Sunday, March 11, 2007

Triple Cream Cheese: Spreadable Butterfat?

Unless you have the eating habits of Homer Simpson (who spreads butter not only on his bacon but also on his hamburger patties), you probably won't find the idea of spreadable butterfat to be very appealing.

However, as I have explained before, at least 75% of the solid material (i.e., the components other than water) in a triple cream cheese is butterfat. (Remember that approx. 50% of the average cheese is water.) For reasons I cannot yet appreciate, some people actually like triple cream cheese.

I recently bought a "wedge" of triple cream cheese from Australia, and my tastebuds had difficulty finding anything else to focus upon besides the butterfat in it. I say I bought a "wedge" because the cheese was so oozy that it had difficulty holding its shape. And it was so sticky that when I spread it on a cracker, I had difficulty detaching it from my butter knife.

I didn't taste a strong creamy flavor in the cheese--in spite of what the name "triple cream" might lead you to expect--and there wasn't anything particularly cheesey about its flavor either. I just tasted fat. I will sample other triple creams, perhaps some from France, but I can't recommend them to you at this point.

One small caveat: I'm not a big fan of soft-ripened, bloomy-rind cheeses in general (e.g., Brie and Camembert). So, perhaps I'm not the best person to pass judgement on the soft-ripened triple cream cheese I bought. (I'll explain in a later post what 'soft-ripened' and 'bloomy rind' mean.)

In case you do have the eating habits of Homer Simpson, you might enjoy the following recipe for Homer's Hamburgers.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb. buttered hamburger patty
Bacon
Canadian Bacon
Fried Egg
Cheese Whiz
Brown Gravy
Pork Rinds
PREPARATION:
Grill burgers. Top with bacon, Canadian bacon, fried egg and Cheese Whiz. Then smother the whole burger with brown gravy and garnish with pork rinds. Best served with cold Duff beer.

3 comments:

White Family said...

Found your site through a search on Triple Cream Cheese. Interesting article. We just tried some French T.C.C. (St. Andre) Without tasting the rind, I thought that it was like a rich cream cheese cake flavor, just less sweet. It doesn't have any flavor up front, it's the after taste that is so rewarding. It was the first time I've ever tried this cheese - but I'm a fan already (and like you I don't care for regular Brie).

Anonymous said...

well i am a brie fanatic.... i love it with fruit and today while at the supermarket i decided not to pass up the tripple creme cheese from france( also St. Andre). I agree it was much softer than the brie.. so although it tasted just as good as the brie with my fruit, functionally i found it went better on my croissants. None the less it was fabulous.

Anonymous said...

I just found your site. I originally tried St Andre triple creme(the way it is spelled on the package) cheese in 2007 on a trip to Texas. In Fredericksburg, TX there was an amazing Wine & Cheese Bar that served this cheese. I can't believe someone would not like this cheese. It was served with a fine french bread, grapes, apples, and pears along with the wine we chose. Terrific cheese with bread, fruit and wine. Try St Andre and forget about the butterfat for just this one time. I wouldn't eat it as a daily staple, but once in a great while as a special treat.