What’s Big and White and Needs a Name?

Sometimes it’s hard being the Accidental Locavore.  Large, pristine packages show up on your doorstep camouflaging delicious contents like oysters, or in this case, cheese that you have to taste and comment on. My project for today is to write about this nice, big, white slab of cheese from Coach Farms. It’s in a mysterious, plain, white wrapper, labeled “raw milk cheese.” Part of my challenge is to describe it in such a fashion that one of you will bequeath it with a more stylish moniker. There’s an official contest and to enter, check out the culture site. I’ve also been given this nice picnic bag so keep reading to see how to win that.

“Raw Milk Cheese”(or RMC as I’m going to call it) really does it a disservice, as it’s actually a classy hunk of aged chèvre. A perfect white bloom surrounds a chalkier center, with an inside layer of a runnier paste. Think of it as looking like Humbolt Fog on a clear day….

Eaten on its own, it’s a bit dry in the center, with the outer edges being a little runnier and sharper. It’s all in pretty much perfect proportions with that lovely tang that a good chèvre always packs. On one of my favorite crackers, the paper thin 34° Rosemary Crisps, it’s a perfect combination!

My husband likes RMC straight off the knife. He gets a lemon taste from it that reminds him of fields and says it’s a little decadent, in all the best ways! He’s very much in love with it and we’re both hoping that Coach is soon to market with this gem. Otherwise we’ll have to try to make this wedge last, a near impossible feat! Almost as difficult as trying to describe it, so you can name it.

On a whim, I decided to see how it was for cooking. Since we were having rack of lamb for dinner how would a chèvre pommes dauphanois be? Sliced my giant potato on the mandoline, warmed some half & half with a smashed clove of garlic and a little nutmeg. Crumbled in about ½ cup of the RMC and let it melt. Poured it over the potatoes, topped with a little more cheese and some butter, figuring how bad can it be? Frank’s verdict was that it was the best dauphinois that I had made; I believe the word he used was spectacular. And who am I to argue?

If you want to experiment at home, Coach was kind enough to send me a cute picnic sack with three of their lovely cheeses (and yes, RMC is one of them) to give to one of my lucky readers. So, here’s the deal: comment below on what you would do with RMC and the best comment will get this yummy gift. Since I would really like to expand my newsletter mailing list, anyone getting more sign-ups for that will get extra credit. You have until midnight EDT on Sunday, April 28^th to enter.