Brie: a bon Meaux

Forget the pallid wedges of bland squidginess that sometimes masquerade as Brie – a properly made cheese is nothing but pure pleasure, says Dee McQuillan. Here's how to tell the real thing from pale imitations.

A good Brie is a quintessence of cows and lush meadows, whereas an ordinary Brie is just a shallow disc of squidgy ivory-coloured cheese. There is a lot of the latter about – and not all mere foreign imitations of the original French cheese. The French can make some very dull Brie themselves these days, because dairying traditions and the cheeses' natural habitat do not fit easily into the modern world. 
                                                                                                                                                               TThe true Brie region is part of the Île de France, the town of Brie being about 50 km from Paris. Paris was for centuries the natural market for cheese, but the city has started to bite back: the suburbs have nibbled into the farm lands. Also, and no doubt the EU has a share in this, some farms have switched to raising beef cattle and sugar beets, so more pasture has either been lost or switched to a purpose other than that of producing good milk. The type of cow has changed, too, to one that gives low-fat milk less suitable for making a rich, soft cheese.

In the convoluted way that things will evolve over the centuries, the making of fine cheese in the town and region of Brie became associated with another nearby town – Meaux – hence Brie de Meaux. Brie de Meaux was given legal recognition, including a defined recipe and area of production – this is the gist of what appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC for short) means – in 1980. The cheese is quickly made by adding animal rennet to unpasteurised milk from cows kept within the traditional region, and heating it to below 37°C – the cheesemakers' version of a medium oven temperature – which, when there are nuances of flavour to preserve, keeps them intact.

Texture is one of the glories of Brie – the contrast of velvety crust (quite edible) with an interior that grows more meltingly lovely as the cheese matures – and this is created by minimal cutting of the curd and by the maturing process. In theory, the curd – the prototype cheese formed by heating the milk – should not be cut at all, so that the watery whey is drained away only by evaporation from the cheese's large surface area (35-37 cm in diameter, according to the rules). Nowadays, however, the curd is cut before it is shovelled into the round, regulation-sized retaining forms.

The forms sit on fresh straw mats to drain and begin developing. After about 36 hours, a fresh mat is put on top and the cheese is turned upside down. In another 12 hours the process is repeated again and, if it seems well drained and firm, the exposed surface is rubbed with dry salt. Correct salting is a real skill and the best makers are constantly adjusting the levels to take account of the animals' feed and the weather: you may have noticed how too much salt is a French vice and too little a fault of timid British and German Brie imitators. Salting is repeated on the reverse side and the cheeses are turned and kept until they start to develop a velvety mould coat. At this stage, customarily and quite within the regulations, they can be moved elsewhere in the defined Brie region to be matured – a process called affinage – in cool temperatures and moderate humidity. They are sold at a minimum of four weeks old.

A good cheese shop generally prefers to buy the wheels of cheese fairly young and mature them further. As Patricia Michelson of London cheese shop La Fromagerie puts it, 'We like to give Brie some quiet time to develop at its own pace.' Her supplier is a small business called Dogne, which takes milk from a few neighbouring farms' herds of old-fashioned Normande cattle and makes a very traditional Brie. 'Their cheeses are always full and fat,' says Patricia, warning that a sunken Brie is a sign of poor production, 'and their crusts have the indents of the straw clearly visible. Most importantly, they ripen to the full, complicated flavour.'

Other genuine French Bries
Brie de Melun is an AOC cheese that can be made in exactly the same area as the Meaux Brie, but it has a more forceful (you might even say pongy) character, having been made with more salt and given a longer maturation period.
Coulommiers or Brie de Coulommiers is a poor relation – no AOC – and often wan and pasty; however, the rare, raw-milk farmhouse versions are gorgeous.
Brie de Montereau also lacks AOC status, but is similar to Melun Brie.
Where to buy Brie de Meaux
Brie de Meaux is available from all good cheese shops and selected supermarkets – check for the AOC mark

Note: This cheese is made with unpasteurised milk. Pregnant women are advised not to eat soft cheeses made from unpasteurised milk.