The French Dish Jacques Pépin Makes To Use Up Leftover Cheese
Combining the cheese with leek broth, white wine, and crushed garlic, Pépin’s father would marinate the cheese in a ceramic pot in the cellar for about 7 to 10 days to make a French cheese dish called fromage fort, per Food & Wine. (Translated to strong cheese, fromage fort packs a punch, per Martha Stewart). Perhaps you don’t have a cellar or feel like eating cheese that has been allowed to get funky for over a week. Pépin’s late wife, Gloria, concocted a quicker, fresher version of fromage fort, according to Food & Wine. Her version swaps the cellar for the kitchen and a terrine for a food processor.
To make the updated version of fromage fort, take ½ pound of odds and ends of cheese, a garlic clove, ¼ cup dry white wine, salt, and pepper. A food processor is then used to blend the ingredients to form a cheese spread that can be served hot or cold, according to Food & Wine. Culture says the modernized version of fromage fort relies on the variety of cheeses and seasonings blended together to give the cheese spread its flavor versus the fermentation process. Alton Brown’s updated fromage fort uses fresh parsley and butter to add some flavor in addition to the cheese. Compared to the Pépin family fromage fort that would ferment in the basement for more than a week, Brown’s is served immediately, or for a firmer texture, it is refrigerated for an hour.
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