Hello!!...Gougeres-ous!!
/Hello Cheese Enthusiast!
The inspiration for this week’s post came from my Aunt Jeri…She has always been an inspiration to me, so it was not a surprise when she shared a new recipe with me, that it might just make a great story to share with you…
The recipe that she found in her local paper was for Gougères. Not familiar with them??...Let me share a little background on them and the “secret ingredient” that makes them SO good!
Gougères have been around since at least the 18th century and are said to have originated in the town of Tonnerre, which lies within the Burgundy region of France. Gougères are small little savory pastries puffs that are bite-size little appetizers. They are made with simple common ingredients, and one very special cheese. Gougères can be made with Gruyère or Emmentaler Cheese from Switzerland, but since Gougères are native to the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté area, our secret ingredient will be Comté which is Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Cheese.
Image courtesy of Comte USA
Comté Cheese (formerly known as Comté du Gruyère) has been produced as early as the 12th century, when shepherds would spend the summer months in their remote huts of the Jura massif. The distance from towns of any size meant that any cheese they made would need to mature over a period of months. The milk was pooled between neighboring shepherds, and the huge cheeses would be stored until being carried to market at the end of the season. Once summer had ended, so would production of Comté, with the cows' milk instead being used to make Vacherin Mont d'Or.
It is so cherished, that it remains one of the most consumed cheeses of France and was also one of its earliest protected cheeses in 1958.
Today, milk is collected from approximately 150,000 cows that produce the milk for Comté (95% Montbéliarde breed and 5% Simmental breed) within the protected zone (shown above) and transported to a “fruitière” (or cheesemaking facility) which is located within a 16-mile radius maximum from the farm. These rules are strictly enforced by the Comté Association which protects the heritage of this cheese that has been produced in the region for over 1,000 years.
This raw milk cheese has a wonderful nutty, alpine flavor that melts beautifully and is used in fondues, quiches, French onion soup, and yes… Gougères.
When researching recipes for Gougères, I was really looking for the most authentic one I could find… then I ran across this one from Michelle, (better known as browneyedbaker). Her recipe was simple, easy to follow and included step by step photographs along the way so anyone could feel right at home.
I did make just a few modifications to her recipe… Since this is French cuisine, I wanted to use French ingredients. Luckily, I work for Lactalis®, a cheese and butter producer based in France and the makers of the Président® products, so they
were happy to send me some samples for today’s recipe.
Président® Unsalted Butter from Normandy is my butter of choice because of the low moisture and high butterfat of this fine European butter…I also used Président® Comté…Their 7.7 oz. (220g.) wedge was the perfect amount for the recipe.
To make these, the recipe starts out by making a choux pastry (pâte à choux), which is the same type of dough used to make pastries like profiteroles, cream puffs, and eclairs. The dough is simply flour, milk, butter, eggs, salt, pepper and Comté cheese.
Once I piped the dough on to the cookie sheets the real magic began to happen as the whole kitchen smelled like wonderful cheesy bread baking…my mouth was watering!
Once out of the oven, Gougères can be served “as is” (and they were as wonderful as you could imagine), or some recipes also included an additional savory filling being added, such as mushrooms, ham or beef. I knew I wanted to add a filling, so following the lead of the base ingredients of ‘Salt & Pepper’, I decided to pipe in Président® rondelé Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper gourmet spreadable cheese. This combination was a perfect fit!
I knew I had a hit once I saw how fast everyone ate them up!
From the recipe (which can be found here), here are some additional great tips for your next gathering:
Freshly-baked Gougères are best eaten the same day that they are made, though you can store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days and eat at room temperature, or re-heat in a 325-degree oven.
To Freeze Gougères: Prepare the dough and pipe onto a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer until the Gougères are completely frozen, 1 to 2 hours. Once frozen, transfer to a ziploc freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. To bake from frozen, bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
To Freeze Baked Gougères: Cool completely after baking, then place in a ziploc freezer bag and freeze for up to 2 months. To reheat, place in a 350-degree oven for 6 to 8 minutes, or until warmed through.
While they look impressive and might be intimidating, Gougères are fairly easy to make. Once you tackle them the first time, you’ll want to churn out multiple batches the next time you need bite-size appetizers!
Thank you to my Aunt Jeri for inspiration…and thank you to Lactalis® for the Président® samples for today’s recipe….Love you both!
Until next week…
Trevor
