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CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 9:45 pm
by Brian K Miller
Not a fashionable cheese. Not "artisinal" at all I'm guessing, because I bought it at TRADER JOE'S!

LE RUSTIQUE (Jean Verrier) Camembert from Normandy. Awesomely ripe and gooey and stinky. I, of course, forgot to buy crackers at Trader Joe's today, but I have been literally dipping my fingers in the gooey goodness. Darn, this is delicious!

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 11:19 am
by Karen/NoCA
Brian K Miller wrote:Not a fashionable cheese. Not "artisinal" at all I'm guessing, because I bought it at TRADER JOE'S!

LE RUSTIQUE (Jean Verrier) Camembert from Normandy. Awesomely ripe and gooey and stinky. I, of course, forgot to buy crackers at Trader Joe's today, but I have been literally dipping my fingers in the gooey goodness. Darn, this is delicious!

Another one of the cheeses I bought recently that had a horrible amonia taste. Is that normal? It was not from TJ's though. I had to throw it out.

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 11:44 am
by Robin Garr
Karen/NoCA wrote:Another one of the cheeses I bought recently that had a horrible amonia taste. Is that normal? It was not from TJ's though. I had to throw it out.

That's what happens when cheese gets too old. Cheese, especially ripe cheese varieties, is a little like wine in this regard, only the aging curve is much quicker. Once it goes around the bend, it's gone. :(

But to state the response another way, a good, ripe but fresh Camembert should not smell like ammonia. Not at all. (And on the other end of the curve, if you open it too young, when it still has a firm, kind of "swiss"-like consistency, it's just bland and boring. You want it when it starts getting a little runny, but then you want to eat it up.

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 2:48 pm
by Bill Spohn
Soft cheeses usually go through the same evolution from firm, through soft and gooey to (if you leave them long enough) the ammonia-ridden senescence of a good cheese that went too long.

Classic example of a cheese that follows that path is the Vacherin de Mont d'Or from France (also a version from the other side of the border in Switzerland). Wonderful cheese you eat with a spoon or slather on rustic bread when in top shape, but a definite anti-personnel chemical weapon if you leave it too long (I've got one on order for this December)

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 5:04 pm
by Jeff Grossman
Persimmons, avocados, cheese... a lot of things are best when they're really, really ripe, i.e., the day _before_ they start going bad. :wink:

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 5:14 pm
by Thomas
Jeff Grossman/NYC wrote:Persimmons, avocados, cheese... a lot of things are best when they're really, really ripe, i.e., the day _before_ they start going bad. :wink:


au pic, n'est ce pas?

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:07 pm
by Robin Garr
Thomas wrote:au pic, n'est ce pas?

I'm more accustomed to hearing it as "au point," but maybe it's a regional French distinciton?

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:43 pm
by Thomas
Robin Garr wrote:
Thomas wrote:au pic, n'est ce pas?

I'm more accustomed to hearing it as "au point," but maybe it's a regional French distinciton?


Yes, au pointe is more usual...au pic is probably more formal...au fuhgedaboudit. :)

Re: CTN: Awesome Camembert!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:11 pm
by Brian K Miller
Karen/NoCA wrote:
Brian K Miller wrote:Not a fashionable cheese. Not "artisinal" at all I'm guessing, because I bought it at TRADER JOE'S!

LE RUSTIQUE (Jean Verrier) Camembert from Normandy. Awesomely ripe and gooey and stinky. I, of course, forgot to buy crackers at Trader Joe's today, but I have been literally dipping my fingers in the gooey goodness. Darn, this is delicious!

Another one of the cheeses I bought recently that had a horrible amonia taste. Is that normal? It was not from TJ's though. I had to throw it out.



Mine was not over-ripe or ammonicac. Luck of the draw, I guess.