Emily in France 🇫🇷 I'll Judge Your Cheese
A tale of two cheese contests
When I was invited to judge the World Cheese Awards in Newport, Wales last year (aka the Oscars of cheese), I had no idea I’d be embarking on a part-time career as a cheese judge. But last week, I sat on the jury of not one but two different cheese contests.
A cardiologist’s worst nightmare began on Wednesday morning with the Coups de Coeur contest for the Salon des Produits Laitiers in Paris. This contest stands out from others I've participated in in that we don't score the cheeses but rather give out four “hearts” to the cheeses in our category. The cheeses with the most hearts are then tasted again by the entire jury panel so that a list of winners can be established. (I can't tell you what the nine winners were yet, but I can tell you that two of them came from my table!
I skipped the free lunch (I don't know how anyone kept eating after all that delicious cheese!) and booked it for Gare de l’Est. Two days later, I was judging ewe's milk cheeses at the Frankfurt International Trophy.
With my third and fourth contests now under my belt (literally), I’ve definitely learned a few things…
1. You'd better be an early bird.
Most of these contests begin at 9am – and some start even earlier. Seeing as I generally don't eat my first meal until 1pm, the idea of judging cheese first thing can be daunting… but the energy in the room quickly makes you forget how odd it is to eat ten, sixteen, or 45 cheeses in just a handful of hours.
2. Bring a coat.
A roomful of plates bearing hundreds of cheeses has to be kept pretty cold. I've judged most cheese contests in a big sweater and a beanie – and happily so. The cooler temperature keeps the cheeses from melting into puddles on their plates… and also keeps the room from being too stinky.
3. There will be some winners…
I have been lucky enough to get to judge blue cheeses twice – in my first Frankfurt jury last year and this year for the Coups de Coeurs. Seeing as this is perhaps my favorite cheese family, I’ve always been thrilled, but I was especially excited to discover some new-to-me specialties, like a delicious Italian blue made with buffalo milk, as well as some exquisite iterations of old loves like the Fourme d’Ambert above. I also tried a Fourme de Montbrison that has me changing my tune about the cheese I’ve always found a bit too bland.
4. …and some losers.
There's an element of subjectivity in cheese tasting, but some things unanimously taste… off. In my experience, this has generally happened when cheeses try to do too much: with garlic and coffee grounds, with truffle or, as in the above example, with cherries, alcohol, tonka, and chocolate.
5. Pace yourself, and you’ll do fine.
All of my co-jurors at table three in Paris laughingly took pictures of my little “discard plate,” but I stand by the method. When you're tasting many cheeses in a short span of time, I think it’s sometimes best to have a small bit of each and then return to ones you were particularly fond of (or unimpressed by) to validate your first impressions. And to keep from becoming overly full, I stick to a one-bite rule, at least for my first taste.
Cheese of the Week
Asiago d’allevo is an Alpine cheese hailing from the Veneto. Unlike generic asiago, this cheese undergoes a special production and aging process that lend it a super crumbly texture. The oldest of the asiago cheese family, this cheese was originally made with sheep’s milk, though these days, raw cow’s milk is used. While this cheese can be sold beginning at four months of aging, this Stravecchio is aged upwards of 15 months for a pleasantly bitter, almost spicy flavor. To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.
What I’m Eating
La Taverne De ZHAO has been on my must-try list for a while now, and in all honesty, it’s hard to say exactly why I haven’t made the (7-minute) trek from my home yet. Maybe it’s for this very reason – because it is so close, and it’s so tempting to venture further outside of my local comfort zone. Maybe it’s because they don’t take reservations, and the line always seems so daunting. But whatever the reason, I can finally say I’ve been… and I cannot wait until it’s time to return. More on the blog.
Where I’m Going
1. To Geosmine, a restaurant Paris by Mouth’s Meg Zimbeck has just heartily recommended – particularly for its mamelle (aka… teat.)
2. To a preview of the Crillon’s Christmas market, a pop-up in collaboration with Amandine Lugnier featuring a hand-picked selection of Parisian creators.
3. To my favorite Christmas market in Paris: the one in Montmartre!
What I’m Doing
1. Our next TERRE/MER retreat is on the books! Join us for cooking, ceramics, and yoga overlooking the Mediterranean from April 11 to 14. Book before December 31 to secure your spot – and to take advantage of 10% off.
2. Signups for the next edition of the Nantes Writers’ Workshop are open! In the meantime, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to keep those creative juices a-flowing.
3. Supporting this project for Paris’ very first cheese museum!
What I'm Writing
1. Porcelain or plastic, Harry Potter or copulating couple, fèves come in all shapes and sizes, as these passionate collectors share. For Atlas Obscura.
2. Chicago sake sommelier Daniel Bennett helps us tell our daiginjo from our koshu in this comprehensive guide to decoding a sake menu. For InsideHook.
3. From the archives: For a Provençal Christmas, do what the locals do! Conclude the yuletide meal with thirteen different desserts! It may sound extravagant, but les treize desserts are actually simple to make, easy to customize. For AllRecipes.
What I'm Reading
1. I didn't realize this was the fourth in a series when I grabbed it off my library shelf, drawn in by the moody cover and the accolades on the back. But I didn't need to have read any other Lucy Barton books to become captivated by the wholly unique voice of this narrator, who manages to deftly create touchstones from her past in her present in a way that feels natural and almost subconscious. This is only the second book I've read set during the pandemic (I actually read a cultural critique in the New York Times a few months ago that noted that most deadly viruses [like the 1918 flu] have failed to spawn noteworthy fiction in direct response to them. The piece argued that, at the time, "an invisible virus that strikes indiscriminately doesn't make for a dramatic narrative," noting nevertheless that covid would likely not be as swept clear from the literary landscape.) But for as omnipresent as the pandemic is in this book, at the end of the day, it's mainly a story about human love, loss, forgiveness, and a heaping helping of empathy.
2. This positively gorgeous ode to teen angst via a memory of falling out a window rendered by the incomparable Zadie Smith. In the New Yorker.
3. This story about a unique approach one French paper is taking in hopes it will get adolescents interested in the news. In NiemanLab.
A bientôt !