the skint foodie
  • blog
  • about
  • how
  • recipes
    • recipes
    • skint 'takeaways'
    • mid-week meals for the time-poor
    • cheese boards
    • coffee
  • spending
  • links
  • contact

a plate of cheese no. 5: le massadel, taleggio and beenleigh blue

17/6/2012

8 Comments

 
Picture
L: Le Massadel (£2.20/100g); C: Taleggio (£1.75/100g);
R: Beenleigh Blue (2.85/100g)

One goat's milk cheese, one cow's and one sheep's; one hard, one soft and one blue; all unpasteurised - this is a great selection, chosen as always by Robbyn Linden of The Cheeseboard.

When people say they don't like goat's cheese I reckon they're recalling the acrid aftertaste at the back of the throat of one of those aged and wrinkly crottins. Le Massadel is nothing like that - it has a lovely, subtle and more-ish taste with a texture reminiscent of a mild cheddar.

We all know Taleggio - soft, melting, unthreatening, ideal as a pizza topping - but probably that's mainly the pasteurised, factory versions available from any supermarket.  This one was much superior - complex and distinctive and redolent of the farmyard.

The Beenleigh is a wonderful blue cheese, both creamy and salty (I believe it is based on a Roquefort recipe); the texture reminded me of a Wensleydale. It is my favourite blue of the moment.

The three chunks shown in the photo cost me £6.94.

N.B. Just in case you didn't know, the term 'affineur' (as used by Robbyn in her notes below) is someone who selects, ripens and matures cheeses - Hervé Mons being the most famous exemplar in France, Neal's Yard Dairy here in Britain.

le massadel

Goat's milk, unpasteurised                                    

This is a brand new cheese that our French suppliers were very excited to introduce to us, and we immediately loved it. It is a farmhouse cheese handmade by Jean-Marie Ompraret and his son.

The Ompraret family herd cows and goats 1800 metres up a mountain called Col de Soulor in the Pyrenees. They make about 10 cheeses per day.

Once a week the local affineur, M. Calendri, selects cheeses from the farm, and matures them for 3-6 months.

Massadel is the name given to people living in the town of Massat near Lourdes.

taleggio

Cow's milk, unpasteurised

This cheese was originally made by families during the 10th Century in the Val Taleggio which is near Bergamo in Lombardy, although it wasn’t called Taleggio until the 20th Century. The cheeses are washed in brine to prevent unwanted moulds from growing. This brine gives the cheese its signature pinkish-orange colour and also encourages the barnyard aromas and flavours associated with Taleggio. It has a supple texture and melts in your mouth. This texture makes it ideal for cooking: try it in a tart or sliced into a polenta dish.

beenleigh blue

Ewe's milk, unpasteurised

Beenleigh, one of only three blue ewes' milk cheeses made in Britain, is made at the Ticklemore Dairy in Sharpham Barton just outside Totnes in Devon. It was created in the 1980s by former banker Robin Congdon who used his previous experience making Roquefort in France when creating this creamy and crumbly ewes milk blue cheese.  He made it with his wife Sari for many years, and it is now made by Ben Harris.

The rough, crusty, natural rind is slightly sticky and has some patches of gray and white moulds. It has a moist and crumbly texture with a patchwork blue green mould running through an ivory paste. The flavour is rich and slightly sweet, we love to have it for dessert on its own with some fruit and nuts.

It is matured for six months and is available from early summer through to winter.
8 Comments
europhile
17/6/2012 08:58:57

Ah. I'm one of the goat's cheese haters but I'll keep my eye out for this stuff.

Reply
The Skint Foodie
17/6/2012 11:04:26

You might also like the Childwickbury and the Tomme Bluette in this earlier post: http://www.theskintfoodie.com/1/post/2012/05/a-plate-of-cheese-no-3-rocamadour-childwickbury-and-tomme-bluette-chevre.html

Reply
check this site link
14/6/2013 06:01:57

cheese adds up to the flavor of a dish. There are many people who doesn’t like to have cheese and here I got to read on a wide variety of products that are made of cheese. I loved reading them all. Thank you

Steve gale link
17/6/2012 14:34:17

Beenleigh is my favorite blue. Good choice chief!

Reply
The Skint Foodie
17/6/2012 14:42:59

It's a great cheese isn't it? Thanks are due to Robbyn for the choice. But as she's in Madrid at the moment, attending a recital by her fellow American, Mr Bruce Springsteen, I'll take the credit.

Reply
Surack
18/6/2012 08:27:15

We are a retired couple with the same philosophy as you regarding food -' good food simply prepared, on a budget'. We thought you might be interested in our perspective from Shropshire. We buy as much as possible from local shops, who in turn source their produce from local family farms and veg growers and help to keep both in business. We go on a weekly foray to Shrewsbury market - to Appleyards for excellent cheese, bacon and sausages, Barkworths for fish, Corbetts and Maddocks for eggs, fruit and veg. Whatever else we need is from Marks, Sainsburys and Little Waitrose but we don't spend much at any of these.
We costed last week's food at £80 for two.We could shave about £6 off but deeper budget cuts would probably mean reducing our 'buy local' policy and good food is an affordable pleasure for us at the moment. From your posts we have the impression food costs more in London.

Reply
Min link
14/7/2012 06:55:22

Love le Mastel! It knocked Morbier off its 'my fave cheese' pedestal when one of my preferred stallholders in the Cours Saleya offered me a taste ... mmm. And so, given the date: bonne Bastille!
Love your philosophy (which, of necessity, I share) and your creative cooking (which I shall try and emulate).
Bon courage, Skint, take care of yourself.

Reply
The Skint Foodie
14/7/2012 14:59:25

And bonne Bastille to you too!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    SHORTLISTED FOR FOOD BLOG OF THE YEAR 2014
        follow/subscribe:

    Follow on Bloglovin

    follow us in feedly

    Instagram

    blog archives:

    November 2014
    September 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012


Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
  • blog
  • about
  • how
  • recipes
    • recipes
    • skint 'takeaways'
    • mid-week meals for the time-poor
    • cheese boards
    • coffee
  • spending
  • links
  • contact