Toni Gerez, room manager Castell Peralada Restaurantis a ‘rare bird’ in the world of gastronomy, since it manages a menu of 300 cheeses of extreme quality. On every serve, he drives an impressive car with 70 of these references. His passion and knowledge about this product goes further, because organizes workshops and in a week will publish a book about this lactic temptation. His wisdom helps us answer these five questions to fully enjoy this delicacy.
Take it alone or accompany it with something?
“That thing about a piece of bread, a piece of toast… No, no, no. Cheese must always be eaten alone, and then, if you feel like it, take it with a piece of toast, with a jam, with a piece of fruit… I know that a cut with a little jam is very popular, but I recommend trying it without anything to be able to enjoy all its flavour, all of them its nuances. And if you later accompany it with something, think that it can also be part of a salad (it gives it freshness), with vegetable crudités and even with a radish if you are going to have several types of cheese because it will clean your mouth between one and other”.
Better with a white wine or a red one?
“It’s very easy: the cheese, always with a white or sparkling wine. It will not fail you. The red has a problem: when mixed in the mouth with the cheese, everything is very lactic and you do not enjoy the aromas of the drink. If you still want to drink it with a red, that does not have wood, that has enough acidity and a lot of fruit, like the young ones, or some great reserve that has lost a bit of tannin, it is more rounded, and everything will be more balanced. But a white wine with acidity goes well with many different cheeses. And a sparkling with aging It has notes of pastries, nuts, butter, toasted bread, and that links with cheese, as well as providing freshness at all times and with its bubbles it will help you cleanse the palate. Sherry wines work very well too; I think of a comté and fine, it is something fantastic, extraordinary. oh, the ‘ports’ are also wonderful. And what to say about Roquefort with Sauternes, which is sweet: the perfect combination“.
At what time to eat it, for dessert or as an appetizer?
“The French ritual marks that the cheese must be taken as predessertwhich we do at Castell Peralada Restaurant, but there is some like the comté that fit very well as an appetizer, just like those that are soft, with a little curing, pressed pasta… It doesn’t matter if it’s made from sheep’s milk, goat’s milk or cow’s milk. Although all this is something very personal… More than an appetizer or a dessert, I recommend do cheese sessions, try eight or ten different ones, for dinnerfor example, and nothing more”.
What kind of cheese to buy and where to buy?
“You have to let yourself be advised by people who know, and buy whether they are artisan cheeses, especially raw milk. If we know where they come from, even better. If it is from a shepherd with his own flock… All that information, when we eat it in home, makes you enjoy it more. You and your people, to whom you can explain all that. And they will know how to tell you in a specialty store. When you go shopping, you should keep in mind that there are also times. For example, from December to March-April there will be almost no goat cheese because the animals are using the milk for their young.”
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Should you eat the bark or discard it?
“Of course yesAs long as it’s natural, of course. Unless, for example, it contains many aromatic herbs that can bother your mouth. The rind takes us to the territory, to the landscape, to the place where the cheese comes from. Many have mushrooms that are only in the place where they make it. For example, the one that is kept in a cave in Asturias has taken the fungi that are only in that cave and in the air that moves outside.”