Archive for December, 2010
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Truffle sounds festive high note
Monday, December 27th, 2010
It doesn’t take much truffle to make a difference to all sorts of foods: charcuterie; garnish; timbales; soufflés. Escoffier even cooked them in Champagne for some of his more select diners. For the 2010 festive season, when Isigny Sainte-Mère launched its Camembert with Truffles, regional paper Ouest-France interviewed director general Daniel Delahaye. He remembers truffles [...]
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Something else Isigny is famous for…
Saturday, December 25th, 2010
At the end of every year, it is common to see oyster sellers outside the entrances to French supermarket entrances. Everywhere you look, there will be tables piled high with France’s favourite seasonal seafood: marquees filled with boxes of oysters of all sizes destined for new year celebrations. Depending on the region, the sellers will [...]
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Snow can spread faster than butter…
Monday, December 20th, 2010
The snow currently falling across Europe is a timely reminder that butter was once a cold weather product. Before the days of universal refrigeration, it was harder to keep butter from going rancid or melting. Not impossible, but a sufficient challenge to ensure it remained the prerogative of rich households. Where available, a buttery or [...]
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Cheese that improves with age…
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
The older a cheese gets, the more water it loses. However, a totally dehydrated cheese would not taste of anything. One of the challenges when maturing longlived cheeses like Mimolette is to ensure that it retains enough water to be edible, since the process is irreversible. The cheese grader’s skill is to be able to [...]
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From Isigny to Birmingham and the world
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
From the Normandy coast to the heart of England is a well-trodden path for Isigny Sainte-Mère’s cheesemakers. This time, though, the occasion was shared with cheesemakers from all around the globe at the World Cheese Awards. Birmingham has been an export destination for Normandy dairy products since the days when steam power first started supplying [...]
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Seasonal crème fraîche off the shelf, too
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
For any English shoppers who can still reach a local Waitrose supermarket despite the snow, the Isigny Sainte-Mère Crème Fraîche with Calvados that featured in the previous post is available from the shelf. It may just be quicker than waiting for a home delivery van in the present snowy weather….
