Day 43-Laliberte

My sticky and fattening journey through triple cream brie cheese and its plump close relatives is coming to a close.  After today’s cheese-a triple cream brie-don’t be shocked-we shall change tactics sharply, and instead, wander rather aimlessly through cheese-taking into account every cheese you have ever heard of, in a couple of variations, and maybe some you haven’t.  But no more 10 of any type of cheese.  That’s just ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous, I was in my local market yesterday when I ran into “Culture” magazine, a magazine devoted to cheese.  Who knew?  This magazine is sheer cheese porn, including close-ups, photo lay outs, lovingly written cheese biographies, and a centerfold!  It even has a cheese crossword…that’s right, and you thought I was nuts!  Of course I did buy it, and now lovingly thumb through it.  I guess it’s true what they say, “every pot’s got its lid” and for every fetish, there is a corresponding magazine.  Just watch out, Culture magazine, you are in my cheesey sites now!

Today’s cheese is  laliberte.  A pasteurized cow organic triple brie cheese from Quebec, specifically  the Fromagerie du Presbytere. This fromagerie and its related farm, Louis d’or, looks very cool.  There is a website- http://www.fromageriedupresbytere.com/, but be warned, it is in French.  I tried google translation on this page and it was-unintentionally- hysterically funny!  Including the line, “They fed in the fields all day in the care of their loving farm servants.” I suspect (hope)this is referring to the farm’s herd of cattle.  The farm of Louis d’or, is a family run company operated by four generations of the Morin family.  So it’s really what I have been looking for in my cheese quest. Local, artisanal, family owned, and organic.  This family turned to organic farming in the 1980’s, which makes them pretty early adopters.   The farm has a herd of Holstein and Jersey cows tended by loving farm servants that are fed dry hay daily as well as allowed to graze in the organic pastures of clover, timothy grass, bluegrass and other organic grains. These cows are never given antibiotics or hormones by their loving farm servants, and this is actually very cool, as we get enough of this damn stuff in jut about everything else we eat and drink.

In 2005 this Morin family decided to remodel an old church rectory called Sainte-Élizabeth de Warwick. It was located just in front of their farm.  All their cheese is now made in this refurbished building and the family only makes artisanal organic certified cheese. Wow, this is sounding like an ad for this fromagerie.  But come on, a refurbished cheese rectory, happy farm servants, organic cheese, it’s just hitting all the right notes for me and I haven’t even tasted it.

 My little slice of organic cheese it sitting quietly beside me.  It hasn’t mentioned that it takes its name from the sculptor, Alfred Laliberté, who was also born in Ste-Elizabeth de Warwick.  It’s also not mentioning that it is a triple cream brie, and I actually would not have expected that, as it’s not running and sticking all over the place like a toddler on cotton candy.  It’s a little cheese, with a proper bloomy white rind and a pale paste.  It’s really surprisingly upright for a cheese with so much butter fat.  Strange. It smells funky and ammoniac, but not overly so, what does one expect with a controlled mold crust?

Here goes…

Hmmmm.  The reason it was standing up so much is that it is pure butter that just hadn’t warmed up properly.  Introduced to my tongue and its’ heat it is all melty goodness.  Why, hello, little friend!  This cheese just wants to move right in.  The taste is quite mild, it’s rather salty, with a hint of blue and a flavour of mushrooms.  There is no sweet at all, but it’s extremely toothsome, and really, that texture is just crazy good if you are into the whole “melt all over your mouth thing” of the triple cream bries.

Here’s the thing.  This is a really great triple cream brie.  I have sampled a couple of other really great triple cream bries, and some not so great.  In the final analysis, I’m just not all about this kind of cheese.  That being said, it is actually more than taste that matters to me.  All else being equal, the history of the cheese and the story of the cheese also factor into cheese choice to me.  That this cheese is made by a family, that it is Canadian, that they use organic milk-all these factors also come into account in me declaring Laliberte the KING of the triple cream brie.

Laliberte, I give you a well deserved 5 out of 5, bravo.