Fromage fort is the delicious solution for all those leftover bits of cheese
If you eat as many different cheeses as we do, there’s a good chance that the ends of brie and chèvre and the dried-out remnants of hard cheese are piling up in your fridge too… There’s always another cheese that needs to be tasted, after all. But that’s no reason to throw all those leftovers away, because you can still make something from those sorry little pieces that will make every cheese lover’s heart beat faster!
The less moisture a cheese contains, the longer it will generally keep. So the end of an aged or mature cheese may look quite dried out without showing any mold. And if white or light-green mold appears, you can simply cut it off. That’s good news! Because together with all the other leftover bits of brie, goat cheese, Parmesan or Grana Padano, you can make this super-simple dip in the food processor: fromage fort.
A serious stinker
The translation of fromage fort is strong cheese, and you can imagine that a mixture of intense cheeses deserves that name. But the beauty of it is that you’re in control of how strong and aromatic you make the result. If you want to start gently, leave out the blue cheese and use a combination of soft cheeses such as brie or Taleggio with some sharper leftovers of longer-aged Appenzeller or Gruyère. Mature Gouda works perfectly too! And if you can handle a bit more, of course you can simply add blue cheese or pungent washed-rind cheeses as well.
Incidentally, we’re not saying: throw all the rinds in there. You obviously can’t eat plastic and synthetic rinds, and it’s better to add Parmesan rinds to soup or chili con carne. We’re really talking about the last bits before you reach the rind.
Not-really-a-recipe recipe
It’s so simple that it hardly qualifies as a real recipe. A food processor is essential, unless you’re using only soft cheeses, in which case you can simply roll up your sleeves and mash and mix everything with a fork. Put all the leftovers (assume 200 grams, although less is fine too) in the food processor fitted with the chopping blade, grind in some pepper and add a small pinch of salt, pour in 50 ml white wine (or cooled vegetable stock if you don’t want to use alcohol) and blend until smooth. If you like it even spicier, you can also grate a small clove of garlic into it with a Microplane before switching on the machine.
Then dip in whatever raw vegetables you like, or spread it on good crackers. At the restaurant where I used to work, we served it on toasted kletzenbrood (rye bread with raisins); that’s delicious too!
Also read:
- 5 surprising facts about blue cheese
- Leftovers from the cheese board: which rinds can and can’t you eat?
- Are you drinking the wrong wine with your cheese board?
