Le Grande Fromage

Saturday evening we attended a dinner with a "French" theme and I was assigned to bring a cheese tray. Sound simple enough...unless, like me , you know absolutely nothing about anything French...including cheese! After some internet research and trips to Sam's, Trader Joe's, and The Wine & Cheese Place, here's what we ended up with:

St. Andre (Trader Joe's) - a soft, triple-creme, rich, buttery cheese - excellent spread on a piece of dried Bartlett pear

Port Salut (Sam's) - a mild, semi-soft, white cheese - very good on either Kellog's All-Bran crackers or the dried pears

Raclette (Trader Joe's) - a firmer cheese with a slightly nutty flavor - works well alone or on the All-Bran crackers.  Excellent when combined with almonds.

Basque (The Wine & Cheese Place) - a sheep's milk cheese not altogether different from the Raclette - slightly stronger aftertaste - also good alone, on a plain wafer, or bran cracker

Comte (Trader Joe's) - mildly pungent, semi-firm cheese - pairs well with wafer or cracker

St. Agur (The Wine & Cheese Place) - a soft, double-creme bleu cheese - very salty and creamy - best served on completely plain bread, wafer or cracker so that the full flavor can be experienced.

French Brie (Sam's) - soft, slightly pungent - excellent with blueberries and brown sugar scattered over top, then melted - serve with Almond-butter wafers from Trader Joe's

I highly recommend the St. Andre, St. Agur, Basque and Brie with blueberries. The only bleu I've liked more than the St. Agur is Schwarz & Weiss, an Amish-made bleu which I can't find anywhere in St. Louis right now. Of course I couldn't have included it on a French cheese plate anyway, could I?

The Wine & Cheese Place, is a great little shop that allows you to taste anything you want, and their staff is very knowledgeable. I always feel out of place when I walk in - like I'm not rich or worldly enough - but if you get the right person (not snobby) it's a very helpful experience. Check it out.