Tag Archives: Quebec

April 17, 2013 · 9:14 pm

Curds and Eh: TGIF at Fromagerie du Presbytère (get the scoop in Kelsie’s video)

Kelsie is back with an amazing video about the festivities at Fromagerie Presbytere and some cool viz of cheesemaking taking place. If you want to read more search “Curds and Eh” in the sidebar. Or focus on Kelsie’s favourite new Canadian cheesemakers from 2012. -SR

People often ask me what my favourite cheese is and I find that it’s such a hard question to answer. I usually change the question and respond, “Oh there are so many, but right now I’m enjoying ___________” or “well, if you were to limit my choices to goat milk blue cheeses from the Gulf Islands in British Columbia then I’d have to choose_______.”

But I wouldn’t hesitate if someone restricted all my future cheese consumption to only one fromagerie (ie. cheese factory). Before the challenge left their mouth, I’d blurt out “Fromagerie du Presbytère!”

Making cheese at Fromagerie-du-Presbytere

The aptly named Fromagerie du Presbytère is based out of a renovated Presbyterian rectory in Ste-Élizabeth-de-Warwick in the Centre-du-Québec region. It is home to two cheese companies, Fromagerie du Presbytère, maker of the multi award-winning Louis d’Or (among others); and Fromagerie Nouvelle France, producer of the multi award-winning Zacharie Cloutier.

There are three main reasons why I’d choose this fromagerie: the passion of the cheesemakers, their extraordinary cheeses and the community that comes together to support them.

Jean Morin serves samples of Louis d’Or at the party

The Cheesemakers

Jean Morin (Fromagerie du Presbytère) and Marie-Chantal Houde (Fromagerie Nouvelle France) are always smiling. They are welcoming and playful and their passion and love of cheese is obvious. Together, they are on a mission to make the best cheese in the world and seem to be having a great time doing it.

Laliberte cheese triple cream cheese

The Cheeses

Between the two cheese companies, they make every style of cheese that I need. There are fresh cheddar curds, a rich triple cream, a sweet and creamy blue, a raw alpine style cheese, and a raw sheep cheese similar to Manchego. Both companies make extraordinary cheeses, the names of which often evoke the rich local heritage and culture.

Laliberté is named after Alfred Laliberté, a sculptor from Ste-Elizabeth-de Warwick who became a founding member of the Sculptors Society of Canada. Unlike his sculptures which were typically made from marble or bronze, the cheese is soft and melts in the mouth like butter. Laliberté is a triple cream with a bloomy rind and boasts flavours of vegetables, fresh mushrooms and cream. It’s a truly indulgent cheese.

Louis d’Or is named after a French gold coin and shares its name with the Morin family farm. This cheese is made in 40kg wheels, has a nutty flavour similar to a Swiss Gruyere and seems to win every competition in which it’s entered. It was crowned the Grand Champion of the 2011 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, earned a 3^rd Place (Best of Show) spot at the 2011 American Cheese Society competition, and won five awards at the 2012 Selection Caseus in Quebec.

Zacharie Cloutier

Zacharie Cloutier has the same braided reed patterned rind as Manchego but lacks the wax coating of its Spanish ancestor. This washed rind cheese has flavours of nuts and hay and is one of my favourites (I have many favourites but sheep cheeses have a special place in my heart). Zacharie Cloutier shares its name with an early settler of New France who happens to be a distant relative of Marie-Chantal Houde (and other Canadian celebrities such as Alanis Morisette, Louis St Laurent, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion and Shania Twain, seriously).

Marie-Chantal separates the curds and whey

Recently, Jean and Marie-Chantal collaborated and released a cheese made from a combination of their milks, raw Holstein and Jersey milk from Presbytere and raw sheep milk from Nouvelle France. The resulting cheese is named Le Pioneer, weighs in at 40kg and has been aged for a year. I haven’t tried it yet but I’m anxious too. It promises to be another outstanding product from two of the very best cheesemakers in Canada.

The Community

The population of Ste-Élizabeth-de-Warwick literally doubles on Friday evenings during the warmer months of the year. Hundreds of visitors set up tables and chairs on the yard of the rectory where they enjoy fresh cheese with wine and beer. A retired baker bakes breads and sweets on site, musicians play from the balcony of the rectory, and people make new friends and catch up with old ones.

The Friday gatherings are, in a way, a celebration of fresh cheese. While visitors to the fromagerie eat, drink and are merry on the grounds of the rectory, Jean, Marie-Chantal and their team are busy making cheese inside. The fresh cheese is available at three stages during the production process:

4pm – Fromage de petit lait – curds in whey. To be eaten from a bowl with a spoon.

5pm – Slab cheese – unsalted, unmilled, slabs of cheese (this isn’t cheddar yet!). Customers can sprinkle salt to add extra flavour.

6pm – Fromage en grain – AKA cheddar curds. Straight from the vat to the customers! Warm curds are a real treat.

Louis D’Or at the American Cheese Society Competition

This past summer I spent a Friday evening at Fromagerie du Presbytère. Their Friday parties are, perhaps the most honest celebration of cheese I’ve witnessed. There’s no corporate sponsorship, no advertising, no pretension, and no need to buy tickets. It’s simply a bunch of cheese lovers coming together to celebrate the work of two talented cheesemakers.

Here’s a little video my buddy Ian Langohr and I put together about our experience.

Weather permitting, Fromagerie du Presbytère will host the first Friday fête of 2013 on April 19^th and they will continue EVERY Friday afternoon until the autumn.

I seriously hope no one will actually restrict all my future cheese consumption to just one fromagerie but if they did I think Fromagerie du Presbytère would be a great pick.

Now, if you were challenged to only eat cheese from a single fromagerie (it doesn’t have to be French), who would you choose and why? (You can be sneaky like me and choose two if you want)

And seriously, how can you actually choose one cheese to be your favourite!?

5 Comments

Filed under Cheese/Cheese Related, Curds and Eh, Travel and Food, Uncategorized

Tagged as awards, Canada, cheese, food, Fromagerie du Presbytere, jean morin, Louis D'Or, Quebec, TGIF, Zacharie Cloutier

February 27, 2013 · 4:00 am

Canadian Cheese Grand Prix -Behind the Scenes as a Judge

The Jury for the 2013 Cheese Grand Prix. Photo courtesy of Dairy Farmers of Canada.

There we are, all eight soft-lit happy cheese eaters. I thought I would introduce you to my co-jury members from our Grand Prix judging last weekend and mention how proud I was to be a part of this team!

Left to right: Moi, Chef Michael Howell, Allison Spurrell (owner Les Amies du Fromage in BC), Gurth Pretty (Cheese Buyer for Loblaw), Chef Danny St. Pierre, Reg Hendrickson(with Dairy Farmers of Canada), Ian Picard (VP of Fromagerie Hamel in Montreal) and Jury Chairman Phil Belanger who has been with the competition since its beginning in 1998.

Can you guess what cheese I am about to taste? Your guess is as good as mine!

For a behind the scenes report on tasting 225 cheeses in 48 hours check out today’s Spread column. And here are some more photos of the event.

Photo Courtesy of Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Here we are evaluating the soft bloomy rinds and Allison is trying to convince me it is normal protocol to pick up the wheel and take a bite from the edge (hazing for the newbie). No, not really, but it it was tempting.

Judging the firm washed-rinds. Photos courtesy of Dairy Farmers of Canada.

All of the Nominees have been announced and you can find the list here 2013 Canadian Cheese Grand Prix Finalists.

6 Comments

Filed under Cheese/Cheese Related, Travel and Food, Uncategorized

Tagged as Canada, canadian Cheese, Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, cheese, competition, Dairy Farmers of Canada, finalists, Quebec

October 30, 2012 · 5:00 am

Curds and Eh: Exploring the scary depths of blue cheese and Frankenstein

Blue Frankenteins only get better-and stronger–with age.

Welcome to Curds and Eh, where cheese brain Kelsie Parsons shares his scarily cheesy thoughts for Halloween….SR

If I had to pick a cheese to hand out for Halloween it would be a blue. Imagine the look on the kids’ faces! I think it would qualify both as a trick and a treat. Blue cheese has the unique ability to scare and totally gross people out while tantalizing others with its distinct aroma and look. Despite my hypothetical Halloween prank I’d never force blue cheese on anyone.

“C’mon, how was I supposed to know the Roquefort was for the guests?”

As a cheesemonger I often get asked, “why do you eat it?” and “do they actually let the mold grow in the cheese on purpose?” followed up by, “when the cheese in my fridge turns that colour I just toss it out!” I totally understand where they’re coming from and I know blue cheese isn’t for everyone. The blue cheese family is very much like the misunderstood Frankenstein‘s monster. They both posses a depth of character beyond what meets the eye and a desire to be loved though they are often rejected. Personally I love blue cheese. It’s powerful and delicious.

Tame a blue cheese’s roar with honey

For people that are just getting acquainted with blue cheese or want to try something new, here are a few tips:

Try something different. You’re probably thinking, “sure but it’s still a blue cheese!” Some of the most common blues such as Danish blue or Roquefort are common at dinner parties however they’re both incredibly strong. These two cheeses have their qualities but I don’t recommend them for someone trying blue cheese for the first time.
Ask your cheesemonger to guide you to a mild blue. Quite often the milder blue cheeses are creamy and lack the intensity of their more potent relatives.
Pair blue cheese with something sweet. A sweet accompaniment takes the edge off and balances the saltiness typical in blues. Drizzle a bit of honey on blue crumbled on toast, serve with pears, or enjoy with a sweet beverage such as port, late harvest riesling or ice wine.

Cabrales–for the less faint of heart

Now let’s get to know Frankenstein’s monster A.K.A. blue cheese a bit better. Blue cheeses actually aren’t always blue. Depending on the strain of Peniciullium roqueforti added to the milk the cheese could have blue, yellow, grey or even green spots on it. With the various colours come different levels of intensity and flavours ranging from sweet to savoury to spicy. In fact, after a wheel of blue is cut into the colours intensify over the next 15 minutes because blue cheese needs oxygen to thrive. If you examine a wedge of blue you’ll often see blue lines. This is where the cheese has been pierced to allow oxygen to enter the cheese so the blue can flourish.

Blue Haze-see the line where the needle pierced the cheese?

One of my favourite Canadian blues is called Blue Haze. It begins its life as a Ermite, a mild blue cheese made at the monastery of l’Abbaye St.-Benoit-du-Lac in Quebec, the same place where Bleu Benedictin is made. Once it has matured and developed its blue veining it’s brought to Cayuga in Southern Ontario and smoked over a harvest blend of wood. A smoked blue cheese! This is one memorable cheese! The smoke gives the cheese a brown rind and meaty flavours reminiscent of bacon and bbqs. Blue Haze is awesome crumbled on burgers or steak, or simply served with a cold dark beer. This is one cheese I just can’t get enough of.

Kelsie sailing this summer

If you come visit me on Oct. 31st at Sobeys Ira Needles (Kitchener) we can share a wedge of Blue Haze. I’ll be the one standing at the cheese counter with a green painted face and bolts in my neck.

2 Comments

Filed under Cheese/Cheese Related, Curds and Eh, Uncategorized

Tagged as Blue Haze, curds, Frankenstein, Halloween, Kelsie Parsons. blue cheese, mold, Quebec, Sobeys

October 13, 2012 · 9:07 pm

Curds and Eh: Kelsie Parsons video blogs from Fromagerie Pied de Vent

Hello everyone–both Kelsie and I are excited to post the first video from his cheese adventures this summer. I am sure you’ll love (and learn) from it as much as I did. I’ll let Kelsie take it from here.

Fromagerie du Pied-de-Vent recently switched from making their cheese from raw milk to thermized milk. Thermization, also known as heat treating, is the process that inactivates psychrotrophic bacteria by heating milk to about 65°C for 15 seconds and then cooling it off. This is below the temperature used for pasteurization so the cheese is still technically considered a unpasteurized cheese. The change in milk processing has altered the flavour of Pied-de-Vent. It’s not quite as strong as it was previously but still has a wonderful depth of flavour.

I should mention that the video was recorded and arranged by Ian Langohr, my co-pilot for this crazy cross-Canada adventure. I’m super happy with how our first video turned out. We’re currently working on putting together more videos and will release them here. I think the Pied-de-Vent video does a good job showing how cheese is made but here are a few highlights of our visit to Îles-de-la-Madeleine that I didn’t get to show in it.

Red Sand Beaches of Îles-de-la-Madeleine

Ian and I arrived in Souris, PEI at the ferry terminal at 10pm to buy our tickets for the 8am departure. I must’ve been confused because there was no ferry scheduled for that time but they decided to do a 2am crossing. We left the car in Souris and I spent the 5 hour trip to Îles-de-la-Madeleine sleeping on a seat in the dining room. We arrived at 7am and started our hike to Fromagerie du Pied-de-Vent. Along the way we passed a student protest (Charest was in town), a carnival and many colourful homes.

Dominique Arseneau and a vache Canadienne

After visiting Fromagerie du Pied-de-Vent to see how their cheese is made, we met up with Dominique Arseneau who is the son of the owners and the farmer who looks after the vache Canadienne. The three of us got along well so he took the rest of the day off to show us around the islands. We spent the afternoon taking in the sights and enjoying the red sand beaches where I enjoyed a quick dip in the water (and avoided all the jellyfish). It felt as if we were in the tropics! I kept my eyes open for palm trees and margaritas but couldn’t find either.

Brews at À l’abri de la Tempête

We did however find some amazing brews at À l’abri de la Tempête, a microbrewery whose name means ‘shelter from the storm’. I find it fascinating how the names of both the fromagerie and the brewery refer to a sense of optimism despite invoking images of harsh weather. It really demonstrates the attitude of the locals towards the climate. Anyways, Ian and I stopped at a lot of breweries this summer and the beer at À l’abri de la Tempête is by far my favourite of everything we tried. I really enjoyed their ginger wheat beer.

The Sea Platter

To accompany our beer we ordered a ‘land platter’ and a ‘sea platter’. Both were delicious but I devoured the land platter before I could snap a photo. The sea platter featured a smoked oyster, jackknife clam jerkey, smoked mackerel and herring, a skewer of salmon and seal, and sweet pickled herring. After a few beers, Dominique asked us if we want sushi. Ian and I were actually roommates back in the day in Toronto’s chinatown so we’ve had some good sushi and I foolishly thought to myself: we’re on an island in the gulf of the St. Lawrence, there must be some good local food here besides sushi.

I should never have doubted our wonderful host. We walked into the fishmonger shop I immediately understood why Dominique was so excited about sushi! There were rows of beautiful rolls made with freshly caught fish, lobster, crab, shellfish and even smoked fish. The sushi was as delicious as it was unique.

At 7pm Ian and I caught the ferry to return to PEI. We were only on the island for 12 hours exactly but if you ask me what my favourite experience was this summer…this was it. I totally recommend a trip to Îles-de-la-Madeleine and if you’re not in a rush, stay for longer than I did. There’s so much good food and culture to take in.

This post is part of a guest blog series by Kelsie Parsons. See the Globe and Mail piece about his travels.

4 Comments

Filed under Cheese/Cheese Related, Curds and Eh, Travel and Food, Uncategorized

Tagged as beer, Canadienne cow, cheese, curd, food, Ile de Madelaine, Kelsie Parsons, PEI, Pied de Vent, Quebec, sushi, travel

July 13, 2012 · 8:58 am

Curds and Eh: Episode 3- Our Home and Native Cow

Who says Canadians aren’t beautiful?

Nestled amongst large rocky mountains (hills to some) in Baie-Saint-Paul lies Laiterie Charlevoix, a cheese factory owned by the 7 Labbé brothers. One of their most popular cheeses is Le 1608, a washed rind cheese that was launched in 2008 to coincide with Quebec City’s 400^th anniversary. This cheese is aged 4-6months, has a pleasant pungency and is one of only two cheeses that I know that is made solely from the milk of the Vache Canadienne, a rare breed of cow (Pied-de-Vent is the other).

1608 at rest.

The ancestors of this breed were introduced to Canada from Brittany and Normandy in the early 17^th century by Samuel de Champlain. I met with Mario Duchesne, a biologist and leading expert on the Vache Canadienne, who explained that the cows originally weren’t a distinct breed but a population with a variety of genetic traits. At their peak there were 300,000 Vache Canadienne but now only around 1000 are left in the world. Mario, the farmers, and Laiterie Charlevoix are fighting to protect this rare breed and ensure they don’t disappear forever.

Inside the leading edge waste water treatment plant

Besides delicious cheese, and a rare breed of cow, one of the most interesting parts of Laiterie Charlevoix is their wastewater treatment system. I know that’s generally not something to get excited about but things are different here. The Labbé family actually created an environmentally friendly system for disposing of their whey and wash water. Basically, bacteria cultures are added to the wastewater to ferment it. Methane gas is produced then collected and burned to heat water for cleaning, heat-treating the milk and warming the cheese vats. The remaining grey water is then cycled through a series of ‘ponds’ with plants such as canna, papyrus and elephant ears which act as filters removing Nitrogen and Phosphorus. At the end of this system, the clean water flows into a pond with koi fish to demonstrate its cleanliness and then into the nearby river.

Cabins on the Laiterie Charlevoix campground–walking distance to fresh Pain au Chocolat. Now that’s roughing it.

The Labbé family also produces a line of ice cream and preserves, has a dairy museum and runs a campground near the dairy.

It’s easy for travelers and curd nerds alike to spend several hours at Laiterie Charlevoix. It’s definitely worth a visit!

This post is part of a guest blog series by Kelsie Parsons. For Eps 1, click here and Eps 2, Click Here.

(Kelsie will be blogging from the East Coast in the next installment, stay tuned!)

Sue’s Note: I visited the Charlevoix region last year and other than beautiful scenery there is a whole Flavour Trail of delicious aritisanal foods to try; from the local cheese to traditionally made foie gras to the famous local lamb chops, sausages and smoked salmon. Here is the Charlevoix travel piece I wrote about the adventure.

7 Comments

Filed under Cheese/Cheese Related, Curds and Eh, Travel and Food, Uncategorized

Tagged as 1608, camp ground, camping, Canadienne cow, Charlevoix, cheese, foie gras, Quebec, travel, vacation

June 28, 2012 · 9:03 am

Curds and Eh eps 2: Quebec (get ready to change your summer vacation plans)

To read and introduction about this guest blog series by Kelsie Parsons click here. For Eps 1, click here.

Hi Everyone,

I feel bad for telling you about my project and then disappearing for two weeks. Hopefully you can forgive me once you see how busy life on the road actually is.

Here’s a quick review of last week:

Sunday June 17^th – I attended the Fine Cheese Festival in Victoriaville, Quebec, which was a great opportunity to meet cheese makers before I hit the road. I enjoyed meeting Michèle Foreman, author of the just released Fromages: Artisans du Quebec. La crème de la crème. It’s a beautifully photographed book with information on all the artisan cheese makers in Quebec. I’ve found the book to be incredibly helpful so far on my journey even though it is en français (and admittedly my French is limited).

Caseus Award for Le Baluchon

A real highlight of the day was seeing Le Baluchon win the people’s choice Caseus award. Le Baluchon is an organic, unpasteurized cheese with a washed rind and is so deserving of the award.

The raclette grill of my dreams (Sue)

On Monday I spent several hours at Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser near Noyan. Fritz Kaiser grew up in Switzerland and moved to Quebec at a young age where he began making cheese in 1981. He’s known for creating the first Canadian raclette cheese. What is raclette you ask? It’s the name of a cheese, the accompanying grill and the process of melting cheese and serving it on potatoes, meats and veggies. (ex. “Come on over to my raclette party and we’ll melt some Fritz raclette on my new raclette grill”)

l’Abbaye-Saint-Benoit-du-Lac

A highlight of my adventures so far occurred last Tuesday when I finally took the pilgrimage to l’Abbaye-Saint-Benoit-du-Lac. In 1912 French monks settled on the banks of Lake Memphremagog and began a Trappist monastery. In the early 1940s a cheesemaker from Denmark visited the monastery and taught the monks how to make a blue cheese similar to the French Bleu d’Auvergne. Their unique blue is appropriately called Ermite (Hermit in English) and was the first cheese created at their factory in 1943. Now their most popular cheese is Bleu Bénédictin, an earthy flavoured blue that previously won as a Grand Champion of the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix (basically the Oscars of Canadian cheese).

Unpasteurized (less than 60 days) Le Pont Blanc, Fromagerie au Gré des Champs

Wednesday was a day full of new cheeses for me. Ruban Bleu, is a farmstead fromagerie located just outside of Montreal and it produces many sizes, shapes and varieties of goat cheese. There’s something for everyone here but my personal favourite was a fresh chevre mixed with caramelized onions. That day I also visited Fromagerie au Gré des Champs who produce unpasteurized, organic cheese made from the milk of their herd of Brown Swiss cows. Fromagerie au Gré des Champs is one of a handful of fromageries in Quebec that legally produce unpasteurized cheese aged for less than 60 days*. One of these cheeses is called Le Pont Blanc. It’s a small lactic cheese with a very thin rind, a yeasty aroma and a mild milky flavour.

Sheep at La Moutonniere

There’s never time to rest when you’re on a cheese adventure so on Thursday I headed to St.-Hélène-de-Chester to visit La Moutonnière and l’Atelier. Lucille Giroux, the cheesemaker behind La Moutonnière, initially raised sheep for meat but realized that she needed to get another product out of them to make a decent living. At the time there was no sheep being milked in Quebec so she imported dairy sheep from Sweden. I love her Fleur de Monts, an aged sheep cheese with fragrant floral aromas.

Ma Maniere (My Way)

Simon Hamel has 10 years of experience making cheese in Quebec and France and recently began creating his own cheeses under the name l’Atelier out of La Moutonnière. My new favourite cheese is one he creates called Ma Manière (the name roughly translates to ‘I’m doing it my way’). It’s a lactic goat cheese with a wrinkly rind and a flavour that will transport you to France. I’m willing to put money on Simon winning top awards with this cheese. Ma Manière has very limited production so it may be hard to get. (try Fromagerie Atwater in Montreal–Sue).

Working hard to make fresh cheese at Fromagerie Presbytere

Nothing makes me happier than seeing communities come together over food. Every Friday in Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick people gather in the front yard of Fromagerie du Presbytère for a picnic dinner and to enjoy fresh cheese served at three stages of the cheesemaking process. Around 4pm bowls of a cottage cheese like product are sold. Cheesemakers Jean Morin and Marie-Chantal let the fresh curds (no, not cheddar curds) knit together into a single mass, which is then cut, stacked, flipped and restacked. Slabs of this fresh cheese are then sold at the shop and customers sprinkle salt on top. Next, blocks of fresh cheese are milled and salted and turned into squeaky cheddar curds. This is what everyone waits for! Throughout the afternoon and evening, hundreds of people attend the picnic and enjoy wine as they listen to live music.

Zacharie Cloutier, sheep’s milk

If you ever have the chance to try Zacharie Cloutier (produced by Fromagerie Nouvelle France at this facility), Louis d’Or, Laliberte, or Bleu d’Elizabeth, I highly recommend doing so. They are some of the finest cheeses in all of Canada.

(Kelsie is continuing on Quebec and will be posting again soon-Sue)

* The federal standard is all raw milk cheeses must be aged for 60 days before being sold. About 4 years ago, Quebec changed their regulations allowing for fresh unpasteurized cheeses to be sold but only if cheese makers met strict regulations

8 Comments

Filed under Cheese/Cheese Related, Travel and Food, Uncategorized

Tagged as abbaye saint benoit, Baluchon, Canada, cheese, curds, Formagerie Atwater, fromagerie fritz kaiser, Louis D'Or, Montreal, Quebec, sheep's milk, travel, whey

June 13, 2012 · 6:50 am

Curds and Eh: A Cross Country Cheese Tour, episode 1

Kelsie Parson: Canadian Cheese Tourist

Hi everyone, here is the first blog in the Curds and Eh series. Welcome Kelsie!

Hello fellow cheese lovers!

By day I’m the Cheese Manager at Sobeys Ira Needles in Kitchener and by night I’m a curd nerd who can’t stop reading about cheese (and eating it too!). I started working at Sobeys nearly 2 years ago and I’m responsible for a 36′ long cheese wall, which is home to 350 varieties of cheese.

Sobeys Ira Needles

Several months ago I told Russ, my store manager, that I was planning on taking the summer off to travel across Canada and write a book about Canadian cheese. He was incredibly supportive but wanted to make sure I’d return to Sobeys when I’m done. Of course I promised I’d be back. When I began my travels Russ wanted part of me to stay with the cheese wall so he hired one of my staff to carve my head out of St. Albert Mild Cheddar!

From here…

To here….It’s quite the honour having my head in cheese! I’m still amazed! It’s like looking in a cheese mirror!

With a Jean and a beautiful wheel of Louis D’Or at the Great Canadian Cheese Festival.

I’m currently on week 4 of my cross-Canada cheese adventure. Recently I’ve visited cheese makers around Ontario and attended the Great Canadian Cheese Festival and today I’m heading to Montreal.

I’ll be in Quebec for a full month but I’m afraid I’ll still only try a handful of all the cheeses produced there. After Quebec I’m headed to the Maritimes and Newfoundland(!) and then across Northern Quebec and Ontario. The longest the road will be driving from Thornloe Cheese near Lake Timiskaming to in Thunder Bay. Ontario is a massive province! I’ll then spend the month of August traveling the Prairies, Alberta and B.C. When I consider my journey as a whole, 3.5 months seems like a really long time to be on the road but breaking it down province by province it seems like a whirlwind adventure. Regardless, I’m really looking forward to sharing the journey with you.

Poutine from St. Albert Cheese on Ottawa. Can man live on poutine alone?

Why such an epic cheese adventure? I’ve always wanted to write a book about Canadian Cheese and I figure now is the right time. In many ways I’m modeling my book after Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins. The book is organized by region opposed to style and as a reader I felt like I traveled around Europe with Mr. Jenkins. I’m aiming for my book to be about individual cheeses as much as it is about the people behind them and the regions they’re from. Of course there will be loads of photos in the book; I just wish I could make it scratch and sniff (what a stinky book!).

One thing I’m missing though is a title for the book. I considered simply Canadian Cheese. It’s too the point but not very catchy. I find cheese people usually have a cheesy sense of humour so I also considered titles such as The Whey Across Canada and Curds & Eh! I like them but I think there’s a better title out there. Now this is where I ask for your help. If you can help me come up with the perfect title you’ll be recognized in the acknowledgements and you’ll get a free book (when it’s printed).

See you again in two weeks, Kelsie

My favourite pic (says Sue) Kelsie in storage!

BIO

Kelsie Parsons worked as a cheesemonger for Cheese of Canada and Provincial Fine Foods in Toronto and his photos of Canadian Cheese are featured in Juliet Harbutt’s World Cheese Book (2009). He earned his Cheesemaking Certificate from the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese and has since apprenticed at Monforte Dairy. In 2010, Kelsie was selected as a delegate to represent the Toronto Slow Food convivium at Terra Madere in Turin, Italy. Kelsie is the Cheese Manager at Sobeys Ira Needles in Kitchener and is currently writing a book about Canadian cheese. He also blogs at Sobeys.com/foodiefeature

14 Comments

Filed under Cheese/Cheese Related, Curds and Eh, Travel and Food, Uncategorized

Tagged as Canada, cheese, cheese book, cross country, curds, Kelsie Parsons, lake timiskaming, Montreal, Ontario, Quebec, Sobeys, travel, writing

June 3, 2011 · 10:45 am

Top Chef Canada: Episode 8

Birds chirp. Morning sun peeks through a window. Darryl disses Andrea. “The consensus in the group is that Andrea is not a team player. Even the servers at Milestones were “like, what’s wrong with that girl?””

Well, first of all, the servers at Milestones are probably ditching their Psyche 101 class to make a shitload of tips on a drunken 5:30 business crowd so they probably have no idea what a chef does. Secondly, if they’re going to be “like” p.o’d at Andrea, maybe they address her properly as in, “why is that chef such a bitch?”

Secondly, Andrea has been saying she’s “in it to win it” from Day 1, so no big surprise, though I guess we need a new outsider now that Chris and Jamie have been zapped.

Anyway, Andrea is now the bad-ass though she could care less, “I came here for myself, so whatever.” See! Balls the size of watermelons.

Quickfire Challenge

Mark McEwan is back and I think he got highlights. Looking very Summer 2011. He tells the teams that from now on working together is “vital” and indeed, teamwork is the theme of this episode. There will be no more immunity granted.

(See how the producers are setting this up? Teamwork good. Andrea bad. Tension building. Watch and learn reality show hopefuls.)

For todays’ challenge the chefs are divided into two groups. Francois and Rob pull the knives that decree them team captain. Flashback to elementary school, the captains get to pick their team. (its OK, I’m fine about not being any good at volleyball or basketball and always picked last, even for hurdles).

Francois’s first choice is Dale. Rob’s first choice is Dustin. (Hey–if you take Dale–and turn that frown upside down–you get Dustin!)

Francois then chooses Connie. Rob looks pissed but settles for Todd. Francois takes Darryl and Andrea is stuck onto Rob’s team.

Andrea, “I don’t care, I’ll play the underdog, but I’m sure they know I’m a force to be reckoned with.” (unspoken: bunch of pussies.)

Each team has 40 minutes to make a dish. All the chefs will be blindfolded. One chef starts the dish and after 10 minutes the next chef steps in until all four have had a turn. Like those games where one person starts drawing the feet and the next person draws the torso….hey, is this Top Chef: Summer Camp?

GOES DOWN LIKE SO:

First 10 min: Andrea and Darryl start for their teams: Andrea grabs scallops and starts a white asparagus puree. Daryll grabs snapper and begins to clean it.

Second 10 min: Rob sees scallops. He sees the puree. Goes for bacon. Dale sees that Darryl started a reduction for butter sauce so works on that and braises some radishes and fennel.

Third 10 min: Connie says the “plate needs some colour” so she makes a “green oil.” YUM, green oil. Todd, “I can’t figure out what’s happening” just makes a (traditional Newfoundland I presume) potato cake.

Last 10 minutes: Dustin tastes everything to see where stuff is at, as does Francois. They plate everything and Francois’s hands are shaking as he adds the final touches.

Red Team (Rob Captain) creates a pancetta-wrapped scallop plate with potato rosti, white asparagus sauce and braised leek.

Blue Team (Francois Captain) creates a pan-seared snapper with butter sauce, braised radish and fennel and sea asparagus salad.

Chef McEwan makes a joke! “Does anyone know what this is?” he asks. He is getting lighthearted– perhaps seeing the end in sight.

Both teams have done well– but Rob (Red Team) is finally vindicated winning his first Quickfire, or as he says so eloquently, “I finally won a quickfire for fucks’s sake”

The winning team gets to choose their serving area in the Restaurant War Challenge.

Elimination

The restaurant war takes place at McEwan’s own Bymark. One team will serve in the dining room and one on the patio. Rob’s Red Team, now known as “To New” (a bad play on the Toronto Nfld connection) is allowed to pick since they won elimination. They choose patio.

Francois’ team, now called By Bleu (another bad play on words: Bymark+ blue aprons) gets the dining room.

The first challenge is figuring out who the sucker’s going to be that runs front of house. Typical of anyone in the kitchen everyone seems to agree with Francois that, “front of house can seriously screw back of house.” And the chef’s still have to create a dish even if they are not in the kitchen.

Finally Andrea agrees to take one for the Red team. “I’m always in the dining room at my restaurant….” Unspoken: reaming out my staff.

On the blue team Darryl also steps down and out of his whites. Dale, who has fully taken charge, graciously comments that, “Darryl is going to fuck up, he doesn’t know fine dining.” My favourite excuse for not doing front-of-house is Francois, “I won’t understand the English people’s jokes so I can’t do it”. But of course.

Team Rob’s concept: contemporary Canadian fine-dining with a casual feel.

Team Francois: Dale asks and then answers his own questions. ‘What’s our concept?” beat. “Modern European? Fine fine dining. Settled.”

Connie is not happy, she is not on board with the “fine-fine” dining not having done it in years. This somehow causes her to forget her baby potatoes during prep and she has to run off in a van to find them. Call me crazy but did they clear all food out of the Bymark kitchen? Surely, there is a potato or two rolling around in there? (ohh, wait, maybe they were already pickled.)

Service:

Team To New:

The judging team arrives with Chef David Adjey in tow as Chef Judge (The Opener). Thea Andrews looks amazing in her silver dress. There is some painfully awkward small talk between Chef McEwan and Andrea before service.

The judges sit down on the patio first to partake in the meal from To New (Rob, Dustin, Todd and Andrea). Generally things go from Ok to worse. A couple of the dishes are deemed to have “hotel-itis” by McEwan (like Andrea’s asparagus salad and the main lamb course) meaning, “looks great, tastes like nothing.”

Todd’s terrine is a bit of a disaster–it’s falling apart and the chutney is way too spicy. The judges like Dustin’s Halibut but his gnocchi is deemed more akin to mashed potatoes. Dessert crescendo in banal badness. Rob’s mousse really does look like poop on a plate and Todd’s custard looked like a slap-dash affair. Winning dish of the service was Andrea’s Octopus.

Team By Bleu:

Darryl looks quite adorable and also like a duck out of water all spiffed up. He manages to get his hands on Chef McEwan’s crotch when he decides to put all the napkins on the judges laps, something “he’d seen done in fine dining”. All the judges try hard not crack up.

By Bleu (Francois, Connie, Darryl and Dale) does much better with their dinner despite a near fist-fight (no helmets) between Dale and Darryl when Dale tries to “un-simplify” Darryl’s duck dish and later when Daryll doesn’t get Dale’s strawberry souffles off the pass and out to the guests before they start to deflate.

Yet the food that gets out the judges table is turning out well. Darryl’s duck is called, “perfect, just the right subtle smoke and degree of doneness” by Chef McEwan. Francois’s lamb and eggplant is “spectacular”. Connie is flumoxed that her tuna dish is being described as “canned tuna” by the diners but in the end her semi-freddo dessert plate and Dale’s souffle are tagged as “big league desserts”. In fact, Chef McEwan says he couldn’t have made a better souffle himself.

Judges Table

Team By Bleu is called in a declared the clear winners with Dale’s souffle taking top prize.

Which leaves Team To New as the losers. Andre is safe as her Octopus dish came out on top despite her being chosen last for the team. Which leaves Dustin, Rob and Todd. Cut to commercial.

It must be Todd. It has to be Todd I am thinking. And yes, Todd is declared out of his league and asked to pack his bags. He leaves us with his usual Todd-isms that have endeared him all this way, “I ran out of bullets. I tried something outside my comfort zone and it didn’t work. Going back home to my wife, daughter, buddies and back deck. It’s going to be great.” Big sigh.

Next week the Chefs create food for President’s Choice. Bigger sigh.

Toast Post: Le Cendrillon

Tangy and smooth on sweet and warm

Tis true, I did just write about Le Cendrillon for the The Spread, so I do feel like I’m recycling cheese lore but it’s the most interesting pick of the cheese drawer at the moment–other than Felix’s Laughing Cow triangles which were once referred to as thickened cow mucus by a cheese teacher from England named Tom Badcock (yes, his real name, also he wore a bow tie). The same accusation was thrown at all cheese in general by a vegan I met in LA once upon a time.

I thought it would be nice to pair Le Cendrillon with the Stollen I made for Easter. The sweet/fruity bread is kind of a lovely match with the tangy, rich goat cheese. I prefer this cheese on the riper side –a little more in your face.

Though freshly made, I wanted to toast the Stollen just a bit to warm it up and give it a bit of a crisp exterior. As I waiting for the toast to pop I studied Le Cendrillon and thought to myself, “The ash on its exterior looks like a warm blanket. Maybe I should replace all the blankets in the house with ash. Or I could burn all the blankets and have more ash blankets. Scratch that–who wants to use a shovel to put on a blanket?”

Le Cendrillon in 11 words or more: Goat cheese from Quebec by Fromagerie Alexis Portneuf (owned by Saputo). Milk is sourced from the local area and all the cheeses are made by hand. Won “Best Cheese in the World” in 2009 World cheese awards. The long pyramid shape (I called this a triangular prism, but I got an email from Don, a retired math teacher who set me straight, apparently it’s a frustrum) was created to help the cheese ripen quicker and keep the inner core from drying out. Look for ones that are 7-10 days before their “best before” date for a real mix of textures in the paste and nice kick of flavour.

Tag Archives: Quebec

Top Chef Canada: Episode 8

Subscribe

Categories

Cheese Feed

Recent Posts

Tweets and Toast

A Few Favourites

Blog Roll

Chef Basics

Cooking with Kids: Foodnetwork.ca

The Spread

Archives

Tag Archives: Quebec

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Subscribe

Categories

Recent Posts

A Few Favourites

Blog Roll

Chef Basics

Cooking with Kids: Foodnetwork.ca

The Spread

Archives