Have you thought about your cheese platter for the holidays? Virginie, Master Cheese Maker and Affineuse in Montmartre, offers her advice.
CARNET D’INSPIRATION
Have you thought about your cheese platter for the holidays? Virginie, Master Cheese Maker and Affineuse in Montmartre, offers her advice.
At Virginie, Master Cheesemonger and Affineur, from father to daughter since 1946, she shares her little tips for tastings full of flavor. Virginie matures her cheeses herself in her own cellars in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. She reveals to us the ideal cheese platter for the holidays. Well yes, becauseif there is one time of year when you absolutely must indulge in cheese, it is without a doubt at Christmas!So take advantage of the seasonal wonders to surprise your guests. And above all, trust your cheesemonger who will guide and advise you according to your tastes.
First of all, we recommend seasonal cheeses, made from raw milk, farm-made, and small-scale productions! For the perfect balance, a cheese platter should include different types of milk (cow, goat, and sheep) and different textures (soft, hard, blue).
My tips for choosing and enhancing your cheese platter:
5 types of cheese, for a truly worthy platter.
Count about one cheese per 3 people.
For tasting, respect the taste buds: start with the mildest and finish with the strongest, most flavorful cheese.
For an ideal tasting, never forget to take your cheeses out half an hour before serving, because cold dulls the taste and hardens the textures. But be careful, if the room is very warm, don’t leave them out too long before serving, because heat is the enemy of cheese!
Once you’ve made your choice, be sure to present the cheeses well—a good platter is also a BEAUTIFUL platter. So bring out your prettiest dish, don’t hesitate to decorate it with greenery (pine branches, pine cones, etc.), place labels on each cheese, arrange your jams and fruit pastes in small glasses, put the smaller cheeses in front and the larger ones in the back, create volume. Sprinkle almonds, mixed salad seeds (pumpkin and sunflower seeds, pine nuts, and pistachios—without flavorings, colorings, or preservatives, of course!) over your platter.
My Seasonal Selection:
Soft cheeses: Mont d’Or, goat Vacherin, Brie with fresh truffle*, Savarin with truffles*, Époisses (aged in Chablis, Marc de Bourgogne, or Ash), or Camembert aged in Champagne marc from Drappier*.
Hard cheeses: Mild or fruity according to your preference, Beaufort Chalet l’Alpage (buttery taste) or the famous Swiss Gruyère, L’Étivaz (very aromatic).
Blue cheeses: The mild ones: Bonneval, Fourme d’Ambert, or creamy Gorgonzola. The in-betweens: Bleu d’Auvergne Fermier or Shropshire. The stronger ones: a classic we love, Roquefort from Maison Carles, or Carublu (macerated in rum and cocoa crust) or Bleu des Bois (surprising, it’s a goat blue cheese with a wild berry crust).
A sheep’s milk cheese: As sheep’s milk season restarts, you can choose a fresh or creamy one, such as Pérail or Lingot de Cocagne.
A goat cheese: Either a dry goat cheese or a farmhouse raw milk goat tomme. Be careful with goat cheeses, though, because November, December, January, and February are the low season! Prefer tommes or aged, dry goat cheeses (2 to 3 months of aging).
Don’t hesitate to enjoy them with jams, honeys (mulberry, carrot flower, etc.) but also with fruit pastes (without sugar crystals, just fruit!) such as blueberry, pear, or verbena. You get the idea, for the holidays, break from the ordinary, have fun and indulge yourself!
Chez Virginie
54 Rue Damrémont and 125 Rue Caulaincourt, 75018 Paris – 01 46 06 76 54
