Matching meat with cheeses?
I know ham and cheddar is a good match, but what about other meats, seafoods and poultry? I'm attempting to make a lamb confit & potato torte this weekend (it's rather labor intensive) and I was thinking of a creamy cheese to put on the potatoes. Any ideas, or would that be too rich?? Discuss.
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16 Comments:
feta?
bessfour at 12:13PM on 03/20/08
semi-soft goat cheese? probably would be pretty rich, but damn tasty :)
bitchincamero at 12:25PM on 03/20/08
Hmmm...I'm wondering what herbs or seasonings you might be using while confit-ing (is that a word?) the lamb..perhaps garlic & rosemary?...natural affinities and all. Assuming those aromas and flavors, I'm thinking a cheese on the milder side, but not totally insipid...I like the goat cheese idea and I'm on a tallegio kick lately. The nose is a bit odd for cheese (kinda fruity), but the flavor is really mild and nutty, semi-soft, melts nicely, a little unexpected.
I don't think it would be too rich as long as there is no other dairy in the potatoes.
On the other hand, you're going to so much work to confit the lamb, wouldn't you want the lamb flavor to sing and not compete with any mouthcoating cheese?
Hmmm, I retract my tallegio reco. Go without cheese on the dish. If you still want cheese, incorporate it into a salad.
Man, your dish sounds good. Could you post the recipe?
wookie at 12:50PM on 03/20/08
Might be too rich, but my first instinct would be to consider something from sheep's milk. Maybe a young pecorino toscano: it's semi-soft so melts nicely.
renzata at 1:01PM on 03/20/08
Wookie, here is the original recipe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/confitshoulderoflamb_13755.shtml
I got the idea of adding cheese when I saw Jamie Oliver's show last week when he made dauphinois - he used heavy cream and some cheese I cannot remember. I'd just coat the layers of potato with cream and cheese.
BITTER at 1:45PM on 03/20/08
I'm not a fan of adding creamy cheese to this recipe. I could see randomly placing little pieces of brin d'amour or a mild fresh chevre, but beyond that, I wouldn't touch it. It really goes against the grain of the dish.
zapatista at 4:23PM on 03/20/08
Personally, I wouldn't use cheese. Lamb is already very rich, add in the olive oil from the confit, some dairy too? for the torta part. I think that more fat from cheese would be too much. BUT, if you really want some, I'd go for something tangy, like a goat cheese, to offset the richness.
kjgibson at 4:45PM on 03/20/08
Maybe I'll just use some sparingly. Thanks everybody.
BITTER at 5:14PM on 03/20/08
So, I just read the recipe and it sounds yummy. I love lamb and I love potatoes. Add some green beans and you've got one of my favorite meals! And I agree with Zapatista ... cheese doesn't sound right for this.
BUT my real question is, where's the Confit?
Confit is a technique for cooking/preserving food in liquid, most commonly one sees Duck Confit, where duck is preserved in rendered duck fat. I've seen variations where lemon is preserved in simple syrup, a tomato confit, a confit of garlic cloves. But this is a slowly roasted lamb.
I'm definitely not a slave to recipes ... if you want to make a variation then by all means, do it! Your food, your choice. But one should be careful about nomenclature. "Confit" is confit, a lamb roast, even if its cooked overnight and covered in foil, is still just roasted lamb!
kjgibson at 5:41PM on 03/20/08
I think once the meat is seared in the stock and white wine, you wrap it up tightly in foil; maybe that is why it is called a confit? You don't consider step 3 of the recipe to be the step that makes it a confit? Up until now I thought only ducks could be "confitted"....
BITTER at 10:14AM on 03/21/08
They may call it that -- but it is not. A Confit (of meat) is meat that is cooked & preserved in fat. What they have done is a slow roast. So no, I wouldn't call Step 3 making a confit.
I know -- it's picky. And the dish sounds fabulous -- I plan to try it, thanks for posting it -- but I ain't gonna call it Confit -- no way, no how! :-)
kjgibson at 11:45AM on 03/21/08
Hi,
If it were me, I'd use a mild gruyere. Epicurious has a really nice, very simple potato gratin recipe that uses creme fraiche and gruyere cheese that's delicious with lamb. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I usually toss in a little minced garlic or nutmeg, depending on what I'm serving it with. I'd probably use garlic with lamb.
Happy Easter!
LaurenB at 11:54AM on 03/21/08
Re confit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confit
I assume that they're drawing on the resemblance of the end product, ie., extremely tender, almost spoonable, rich, fatty meat.
Anyone ever made 24-hour leg of lamb? I guess that's getting too far off topic.
Anyhow, it's a really interesting looking recipe.
renzata at 2:55PM on 03/21/08
"I know -- it's picky. And the dish sounds fabulous -- I plan to try it, thanks for posting it -- but I ain't gonna call it Confit -- no way, no how! :-)"
LOL, how about a lamb and potato torte?
BITTER at 4:53PM on 03/21/08
Bump. I made the torte yesterday. Frankly, it came out a little bland. I'm hoping the flavors married while it sat in the fridge. Or at least had hot sex.
BITTER at 1:41PM on 03/24/08
@BITTER: LMAO at work. Silly!
Susquehanna at 12:52PM on 03/25/08