Image by Kristen Finn. Words by Sara Adduci.
Howdy, Cheese Peeps!
May I present the adorable and talented Tomme Crayeuse, appearing for a limited time here at Feast! Wait, what? Tom Cruise? Tom Cruise was at Feast!? At the cheese counter? What? Ha. I’m sorry, but it is physically impossible for me to NOT call this cheese Tom Cruise. It’s silly, really, but I just can’t help it. What can I say? It started out as an easy way for people to remember this wonderful cow’s milk cheese from the Savoie and, well, it stuck. I really try not to think of the couch-jumping, loony Cruise we have today, and instead think of the cute-faced, younger version from forever ago … and here I am, as usual, heading straight down the tangent path, cracking jokes when I should be chatting cheese.
So, Crayeuse is actually the word for chalky in French, and it refers to the dense flakiness of this cheese’s core, as it ripens from the outside in. I love that it has a cellar wall of a rind, all brown, rustic, haggard, and speckled with yellow and white spots—all the better to disguise such a tasty crowd-pleaser within. The cheese itself is rich and mushroomy, with a compelling dual texture that is smooth and earthy close to the rind and gradually firmer and milder as you get towards the center. It is buttery without being boring, comforting and creamy without being cloying, and oh, does it melt like a dream! Open-face cheese toasts under the broiler, my friends—that is all I have to say. If you want to be unnecessarily fancy, add a fried egg on top and perhaps a fat slice of peppered, juicy tomato. Oh, and a sliver of Speck. Yes, please.
Tomme Crayeuse can sit proudly on a cheese plate; it is a perfect choice to melt into sauces, soups and stews of all kinds, and I can think of a handful of wine/beer pairing options that I think would work. It has a range of guises, I tell you; it’s a real jack of all trades, this cheese. I even had it the other night atop a lentil, onion, garlic, thyme, mushroom, and soft-boiled egg medley I made for dinner. Dee-licious.
Come on by Feast! and try a bite. I promise I’ll try to keep the talk of Tom Cruise to a bare minimum.
Cheers!
The post For the Love of Cheese! Tomme Crayeuse appeared first on Beyond The Flavor.