At 336.50
meters (1,106 feet) high the Millau Viaduct is the quickest way via an
AutoRoute from Paris to Barcelona and places along the way. The bridge spans
the gorge valley of the River Tarn though many traveling south enjoy the
scenery rather than the autoroute and then connect to the bridge. The whole area is beautiful and a stopover
in the towns of Sainte-Afrique, Millau, Roquefort and or Laguiole
will introduce you to some of the tastiest parts of France and the local wines
are recommended with the red or rose Marcillac not to be missed.
Marcillac Rose
-----------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2019.
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