La Fête du Fromage - le Pisé du Lot

Le Pisé du Lot is not a shy cheese, by any means.
It alerts you to its presence by filling the room with an earthy, goaty fragrance, then follows up by bombarding your taste buds with a piquant, rich, unforgettable flavor.
Not at all what I expected!

This unpasteurized chèvre has a rich, satiny texture and is creamy and fondant when young. As it ages the texture dries out and the flavor becomes distinctively stronger.
One of the most impressive characteristics was its lengthy finish. Ten minutes after tasting its flavor still lingered.

Le Pisé du Lot, as the name implies, is produced in le Lot, a gorgeous region in southwest France, known for the celebrated AOC cheese Rocamadour and home to one of my favorite goat's cheeses, Le Garriou.

A dry white wine would be a good match.

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La Fête du Fromage - December Round Up

Some of my favorite French cheeses were submitted for this month's Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event.
I appreciate everyone taking time out from their holiday preparations to submit an entry.


Tammy, who also lives in the Languedoc and writes La Vie Cevenole, tasted the ultimate winter cheese: Vacherin Mont d'Or. She describes this special, spruce wood infused cheese as having "long-lasting aromas of mushroom, balsam and sometimes potatoes."
Thanks for reminding me to pick up a wheel while it's in season! And thank you also for that fantastic vin chaud recipe.

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Soft little rounds of Rocamadour are Camille of Croque-Camille's entry to December's Fête. She's celebrating foods from le Périgord this month, so what better cheese than the region's most famous?
Camille describes Rocamadour as "ultra smooth, with a rich, creamy flavor, mild goaty tang, and a hint of pepper on the finish." Yum! I have fond memories of this one too.

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To wind up 2009 I thought I would submit the smelliest cheese I've ever tasted: Vieux-Boulogne. It is a wonderful, rich cheese with an aroma that will knock you on your derrière. I highly recommend it!

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Thanks again you two. Bonnes Fêtes!


A new year brings us to the 13th Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event.
Why not make trying new cheeses one of your New Year's resolutions for 2010?
If you would like to join in, please have your entries to me by January 13. The entire round-up will be posted on January 15.

Tell us why you chose this particular cheese. Tell us how it tasted. Tell us about its texture and aroma. Did you eat it on its own? Or with something? Did you drink anything special with your cheese? Would you recommend it or not? Is there something unusual or interesting about it?

• Photos are wonderful, but not necessary
• Entries must contain the words La Fête du Fromage and contain a link to Chez Loulou
• Posts should be written specifically for La Fête du Fromage and not entered in any other food blog event
• Please send the link to your post to louloufrance (at) gmail (dot) com with the words Fête du Fromage in the subject line

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A Sublime Sunday Lunch in the Sun

l'entrée - paper thin slices of zucchini and eggplant, the large one wrapped around Parmesan, arugula and cream, the other around Rocamadour cheese, served with Champagne
Pure heaven!


hot chihuahuas!



we were sitting in the sun in front of the three doors, but it got so hot that we had to move the table into the shade



le plat - cooking thinly sliced beef on a pierrade



the most sublime of all sauces - Béarnaise



some fantastic, smooth Faugères and a lovely Minervois la Livinière were enjoyed by all



le dessert - sabayon au fruits rouges


Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the company of our friends Jean-Pierre and Agnès, who made an amazing, delicious lunch. We were ready to take up permanent residence by the end of the afternoon.
A Sunday in the sun to remember! Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Rocamadour and Chaource

Well, I finally made a list of all the cheeses we've tasted and this week's are numbers 29 and 30.
Only 30! Seems like we've tried a lot more than that.

A mere 335 more to taste.

Presenting Rocamadour and Chaource.

The minute you unwrap the little discs of Rocamadour, their lovely, hazelnutty aroma fills the room.

Made from unpasteurized goat's milk and recognized as one of France's AOC cheeses since 1996, these little babies are tasty and fabulous! Rocamadour cheese comes from the stunning, vertical, cliff-hugging town of Rocamadour in the Quercy region of the Lot Département.
It is the oldest cheese from this area - there is even documentation from the 15th Century of it's use as legal tender!
It has a very soft, slightly crumbly interior that melts on your tongue and its taste is mild and nutty. A perfect cheese to toast on bread and add to a salad or to spread on rye bread and drink with a hearty red wine, such as a Cahors.



Produced since the Middle Ages, Chaource takes it's name from a village in the famous Champagne region. Made from unpasteurized cow's milk and a recognized AOC cheese since 1970, Chaource can be enjoyed young, when it's flavor is light and the texture is firm and smooth, or aged, when the interior becomes runny around the edges and the flavor intensifies. 
The one we tasted was aged a bit. Its flavor was buttery, tangy and nutty with light mushroom and cream aromas. It reminded us of Camembert or a triple cream cheese from northern France.
I recommend this one highly.
Enjoy with fruit and some Champagne, of course!

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