Little did I know that when I set out to have a cheese party for less than $50 that I would stir up not only our local cheese expert, but my family as well.
The goal was to get four good cheeses—Gouda, cheddar, Brie and a goat cheese—without overspending, and along the way, discover the best place to get which cheese.
A Camembert, Whole Foods' Hervé Mons, was added to the party menu after The New York Times raved about it, but more on that later.
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Not being a "mystery shopper" who gets paid to go out and check prices at competitors (they collect receipts and don't use notebooks publicly), I write things down because if I bought everything I look at for this column, I'd be broke.
Ridgewood's cheese guru took offense before I even got the notebook out, but John Gray of Super Cellars, where the Cheese Shop is now housed, got me the prices and discussed the options. One of his recommendations, a Jacquin Selles Chevre at $9.99 a pound, was a hit with everyone who tried it.
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It had a fresh, almost berry like taste, and was a wonderful contrast to everything else on the cheese board. We'll be going back for that one. I'll send a "mystery" shopper whom nobody knows.
At King's I got an imported Gouda called Uniekaas Reserve that had been aged 18 months and cost a hefty $14.49 a pound. This is a very strongly flavored cheese that my husband felt worked like a Stilton in the mix.
It was popular with a couple of us, but not everyone came back for seconds. We routinely have cheddar around, usually from the supermarket, but for this tasting party we went for a very expensive organic Vermont cheddar from King's in Midland Park for $14.99 a pound. It was probably the word "organic" that boosted the price, because there was nothing outstanding about the taste.
Gray at Super Cellars has a Cabot that he recommends, and next time we have cheeses either pre- or post-dinner, maybe we can try it—again using a "mystery" shopper to visit the cheese department.
The Whole Foods Camembert lived up to its billing—soft, creamy and very flavorful. True French Camembert is banned in this country, because it is made from raw—not pasteurized milk—so the Times critic was delighted to find something here that came close to true Camembert. True French Brie is also made from raw milk.
What I didn't know, or didn't remember, until this cheese adventure is that there is very little difference between Camembert and Brie. Camembert comes from Normandy, and Brie comes from two cheese-making areas near Paris. Experts say both cheeses are made with the same type of mold, but Brie is made in bigger wheels while Camembert is made in a smaller wheel, so it tends to age more quickly and lose moisture faster, concentrating the flavor.
Many years ago—before the need for cholesterol watching and calorie counting—my husband and I were in Paris and went to a restaurant that served nothing but cheese. It was a heavenly afternoon and unlikely to be duplicated anywhere in the United States. But we keep trying.
Since a couple of my guests love Brie, I served both Super Cellars' Cheese Shop's house brie—which the cheese guru described as unripe—and Coeur de Lion, a supermarket brand bought at Stop & Shop for $11.49 a pound. Super Cellars house Brie was just 50 cents more, and to me, there was a world of difference.
Super Cellars house Brie, ripe or not, was smooth and creamy, full flavored, while the Coeur de Lion was rubbery and not really flavorful. It clearly wasn't ripe, but some of my guests preferred its milder flavor.
The only excuse I can think of is that they had never spent a magical afternoon in Paris.
In the next week, we tried a couple of other types of prepackaged supermarket Brie, leaving them out for longer and longer periods, but none really turned out well. According to some online cheese experts, a Brie, once cut from its wheel, will not ripen any further.
They also advise that if the rind is pure white, the cheese is not ripe. I have an idea that if you want the best Brie, you want to watch it being cut from the wheel, whether that wheel is at Super Cellars' Cheese Shop, at Whole Foods or Kings, or Fairway.
And wherever you buy, be sure to leave any cheese out on the counter at least a few hours before serving.
