PREPARACIÓN DE MUESTRAS PARA ENSAYOS PILOTO

Lait (milk) and laitages (dairy products) have always been much cheaper than meat, while providing protein and, in the case of cheese, preserv- ing milk over time. Most milk sold is from cows; most goat and sheep milk goes into cheese. Fresh milk in France is pasteurized (heat treated at 75–85 degrees C for 15–30 seconds) or sterilized at even higher tem- peratures. Milk that is fl ash-treated at 145 degrees C for UHT ( ultra-haute

température or ultra-high temperature) sterilization can then be stored at

room temperature in sealed tetrapacks until opened. Milk is drunk plain primarily by infants and children. Hot milk is essential to the breakfast

drinks: café au lait (coffee with milk) and hot chocolate, also chicory, and chicory coffee. In cooking, milk is added to soups, purées of vegetables and potatoes, and sauces.

Cream is beaten into crème Chantilly (whipped cream) and added to soups, sauces, and baked gratins to give them smoothness and body. Crème

fraîche is slightly fermented, akin to sour cream. It has numerous uses in

cooking. A dollop garnishes desserts made with slightly acidic cooked fruits and cakes that are on the dry side. Fromage blanc is not technically cheese, but simply milk that has been curdled; the curds are beaten to create a smooth texture. Fromage blanc is eaten as a sweet or a savory. Garnished with chopped chives, salt, and pepper, it is the cheese course or the basis of a light lunch. Sprinkled with sugar and served with fruit, it is dessert.

Yaourt or yogourt (yogurt) originated near the Black Sea and the Caucasus, eventually spreading through the Middle East and central Europe. Yogurt has been widely eaten in France only since the 1960s. Most yogurt is industrial, bought plain or sweetened in individually sized containers. It is eaten at breakfast, for a snack, or to replace the cheese course.

Cheese

Fromage (cheese), like wine and bread, is synonymous with France. Some types, such as hard Cantal and blue-veined Roquefort, made of sheep’s milk, were already attested in Roman Gaul. Cheese was vital to store milk. Today, the appreciation of cheese is so highly developed that cheese is eaten as a course all its own in a full meal. It is the last savory course, before the fruit or dessert. To conclude a formal or festive meal, a plate of two or three or more cheeses is passed around. Each person takes a small slice or triangle of the cheeses, to be eaten with bread and wine. Factory produced cheeses are available in supermarkets. Artisanal and farm-house products are usually bought in specialty shops and market cheese stands. Aged cheeses develop heady odors. People like to joke that the higher a cheese smells, the better it tastes. This is often true, and some of the worst olfactory offenders are quite mild in fl avor.

Most names for cheese refer to the place of origin, although other descriptors are used. Any goat milk cheese, whether very young and moist, or aged, crumbly, and fi rm, is a chèvre. Goat cheese in a small round disk is called Cabécou. The fl at-topped pyramid with a fl ower of blue mold on the outside is Pouligny-Saint-Pierre. The tiny round Crottin de Chavignol is named after the Loire village, but crottin (a horse or sheep dropping) is an earthy, humorous reference to its shape.

Semisoft cow milk cheeses with white mold rinds are fromages à croûte

fl eurie. These include Brie de Meaux, its more recently invented rela-

tive Camembert, the square Carré de l’Est, and Saint-Marcellin, which becomes practically liquid when ripe and is eaten with a spoon. Mild, creamy Savarin, named for the food-writer and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, is 75 percent fat. Red mold cheeses with washed rinds include Époisses, Pont-l’Évêque, and Munster, which people eat with a sprinkling of caraway seeds. For the softer cheeses, the rind is eaten, but it must be trimmed off the fi rm cheeses. Pressed cheeses for slicing include sweet-pungent Morbier, which has a blue-gray layer of wood ash across the middle, Tomme de Savoie, and Cantal, which can be eaten quite dry. Blue mold or blue veined cheeses include the Bleus d’Auvergne, Bleu des Causses, and Roquefort. The family of hard cheeses that includes Gruyère de Comté and Emmental are aged from curds that have gone through an additional cooking process to make them fi rmer and dryer. Grated hard cheese is sprinkled on dishes that are browned in the oven, such as potatoes au gratin and the onion soup famously served at Les

Master cheese maker and affi neur (specialist in aging cheese) Hervé Mons with goat milk cheeses, goats, and colleagues in Saint-Haon-le-Châtel. Courtesy of Christian Verdet/regard public-unpact.

Halles marketplace in Paris. Grated cheese fl avors the light, savory puffs called gougères often served as an appetizer.

Burgundian Baked Cheese Puffs (Gougères)

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter • pinch salt

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose fl our • 4 large eggs

• 2/3 cup plus an additional 1/3 cup grated Gruyère cheese Preheat the oven to 425° F.

To make the pâte à choux (puff paste), place the water, butter, and salt in a saucepan, and bring to the boiling point. When the butter has melted completely, remove the pan from the heat.

Add the fl our, and stir it into the liquid, using a wooden spoon. Return the pan to low heat, and continue to cook until the batter thickens, leaves the side of the pan, and coheres into a ball. Remove the pan once again from the heat.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, making sure each egg is absorbed before adding the next one. Mix in the 2/3 cup of grated cheese.

Use a pastry bag to squeeze the batter into rings, or else use two tablespoons to drop the batter like cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle the additional 1/3 cup of grated cheese on the puffs.

Place the sheets in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the gougères are golden brown and puffy. Serve warm or prick the bottoms with a skewer or sharp-pointed knife to allow the steam to escape and cool on a wire rack.