World Cheese Encyclopaedia - Each Sunday learn all about a cheese in season.

This week Brillat Savarin from France.

Country: France 🇫🇷

Region: Normandy

Made from: Cow 's Milk

Pasteurised: Yes

Texture: creamy and dense

Taste: buttery, nutty, sour

Certification: no

Aging: 1 – 2 months

Brillat-Savarin is a soft, white-crusted cow's milk cheese triple cream brie. Since classified as a triple cream cheese, Brillat-Savarin has a fat content of at least 75% achieved by adding rich, luscious cream to whole milk.

It was created around 1890 as "Excelsior" or "Délice des gourmets" ("Gourmets' delight") by the Dubuc family, near Forges-les-Eaux (Seine-Maritime). Cheese-maker Henri Androuët renamed it in the 1930s, as an homage to 18th-century French gourmet and political figure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

Brillat-Savarin is produced all year round in Burgundy and Normandy. It comes in 12–13 cm (4.7–5.1 in) wheels and is approximately 4 cm thick. It is typically aged for one to two weeks. It is also available as a fresh cheese (non affiné) that resembles rich cream cheese.

The French cheese making company Rouzaire also produces an older Brillat Savarin under the name Pierre Robert. The extra aging time concentrates the proteins and salt in the cheese, resulting in deeper earthier flavors and a more intense salty taste. Wheels of Pierre Robert are physically smaller (due to loss of moisture), yet creamier than the regular-aged Brillat Savarin.

The young cheeses taste similar to the fresh cheeses but are matured for about four to five weeks to develop more complex flavours.

A matured Brillat-Savarin has a typical white, bloomy rind with an interior paste that is buttery-white in colour. The texture is dense, moist, and slightly chalky with enough lusciousness and creaminess for a triple cream cheese. Flavours are of butter, salt and cream with hints of mushroom, nuts and truffles.

History

"A meal without some cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.”- said the famous gastronome and cookery writer Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin. Henry Androuet, well known for his important cheese production, chose a triple cream cheese to name after him in the 1930s, in honor of the man who recommended the consumption of cheese at every meal. The idea had an immediate success and some cheese makers have kept up with the tradition.

How to enjoy it

Brillat-Savarin pairs well with Champagne, Pale Ale and sometimes with a Domaine Chandon Rosé or a Viognier.

Source: Fromages.com, Murray’s Cheese, Cheese.com, Wikipedia

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