Tips for New Year's cheeses
Tips for New Year's cheeses
Tom Helge Sørensen is the founder and owner of The cheese house in Stavanger. Here he generously shares tips for what he looks forward to offering his guests when the clock has passed midnight on the last day of the year. It's about Norwegian craft cheeses at their best.
- Now I'm looking forward to the cheese platter, which will be left to temper long before we go out to watch the fireworks on New Year's Eve, he says. - This is made by cheese producers near Stavanger.
I think sustainability, short-distance travel and my recommendation this year is Norwegian cheeses, which I can easily get in my district.
Many of us today have the opportunity to support Norwegian cheese producers by buying local products, either on the farm or in good shops.
Remember good tempering
- It is a big part of the experience that the cheeses have been brought to room temperature before they are eaten. Leave them out of the fridge in the living room/kitchen for at least an hour before you eat. Now, when the price of electricity is at its highest, we have liked to save so that the living room temperature is not the highest. Then the cheeses also take a long time to be tempered. Anyway, it starts in the planning phase.
From which cheese families do I want to make my cheese platter?
- I like to serve cheeses from different cheese classes or families. Hard and semi-hard, white mold, red putty, chèvre or blue mold cheeses. Search in your nearest cheese shop or farm outlet. Many cheese producers make cheeses in several cheese families, and then the choice can be easy.
This year's choice
- This year it will be Jærsk Kvitskimmel from Varhaug, The ice cream from Voll, Konrad and Fønix from Stavanger Ysteri.
These are classified as white mold, solid, red putty and blue mold.
- I build up the flavor intensity with the mildest cheeses first, and finally the blue cheese, which is the strongest, he explains. - After visiting several cheese producers and giving input on the products, it gives me great pleasure to be able to enjoy such great cheeses that are locally produced.
White mold is a mild and good start that increases the appetite with its mild and creamy consistency. The white mold flavor and the butter note make it easy to start with, while at the same time it is smooth and uncomplicated.
With beer as a companion
Jærosten is one of my big favorites where I have had a very close collaboration with Hans Voll from the start of production. The cheese has inspiration from the sea, hints of nuts, butter and minerals and gives me associations of a top-level French hard cheese.
Konrad from Stavanger Ysteri is the cheese that has gone hand in hand with the beer Konrad from Lervig brewery. It is washed in the beer. The cheese is unique in craft cheeses from Norway and the beer flavor reminds me of our own beer brewery The Vault brewery. Memories of Reblochon, Saint Nectaire and Munster quickly settle in the taste picture.
Matching accessories
- Fønix is from the same producer, Stavanger Ysteri. It is made with the mold culture Penicillium Roqueforti. And takes me back to my visit to the caves of Roquefort. Flavor notes such as nuts, spices, mold, salt, sweetness and fatty milk fill the mouth and provide a rich taste experience.
The accessories come from our own shop, and are marinated apricots and walnuts. These are accessories that match the cheeses. We like to find nutty notes in the cheeses, and the sweetness from the apricots goes well with the salty cheeses. From the producer Litlestøl, I choose marmalades that also go well with the cheeses.
I also serve neutral, and not too salty biscuits, and homemade shortbread.
And I serve walnut bread, preferably warm from our own bakery, and quickly add: - Happy New Year of Cheese!
Facts about the cheeses:
- Cheese at Norway's first urban cheese factory; Stavanger cheese factory. The cheese has received great recognition from both cheese lovers and Norway's leading chefs. Among other things, it has been a permanent fixture on Maaemo's menu for a number of years. The head sister, Lise Brunborg, is considered one of Norway's leading cheesemakers with a passion for good taste and high product quality.
Made with organic unpasteurized milk from a local farmer. Stored for a minimum of 5-6 months.
Fønix is a balanced, aromatic cheese with sweet, nutty flavor notes. It is a relatively firm blue cheese. A long ripening time at a low temperature gives a complex taste and creamy consistency.
- This is a red whale cheese made from day-fresh raw cow's milk, matured with stout from Lervig brewery and aged in caves for six weeks.
Konrad matures under natural conditions in the cheese cave in the cellar. Every other day, the surface of the cheese receives a dose of ripening culture based on Konrad's Stout. The culture is developed in the cave, and gives the cheese its distinctive taste, aroma and brownish colour. Konrad is fully matured after 6 weeks in the cellar and is then packed in waxed paper to complete the maturation.
The cheese won the NM in Grad cheese in 2021 and the jury was clearly impressed by the solid cheese craftsmanship. It has a perfectly consistent crust that encloses the golden semi-solid curd. Clear cellar notes on aroma and complex taste where the dark brew from Lervig makes itself felt.
- This is a mild and slightly firm cheese, made from pasteurized cow's milk from our own farm. It goes well with both sweet and salty and is easy for most people to like. It recently won bronze in the NM in cheese 2021. The cheese is matured and packed in ripening paper about 10 days after cheese making. It then matures further in the paper.
The cold cheese belongs to the Raclette family, and has good melting properties, is good on bread and can be used as it is, together with pear or grape. The cheese has won three NM golds, been in the final of Det norske mål and won the honorary award "Gard cheese of the year".
Byline: Trude Henrichsen
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