Boursin, or Not a Vegetable
We took a break from weird vegetables tonight. In fact, we kind of took a break from dinner. Tonight we had a couple of Vietnamese spring rolls and cheese and crackers for dinner. I had read a recipe for boursin, and although I did not want to make the recipe tonight, I thought that Bob might really like boursin. As part of my scheme to corrupt Bob, food-wise, I have been buying him chevre. He had it in a salad and subsequently asked for it. So boursin, which is a smooth cream cheese, in this case with garlic in it (Bob loves garlic) was a great idea.Boursin is French, but as French cheeses go it's sort of the Philadelphia cream cheese of France. It was invented in the fifties, unlike a lot of French cheeses which were invented during the Crusades or something. Boursin is not like Saint Nectaire (which is ancient) or Crottin de Chavignol (which dates back to the 16th century) or Brie (which the Emperor Charlemagne tasted in 774.) But it was quite nice tonight.
The only problem is if we go from trying exotic vegetables to trying exotic cheeses, we will up our calories AND spend a great deal of cash. But maybe before I go back to vegetables, I could try a Pont l'Eveque. It's a rich creamy cheese, like brie. And it's ancient, which gives it snob appeal. And it goes good with Pinot Noir. What's not to like?
posted by Maureen McHugh at 9:04 PM
5 Comments:
I used to love boursin on crackers when I was in college. I've since moved to more exotic cheese like mimolette, which I love (orange cheddary type but nuttier, and when aged, much harder to cut but boy is it good), and every once in awhile experiment with a cheese I've never heard of or tried (from one of the excellent cheese shops --or cheese counters--in my neighborhood).
Cheeses were not so much invented, as discovered. Or rather, in the pre-industrial times, you let the raw milk get infected with the local yeasts -- which is why traditional cheeses are strongly regional, because the yeast that lives around Cheddar is not the same that lives around, say, Limburger.
In modern times, with sterile processing and all, specific varieties of yeast are added to raw milk, no matter where its being made, hence modern varieties of cheese like boursin and "American".
Oops. that anonymous yesterday was me, Ellen.
I knew it was you, Ellen. ;)
From my writing style? ;-)
Ellen
Post a Comment
<< Home