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Mont d'Or recipe
Ingredients for
2, 4 or 6 people:
- Mont d'Or cheese
- Potatoes
- Sliced meats or
Saussage
- Pickles
- Clove of garlic
- White wine
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Preparation
Time: 15 Minutes |
Cooking Time: 25 Minutes |
Recipe:
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The Mont
d'Or Cheese comes in a variety of sizes: 400 g., 800 g. and 1.2 kg
(approximately 1, 2 or 3 pounds respectively). Depending on the size, this
recipe will feed from 2 to 6 people.
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The Mont d'Or cheese comes in
a thin round box. Remove the top of the box and dispose of it. Wrap tinfoil
around the outside of the remainder of the cheese box.
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Scoop out
the centre of the cheese (with a spoon) and place the scooped out cheese at the
edge of the round of cheese. The hole should be about half the depth of the
cheese and about a quarter of the width.
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Fill the hole with white wine.
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Finely cut the clove of garlic and place in the hole.
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Wash the
potatoes (but don't peel them).
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Place the
cheese in an oven at 180º C (444 F) for 25-30 minutes. Start
boiling the potatoes, so that they will be cooked at the same
time as the cheese. When the cheese is golden brown on top and
semi-liquid underneath, it is ready to serve.
Serving:
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While the
cheese and potatoes are cooking, place the sliced meat or cooked
sausage on a plate and the pickles in a dish. If there is room,
place small plates beside the guests (for the potatoe skins).
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Set the table,
with a hot plate for the potatoes and cheese. Ideally the cheese
should be on a heated hot plate so that it remains warm and
liquid.
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When the
potatoes and cheese are cooked, place them on the table (on the
hot plates). Place a large spoon beside the cheese.
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Serve each
guest one or two potatoes. The guests will peel their potatoes
(see above note about side-plates for the skins) and then spoon
the cheese onto the potatoes and serve themselves meat and
pickles. It is expected that the guests will continue to serve
themselves through the meal, depending on their appetite.
Notes:
The potatoes
are cooked in the skin and then peeled at the table. If they are
peeled before cooking they lose some of their taste. Also, it is
tradition with this recipe for guests to peel their potatoes at
the table. Remember that French food is intended to be eaten at
leisure, so guests peeling their potatoes is quite appropriate
(for a rustic dish such as this.)
The quantity
of ingredients will depend in the number (and hunger) of the
guests. Choose a size of cheese, number of potatoes and amount
of meat and pickles accordingly.
The recipe
traditionally calls for garlic and one can easily use 2 or 3
cloves for the bigger cheeses. However, if one prefers to avoid
garlic, a small amount of onion can be used instead.
When my wife
and I cook this recipe just for ourselves, we prefer a cooked
sausage instead of sliced meat. The 'Morteau' sausage is from
the same region at the Mont d'Or cheese and goes exceptionally
well with it. Simply place it in a small oven-proof dish with
some water and put it in the oven at the same time as the
cheese. As the cheese and a Morteau sausage take the same amount
of time to cook, this works well. When placing the cheese and
potatoes on the table, simply serve the sliced hot sausage
instead of (or in addition to) the sliced meats.
History:
Mont d'Or
cheese is made from cow's milk in the France Compté region of
France, which borders on Switzerland. As the production is
around the border of the two countries, it is disputed as to
which of the two originated the cheese. Currently, they both
produce this type of cheese, with the French version being based
on unpasteurised milk and the Swiss being based on pasteurised
milk.
In France, due
to the use of unpasteurised milk, the cheese is produced only in
the fall and winter and is available for sale only during these
months. Consequently, it is a seasonal dish, although I find it
freezes reasonably well if one wishes to purchase it during the
winter and keep it unit the summer. There is
another cheese of similar appearance, made from pasteurised
milk, which can be purchased during the summer. I greatly prefer
the taste of the unpasteurised version.
Mont d'Or has
been produced in the France Compté for 200 years and is part of
a cheese-making tradition which in this region stretches back to
the 12th century. In fact, this region is known throughout
France for the quality of its cheese.
It is a AOC
cheese. As such there are a number of rules regarding its
production. These include the time of production (between 1th
August and 31st March), the type of milk used (Montbéliard
and Pie Rouge de l'Est cattle), and the location
(about 40 villages meet the criteria). There is also a strict
procedure regarding the procedure. This includes the use of
cloth-lined moulds, encircled by strips of spruce bark (these
make up the box in which it is sold, less the cloth) and washed
in brine.
The cheese is
named after the "Mont d'Or" mountain, approximately in the
centre of the area of production of the cheese. Historically it
was produced by both the Swiss and the French and called by both
"Vacherin Mont d'Or". However, despite the use of this name by
both countries, the Swiss took steps to acquire the legal right
to this name in 1973. Since then the French have called their
version of this cheese "Vacherin de Haut-Doubs" (after the Haut-Doubs
department, where the French cheese is produced) or simply "Mont
d'Or".
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