52 Foods: Epoisses Berthaut

What's Epoisses Berthaut? It's a cheese- no, something this good and this French deserves the label frommage.

How did it wind up in my mouth? Well, my family is always one to make holiday gift lists- and inevitably, I put some sort of food item on mine. This year I added beer, soda and cheese to my voluminous Amazon list. My brother-in-law Brian set me up with some Sasparilla from the Amana colonies in Iowa and some nice microbrews from the same region. My lovely wife Debbie got me a great gift package of cheese and olives from Sam's Wine & Spirits. (Note: If you live anywhere near Chicago , enjoy the occasional tipple and have NOT been to Sam's, go now. Set yourself a spending limit, though...) Among the goodies in the gift package was Epoisses Berthaut.

Let's get one thing perfectly clear as we begin the year-long journey of me trying new foods. I like food, but I am by no means a gourmet. I prefer restaurants that offer quantity (read: anything as big as my head) over those that have a few items delicately arranged on a plate. So before today when I did research on the web, I had no idea if this cheese was called Epoisses and made by Berthaut, or the other way around. And I still have no clue how to pronounce either word.

But let me tell you what I do know- this is a food I will eat again, with relish. Nah, hold the relish.

Let's start with the packaging- it's a cool, round, wooden box...


(and this is not what it looked like at my house when I tried it).

The cheese itself has a rough, orange-colored rind which I was told not to eat, but some websites now tell me that I should have. Not so sure about that...it was a bit on the stinky side. It was suggested by the man who sold Debbie the cheese that it is best enjoyed served on French bread (which I did.) Man, was this good cheese! Creamy, a little nutty and just a little bit gamey. I think I polished it off in one evening- it was two nights at the most.

I'm no cheese expert (I believe the title is "Cheese Wiz"), so here's what the fine people at Natasha' Epicurean Picnic have to say about it...(Note: I'm pretty sure this is a different Natasha than the one mentioned in Jenny's blog. Seeing how that Natasha used there is a pseudonym and all... )

Made in a tiny town in the Burgundy region of France, Epoisses is one of the great cheeses of the world. It is an A.O.C. or name-controlled cheese that has a very pungent aroma and a sinfully rich, creamy interior. Each cheese is covered in an edible reddish-brown rind, and underneath is a creamy pate with a delightfully daunting aroma that comes straight from the farm. This handcrafted cheese is first washed in brine, then cured in humid cellars for four weeks. After this brief aging period, the rind is rinsed with Marc de Bourgogne, a liqueur that is a by-product of the local wine industry.

I think that's pretty much the high-brow way of saying "Man, was this good cheese!"

Another purveyor of fine foodstuffs, The Gourmet Food Store, adds this:

Flavored with spices, this was a favorite of famed food connoisseur Brillat Savarin.

Hey, now that's a name I know! He's the guy whose quote "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are" opens Iron Chef on The Food Network.

Right now, I'm a slightly stinky and sinfully creamy cheese.