Napoleonic cheeses: You gotta love ’em (or there’s the firing squad!)
Keeping with a certain theme, I was sniffing around the idea that maybe Napoleon had a particularly favorite cheese – you know favorite dish, favorite wives, favorite Generals etc., so why not a cheese. I was just curious about this. Well sure enough, yes indeed come to find out that Napoleon had his favorite cheeses. But for every one cheese suggested as the authentic one sure enough another popped up and declared as “definitely the Emperor’s favorite” cheese. So I give you three cheeses to think about and certain that any one you choose will pair superbly with the Chicken a la Marengo recipe. My advice would be to get all three. No need to play favorites.
The first cheese is a Valencay which is shaped into a four-sided, truncated pyramid and made from berrichon goat’s raw milk. Now here is the interesting thing folks, historical anecdotes tell us that the original shape of the cheese was a perfect pyramid. Supposedly, the shape of the Valencay was changed when Napoléon, returning from his disastrous campaign in Egypt, stopped at the castle of Valençay, saw the cheese and in a fit of anger drew his sword and chopped the top off. Once again dear readers, heads in France are being chopped off! It’s a French thing. Needless to say it remained one of Napoleon’s favorite cheeses. There is another story that the farmers wanted to copy the steeple of their village church. We must conclude that the village church had the top of its steeple chopped off too. For you budding cheese makers out there, the Valençay is made by allowing the curd to drain in a mould, it is then removed and covered with salted charcoal ash and allowed to ripen for about 4 to 5 weeks in a well ventilated cellar at 80% humidity. During this period the rind of the Valencay will thicken slightly and acquire blue marks. In terms of taste, it is considered mellow and savory to the palate. The texture is fine-grained and creamy.
Number two on the chopping block, is a cheese called Mimolette, a cheese produced in Normandy and a cross between an Edam and a cheddar. Why was it a favorite? Well, Napoleon thought that this particular cheese would be great for his troops to carry with them during their many campaigns. Mimolette was firm, durable (so that it wouldn’t break on the journey), it keeps well and flavorful without being overpowering and thus risk alerting the enemy, also too pungent a cheese might not be a hit amongst the rank and file let along meet their nutritional needs. It is said that Napoleon is credited with being very aware of the need for good troop nutrition. He probably would have made a great spokesman for the cheese had Madison Avenue been around. Color and texture-wise, the cheese is deep orange, very creamy and smooth.
Last but not least is the Epoisses De Bourgogne a spunky little cheese which arrived on the scene in the 16th century courtesy of the Cistercian Monks. Napoleon was supposedly quite intrigued by this alcohol laden, complex cheese and also about the possibility of using the pungeant cheese as as a weapon on the battlefied. With all the alcohol, production of this cheese was a big hit and continued up until World War Two. Thankfully, this cheese was revived by a Frenchman from Epoisses by the name of Berthaut. Epoisses is a 50% fat, cow’s milk cheese that is washed in Marc de Bourgogne, a local brandy. The combination of salt and alcohol help give this cheese a powerful rich flavor with a combination of creamy, sweet, pungent, and grassy, a spreadable complex cheese.