Warning: this recipe isn’t for everyone. If you’re not a fan of blue cheese, stinky cheeses or fondues, click away now.
I’ve been tossing up whether or not to post this – surely there aren’t many people other than me who would enjoy a bowl of soft, stinky blue-grey cheese? Certainly the rest of my family won’t go near it.
Nevertheless here it is: Fromage Fort (“strong cheese”) from my food hero Jacques Pépin, in Chez Jacques, Traditions and Rituals of a Cook. This frugal recipe from Pépin’s youth was traditionally made by his father. I’ll let him tell you about it…
Making fromage fort is the ultimate way of using your leftover cheese. When my father used to make it every month or so, he would go through our garde manger…He would search through our leftover cheese in this container, often finding pieces of very hard, strong, smelly goat cheese. He would scratch the top of the cheese with his knife to see if there was mold on it, which he would remove before placing the cheese in his crock. On top of this he would place pieces of Camembert or Brie…then add pieces of Swiss, blue cheese, and fresher goat cheese. He would cover these with leek broth, white wine, and two or three cloves of crushed garlic.
These ingredients would marinate in a cold place in the cellar for 1 to 1½ weeks, sometimes longer…eventually, it was smelly enough and soft enough for him…and then he would crush it with a large fork into a puree and add salt and pepper, if need be.
. . . . .
My take on Pépin’s recipe includes a little Kirsch – a hangover from my 80s fondue days.
- 250g assorted cheeses – in my fridge, I had Gorgonzola Dolce, grated Parmesan, Manchego, Picasso sheeps’ cheese and some Philadelphia cream cheese. Use whatever you have, although I’d be inclined to avoid anything with uninvited mould growing on it.
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup white wine
- splash of Kirsch
- freshly ground black pepper
1. Grate the hard cheeses, to make it easier on the mixing process.
2. Put all the cheeses, garlic, wine and Kirsch in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse briefly, until the mix is creamy but not too runny. Scoop the cheese into a small container and store in the fridge.
The fromage fort can be used as a cold spread, but I prefer it spread over sourdough slices and grilled (broiled). After a few days in the fridge, the alcohol flavours permeate through the cheeses, providing pleasant fondue flashbacks.
Burn, baby, burn…disco inferno…
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Gorgonzola is the best! The hub stuffed an artichoke full of this lovely cheese for me last night.
Can’t wait to try this.
Marilyn
That sounds pretty delish…even to a dairy intolerant person like me. I do love blue cheese though…nice and ripe and runny. Mmmm…. I must give this a try as I do some some bits and bobs of cheeses in my fridge at the moment.
It looks very tasty to me – although I would have to go easy on the blue cheese – I can only take fairly mild varieties.
I love fromage fort! Intense salivation happening here, and it’s only 6:45am!
:-)
i’d give it a go. grilled on toast would be really nice i imagine. :-)
Anything that’s frugal *and* involves cheese is a keeper in my book! I think my fridge’s cheese shelf is more than halfway ready for this. Thanks!
This sounds phenomenal! In fact positively volcanic – you can see the way my mind is running! We never have much left over cheese – mice, poodles, etc see to that :(
Yours sounds far more thrilling than english potted cheese which tamely involves a spoonful of sherry xx Jo
Hugh FW in The Grauniad
‘Potted cheese
This recipe is just a blueprint. Experiment with your own combinations of cheeses and seasonings. Use different cheeses in combination – it’s a thrifty way to use up odd ends of cheese you have lurking about. Add some paprika, mace, mustard powder or cayenne; ditch the sherry for a slosh of port, wine or brandy. You have nothing to lose but your leftovers. Makes about 200g.
160g wensleydale, cheshire or cheddar, grated or crumbled
60g unsalted butter, softened
A slug of dry sherry
A few grinds of nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little clarified butter (see potted crab recipe for method) for sealing
In a food mixer, or in a bowl with a wooden spoon, beat together the cheese, softened butter, sherry and nutmeg until fairly smooth. Taste, add salt and pepper if necessary, then spoon into a bowl or jar, and pour over some clarified butter to seal. Covered and refrigerated, this will keep for several weeks. Serve with oatmeal biscuits and a dab of chutney or fruit paste.’
Hahaha…and here I was worried no-one else would eat this! I wish there was some way we could all share a virtual fondue one day. I could play my “Disco Hits of the 80s” album and break out the shoulder pads.. :)
Marilyn, I’m a blue cheese fiend – my favourite cheese shop makes one you would absolutely adore – have a look at this mascarpone reale..
Jo, thank you, I should have known HFW had a version – it is a recipe for leftovers after all!
i love to make fromage fort with my leftover cheeses. i mix them up in my food processor with white wine and… voila! a delicious spreadable cheese snack or appetizer. of course, the outcome is always a bit different but I always add the bleu cheese. great idea to broil it over bread! thanks for sharing.
Aleida, it’s good to know others have tried this and enjoy it as well. The rest of my tribe just turned their noses up at it… :)
I think it makes the ultimate cheese on toast..
Mmm I do love blue cheese but I tend to go for the milder ones like the Danish blues. I figure as long as both you and your loved one like it then this much blue cheese and garlic is ok! :D
My problem is that I rarely have much in the way of leftover cheese – far too greedy for that. But I’m going to have to try this. Nostalgia for fondue is the main reason – I was an au pair in Switzerland back in the 80s and I managed to consume a fair amount of the stuff.
Isn’t it amazing how burned into all our memories the taste of fondue is? And I can still remember driving around town trying to find gruyere and emmenthal cheeses… :)