FRANCE, RAW COW’S MILK
PERSONALITY: The French ambassador of beauty and wholesomeness.
A bite of Comté lights up your mouth, filling it with salty toffee, buttered toast, and just a whiff of fresh-cut hay. If you need to impress a date, expand your circle of friends, or blow the minds of the uninitiated, set out a wedge of Comté. Just remember, it rhymes with enchanté.
Marcel Petit Comté is the best you can buy—ask any cheesemonger. Petit’s ageing facility in the Franche-Comté region is sometimes referred to as the “cathedral of Comté.” The wheels are aged in an old stone military fort, and the attention given to maturation is unparalleled. A team of five tasters oversees the cave, sampling 300 cheeses per day to determine how long each wheel should be aged and at what temperature. Check YouTube for videos of this process—you’ll be transported to another era.
Good matches: Roast some garlic, toast some hazelnuts, and make this cheese a centerpiece before dinner. For dessert, try serving Comté with walnut bread or biscotti and dried fruit. If you can find Armenian pickled walnuts, grab a jar; the pairing is magical.
Wine/beer: Seek out a minerally Chardonnay, an Alsatian Pinot Noir, or a dry sherry. Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale is a favorite Di Bruno Bros. pairing, but you could also try a caramel-rich dopplebock or fruity lambic.
SWITZERLAND, RAW COW’S MILK
PERSONALITY: A strapping Swiss with a buttery smile and big eyes (meaning holes).
When you buy “Swiss cheese” at the deli counter, you’re essentially purchasing faux Emmentaler—a hugely flavorful mountain cheese that was developed in western Switzerland during the thirteenth century. Why settle for the plastic knock-off when many cheese shops carry the real deal? The difference in quality is startling, not unlike the obvious difference between Swiss chocolate and Hershey’s. Look for these two words stamped along the rind: “Emmental” and “Switzerland.”
Low in salt and fat, Emmentaler makes a great snack. It’s sweet and savory with a sharp note on the finish, much like the classic Alpine cheeses Gruyère (page 127) and Comté. Two details make it visibly distinct: golf ball–sized holes and formidable girth. Wheels of Emmentaler average 200 pounds, making it one of the heftiest “lite” cheeses around.
Good matches: Make a primo grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread, or serve this as a table cheese, alongside ham, pickles, crudités, and fresh fruit. Truffle mustard (page 122) elevates this to new levels.
Wine/beer: Serve this with a spicy white or a light- to medium-bodied red. Try a bock beer, dark lager, or Oktoberfest beer.