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January 05, 2005
Bingham Hill's Harvest Moon & Abbaye de Citeaux
Last night was a first cheese combination evening. I decided to try two cheeses, which (as recommended by the cheese seller, Murray's Cheese) would go well together. Both soft cow-milk cheeses, very delicious and very filling as dinner (served on baguette with olives on the side).
Bingham Hill's Harvest Moon
This beautiful cheese from Tom and Kristi Johnson in Colorado is made from raw cow's milk and has the full, salty flavor of a great Tallesio, but it is uniquely gentle. The cheese we have today is made to a new and improved recipe and this sassy, aromatic, creamy treasure has only gotten better. (from Murray's Cheese label)
I don't know how I feel about describing cheese as "sassy", but I tell you this, it was pretty good. It smells a lot and it stank up the living room, but it was a quite pleasant sort of smell - very strong, but definitely recognizable as cheese as opposed to some other cheeses that smell like something died in your fridge.
Abbaye de Citeaux
One fo the triumverate of Burgundian washed rinds, alone with Epoisse and L'Ami du Chambertain. Raw cow's milk, made by a single monastery (abbaye) in Burgundy. Very rare, highly seasonal, Abbaye de Citeaux is similar to Reblochon, with a deeper, more buttery flavor. (from Murray's Cheese label)
I'm reading Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins and he points out two things. One: whether to eat the rind of the cheese is a personal choice (except for the obviously gross rinds). It looks like I am a rind-eater. I think the rind adds a bit of texture variety to the cheese consumed. Two: cheeses are seasonal and the season depends on when the grasses that the cows/sheep/yaks/whatever eat are in their prime. This usually occurs in July and August (at least for the northern hemisphere) so the cheese's best season is July/August plus amount of time it takes for the cheese to, well, become cheese.
Overall, these two cheeses made a delicious combo. Abbaye de Citeaux is less stinky but its flavor is richer than that of the Harvest Moon, so they balanced out each other rather well.
P.S. I will be adding categories under New Cheese organizing cheeses by milk (cow, goat, etc.). I will add new milks as I try them.
Posted by maggie at January 5, 2005 10:51 AM