Girolle and Tête de Moine
Our first encounter of this uniquely shaped cheese was in a wedding apero. I couldn’t stop munching on that stuff it was embarrassing.
Girolle is a utensil used to form a type of Jura firm cheese, Tête de Moine, into flower shapes called rosettes. Shaped this way, the flavours of this rather mild, creamy and nutty cheese, really comes alive. Needless to say, it is also very fun to eat and to shape.
I got this device one day in a flea market. I was determined since that Girolle is one of the things I must take out of Switzerland in the event of repatriation. While it looks really easy to use (in Youtube, three beautiful teenage girls airily but confidently scraped the cheese with one of their dainty hands), practice is required. I made a mistake of pressing too hard initially resulting in uneven surface. The trick is, scrape away! Do not worry if the cheese doesn’t come out in one long strand. Just scrape quickly and lightly.
By the way, the rind doesn’t have to be cut: it preserves the cheese and makes scraping easier.
V, I looked at the You Tube link and Wow… it was very cool utensil you have. I wonder if I can find it at States though.
Do you eat the cheese by itself?
V: Tee…hee… It’s cool, isn’t it? When I did my research on this tool, I read somewhere that the tool (and the cheese) are available in the US at some specialty stores.
Yes, the cheese can be eaten alone or on a piece of toast. It goes well with light white wine.
Comment by yun — 8 November 2008 @ 5:04 pm
I’m happy to hear that you like this awesome cheese! A great investment!
Cheers,
Rosa
V: It is, isn’t it? I love that thing
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Comment by Rosa — 8 November 2008 @ 10:36 pm