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A Beginner's Guide to the Cheese Course
Everything you need to know - from which cheeses to order to how to eat them

Cheese holds an exhalted place in France, forming a culinary holy trinity along with bread and wine. It also has special status as a separate course at French meals. And while it is on our trips to France that many of us have converted to the cheese cult, cheese courses are becoming increasingly popular and increasingly complex at restaurants as well as their selection becoming more daunting in our supermarkets. This is all good news. Cheese is truly one of the great joys of life. How something as simple as milk, can become as complex as the over 300 varieties available in France alone is truly one of life's joyous mysteries.

So in the hope of lifting the cheese curtain just a bit, we've put together this Beginner's Guide.

Served after the main course, the cheese course is a nice segue to dessert, or, in lieu of a sweet, a sumptuous finale to enjoy with the last sips of wine. At a typical French restaurant, the daily selection of cheeses, ranging from a handful to several dozen, is presented at the table on a platter or a trolley. Though it may be tempting to do so, you probably shouldn't try every cheese. In most restaurants in the U.S. the cheese course will be limited to about 5 cheeses or amy simply be an elaborate presentation of one featured cheese.

Making sense of the hundreds of varietis of French cheeses can seem overwhelming. It needn't be. Cheese is literally one of the things you can judge by its cover (the rind). Learning to read the rind is the first step in choosing the best cheeses.

In general, the rougher a rind looks, the more interesting the cheese. If the rind is too pristine, the cheese is likely factory made and will be boring. So focus on cheeses with rough, rustic, handmade exteriors.

Also seek out a variety of flavors, from mild to pungent. Choose cheeses with varying textures and rinds and you'll likely vary the intensity of flavors.

We recommend starting with a mild goat cheese, or chevre, made in a variety of shapes, from bells to buttons to pyramids, like Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, which is nicknamed the Eiffel Tower. unaged chevres have a white exterior with a moist, somewhat crumbly interior. As they age, the rind darkens to a mottled beige, the center becomes firmer, and the flavor is more pronounced. Chevres also come covered in herbs, which infuse the cheeses with extra flavor.

Next for a more pronounced, sharper flavor, choose a firmer cheese made from cow's or sheep's milk, typically with a hard rind and a light yellow interior. A Cantal or s mild straw-colored Tomme de Savoie are a great place to start. Morbier, with a distinctive, thin layer of ash running horizontally through the middle is also very much worth trying.

After ths beginning, you will definitely want to move on to a washed rind cheese, something thats smelly and strong, with a soft texture. Typically square-shaped with a reddish rind when aged, washed-rind cheeses are very popular in France and truly give you the sense of eating something very unique. A very powerful Livarot or Epoisses or a somewhat milder Pont L'Eveque are a great place to start your stinky education.

Finally round out the plate with the most pungent of cheeses, the great bleu. With a crumbly texture and characteristic bluish-green veins, blue cheeses stand out in a crowd. Roquefort is particularly strong; if you prefer less bang in your bite, choose a gentler sAINT aGUR OR Bleu d'Auvergne.

Most cheese courses will be acompanied by fruit, nuts and bread. A wonderful accompaniment is also membrillo, a Spanish paste made of quince. As far as the rind, feel free to eat it or not. Its strictly a personal taste thing. Cheese is best served and eaten at room temperature.

ENJOY!!!!!

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