Toasted Multigrain sourdough, Epoisses cheese, EVOO and truffle balsamic for dipping, stuffed olives, mushroom pâté and a little red bell pepper. An incredibly smelly cheese, think old socks dipped in sulphur but that equals great flavour on the palate, backward smelling at its best.
If you can’t find an Epoisses,, Brie de Meaux is another good example. Only Vieux Boulogne beats this when it’s comes to smell due to the rind being washed in beer not water and Brandy.
To clarify, whilst you can carry Epoisses on public transport if it’s probably wrapped in its original material, damp paper or cabbage leaves you can’t consume it. Even this story may be untrue and spread by the cheese sellers of Paris to add to the myth.
I get mine in the UK from Waitrose and it’s called Epoisses Berthaut.
by mrchaddy
4 Comments
That looks so yummy. How was the mushroom pâté?
Epoisses is delicious, but I don’t think it is that smelly. Try Fromage de Herve or Limburger cheese. They are the same but one is made in Belgium and the second one is the version Belgian immigrants started making in the US.
The olives almost looked like part of the plate pattern
I live in US and have worked in two cheeseshops as a senior cheesemonger. Both had Epoisses, and definitely not the smelliest. Far from it lol. Cut off the top of that puppy and put it at room temperature and treat it like a fondue! My first cheese shop used quite pungent raw milk taleggio in their spin on philly cheese. But Epoisses got nothing on some the Jasper Hill Farms cheeses in terms of stink level.
US can get a bit finickyu with some raw milks but it’s not that bad.