Partoutfromage

14/05/2024

You know, I am a completely land-loving person, born and raised far away from the seas. But every time I find myself on the shore of "big water" and inhale that incomparable smell of salt, iodine, seaweed drying in the wind and hot sand, I feel like a pirate 🌊💦

18/04/2024

So, I will fulfil my promise and show you how seriously butter is taken in France. You would never have guessed how many classes and subclasses it is divided into!
I’m going to talk about pure butter, no margarine, no additives, pure dairy cream!
Here we go!

✔️ The most common, ordinary kitchen butter should have a fat content between 82-90 per cent (80 per cent is allowed for salted butter).
✔️ In a separate category is “raw” butter (beurre cru): this butter is made from raw cream without heat treatment. You remember that unpasteurised milk is very tolerant in France, don’t you? Well, that’s how butter can be made.
✔️ Tender butter (I’m not kidding, it’s called beurre extra-fin): butter made exclusively from cream that has not been frozen or deoxidised, produced within a maximum of 72 hours after the milk has been collected and a maximum of 48 hours after the milk has been skimmed. In other words, freshness, and only freshness!
✔️ Culinary butter (chef’s butter, beurre cuisinier): butter made exclusively from milk fat after complete removal of water; skimmed milk, cream and butter solids may be added. This butter contains at least 96% fat. If you think this is the maximum you can “squeeze” (literally) out of milk, look at the following option.
✔️ Concentrated butter (Beurre concentré): this is a cooking butter with a fat content of at least 99.3%!!!!
Next go the leaner “players”:
✔️ Three-quarter butter (or reduced-fat butter): a product with a milk fat content of at least 60 per cent and no more than 62 per cent.
✔️ Half butter, or light butter: a product with a milk fat content of at least 39% and not more than 41%.
✔️ Butter for spreading with X% fat content:
less than 39%: butter light;
41% – 60%: light butter;
62% – 80%: sandwich butter.
And that’s only if we’re talking about fat content. There are other types of butter as well.

For example, the French are very fond of salted butter. And if you go to Brittany, don’t even try to ask your hosts for sweet butter; it’s practically an insult for the rest of your life! (They can beat you with a crab’s claw. 🙂 This butter comes in salted and lightly salted versions. And to make the story even more complicated, they will also tell you about the origin of salt: salted butter of Guerande, salted butter of Noirmoutier, and don’t get it mixed up! And to finish, they’ll mention butters protected by appellation (AOP), no worse than wines and cheeses. There are three of them: butter from Charente-Poitou, butter from Bresse and butter from Isigny. And a variety of flavoured butters, which no amount of paper (and traffic) would be enough to list. My favourites are the ones with seaweed or yuzu.

Ugh, that’s it! You now have a better grasp of French classification than many French people. See you soon!

16/04/2024

Yesterday, I promised to share a list of dairy products my students and I have been studying. Cheese is surely our main favourite, and we dedicate a significant portion of our lessons to it. However, there are other products made from milk too. You can find all of these at a good fromagerie shop.

Shall we begin?

✔ The first dairy product is milk itself. It comes in different fat content and undergoes various processing methods (that my students must learn by heart). In France, even raw milk (with a very short shelf life) can legally be sold. Knowing how to store and label all those milk varieties is important.

✔ The second product on our list is cream. We have regular liquid cream (called "crème" in France) and thickened cream (known as "crème épaisse" and especially loved by the French). I can't imagine French cuisine without creams.

✔ Third, we have animal butter, another main thing in any French kitchen. I will write a separate post about it, as it's a more complex topic. For now, let's move on to the next item.

✔ The fourth category includes various yogurts and acidophilus milk products. I mention them separately because, according to French law, any yogurt is considered acidophilus milk, but not all acidophilus milk is yogurt. Formally, yogurt is made by adding two specific bacteria to it: Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. If these bacteria are present and thriving, you're eating yogurt. Otherwise, it's not yogurt, but probably still delicious 😉. Kefir, fermented baked milk, and different curds fall into this category. They are known as "lait fermenté."

to be continued in the comments ↘️

27/03/2024

20/01/2024

Finally! My invitation to judge the French national cheese contest is here! 🎉