Emblem of national gastronomy, cheese is a real institution of the end of the meal in France. Let us recall in passing the exclamation attributed to General de Gaulle: "How do you want to govern a country where there are 246 varieties of cheese?" Since this sentence, thousands of new varieties have emerged, so to make a choice among so many possibilities, we called on six personalities of French gastronomy: chef Nicolas Sintes (1), starred Éric Frechon (2) and Frédéric Vardon (3), the illustrious cheesemakers Marie-Anne Cantin (4) and Claude Maret (5), and restaurant director Sébastien Candusso (6). Round table cheeses to taste absolutely.
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The summer Beaufort of the Chalet d'Alpage AOP
Emblematic cheese of Savoie, Beaufort seems to be a consensus. Among our six speakers, three automatically put it on the list of cheeses to have tasted in your life. It's even the madeleine of Proust by Sébastien Candusso, director of catering at the Auberge du Père Bise, in Haute-Savoie: "Its taste reminds me of my holidays in the Ardèche when I was a child, provided it is the summer Beaufort of the Chalet d'Alpage. It is much fruitier and more pronounced than the winter beaufort, because the cows will have enjoyed the pastures during the so-called "100 days" period, at more than 1500 meters above sea level. They feed on flowers, gentians and succulent herbs," explains the enthusiast. To best discover all its taste qualities, Sébastien Candusso recommends selecting a cheese matured for 12 months: "It has a beautiful aromatic persistence, a lot of roundness, character and sweetness at the same time, describes the specialist. In addition, its texture contains these small grains of salt that are very pleasant in the mouth." The room manager appreciates it accompanied by a white wine from Savoy, or a yellow wine.
The difference between AOC and PDO
The Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) is frequently confused with the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Although the two labels guarantee a very strong link between the product and its terroir, they do not designate the same thing. A French label that was born at the dawn of the twentieth century, the AOC guarantees the consumer that all stages of cheese production have been carried out according to recognized know-how on French territory. The PDO is a European label guaranteeing that the product has been processed and produced in a specific geographical area, according to recognized know-how. Much rarer, there are only 46 French PDO cheeses.
The AOC County
"The vintage Comté is a grandiose cheese!" begins MOF Éric Frechon, chef of the three-star restaurant in Paris, l'Épicure. Pressed cheese cooked, the Comté is one of those cheeses with pronounced ripening, leaving it all the time to develop according to the tastes of each: "Some appreciate it very old, it will be more full-bodied, salty, and generally more concentrated in taste. Others will prefer it a little younger, so more floral, with a taste of pasture, "he says. The chef at the head of the kitchens of Le Bristol, located Place de la Concorde, appreciates it matured between 18 and 24 months: "I prefer it floral, fruity, with the true taste of the terroir. When it is too refined, it will lose its qualities. It becomes very powerful and its crust softens. I like much less." Éric Fréchon eats this cheese made in the Jura massif, naturally accompanied by a yellow wine: "It's the magic of France: the terroirs are well made!"
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The Saint-Nectaire Fermier AOC
For Claude Maret, president of the Federation of France cheesemakers, Saint-Nectaire farmer is one of those cheeses so representative of their terroirs. "This is what people are looking for today: a unique, local cheese that has a history and a real specificity," explains the specialist who warmly recommends the cheese from the Mont-Dore country and classified AOC in 1996. "To make a Saint-Nectaire farmer as it should be, it is necessary to carry out two milkings on Montbéliardes cows: in the morning and in the evening". Result? An oval-shaped cheese, with a flowery rind and a taste reminiscent of hazelnut: "We appreciate it for its softness, its creamy, but especially the taste of the meadows of the Massif Central".
The Pont-l'Évêque of the Martin cheese dairy
A soft cheese labeled AOC in 1976, Pont-l'Évêque is the favorite cheese of starred chef Frédéric Vardon. But not just any: "I particularly appreciate the one from the Martin cheese dairy in Bourgeauville in Normandy". Identifiable by its square shape and its whitish and orange rind, the chef of 39V in Paris describes it as an extraordinary cheese: "It is made in a traditional way and exclusively with the milk of Norman cows". According to the chef, a good Pont-l'Évêque is recognizable by "its airy and creamy texture and round taste with character".
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The Rove PDO bush
A fresh cheese made from whole milk, the Rove bush, awarded the PDO label since 2020, is one of the favourite cheeses of Nicolas Sintes, chef of the five-star hotel Les Roches Blanches, in Cassis: "It is a cheese produced with the milk of the Rove, it is a breed of goats with swirling horns, originally from Provence". In the scrubland, they feed on rosemary, oak or broom. Result? "It is round and very little salty, explains the enthusiast, to the eye it is very white and has a little lactic water residue, proof of its freshness". On the tasting side, it is appreciated in sweet or savory version: "it is embellished with fruit, jam, honey, or it is spread on toast with a drizzle of olive oil".
The Coulommiers
"My favorite cheese is coulommiers," says Marie-Anne Cantin, cheesemaker at the head of the famous eponymous cheese factory, open since 1950 in Paris. Originally from the small town of Coulommiers in Seine-et-Marne, it is similar to a large Camembert: "Coulommiers is thicker, it has a lot of flesh and a beautiful taste. It is creamy, tasty without being powerful, and you really discover the taste of its terroir." If we taste it mainly from spring to dawn in autumn, Marie-Anne Cantin says that it will be delicious until the end of the season: "The weather was very nice and the grass grew well. So we're going to have very good coulommiers until the end of November, beginning of December." The cheese enthusiast even has a very special way of tasting it: "I eat the flesh first and then I finish with the rind. They don't taste the same!"
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The Vacherin of Haut-Doubs
In the heart of the Jura massif, an ultra-creamy cheese called Vacherin du Haut Doubs, also known as Mont d'Or, is produced. It is one of the favorite cheeses of the MOF 3 macaroons with Michelin Eric Frechon: "It is extremely creamy, with a very melting texture". The chef even has a very particular way of eating it: "I remove the rind from the surface of the cheese, I place truffle slices on it, then I film everything. I mature it for 8 days, until the cheese is impregnated with the truffle, explains the chef. My favorite sin is to dip potatoes in it. It's excellent." In addition to its creaminess, Vacherin du Haut Doubs also has the particularity of being molded in a spruce wood box: "The fat present in the cheese absorbs the woody notes of the spruce, and that changes everything".
The reblochon Fermier AOC
"It's the emblematic cheese of Savoie," begins Nicolas Sintes, "I really like its history, at the time it was called "la rebloche"". In the thirteenth century, in the pastures of the valleys of Thônes, the owners of the land had a right of auciège on the peasants who exploited the mountain pastures. "Tired of being taxed on their milk drafts, farmers realized that by doing a second milking later in the day, they were getting a much fatter milk, ideal for cheese." Uncooked pressed dough with a washed rind, it is recognizable by its orange color and flat cylinder shape. "It is an ultra-creamy cheese, very flowy, with a very pronounced taste, but always pleasant. It has the particularity of being very milky, and having aromas of hazelnuts. It's just delicious." On the other hand, be careful to differentiate between farmer reblochon and dairy reblochon: "to taste it plain, it is preferable to select a farmer's reblochon with a green pellet. To cook it, in a tartiflette for example, you have to select a dairy reblochon, with a red pellet."
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The dung of Chavignol
Dry goat cheeses are one of Marie-Anne Cantin's favourite cheeses: "I like them very dry and produced in good conditions". Originally from Sancerre and with an AOC since 1976, the crottin de Chavignol is on the list: "It must be a little crumbly when cut. It is appreciated for its very pronounced goat taste, and its melting texture. On the other hand, be careful, it must not be spicy, a sign of poor ripening!" The specialist eats it with bread and semi-salted butter: "It's to die for!"
The Abbey of Tamié
In the Beauges massif, at 900 meters above sea level, stands the Trappist abbey of Tamié. Since 1132, the monks have been making cheese with the eponymous name, a favorite of chef Nicolas Sintes: "I like the fact that it is produced in an ancestral way in a single place". It is recognizable by its packaging decorated with a blue Maltese cross: "It is a cheese with a pretty orange rind, and a tender and supple texture, describes the enthusiast, it is made with raw cow's milk and is little matured, resulting in a very soft and light cheese". It is embellished with walnuts or cherry jam.
The Stilton PDO
If France is the country of cheese, on the other side of the channel radiates the one nicknamed "the king of English cheeses": the Stilton. Made in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, it is one of the few British cheeses to have the PDO. Its very strict manufacturing rules make it a cheese to discover according to the chef of 39V in Paris, Frédéric Vardon: "I tasted very old Stilton during a trip to the United Kingdom, and I keep a moving memory. It is a remarkable cheese. First of all, there are two types: the white Stilton and the blue Stilton." If the white stilton is "fresher and has a crumbly and creamy texture", Frédéric Vardon describes the Stilton Bleu as "a sweet and powerful cheese, which is closer to a Bleu d'Auvergne". Obviously, it all depends on its maturation.
The Banon AOC
In the mountain of Lure, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, a cheese made from raw goat's milk called Banon is produced. A small puck with a pretty golden color, it is the star ingredient of Anne-Sophie Pic's flowing berlingots, but it is also one of Eric Frechon's favorite cheeses: "It has the particularity of being matured in brown chestnut leaves, which gives it this particular taste of undergrowth, explains the three-star chef. It is an ancestral cheese that has been produced since Gallo-Roman times. At the time, it was wrapped in a fig leaf." Its thin rind encloses an ivory-colored paste, with a terribly creamy texture. If the enthusiast tastes it on a slice of toast, it goes perfectly with a dry white wine from the region.
21 recipes for cheese fondus
21 recipes for cheese fondus
In pictures
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View slideshow21 photos
The Vacherin d'Abondance
Among chef Nicolas Sintes' favourite cheeses is Vacherin d'Abondance. Farmer cheese from the Abondance Valley in Haute-Savoie, it is recognizable by its yellowing rind that houses a pretty paste of the same color: "It is a seasonal cheese that is tasted from December to February. It has the particularity of being molded in spruce bark. This technique gives it a very interesting aromatic profile, with woody, resinous notes, and a lot of sweetness. We even recognize notes of balsamic." Its texture? "It's an ultra-melting cheese, which is served with a spoon."
The blue of Termignon
"It's a unique cheese, only four mountain pastures produce it in France." From the outset, the butler Sébastien Candusso insists on the rarity of Termignon blue. "It is a cheese produced at 2300 meters above sea level, so in harsh conditions," explains the restaurant director of L'Auberge du Père Bise. But what most distinguishes Termignon blue from other blue-veined pasta is its production technique: "In general, the blues are seeded with penicillium, which is what creates their mold and their distinct taste. The Termignon blue is naturally marbled thanks to the flora that cows eat in the Vanoise massif, "continues the specialist. This natural production will then create unique cheeses that are very different from each other: "Some are more marbled, others are almost white". In the mouth? "It's a cheese with a floral aromatic palette that has a lot of character. I particularly appreciate its crumbly, almost grainy texture. We eat it at the end of the tasting because it accompanies you for a while. "
The Brillat-Savarin
"I am an unconditional lover of Brillat-Savarin," says chef Frédéric Vardon, "it's a triple-cream cheese, which is fat and voluptuous, that's all I love!" In addition to bearing the name of the famous French gastronome and culinary author, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, this soft cheese with a flowery rind, originally from the village of Forges-les-Eaux in Normandy, has the particularity of being enriched with cream at the beginning of production. Result? An opulent cheese that the chef of Norman origin loves very young, after only a few days of ripening: "I taste it with a glass of white wine from the Jura, it's delicious".
The Sainte-Maure de Touraine AOC
How to recognize a Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine AOC? "He must have a pyrograved straw with the name of his producer in his heart," explains cheesemaker Claude Maret. Truncated conical log flocked with charcoal, its cut reveals an ivory white color as well as a homogeneous and fine texture obtained thanks to the fresh goat's milk that composes it: "You have to appreciate its melting and subtlety," explains the president of the Federation of Cheesemakers of France. Originally from Indre-et-Loire, Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine is one of those rare goat cheeses that stand out for its characteristic taste: "It has a real goat taste unlike many goat cheeses that are too far from the taste we are really looking for". To be enjoyed with a glass of dry white wine from the region, like a Sancerre.
Ossau-Iraty PDO
In the Basque Country and part of Béarn, a whole sheep's milk cheese is made that has been PDO since 1980: Ossau-Iraty. "It's a cheese that you can taste in a thousand ways. The more we refine it, the more we will have a concentrated taste and a certain acidity, describes chef Nicolas Sintes. We even discover small grains of salt under the tooth; It can therefore be used to decorate pasta like Parmesan." Not only does its texture vary according to the cheeses, but its shape also varies: "It has the shape of a tomme, but it is a peasant, artisanal cheese. We therefore find them in all shapes depending on the hand of the producer."
The Camembert de Normandie AOC
He was born in the village of Camembert at the end of the eighteenth century. Camembert, this cheese protected by an AOC that promotes French know-how throughout the world. For Claude Maret, "Camembert de Normandie is THE soft cheese and flowery rind par excellence". Cylindrical in shape, its whitish rind contains "a paste with a homogeneous and melting texture". For the cheese maker, "it is better when matured to heart and we must recognize the taste of the Normandy meadow". However, this cheese full of complexity is not limited to a single taste: "a Camembert can be more or less typed according to the appetites of the artisan, resulting in cheeses with more pronounced tastes than others, explains the cheese maker, if you are used to pasteurized Camemberts I recommend novices to ask for a sweet Camembert from his cheese maker", he finally advises.
The Livarot AOC
"It smells more than it tastes. And anyway, a cheese without smell is not a cheese!" This is how cheesemaker Marie-Anne Cantin describes Livarot, this soft cheese with a washed rind from Normandy. As one of the cheeses that have the reputation of having a powerful smell, its taste is surprisingly sweeter: "It evokes childhood memories for me, my grandmother made me scrambled eggs with livarot. It has a power but also floral aromas." It is recognizable by its cylindrical shape, its orange color, but especially by the five reeds so characteristic, which surround the cheese nicknamed "the Colonel".
(1) Les Roches Blanches, 9 avenue des Calanques, 13260 Cassis, France. Tel.: 04.42.01.01.05.
(2) Epicure, 112 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris. Phone : 01.53.43.43.40.
(3) Le 39V, 39 avenue George V, 75008 Paris. Tel.: 01.56.62.39.05.
(4) Fromager Marie-Anne Cantin, 12 rue du Champ de Mars, 75007 Paris. Tel.: 01.45.50.43.94.
(5) Federation of France cheesemakers.
(6) L'Auberge du Père Bise - Jean Sulpice, 303 route du Port, 74290 Talloires-Montmin. Tel.: 04.50.60.72.01.
This article, originally published on December 2, 2022, has been updated.