the cheese blog

(Cabecou du) Rocamadour

My first cheese shop stop in London was La Fromagerie in Westminster. There are basically two areas: the dry room and the cheese room. The cheese room is a relatively small, glass-enclosed room that is sealed off by a large sliding glass door from the dry room. It is an amazing sight. The cheeses are stacked up the wall and on tables. It’s difficult to negotiate the room with more than a few other shoppers and the 3 to 4 cheese mongers. If there was one lasting impression, it was the smell! It was divine. It was almost overwhelming, but in a good way, with a very healthy barnyard, musty smell. I could have stayed in there all day just breathing the air. I also could have spent a ton of money in there if it wasn’t for the lack of refrigeration facilities in my hotel room (and some type of ban on unpasteurised cheese in the States).

The first cheese I picked up were some Rocamadour (the Cabecou was dropped in 1996 once an AOC was granted as the name Cabecou was apparently too generic). These Rocamadour were perfect little disks of raw, unpasteurised goats milk, about 50 grams each. The Rocamadour had been aging, so the rinds were just turning yellowish, starting to get firmer and take on some mold.

The texture was interesting as the rind was a bit toothesome, whereas the interior was dry in appearance, but in fact was only slightly firm and begining to become runny creating a buttery mouthfeel. The aroma was slightly barnyardy and musty. The taste had the typical goat’s milk tang, with some earthy, mushroom notes, which ended with some spiciness on the end.

Overall this was a really nice cheese with some great flavour. It would be interesting to compare it to a younger example, e.g., one that was only 1-2 weeks old and just forming a rind.