Mind-Expanding Munster Cheese

Mind-Expanding Munster Cheese

Somehow it seemed appropriate, what with our current president and the French one striding lockstep and lockjawed on the Trib’s frontpage, that I found myself tonight in a room full of attractive French people eating French cheese. I guess it’s okay to like the French again, not that I ever didn’t, I just felt, rightly or wrongly, that I couldn’t talk about it because of 9/11, etc.

I had an illegal Reblochon, which started to change my mind about not caring that we have a 60-day wait for raw cheeses. It was a major mouth-filling, nose clearing, eye-opening munch.

A cheese called Monk’s Head from the Jura-Suisse region was presented with a special cheese-specific device (how can one not love the French for stuff like this!?) that involved a center-post and a cutting-edge that one spins around, shredding off the top layer of the caramel-like cheese into delicious threads. Fabulous.

The Epoisees was excellent, though I’d had it before, and there was a cheese originally made by Tallyrand (a truncated pyramid, a dis to Bonaparte…a long story), and then…the Munster. We’ve had it zillions of times, versions of it, on school lunches and bad submarine sandwiches, but this Alsatian version (the ur-Munster?) had mushroomy depth and undreamed dimensions, a juicy double-down taste of rich milk and refined funk. It was like cracking through artifice to the Platonic ideal of Munster, as though all we'd tasted before was a pale reflection, an imitation, a watered down wanna be sad sack facsimile. This Munser was real and just about the best thing I ate all day.

At the risk of the post getting pulled, the French were nothing but great after September 11th. The people poured out their solidarity with the U.S. in big demonstrations. The French were with the Americans in Afghanistan (and may still be there, I'm not sure).

No argument, tcdup, but back to the chow.

I'd seen Munster at several cheese stores, but automatically rejected it based on my experience with the mass-produced blocks of the stuff.

The Munster last night reminded me of the first time I had asparagus that didn't come out of a can. When I was a kid, before expanded air travel made it possible to have any fruit or vegetable any where at any time, canned was about the only way asparagus came for most of us, and it was vile. Having fresh asparagus, like having the Munster last night, started me thinking how many foods may be off my List of Favorites simply because I've yet to have them at their best.

I've recently fallen in love with French Munster. It's now hard to believe what a bastardized version is sold in the US under the "Munster" label. But I have discovered that it has some less-than-positive side effects. Like when a friend opened my fridge and suggested that something was rotting in it. I was recently buying it at a cheese counter on the east coast, and the woman behind the counter mentioned that she has a client who actually has a separate fridge to store his Munster (and other smelly-delicious cheeses).

chgoeditor wrote:I've recently fallen in love with French Munster. It's now hard to believe what a bastardized version is sold in the US under the "Munster" label.

Aside from the vastly more complex taste and smell, texturally the "real" Munster was much less stiff and more gooey (one could not, for instance, cut it into sheets as is done with the bastard variety). It was also sprinkled with several types of seeds (caraway, for sure, but also something that reminded me vaguely of an Indian-type spice I couldn't quite identify...maybe turmeric?). I'm not certain, but I seem to recall that even the bastard has kind of ground spice sprinkled, ever so very slightly, on the outside "rind" (though it's not really a rind).

Where did you enjoy these products? Milk heaven?

Where is this available???

I've found French Munster at most of the better cheese counters. Recently I think I've bought it at Binney's (on Clark/Halsted) and WFs at Ashland. Maybe WFs on Halsted, too.

David Hammond wrote:It was also sprinkled with several types of seeds (caraway, for sure, but also something that reminded me vaguely of an Indian-type spice I couldn't quite identify...maybe turmeric?). I'm not certain, but I seem to recall that even the bastard has kind of ground spice sprinkled, ever so very slightly, on the outside "rind" (though it's not really a rind).

Typically it's caraway and cumin seeds.

So sorry I missed the cheese fest. I had planned to attend but forgot. The cheese sounds good, how was the wine?

David Hammond wrote:. . . a cheese originally made by Tallyrand (a truncated pyramid . . .

Valençay, a pyramidal frustum.

David Hammond wrote:. . . the Platonic ideal of Munster . . .

I recently bought a wheel of Munster Géromé and was very pleased with it. So much so that I went back and picked up another 0.8 kilo wheel. Didn't hurt that Whole Foods had (mis)priced it at $9.99. Sorry, that was the last one.

David Hammond wrote:I'm not certain, but I seem to recall that even the bastard has kind of ground spice sprinkled, ever so very slightly, on the outside "rind" (though it's not really a rind).

Isn't that flavorless paprika to mimic the rind it wishes it had?

Louisa Chu wrote:Typically it's caraway and cumin seeds.

That sounds good, wish I'd tried it. Now I think I'm Munstered out for a while.

Sorry, I was out all day -- looks like most queries have been addressed except for...

Rene G wrote:I had planned to attend but forgot. The cheese sounds good, how was the wine?

I had Pouilly-Fume with several of the chevre and found this to be an excellent pairing: the crisp flintiness was a fine balance for the creaminess of the cheese.

With the Monk’s Head, which was caramel-like and feathery, I had an Alsatian Pinot Gris that was more of a match than a balance, semi-sweet on semi-sweet.

The Wife very much enjoyed the Pouilly-Vinzelles with reblochon, and I finished the night with a Saint-Emilion with several blue-type cheese, which seemed a fair contest.

David-
What was this tasting/pairing you describe so enticingly? Benefit for a charity? Event by an organization? It sounds like fun.

Thanks,

Mike

MikeLM wrote:David-
What was this tasting/pairing you describe so enticingly? Benefit for a charity? Event by an organization? It sounds like fun.

Thanks,

Mike

I mentioned it in the Events thread last week: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=16125

Victor, the "cook" au vin, intends to have more such events, and expressed interest in having more LTH members attend.