Daily Dish the Sonoma Market blog
Choice Cheeses for Brûléeing
Please note that this is an older article. Any products or services pictured or described may have changed or may no longer be available. Thank you for visiting!
Brûléed cheese? You bet! Heating sugars and proteins to high temperatures causes complex reactions to occur which makes flavors of roasted nuts, caramel and chocolate to become more pronounced. Sounds good, right? Make this dream a reality with melt-in-your-mouth cheeses like these.
Brûléed cheese? You bet! Heating sugars and proteins to high temperatures causes complex reactions to occur which makes flavors of roasted nuts, caramel and chocolate to become more pronounced. Sounds good, right? Make this dream a reality with melt-in-your-mouth cheeses like these.
Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam + Orange Zest: With triple cream decadence and a clean, milky flavor, this award-winning organic cheese is made locally in small batches using milk from family farms. It’s already a legend on its own, but with a fresh orange zest brûlée, it becomes otherworldly. The rich cream backbone of this cheese is accentuated by the fresh orange aroma and sweet brûlée crunch—it's an elevated creamsicle for the bougie crowd!
Caseificio Dell'alta Langa Carboncino + Fresh Tarragon: Produced in the Piedmont hills of Italy using traditional artisan methods, this spreadable, soft-ripened cheese incorporates the best qualities of fresh cow, sheep and goat's milk. The sheep and goat's milk give it a tangy, lemony flavor while the cow’s milk provides a mushroomy, buttery finish. Add finely chopped tarragon before brûléeing to bring out fresh herb, toasted hazelnut and browned butter flavors with a backbone of bright acidity.
Bellwether Farm Sheep Cheese Logs: Soft and spreadable, these cheeses are made from incredibly fresh sheep's milk rich in naturally occurring butterfat, lending a terrific buttery-rich sweetness. Brûlée the Original flavor for a caramelized cream dream, try the Strawberry Preserves flavor for a crust-less strawberry cheesecake experience, or brûlée the bright, floral Orange Marmalade flavor to candy the orange zest and accentuate the sweetness. Just cut into small disks, coat with sugar and brûlée to make perfect bites for appetizers or dessert.
Point Reyes Quinta: Made on the Point Reyes farm from pasteurized cow’s milk, each wheel of this silky smooth soft-ripened cheese is wrapped in spruce bark that has been infused with the essence of California bay laurel. The rind is fluffy, yet slightly firm with bay leaves embedded on the top and bottom. Flavors of toasted marshmallow and browned butter come alive when eaten with the crispy crackly sugar topping.
Marin French Triple Crème Brie: Crafting artisan cheeses for the last 150 years, Marin French Cheese Co. is the longest continuously operating creamery in America. Their beautiful cheese is one of the oldest and most respected triple crème cheeses in the country, still crafted in small batches using milk from local dairy farmers. Brûléeing it is a perfect example of what happens when 1 + 1 = 3. Both the cheese and the crackly sugar topping become better together.
Tulip Tree Snapdragon & Foxglove: Tulip Tree makes incredible cheeses that are even better with a bit of brûlée. Snapdragon is a triple crème, soft-ripened cheese packed with spicy habanero peppers. Brûléeing elevates the experience to a spicy, sweet and unctuous dreamland. Foxglove is a double cream cheese washed repeatedly with beer to develop a funkiness that is intoxicating and mysterious. Brûlée to uncover an explosion of umami-packed flavors that will have you coming back for more.
Want to learn more about how it’s done? Get started with these brûléeing best practices.