Love cheese? Besides the usual ways of having cheese on your pizzas and in your sandwiches, check out these Brie-lliantly innovative ideas that will not only surprise your tastebuds, but also possibly make you the most popular guest at potluck gatherings.
Cheese Pairing Workshop by François Robin
After showing us how to pair French cheese with Asian ingredients like kaya and Chinese new year goodies, cheese expert François Robin, winner of the prestigious Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (Best French Craftsman) in the field of cheese, is back to share more cheesy ideas with us at the “Europe, Home of Cheese” workshop!
“Eat the French cheese the way you want”
François Robin
To portray the versatility of the French cheeses, François Robin demonstrated how the cheeses, whether hard, soft, semi-hard, blue, washed rind or processed, can be paired deliciously with common and outlandish ingredients alike.
Brie in Spring Roll
If you are familiar with the Vietnamese Spring Roll, you mustn’t miss this. We wrapped Brie, together with vermicelli, mint, coriander, and vegetables. The spring roll is so easy to prepare, and the Brie gave it a super soft and creamy texture leaving everyone at the table fascinated and hungry for more.
Customizable Baked Camembert
We tried the Camembert baked over hot grill. It’s so soft, cheesy, and delicious. Earthy and mushroomy in flavor, this makes a perfect picnic or beach snack!
You can even customize the Camembert to your liking before baking it. From honey and kaya to spring onions, mixed nuts, and dried local fruits, the possibilities are endless.
Cheeseboard Competition
All teams at the event also participated in the cheeseboard competition. We had to create a cheese board using Emmental, Triple Crème, Bresse Blue, Mimolette, as well as some traditional snacks.
My team simply let our creativity flow and created the above cheeseboard with much love- see the heart shape Bak Kwa? (P.S. We won the best-decorated cheeseboard!)
Different Types of French Cheese & What to Pair Them With!
About French Cheese
Did you know that France boasts almost 1,600 distinct varieties of cheese? A vast majority of which are only available locally in the region that it is produced in, linked to the distinctive features of their regions of origin, including climate, soil and undersoil.
Lush green meadows and fields are the basis for the French dairy industry, as most French cheese are made from cow’s milk. Each cheese producing region in France has developed its own particular savoir-faire or ‘know-how’ for dairy farming and processing, culminating in cheese with its own distinctive qualities. Packaged in wheels, slabs, squares or slices, every piece of French cheese is a proud symbol of the famous French art de vivre.
