The year was 1958 and the space race, launched the year before by the Russian Sputnik Satellite program, was already heating up. The American government was furiously working on the Explorer satellite program, the American people were building bomb shelters, the Russians were learning Spanish and working on their swimsuit tans, and somewhere in France a cheesemaker had the inspiration to capture the moment as only he knew how; he created an epic cheese.
Explorateur, named either for the American space program or the space race itself depending on which side of the Atlantic you wake up on, was one of the first cheeses to be made under the "triple crème" designation. It earns this decadent title when full cream is added to the milk before the curdling process, the end result being a cheese with 70% or higher butterfat content per solid mass. The "per solid mass" bit is important as a lot of what makes up bries, even these triple crème or dessert bries, is whey, the watery product left behind when milk curdles. This means that what you're eating isn't actually 70% butterfat, but to be honest it tastes so good you probably wouldn't care even if it was.
Origin: Isle de France, France
Milk: Cow, pasteurized
Rennet: Animal
Affinage: 4-6 weeks
Notes: 70% butterfat wasn't enough, so they turned it to eleven and made Explorateur 75% butterfat. Forget about counting calories. Make your peace with God and dive in.
Thoughts: The particular variety that I bought was on the aged side of its short life, but considering all of the soft French cheeses have to make that Atlantic crossing and then clear customs, I'll take what I can get. The good news is that, being a surface ripened cheese, Explorateur just continues to ripen right up until you cut into it, meaning mine was bursting with flavor when I brought it home. 75% butterfat translates roughly into the texture of ultra-dense cream cheese, but instead of a heavy and simple spread Explorateur delivers an experience that redefines decadent. The paste is milkier and sweeter than fresh goat cheese and just melts on the palate, simultaneously rich but airy. What sets this apart from the other dessert bries is how the flavor develops, and here I am thankful that I bought an older cheese. The nutty, mushroomy goodness that is so desirable in standard bries comes from out of nowhere and dominates the flavor briefly before the sweetness of the cream takes over again and persists into the aftertaste. The rind, a delicate blanket of scrumptious white mold, delivers an additional tangy kick in its old age but would be considerably tamer in the first weeks of the cheese's life. The key with pairing these (seriously) heavy hitters is cutting through the cream with champagne and some fresh fruit. Alternatively just call in sick from life and take a bath in the stuff.
Caution
Bathing in cheese would be disgusting.
Disgustingly expensive. Just imagine how much wine you'd have to buy, and then you'd need a small produce section worth of fresh fruit, a half dozen baugettes, a gallon of fruit preserve, I mean we're looking at 4 figures easy. Try to get a deal on the baguettes.
Explorateur, named either for the American space program or the space race itself depending on which side of the Atlantic you wake up on, was one of the first cheeses to be made under the "triple crème" designation. It earns this decadent title when full cream is added to the milk before the curdling process, the end result being a cheese with 70% or higher butterfat content per solid mass. The "per solid mass" bit is important as a lot of what makes up bries, even these triple crème or dessert bries, is whey, the watery product left behind when milk curdles. This means that what you're eating isn't actually 70% butterfat, but to be honest it tastes so good you probably wouldn't care even if it was.
Milk: Cow, pasteurized
Rennet: Animal
Affinage: 4-6 weeks
Notes: 70% butterfat wasn't enough, so they turned it to eleven and made Explorateur 75% butterfat. Forget about counting calories. Make your peace with God and dive in.
Thoughts: The particular variety that I bought was on the aged side of its short life, but considering all of the soft French cheeses have to make that Atlantic crossing and then clear customs, I'll take what I can get. The good news is that, being a surface ripened cheese, Explorateur just continues to ripen right up until you cut into it, meaning mine was bursting with flavor when I brought it home. 75% butterfat translates roughly into the texture of ultra-dense cream cheese, but instead of a heavy and simple spread Explorateur delivers an experience that redefines decadent. The paste is milkier and sweeter than fresh goat cheese and just melts on the palate, simultaneously rich but airy. What sets this apart from the other dessert bries is how the flavor develops, and here I am thankful that I bought an older cheese. The nutty, mushroomy goodness that is so desirable in standard bries comes from out of nowhere and dominates the flavor briefly before the sweetness of the cream takes over again and persists into the aftertaste. The rind, a delicate blanket of scrumptious white mold, delivers an additional tangy kick in its old age but would be considerably tamer in the first weeks of the cheese's life. The key with pairing these (seriously) heavy hitters is cutting through the cream with champagne and some fresh fruit. Alternatively just call in sick from life and take a bath in the stuff.
Caution
Bathing in cheese would be disgusting.
Disgustingly expensive. Just imagine how much wine you'd have to buy, and then you'd need a small produce section worth of fresh fruit, a half dozen baugettes, a gallon of fruit preserve, I mean we're looking at 4 figures easy. Try to get a deal on the baguettes.
No comments:
Post a Comment