from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
A
Reblochon de Savoie AOP.
The green label indicates a farm made cheese.
Reblochon AOP - A great 26% fat, soft, creamy, mild, unpasteurized cow's milk cheese. Aged for four to eight weeks and just spreadable (when ripe), the cheese is ivory-colored, lightly nutty-tasting, with a light beige edible rind.
I had enjoyed Reblochon on a restaurant’s cheese
plate or trolley in many parts of France, and it was always on the list of
cheeses to be bought home. Then some twenty-plus years I was to enjoy it in its
home in the two departments of the Savoie that are set in France’s Rhône-Alpes.
The Reblochon Laitier
There are two types of Reblochon. The cheese we
usually see is the Reblochon Laitier, also called the Reblochon Fruitier,
produced by dairies; these cheeses have a round red label on the packaging. The
other and more expensive version is the Reblochon Fermier, where a farmer will
have made his or her own cheese; they are marked with a green label,
The Reblochon Fermier
The Reblochon Fermier cheese is made with the milk
from a single herd, during the period the herd grazes in the high pastures from May through
October. Reblochon Fermier cheeses are marked with a green label pressed into the
rind. The cheeses are collected once a week by specialists called fruiters who will age them in
caves as well as above-ground heat and humidity controlled aging stores. The Reblochon Fermiers are aged separately from the dairy produced cheeses. During their
aging, both cheeses are turned and washed every two days to prevent the growth
of mold, which might affect the taste (More about the Reblochon
Fermier in the latter part of this post).
During the winter, the cows eat the same grasses,
herbs, and wildflowers that will have been collected from the high pastures and
stored, but no cheese produced in the winter may be labeled Fermier, farm-made.
A
member of the production team.
www.flickr.com/photos/wolfgangjung/2470963810/
The
Reblochonade and the Tartiflette
the
most famous cheese dishes made with reblochon.
To begin with, there were two recipes; the Reblochonade
was made with a whole Reblochon cheese baked in the oven with onions and served
over boiled potatoes with most recipes adding crème fraîche to the cheese. Served alongside the Reblochonade
will be local dried meats, sausages, bacon, or cured ham. Other traditional accompaniments that are eaten with a
Reblochonade are cornichons and small white pickled onions.
The recipe of a Tartiflette was the same as the
Reblochinade but made with added lardons, smoked or salted bacon pieces,
in the recipe. Today, the two dishes have become one, and any differences
depend on a particular chef’s preferences. Both are sometimes made with the cheese
poured over bread or toast as well as or instead of potatoes. Under one name or
another, these dishes will be on menus all over the Savoie.
A
Reblochonade/Tartiflette with potatoes,
ham, salami
type sausage, and salad.
There is more to a Reblochonade or Tartiflette than
just the cheese as the Savoie region has many exceptional dried meats and cured
hams that may accompany them. Ask for more information about the meats served;
otherwise, you may be missing something very special. One of the best-known hams is the Jambon de la Savoie, a cured boneless ham made in both Savoie departments.
The ham is salted and steamed before being air-cured for at least nine months.
These ham are aged for a minimum of 12 months and takes place in Alpine curing
sheds at an altitude of 650 m. The sausages can include pork, veal, wild boar, duck, and more.
The original Reblochonades/Tartiflette were baked in
a particular oven called a Berthoud made for the purpose, though that is rarely
seen today. Still, the name may be on a menu and now you will know what it is.
A
Lakeside Annecy hotel and restaurant.
At a
lakeside restaurant near Annecy, there was a listing for a Tartiflette
Végétarienne, a vegetarian version of the traditional dish with various fresh
and cooked vegetables replacing the ham, the bacon, and cold meats. So for all
those who believe you cannot find great vegetarian dishes in France, visit the
Savoie.
www.flickr.com/photos/o_0/15152905578/
Other Reblochon dishes on menus in the Savoie:
Croustillant
de Reblochon de Savoie sur Son Lit de Mesclun - Crispy
grilled Reblochon served on a bed of a mesclun salad. A
traditional mesclun is a green salad made with at least five different salad
greens, but do not been surprised to find France’s favorite Haricot Vert, green beans, and
other additions incorporated.
Omelette
des Aravis au Lard et au Reblochon - An omelet in the manner or the Aravis served with bacon and Reblochon. The Aravis
Massif, mountains, apart from being one of France’s most popular winter skiing
areas are, in its valleys, where they make Reblochon cheese. In the summer, much
of this area is a center for people touring, hiking, and looking at the
incredible countryside, beautiful villages, and enjoying many of the Savoie
cheeses. This omelet will not be a French breakfast dish, most
likely it will be on a light lunch menu.
Savoie
Pizza 4 FROMAGES: Tomates, Jambon, Champignons,
Persillé des Aravis Chevre,
Reblochon, Mozzarella – A four
cheese pizza. This pizza shop offering was clearly the Savoie take on the Italian
pizza Quattro Formaggi, a very popukar four-cheese Italian pizza. Here the four kinds of cheese are
all from the Savoie, Reblochon, Persillé des Aravis, a blue cheese, Chevre, a local goat’s cheese, and a
local mozzarella. The Italian influence is felt in the Savoie area as these two
departments were part of Italy until 1860 . Then as part of an agreement that
created the modern State of Italy together with the Mediterranean city of Nice they became part of France. Still today, there are family and linguistic connections
across the valleys.
Tartiflettes are often baked over
bread or toast like this one.
Photograph courtesy of Clayton
Parker
www.flickr.com/photos/claytron/160812791/
Velouté de Petit Pois au Reblochon - A velvety soup of
petit pois peas made with added Reblochon cheese.
The milk comes cows in from the
high pastures
in the Savoie mountains
Photograph courtesy of Evim@ge
ON/OFF
www.flickr.com/photos/jetef2/45892139781/
Burger
Savoyard: 180 gr Steak Haché, Rösti, Reblochon, Salade, Tomate, Oignons,
Cornichons, Sauce Blanche.- A Savoyard
180-gram cheeseburger made with Reblochon and accompanied by rösti and a salad
of salad greens, tomatoes, onions, cornichons, and a white butter
sauce, Rostis are originally a Swiss creation of grated and fried potato
pancakes that often contain onions and some herbs. There are different versions
of rostis, some sweet and others salted, and some are very close to a Jewish
Latke.
Skiing
in the Aravis Massif.
The
sizes of a reblochon cheese
The standard Reblochon cheese weighs approximately
450 grams (16 oz) and measures approximately 14 cm (5 ½”) across and about 3–4
cm (1 1/2") thick. Marketing demands have also created a market for smaller cheeses
called a Petit Reblochon de Savoie. These smaller cheeses weigh about 250 grams
(9 Oz) and are about 9 cm in diameter (3.5”). The Petit Reblochon size is
nearly perfect for making a Reblochnade for two diners. Other shapes are made
using halves of the regular large-sized cheese.
What makes
the farm made Reblochon special.
The Reblochon Fermier (farm-made) with the green
label is one of only three French AOP cheeses made in the high pastures where
the cows graze. Each farmer makes his or her own cheese and cannot work with
the milk from other farms. It is only available, at most, eight months a year.
And made on fewer than 150 farms: fewer and fewer farmers want to spend five to
six months of the year, making cheese in the mountains. That means less
farm-made cheese and higher prices.
Reblochon on sale in Carrefour
The red label indicates a cheese produced in a dairy.
The red label indicates a cheese produced in a dairy.
The two other French AOP cheeses that must be made on
the farms in the high pastures They are the Salers AOP that
comes from the department of Cantal and the Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage AOC, also from the Savoie
departments. Like the Reblochon Ferrmier,
when these cows come down from the mountains for the winter, their milk cannot
be used for cheeses that are called farm-made. Other AOP cheeses may be
produced on farms in the mountains, but that is not a condition of their certification.
For more about the meaning of AOC/AOP labels on
France’s foods, click here. For the labels on France’s wine, click here.
Nearly all of the Reblochon cheese is produced in the
department of Haute-Savoie, in the valley of Thônes in the Rhône-Alpes of
Eastern France bordering Italy. The rest comes from the Val d’Arly in the
department of Savoie. Since 1-1-2016
the Rhône-Alpes is part of the super region of the
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
The
history of Reblochon cheese and its name.
Reblochon is one of the oldest cheeses in the Savoie,
and indeed its history can undoubtedly be traced to the 14th century. At that
time, the farmers rented grazing lands (alpages) from landowners and paid their
rent as a percentage of milk. From that tradition comes the cheese’s name; the
farmers would have a second milking after the rent collectors had left, and
Reblochon was made with that milk.
Choose
your Reblochon
www.flickr.com/photos/boklm/6993614719/
Visiting
where Reblochon is made
Most Reblochon cheese is produced in the beautiful
Thônes valley in the Aravis massif. The attractive small town of Thônes has a
population of approximately 6,000, and there are other beautiful small villages
in the area. The area has an English language website.
On the website above, click on the menu
bar. Discover and then click on the drop-down menu
on Country and Taste. From that page, you will be able to see
information on farms, dairies, markets, and where to eat. Not to be ignored
when dining in the area is the local cider called Biscantin, which goes well
with all the cheeses of the region.
Biscantin
Cider.
The language spoken, at that time, was Savoyard, a
dialect containing French, Italian, and Occitan, and the word reblochon, in
Savoyard, means to milk again. The Savoyard language is vanishing though it's
still used by some of the residents of the Savoie who still speak the original
dialect. There are also groups working to make Savoyard a familiar language
again; Savoyard is one of twenty languages still spoken apart from French. Over
fifty percent of French citizens, as well as speaking perfect French, speak or
understand a second traditional language. The most well-known local languages
are Occitan and Occitan dialects that include Provencal and Nicoise.
The
town of Thônes in its valley.
There are many other excellent cheeses made in the
Savoie, with the most famous being Abondance AOP, Beaufort AOP,
Chevrotin AOP, Tome des Bauges AOP, and Reblochon AOP. Then comes the Emmental
de Savoie IGP, Raclette De Savoie IGP, and Tomme De Savoie IGP.
However, when you travel in the area, you will find that local fromageries,
specialized cheese shops, and farmers' markets have many other wonderful local
cheeses. They include the cow’s milk blue cheeses Persillé des Aravis, Persillé
de Tignes and the semi-soft pale yellow cow’s milk Tamié made by the monks of
the Abbaye de Tamié. Many cheeses have limited production, and that means they cannot
apply for exclusive labels, but they still are wonderful cheeses.
Local market in Thônes
If you are going to be in the Savoie, consider
visiting one of the 60 fairs and exhibitions that celebrate different Savoie
cheeses and wines along with eve more that celebrate other foods. Most of these
cheese fairs and other celebrations are held between May and September. The web
site below gives dates and places; it is in French, but the Google and Bing
Translation programs will provide you with a clear picture of what is happening
along with where and when to go and join in a Savoie cheese celebration.
Wines
to accompany a Reblochon
To accompany your meal, choose one of the fine Savoie
white wines for a total Savoyard experience. Choosing a white wine in the
Savoie will not be difficult as the two Savoie departments produce very few
reds. I am not a wine maven, but I know what I like, and on a week’s vacation
near Annecy, I had the opportunity to try three different wineries versions of
the Roussette de Savoie AOP white wine. The wines were from different grades,
years, and their prices varied a great deal, but all were enjoyed. Finding the
best Roussette de Savoie AOP white wine will require another trip to the
Savoie; I think for a month, at least.
Aging Reblochon cheeses
The small round green label seen here of every cheese shows they are farm-made cheeses.
Bringing
Reblochon home
For more about buying cheese in France, taking it
home and storing it when you get back, click
here.
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013, 2014, 2020
--------------------------------
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Connected Posts:
Buying Cheese in France. Bringing French Cheese to Take Home and
a Lexicon for buying French Cheese.
Tomate – Tomato. France’s Greatest Tomato, the Tomate de Marmande
AOC. The Tomato in French Cuisine.
