Read Them the Livarot Act: the Normal Conquest

I recently discovered a great new website: All about French cheeses. It appears to be a source of cheese info for frommage-loving Brits who want to know what to get when they cross La Manche. It goes without saying that the cheese over here is amazing. But it's frustrating not knowing more about the cheeses themselves. These problems are for the most part gone thanks to this site. I've been trying to explore the wonderful world of cheese since I got here, and now my goal is to share my discoveries to the world.

The first cheese to undergo this treatment is Livarot AOC. It's a soft, Norman, cow's milk cheese. I got it not expecting much. Sure it was AOC, but it wasn't guaranteed to pique my taste buds. I got it with the intent of putting it in a sort of sauce for pasta. Before I added it, I had to try some. Instead of a mildly bland soft cheese, I got a mild but delicate and nuanced cheese.

This is a cheese you can eat straight out of the wooden box. It goes great with pasta (benefitted by a low melting point like most soft cheeses, which is why I chose it in the first place), but it could also be paired with bread on a simple cheese (or cheese and fruit) platter. AaFc recommends a whole grain bread with it, but I think you'd need to be careful with the pairing. You don't want to overwhelm the Livarot and mask it's nuances. A good, hearty peasant loaf would go well as a foundation -- as well as paying homage to the 19th century appellation of "meat of the poor" to this frommage.