m_kingdom2

Well, you must try all things then you'll know whether you like it.

L'Explorateur thinly sliced on a baguette with some grapes is delightful. It's a triple cream cheese with tangy, mushroomy flavours.

cigalechanta

I love all natural cheeses, especially the chevres. No matter where we are in France, I always ask for te local because they taste so much better fresh with nothing added for shipping.

Underhill

I always Count on Compté!

Weezie

Try ro-bi-shon. I can't remember how it's spelled just how it sounds. When I was in Paris years ago I became addicted to it and was told I couldn't get it anywhere else. So, of course I tried to smuggle some out. Joke was on me as it became one stinky mess!

adeben

Roquefort is No.1, but breaks about nineteen of your caveats! Be adventurous! Live a little! (But if you have Munster, be aware that it can be smelt at a range of about 400 yards: I can even tell you what it smells like in a train compartment, but I'm still pretending that I wasn't responsible!)

cigalechanta

weezie, you may mean Reblochon? Leaving a delicat nutty after taste?
Lol at one posters choice , try epoisss if you REALLY want a rank smell, yet an addictive cheese. I know Frenchmen who rhapsodize over it.

indytravel

Langres a harder cheese from cows milk with an orange rind.

St Nectaire a hard cheese with an almost nutty taste to it.

My Dad who HATES blue cheese loved the Forme d'Ambert bleu in the Central Massif.

RufusTFirefly

How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?
Charles De Gaulle, in "Les Mots du General", 1962

People who don't like most kinds of cheese shouldn't go to France? That seems a bit harsh to me.

cigalechanta

Rufas, I agree, too harsh. Once Brophy tastes those unpasteurized cheeses, he will know what C*** we have here

likestoeat

Another vote for comt'e or compte or however you spell it. I actually fell in love with it so much that I took a picture of the sign on it in a cheese shop and now that picture is on my fridge. In the picture, it is spelled comte'. ...consulting scrapbook... Our favorite cheese shop was on Rue Du Champ De Mars. A picture of the bag from the store says Marie Anne Cantin Fromages De Tradition. Address looks like 12 Rue Du Champ De Mars. After two years searching my local areas weak cheese shops, I went online and ordered some. not as good, but definitely edible. I think we could start a Comte clique!

cigalechanta

Compté is a good cheese often used in an expensive croque-monsieur, it's from the Jura. This is a good cheese if you serve a cheese board before dinner as we do in the states rather than the French style, the last course.

spinesrgn

Epoisse (I believe that is the correct spelling) it is a soft cheese that comes from a town of the same name between Burgundy and Paris. It is very strong and excellent.

cigalechanta

I guess you haven't met me? Queen of typos

StCirq

Rufus: It's 426, or whatever.....it's more than 400.

I don't know why you "can't" eat sheep or goat cheeses, but that still leaves you about 200 cheeses to try. Try them. Go to a cheese store and eat them all, the bries, the cantals, the tommes, the camemberts, the epoisses, the cabecous, the tommes, the whatevers. Just go to a good cheese store and sample. And by the by, WHY can't you eat sheep or goat cheese?

sheila

Brohpy, I'd love to help and I do know quite a lot about French cheese, but I'm one of those picky eaters. I don't care for anything that tastes of nothing

Joking apart, Dorling Kindersley do a very good book on French cheese. A bit like an Eyewitness guide. I have to say mine is in French but I suspect you can get it in English.

Please try something that tastes of France. I think you'll be blown away.

USNR

I, too, nominate cantal. It's a cheddar type, can be dry, and adds great flavor to any omelette. Great for nibbling or eating with an apple.

Take a frying pan, preferably one with sloping sides. It can either be nonstick or not.

Heat pan, add a tablespoon of butter, watch it melt, then as it comes to a boil, and stops bubbling but before the melted butter turns brown...whirl the melted butter around until the bottom of the fry pan is coated --

add two beaten eggs to which you have added some tap water (this replaces the moisture that will be lost in cooking).

Leave the mix alone. Don't mess with it. Just watch as the edges start to dry. Tilt the pan occasionally so the runny mixture slips around the edges. Turn down the heat. Maybe even turn it off. Let the cooking coast awhile.

Test lift the omelette's edges. If the mass can slip, it's time to fold the cooked egg. Gently, gently.

Hold the fry pan's handle in your fist. Slip the omelette's edge onto a warmed plate and slide it off half way,then fold the remainder onto the part already on the plate.

Serve and eat immediately.

If you want a cheese omelette, say, add thinly sliced cantal onto the liquid egg mass in the fry pan, watch it melt, and don't mess with it. The cheese and the eggs cook at the same time, binding together beautifully. The butter gives the whole project a beautiful golden "skin." Just don't overheat the mix, disturb it while it's cooking, or be in a hurry.

Who taught me this? Julia Child herself. Simplicity is the key to omelette cooking.

USNR

By way of a postscript, some ask why I add water instead of milk to the beaten eggs.

Milk tends to toughen the mix. Water keeps it soft.

If you remember, set your breakfast eggs out on a plate the night before. This allows the eggs to reach room temperature (they cook quicker that way) and you get a lot more of the raw egg out of the shell. Cold eggs, direct from the fridge, tend to be sticky and a lot of the whites cling to the inside of the shells.

If you have the patience, learn to crack the eggs on the inside of the bowl and empty the contents in one motion. Multiple tapping of eggshells on the rim of the bowl often causes bits of the egg to fall into the mix -- messy, unsanitary, and must be removed before cooking.

RufusTFirefly

StCirq--I'll let DeGaulle know about the cheese count next time I see him.

Kate_W

If you are friendly and polite in a cheese shop (this means saying "Bonjour madame/monsieur" and making friendly eye contact as soon as you walk in the door), and ask for advice ("Pourriez-vous me donner des conseils, s'il vous plait&quot, the owners/servers will help you choose something. I usually walk in and ask them to suggest something interesting (but I like almost all of them). Some of the words they use to describe the ranges are "doux" (don't pronounce the x; usually means mild or slightly sweet) versus "gouteux" (I'm not sure I'm spelling that right but it clearly means strong-tasting, which sadly you don't want to try). Also "sec" (dry) versus "mouilleux" (wet, runny), also "dur" (hard) versus "doux" (again, in this context means soft). Also "plus" or "moins" agée (aged versus young). And you won't have to remember the words because they'll point to help you understand. And they'll probably even let you taste a bit before buying. You don't want "chevre" (goat's milk cheese) - too bad for you, all the more for me. You could also tell them that you want to buy "des petites tranches" (pieces), so that you can try out several.

The only problem is I can never remember the names of what I have bought (and besides, I like the strong, strange, soft ones). My only specific suggestion is to look out for some cheeses from Normandy, which often incorporate a bit of apple or Calvados (apple-based alcohol). Some of my favourites.

ira

Hi Brophy,

Onemore suggestion to order a glass of wine and a cheese plate.

French cheese in France is very different from French cheese in the US.

You might find this link useful:
http://www.frenchcheese.dk/index1024.html