A Chinese cheese tasting
My piece about inviting some chefs in Shaoxing (known for its stinky beancurd and other smelly fermented foods) to taste a selection of fairly whiffy Neal’s Yard cheeses appears in this weekend’s Financial Times magazine. It was fascinating to be able to witness some very accomplished Chinese chefs tasting cheese for the first time in their lives, and gave me a new perspective on one of my favourite types of food.
5 Responses to “A Chinese cheese tasting”
I never thought of Brie de Meaux as as strong-smelling cheese. Morbier is about the rankest cheese that I can comfortably eat. I never had the slightest problem with Brie. Maybe I’ve never had a ripe one.
John, this was a magnificent, ripe and outrageous Brie, about as far away from those pale, timid Bries they put in sandwiches as… well, as cheese and chalk…
I am a long-time fan of your cookbooks, and love, love, love your description of “food tasters” being introduced to new flavours. I was told by a Chinese friend that 100 year egg was “just like blue cheese” (and I love blue cheese) but I could not see the similarity. Now I understand why the brie was left alone at he breakfast buffet in Shanghai!
My cheese-in-China article was syndicated by Slate.com –
http://www.slate.com/id/2295196/#add-comment
where it inspired some discussion!
Love to read your book and blog. I’m running small western bakery and deli in Dali, Yunnan. We offer quite a big variety on cheeses, having very adventures Chinese customers, I was very surprised to learn they like the blue cheese most. Now I know why. Will come to your blog more often, very interesting.