Bleu d’Auvergne

Bleu d’Auvergne

Stopped by Pastoral last Friday and allowed the counterman to talk me into a perfectly mediocre aged gouda, priced $29.99/lb.

As an afterthought, I picked up a wedge of Bleu d’Auvergne, for about $15.99/lb. So glad I did, because this cheese saved my Saturday night. Last night, I enjoyed it with an excellent collection of Pastoral-selected wheat beers (sold in a four pack, good range) and wheat crackers, and then tonight with a Rioja, and found it a very flexible fromage. Creamy, easy to spread on crusty bread or crackers, with a decent amount of salt, not overwhelming, soft yet funky. Though I ate it on bread, I could see cooking with it, maybe melted over a burger (I'm guessing it melts just fine.)

Not sure why wheat-flavored beers and crackers get along so well with this cheese, but there’s something about the sweetness of the wheat that works with this cheese, which seems a good friend to many beverages (even vodka, why not?).

Bleu d’Auvergne has been my go-to blue cheese for a long time. It has a nice tang you expect from a good blue cheese, but is still somewhat mild. I like to think of it as the less-expensive version of Roquefort. Whole Foods always has it in stock. You can also sometimes find it in megamarts that don't generally have a great cheese selection. $16/lb actually seems a bit more expensive than my recollection, but I just may not have been paying that much attention to the price recently.

Darren72 wrote:Bleu d’Auvergne has been my go-to blue cheese for a long time. It has a nice tang you expect from a good blue cheese, but is still somewhat mild. I like to think of it as the less-expensive version of Roquefort. Whole Foods always has it in stock. You can also sometimes find it in megamarts that don't generally have a great cheese selection. $16/lb actually seems a bit more expensive than my recollection, but I just may not have been paying that much attention to the price recently.

$16/lb is probably not a great deal, and my guess is that this cheese is available for less elsewhere (Costco). When I compared this fine cheese with a much less fine cheese (priced twice as much), however, it seemed like a clear value.

On a related note, I continue to be generally uncomfortable with pricing at the French Market.

One day I'd like to do a tasting of the same cheese purchased from different stores - Whole Food, Costco, Pastoral, etc. I'm not sure how much variation in quality there is from one producer of French cheese to another. I'm also not sure how much of a difference in handling there is from one retailer to another.

Edited to add: even at $16/lb, this cheese reminds me how much I (over)pay for cheese at the Green City Market.

Darren72 wrote:One day I'd like to do a tasting of the same cheese purchased from different stores - Whole Food, Costco, Pastoral, etc. I'm not sure how much variation in quality there is from one producer of French cheese to another. I'm also not sure how much of a difference in handling there is from one retailer to another.

Edited to add: even at $16/lb, this cheese reminds me how much I (over)pay for cheese at the Green City Market.

One of the major benefits of shopping at smaller cheese stores is that they seem better equipped to maintain the integrity of the artisanal supply chain.

Years ago, in France as a student, I lived with a French family that ate Bleu d'Auvergne with generously portioned cold butter. Though I am somewhat ashamed to admit it, I highly recommend this. Of course the butter must be excellent, unsalted, French butter. Beurre de Charentes is a good one, widely available.