Le Mi-Carême

Le Mi-Carême (named after l'Isle-aux-Grues's traditional Acadian Mid-Lent celebrations) is made by Fromagerie de l'Île-aux-Grues. The island is situated in the St. Lawrence a bit downstream from la ville du Québec. Le Mi-Carême is a cow-milk cheese in the brie family. It is a very sophisticated cheese, full of strong mushroomy and nutty flavours. The Fromagerie de l'Îles-aux-Grues is a cooperative formed by 14 milk producers of the island in 1977. At first producing only cheddar, the fromagerie began producing le Mi-Carême at the end of the '90s. As one who loves the stronger cheeses, I quite enjoyed this cheese on its own after supper. My attempt to make a mushroom alfredo sauce with le Mi-Carême was moderately successful; next time I will tweak my recipe a bit to bring out the rich flavours of the cheese out more. It sells for about $5.80 per 100 grams.

 

El niño

El niño comes to us from Fromagerie des Cantons of Farnham, Québec, about an hour east of Montréal, between St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Granby. This is a mysterious cheese with very little internet presence, but don't let that deter you. Simply put, it is hands-down my favourite québécois cheese so far. It's a semi-firm cheese made from raw Jersey cow milk (from the Ferme Janecek herd just down the road in Dunham), with a rind washed with red wine (there is also available a version without the red wine). The delicate taste of the cheese combined with the fruity and sweet taste of the wine equates to an absolutely wonderful cheese experience. I admit I didn't experiment much with this cheese. I have no idea how it goes with this food or that wine. I simply gobbled it all up on its own. My roommates are asking me to buy more. It retails for about $4.60 per 100 grams.

 

Le fêtard

Le fêtard ("party animal") is made by Fromagerie du Champ à la Meule, which is located an hour or so north of Montréal in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes. Made from cow milk, it is a semi-firm cheese that is aged a minimum of 90 days and washed in beer (Maudite, to be precise). Despite its beer-soaked production process, le fêtard has a relatively delicate taste (vaguely buttery, fruity, and beery by turn) and I found that its subtleties get lost when eaten with anything other than fruit such as grapes or strawberries. I have a feeling le fêtard would be lovely with a spicy chutney. Next time, next time... Retails for about $5.20 per 100 grams.

 

Le Curé Labelle

Le Curé Labelle comes from a fromagerie in Mont-Laurier called Le P'tit Train du Nord. It's a cute little semi-soft cheese made from cow's milk. Inside it has little bubbles like esrom, and has a texture similar to esrom, but tastes completely different. Its flavour is light and vaguely buttery, with a slightly salty rind. I'm sure this cheese would go great with pomegranates, strawberry jam, or various other sweet red things, but I admit that I simply gobbled it down on its own in thin slices. It's yummy stuff. Retails around $4.30 per 100 grammes.

 

Le fruitier de Montérégie

I've slacked off with my cheese blogging, so you're going to get two installments in two days. There, I've said it. If it doesn't happen you have the right to call me on it.

Le fruitier de Montérégie is a nice light cheese that reminds me a bit of applewood cheddar in texture and dryness. It comes from Saint-Damase, which is a little west of Granby, Québec. Good with grapes and pears. On pasta it got the job done, but it wasn't terribly spectacular in that role. Much better with the fruit. Le fruitier de Montérégie is produced by Damafro, which claims to be one of the top three makes of fine cheese in North America. Inexpensive at around $3.90 per 100 grammes.

 

Bouq'Émissaire

This week I tried a québécois raw milk goat cheese called Bouq'Émissaire (a pun on "bouc émissaire," or "scapegoat"). This cheese is bright white in colour with an ash-covered rind. It has a light, almost sweet taste with a yogurty tang. On a toasted bagel with strawberry jam Bouq'Émissaire is divine. Though dry and somewhat tart when cold, when melted it takes on a creamy, almost buttery taste and texture. Apparently this cheese is classified as a blue cheese, although I didn't detect a trace of blue either in appearance or taste. Perhaps when it ages more the blue becomes more pronounced. It costs about $5.00 per 100 grams.

 

Pied-de-Vent

This week's fromage is Pied-de-Vent, from the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. It's a "soft, surface-ripened cheese made from the raw milk of a single dairy herd." Sound delightfully and desolately rural? That's because it is! The islands are quite isolated out in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  It has a faintly esrom-ish flavour though in texture is closer to a brie, although less moist. I made a mushroom risotto with Pied-de-Vent in place of parmesan, and while it melted very nicely and added extra creaminess, I had to add far more salt than I normally would because it simply didn't have the kick that parmesan does. This cheese costs around $5.45 per 100 grams.