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In the realm of the cheese store, triple creams seem to be the most sought after gems.
The lush, silky texture of the cheese and the milky, slightly tangy taste seems to bedazzle people into forgetting all other cheese varieties. Who needs contrasting texture and taste when you can just make a cheese plate of all triple creams?
At the top of the heap of these rich, soft ripened cheeses is Brillat-Savarin, named for the famous French Epicure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Although a politician and lawyer by profession, he is best known for his writing on the pleasures of the table. Food and the science of enjoying food was clearly his passion, so it seems suitable that such a rich and decadent cheese should be named in his honour.
Triple creams are soft ripened cheeses that have had extra cream added to the milk before cheese production starts. Brillat-Savarin apparently was a fan of the high protein low sugar diet himself, so this seems like the perfect cheese to bear his name.
The cheese was named in the 1930’s by Henri Androuet, cheese maker and father of the famous French cheese expert Pierre Androuet. The cheese was originally made in Normandy and is still produced year round in Burgundy and Normandy. The traditionally ripened version has a bloomy rind and a soft rich interior, and there is also a fresh, unripened version without the bloomy rind and with an increased lactic taste and a slightly sour, tangy finish. I find the fresh version a little easier to pair with wines, but both versions are delicious. Most wine pairing lore will pair triple creams with Champagne. I’m not so sure about that personally, but then for the sake of science perhaps that is a good experiment, non?
To finish off any discussion about the life of Brillat-Savarin, it seems only fair to include one of his famous quotes. Obviously a great cheese lover, he profused “A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful women with only one eye.”
