Triple-cream brie vs Camembert

[Johnny_L.A]

I read this yesterday:

Overrated: Triple creme
“They’re like Camembert or Brie, but with added cream to increase the butter fat. I’ll sit down and eat a bunch of butter, it’s delicious, but you shouldn’t need that type of richness to make a great cheese. In my mind that’s kind of cheating, it’s a pet peeve of mine.”

Underrated: Camembert
“A really good one just takes you to the next level. It’s stinky and cabbage-y and amazing with sour beers and ciders. It’s just an amazingly luxurious cheese and it’s overlooked quite often.

Today I bought our usual Triple-Cream Brie from Trader Joe’s, and also some of TJ’s Camembert. Both are good cheeses, but I still like the Triple-Cream Brie better.

[Sunny_Daze]

I like them both. Just depends what I’m in the mood for. Sometimes the triple creme seems a little bland. Sometimes the camembert is a little too strongly flavored for whatever I’m making.

But then, I like cheese. So an excuse to try them both again sounds good to me.

[Johnny_L.A]

Interesting. I found the triple-cream to have a more buttery taste, and the Camembert to be more bland. Actually, they were pretty close; but the TC had just a bit more flavour.

[Athena]

They are two different things, no need to compare them. The world would be a lesser place without either.

I do agree with the link in the OP - as far a base flavor, Camembert is bigger on its own. Triple-cream really shines when matched with a wine. Triple-cream + champagne = heaven IMO. The triple-cream takes on a delicious honey flavor. Definitely one of my favorite cheese/wine matches ever.

[bump]

A slight aside, but I really developed a taste for the more runny Brie and Camembert that you can get in Europe (UK and France), and have noticed that even imported Brie and Camembert is much more solid, and correspondingly flavorless by comparison.

Is this a stylistic thing, an aging thing or something else?

[QuickSilver]

Best of both worlds is Saint-André.

[CheshireKat]

@quicksilver

best of both worlds is saint-andré.

This, +1

[araminty]

@bump

A slight aside, but I really developed a taste for the more runny Brie and Camembert that you can get in Europe (UK and France), and have noticed that even imported Brie and Camembert is much more solid, and correspondingly flavorless by comparison.

Is this a stylistic thing, an aging thing or something else?

Have you tried leaving your soft cheese out of the fridge for a day or two before eating it? Makes all the difference…

[Athena]

@bump

A slight aside, but I really developed a taste for the more runny Brie and Camembert that you can get in Europe (UK and France), and have noticed that even imported Brie and Camembert is much more solid, and correspondingly flavorless by comparison.

Is this a stylistic thing, an aging thing or something else?

A lot of the cheese you get in France is made from unpasteurized milk, which produces a more tasty cheese than does pasteurized. IIRC, you can get away with unpasteurized here, but only with well-aged cheeses. I’m guessing the average Brie/Camembert found in the US is made with pasteurized milk.

In general, I have this problem with a lot of French cheeses. I have yet to find an Époisses in the US that is worth eating, for example. I wish they’d just develop labels or something for unpasteurized cheeses and let us take our chances.

@QuickSilver

Best of both worlds is Saint-André.

I like Saint-André, but I much prefer Explorateur or Brillat Savarin. But truly, all triple-cream is wonderful. Paradise, for me, is a baguette, a bottle of good Champage, and triple-cream. Maybe some Pâté de Foie Gras if I’m feeling really special.