Thursday, July 19, 2007

Fromager des Clarines

Fromager des Clarines cheese, made by Jean Perrin, is imported from the Savoie region of the French Alps.
When I first cast my eye on this beautiful big 200gm washed-rind cheese, I began to salivate at the thought of not just how delicious this cheese was going to be, but how much its flavour would have matured during its voyage. As every French cheese lover knows, the riper the cheese and the more pungent the flavour, the more unforgettable the experience.
Inside the wooden lid, the cheese was shrink-wrapped and expiry-dated a week ago. No time to waste then: the cheese must be exhumed and prepared for consumption. Its powerful aroma assaulted my nostrils as I carefully cut away the plastic packaging. Slicing into the quivering, waxy beige cheese-flesh felt almost sensual, as its pale creamy insides oozed and flowed beneath the knife. Behold: gratuitous images of cheese porn...










Ohhh, baby.
What did we do with it? I added it to some Gruyere for my Bastille Day fondue; we had it on plain crackers; a little bit made up the filling of a particularly delicious omelette; and I spread it very thinly on some sour rye toast, and plopped a poachy, cracked pepper and fresh oregano on top. Truly, breakfast for the gods.






7 comments:

Ed said...

Nice one. When I cam up to Qld for the weekend recently a friend stole mine.

KJ said...

Yum, i love running cheeses. This looks absolutely delicious. I'm envious.

stickyfingers said...

Just got home from the market only to find they left it out of my bag. Will have to make do with the Comte, Pecorino wrapped in grape must and a buttery aged English Cheddar...hmmm

stickyfingers said...

I've just got home from the market to find my wonderful little birch box of Clarines never made it into my shopping bag ...hmph. Damn elusive cheese! Will have to make do with a glass of PX with pecorino wrapped in grape must, comte and a buttery vintage English Cheddar.

Pinky said...

The other cheese I miss from France are the goats cheeses with ash coating, or the soft little balls of fresh goat rolled in chopped herbs.
Stickyfingers- that pecorino sounds superb. Where did you get it?

Vildachaya said...

I am eating some right now! Clarines is to the French what Velveeta is to Americans, but who cares? This has always been one of my favorite cheeses. C'est magnifique!

Anonymous said...

Mmmm yes a nice cheese. another way to serve, the way we always ate it in France, is to remove the plastic, relace cheese in wooden container and place in an oven at 100C for 15 mins to warm the cheese through. Then use a spoon to serve it on crusty baguette.
A gladd of red and life gets not much better.