29 May 2011
Just finished a mid-morning snack of the last of a wonderfully creamy slice of Brie De Mieux. This is officially Europe's King of Cheeses and I was delighted to find it on offer at the excellent butcher in Newton Stewart's main street.
Imagine the situation. The year is 1815. The French Revolution had broken out in 1789 and from then Europe was involved in chaos. The guillotine was invented. Napoleon seized power in France in 1799 and crowned himself emperor in 1804. Napoleonic armies ravaged Spain and across Europe, even pressing on to Moscow, and a famous defeat with enormous casualties. Not Napoleon himself, of course. Finally, the Allied Powers, including Britain, defeated Napoleon. Millions lay dead across the Continent, cities and regions devastated, old boundaries vanished.
There was a need for the victors to sit down and talk about the future of Europe, including the definition of French borders, the establishment of the Netherlands, the dismantling of the old Holy Roman Empire, many questions to be settled in what are now Germany and Italy. The Congress of Vienna was called and representatives of the great powers headed there in 1815 to discuss and deal with all these questions. And cheese.
The diplomats and VIPs quickly started to argue over their dinners as to which was the best cheese in Europe. A competition was announced to decide the matter. Cheeses of every type, colour and size flooded into Vienna. Countries each sent many different cheeses and the result was mayhem and even more argument. So, it was decided that a new competition should be arranged and that this time only one cheese from each country would be allowed.
The rules were strict and interest intense. Finally, the judges announced that Brie de Mieux was now officially Europe's “Sacred King of Cheeses.” So that was that settled. Now, onto re-drawing the boundaries of a continent...
Brie de Mieux is a beautiful cheese and it has since 1980 been protected by its own denomination of origin like Champagne and Melton Mowbray pork pies. Mieux is about 60 miles from Paris. The Emperor Charlemagne is said to have tasted it in 774AD and became an early fan. The brie from there is made with raw unpasteurised cow's milk and is, yellow, creamy and soft. There is a nutty smell and a faint whiff of fermentation. It is difficult to make and there are only five or six producers.
Now is the best time to get hold of some Brie de Mieux, as it is best between April to September. It goes very well with salty crackers and must be eaten at room temperature – not straight from the fridge – with a glass of good wine.
