Victor et Berthold Fondue

It might be officially spring time, but this lingering cold winter weather makes me want to stay-in and enjoy a nice cheese fondue.

Victor et Berthold Fondue is a delicious cheese fondue produced by Quebec's Fromagerie Du Champ à La Meule. Located in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes in the Lanaudière region, this cheese maker has been making artisanal cheeses since 1995.

This cheese fondue is made with one of Quebec's most popular semi-soft, washed-rind, thermised cow-milk cheese; Victor et Berthold. Victor et Berthold cheese has the perfect smooth and creamy texture for a cheese fondue and a pleasant bouquet of cream, butter and herbs. Aged for a minimum of 60 days, it has a somewhat strong taste with zesty fruity flavours.

The recipe for this fine ready to serve cheese fondue is made with a local micro-brewery beer; Claire de L’Alchimiste which is a clear golden coloured premium lager produced by L'Alchimiste in nearby Joliette.  The sweet malt flavour and the tangy seasoning of hops of this beer is a perfect match for Victor et Berthold cheese fondue.

Martin Guilbault founder/owner of Fromagerie Du Champ à La Meule named this cheese after his grand-father 'Victor' and his uncle 'Berthold', who once ran the family farm where the fromagerie is located. An honorable tribute to them is prominently displayed on the fondue's packaging in the vintage 1930's black and white photo of Victor and Berthold milking cows on the Guilbault family farm. In the early years of the fromagerie's cheese making, their cheese was made from the milk of their own herd. Today, due to the volume of cheese they produce the cheeses are made with the milk from neighbouring herds.

As well as making Victor et Berthold cheese and fondue the Fromagerie du Champ à la Meule also produce; L'Amateur, Le Fêtard, Joliette, Laracam and Les Métayères.

http://ourcheeses.com/directory/cheese-shops/fromagerie-du-champ-a-la-meule

https://www.facebook.com/Champalameule

The recipe for the Victor et Berthold Fondue was created by la Fabrique de Fondues.

Read on my visit at the Fromagerie du Champ à la Meule

Danakil - Non, je ne regrette rien

Danakil is a reggae band from France. The band was formed in 2000 by a group of music students who attended the same university in a western suburb of Paris. The band developed a fervid fan base in their early years by performing in many small bars and concerts in France. Danakil has since released several successful albums and DVDs of live concerts.

Here below is Danakil featuring U-Roy with their fantastic reggae cover of Edith Piaf's hit "Non, je ne regrette rien".

Danakil released "Non, je ne regrette rien" as a single in 2010. A live version of the song previously appeared on their 2009 album "Live au Cabaret Sauvage". 

In 2012, Danakil released a dub album entitled "Échos du Dub" featuring an excellent dub version of this hit. " CHECK IT OUT

This week, on February 24, Danakil has just released a brand new, double vinyl album "Entre Les Lignes" on Baco Records. The music, the catchy melodies and poetic lyrics of this ensemble are very captivating. On first listen, the track that got my attention was "Poupées Russes" featuring Natty Jean. I found it a perfect fit to commemorate the Winter Olympics that have just taken place in Russia. I just loved those large colourful babushka dolls that were featured at the various Sochi events. J

http://www.danakil.fr

Photo source: http://www.reggaefrance.com

Le Tournevent

Le Tournevent is a fresh, soft, unripened, pasteurized goat-milk cheese produced by Fromagerie Tournevent operated by Damafro located in Saint-Damase in the Montérégie region of Quebec.

Le Tournevent has a gentle, sweet smell of goat's milk, a smooth texture and a mild tart flavour characteristic of goat's milk cheese.

Le Tournevent is a wonderful chèvre frais with only 20% fat content. It is ideal to add to salads as it is crumbly when cold. If you prefer a creamy, spreadable, goat cheese then let it air at room temperature for a smooth texture. Le Tournevent is also available as an ash-covered goat cheese. Le Tournevent is a versatile cheese, you can crumble it on salads, steamed veggies or pizzas or you can simply spread it on bread or bagels or mix it into omelets, quiches or soufflés.

Le Tournevent pairs well with a Pino Grigio or a Pouilly Fumé. 

Fromagerie Tournevent specializes in goat milk products. They also produce Feta cheese, Les Médaillons, Le Biquet and the award winning Chèvre Noir which is an excellent aged goat-milk cheddar.

http://www.damafro.ca/prod_tournevent.html

Pacific Rock

Pacific Rock is a firm, washed rind, pasteurised cow-milk cheese from La Maison Alexis de Portneuf located in Saint Raymond de Portneuf near Quebec City.

                                                                                                                            

Pacific Rock is a firm, aged, farm-style, pressed cheese similar to Red Leicester cheese from England.

Pacific Rock has an orange coloured washed-rind sprinkled with a white powdery dusting. The paste has an eye-catching rich deep-orange hue and a firm texture very similar to cheddar cheese but more moist and crumbly. Pacific Rock has a slightly nutty, caramel, mellow flavour with a citrus tangy finish.

Pacific Rock is a versatile cheese; it can be added to salads and sauces, it melts beautifully and is a colourful addition to any cheese plate. Pacific Rock pairs well with a brown ale or a full-bodied white like Muscadet or Chenin Blanc.

Pacific Rock gets its name from Canada's beautiful West Coast, which is bordered by steep cliffs that drop into the Pacific Ocean. La Maison Alexis de Portneuf's founding ancestor, Alexis Cayer had traveled to the west coast on the Canadian Pacific train and was captivated by the breathtaking landscape.

La Maison Alexis de Portneuf is committed to preserve the quality and authentic character of every specialty cheese they produce. The World Champion Le Cendrillon, La Sauvagine, Saint-Honoré, La Roche Noire are but a few, among the vast selection of cheese they produce.

http://www.alexisdeportneuf.com

Petit Pavé Le Mellois

Petit Pavé Le Mellois is a delightful, small, soft, handmade goat-milk cheese from Poitou-Charentes, an area of France known for its butter and goat cheeses.

Petit Pavé Le Mellois is shaped into a small 5 cm (2") square, hence the name Pavé which represents a small paving stone. Le Petit Pavé weights 110 g (3.8 oz) and is made of raw goat milk. Le Petit Pavé has a fresh aroma of goat milk with accompanied notes of hay. The ivory coloured outside rind is dotted with small blue spots and the bright white paste is smooth and lusciously soft.

Le Petit Pavé can be appreciated at various stages of ripeness; when it is young, soft and fresh, when it is half dry and starts to develop slightly acidic notes and when it has ripened into a dryer, nuttier, more complex, sharper bite.

Le Petit Pavé is produced by Hélène Servant at Fromagerie Des Gors located in Melle, a commune in the department of Deux-Sèvres. The craftsmanship of the Fromagerie which has been established since the 1980’s is firmly anchored in the tradition of the region. Fromagerie des Gors uses the milk from goats that are grazing in Exoudun and in Sepvretin in Deux-Sèvres. 

As well as producing this Petit Pavé the Fromagerie des Gors produce other chèvres such as; the Chabichou du Poitou AOC/AOP, Briquette, Mothais sur Feuille and they also produce an organic Mothais sur Feuille.

Petit Pavé Le Mellois pairs wonderfully with a French white wine such as Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé or a red Haut-Poitou Gamay.

In some regions of France you have wine routes, Poitou-Charentes have a 'Route du Chabichou et des fromages de chèvre'; a 200 km route intended to discover the land of goat cheeses and their history with stops at dairies, cheesemakers, ranchers and farmers. Visit: Route du Chabichou

Photo source:

http://routeduchabichou.fr/les-haltes-de-la-route/les-artisans-fromagers/article/fromagerie-des-gors

Treme

Treme is a four season (36 episodes) American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer writers/producers of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and The Wire.

Treme is about the life of residents of New Orleans who are rebuilding their lives, their homes and their culture after the disaster of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. The series focuses on an eclectic group of New Orleanians among them; a trombone player, a civil rights lawyer, a disc jockey, a chef, a Mardi Gras Indian Chief but mostly the series focuses on music and its musicians who provide the soundtrack for the city.

Treme might seem slow-moving at the beginning of the series but there is a lot going on, many different little stories and different characters and how some of these lives inter-connect. If you love music, especially Jazz, you will love this smart, moving, funny, charming series.

Cast members include; Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Waiting to Exhale), Steve Zahn (Forces of Nature, Riding in Cars with Boys), Melissa Leo (Homicide, The Fighter), John Goodman (Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Argo), Clarke Peters (The Wire, Person of Interest), Kim Dickens (Deadwood, Friday Night Lights), Khandi Alexander (The Corner, CSI: Miami) among many others.

Treme also features well-known musicians throughout the series among them; Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Kermit Ruffins, Elvis Costello, The Soul Rebels, Spider Stacy, Steve Earle and John Boutté who wrote the infectious "Treme Theme Song". CHECK OUT THE VIDEO

http://www.hbo.com/treme

Le Lingot

Le Lingot is a delicious raw goat-milk cheese from a small dairy Co-operative Les Gariottes in Alvignac in the former province of Quercy, in the French Midi-Pyrénées.

Le Lingot has a distinctive bar-shape similar to a gold ingot, weighing 200 g (7 oz.). Le Lingot becomes increasingly creamy as it ages and its flavours become more intense.

Le Lingot has a lovely golden speckled, damp, wrinkly, natural rind with a smooth creamy white paste. Lingot is a flavourful cheese; it has the familiar tanginess of goat cheese with a nutty, piquant flavour, slightly earthy and a pleasant, salty tingle on the tongue to finish.

Le Lingot pairs nicely with more fruity red wines like a Burgundy or a Cote de Beaune.

Le Lingot is a beautiful chèvre that is handmade with the highest quality goat-milk, with no additives or preservatives.

Pérail

Pérail is a lovely soft ripened pasteurised sheep-milk cheese from Aveyron in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. The name Pérail is taken from a Languedoc term 'Peral' meaning fromage frais (fresh cheese).

Pérail is a small 100 g (3.5 oz) circular flat disc measuring approximately 10 cm (4") in diameter.

Pérail has an ivory coloured wrinkly rind composed mainly of geotrichum candidum. The creamy white coloured paste is tender and soft.

This sheep milk cheese is rich and creamy with a pleasant aromatic flavour that is well balanced with its mild earthy undertones. Pérail pairs nicely with a Chardonnay or a French Chablis.

This Pérail Papillon is produced at the Fromagerie du Lévezou in Villefranche-de-Panat in Aveyron.

Pérail cheese which is made by the lactic fermentation method is only made during a certain time of the year. During the winter, when the sheep herds cannot produce sufficient quantities of milk for the dairies to process to make Roquefort blue cheese, these wonderful pure sheep-milk Pérail are made.

The Lacaune which produce the milk for the famous Roquefort cheese are the most numerous sheep breed in France. Lacaune ewes produce milk with higher total solids than the East Friesians, but in slightly less volume.

http://www.roquefort-papillon.com

Mimolette

Mimolette cheese is also known as Boule de Lille after its city of origin, Lille in Nord Pas de Calais, France. It is also known as vieux Hollande and in some areas of Belgium and the Netherlands Mimolette is known as Commissiekaas.

It is said that Mimolette was originally made by the request of Louis XIV, who was looking for a French cheese to replace the very popular Edam cheese from Holland. However to differentiate it from Edam, they coloured the cheese with annatto, a natural orange colorant.

This 6 months aged Mimolette is produced by Isigny Sainte-Mère, a cooperative dairy located in Normandie, France.  The fame and fortune of Isigny Sainte-Mère was built on the unique flavour of its butter and the rich, silky texture of its crème fraîche. Isigny Sainte-Mère produces approximately 60% of the Mimolette in France.

Mimolette is a round shaped, uncooked, pressed paste, pasteurised cow's milk cheese, weighing 2.5 to 3 kg (5.5 to 6.5 pounds). Apart from its distinctive round melon shape, slightly flattened on top and bottom, Mimolette has a stricking bright orange coloured paste.

Mimolette can be eaten at various stages of maturity. A young, Mimolette (aged 3 months) has a moist semi-firm springy paste and rind.  With the semi-old (aged 6 months), old (aged 12 months) and extra-old (aged 18-24 months) the paste of the Mimolette darkens to a deeper pumpkin coloured hue and becomes much harder with age, sometimes even hard to chew.

The greyish-tan textured crusty rind on an aged Mimolette is the result of Acarus siro mites. The action of these living cheese mites on the surface of the Mimolette contributes to its peculiar appearance and distinctive earthy flavor and intense aroma.

Most cheese lovers will appreciate an aged Mimolette for its exquisite spicy, salty flavour and its wonderful lingering caramelized butterscotch finish. Mimolette pairs nicely with desert wines such as a French Banyuls.

http://www.isigny-ste-mere.com

Perle

Perle is a cute semi-soft, bloomy rind, organic goat milk cheese from Domaine de Courval located in Waterville in the Estrie region of Québec.

Domaine de Courval is operated by couple Raynald Hébert and Laurie Goodhart. Before settling in Waterville, Québec in 2007 this couple had already perfected their cheesemaking skills at Nettle Meadow, one of the first micro-dairies in the state of New York.

Domaine de Courval is one of the few certified organic goat-milk farms in Québec. This artisanal Fromagerie creates delicate, fresh and aged goat cheeses. They produce five different flavours of fresh goat cheese and cream cheese and two types of refined goat cheese; Kunik a sumptuous triple cream and Perle.

Perle is a small 70 g (2.5 oz) little chèvre measuring approximately 5 cm (2") in diameter and 4 cm (1.25") in height. It has a pearl-white coloured bloomy rind and a cream coloured semi-soft paste. The white mold rind is firm yet melds well with the slightly tangy, creamy, pure goat milk flavoured paste with lingering hints of mushroom. Perle is an excellent introduction to the world of goat cheese.

http://www.produitsdelaferme.com/fr/entreprises_produits/domaine_courval.php

Photo source: www.tourismecoaticook.qc.ca