Ranking of the 5 best cheeses according to chef Anne-Sophie Pic

Three-starred French chef Anne-Sophie Pic has made cheese her favorite ingredient.

A fan since she was little, the three-star chef was even passionate about Vercors blue when she was a young chef. "The Drôme and Ardèche region is very marked in terms of cheeses and in general French cuisine is very lactic".

Today, while all chefs are closely interested in fermentation, Anne-Sophie Pic reminds us that French fermentations are first and foremost those of charcuterie… and cheese.

“It is part of our identity.

- 1. Banon " My mother's family is from Forcalquier and this typical cheese from the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence basin is my childhood. A goat cheese tomme matured for at least fifteen days with a smoky taste and sometimes very strong. It speaks to me because I'm always looking for tannic notes. I like to play with this maturity by bringing all the roundness of mascarpone and sheep's cheese when I cook it in cartons".

- 2. Gruyère caramel "I met Mr. Duttweiler, a cheese maker renowned throughout Switzerland, when I opened my restaurant in Lausanne ten years ago. Even today he is the only one to produce this thirty- two months with notes of caramel. It is one of the two cheeses with Vacherin from Friborg which makes up the famous Swiss fondue "half and half" which inspired my recipe for the berlingots that I serve in Lausanne".

- 3. Stichelton "It's an English raw milk cheese from Nottinghamshire that I got to know when I opened my restaurant La Dame de Pic in London. I prefer it to pasteurized stilton. It's the excellent cheese Neal's Yard Dairy who introduced me to it. They mature themselves and they do extraordinary research on the country's cheeses. This one is very floral, creamy, very balanced. It's softer than a Roquefort and it's delicious with honey or beeswax. I cooked it for a while with a Duroc pig (aged 80 days) from Grégory Delassus that I marinated in it with honey".

- 4. Brie de Meaux "In my eyes, it is the quintessence of French cheese. It is both consensual and one of the most noble because it concentrates real maturing work. I cook it with vanilla smoky. I like the smoky which develops a little acidity and which offers a longer aromatic framework. It is also an additional woody note which brings gluttony. I have always thought that it was important for a chef to be able to offer a cooked cheese. Even if I want to put a raw cheese on the menu, a specialty whose recipe or refinement I will have worked on together with the producer".

- 5. Old mimolette "When I was younger, I focused on Reypenaer VSOP gouda. Then I discovered the ideal combination of saffron and old mimolette that I work with monkfish. I found umami there. French style. The marriage of powerful saffron and these fermentation notes that can be found in certain cheeses. Roasted notes sometimes approaching the taste of cocoa. Currently I am offering a dill tart with saffron and mimolette old".

The Maison Pic Valence (Drôme) anne-sophie-pic.com