Trappe Echourgnac in Paris or Bordeaux?

[Robert Lauriston]

I had Trappe Echourgnac in the Dordogne a few years ago. One of the vendors told me I could get some in Bordeaux, but I was not able to find it there. The people at Jean d'Alos said it was out of season, which was a bit ridiculous since I'd just seen piles of it a few days before.

Anyway, next trip to France I'll be in Paris and Bordeaux, and would like to get some if I can find it.

[Laidback]

I have found it 2 different times at Quatrehomme on Rue Poteau in Montmartre

[Robert Lauriston]

Huh, I didn't realize they had more than the one shop.

62 rue de Sèvres 75007
32 rue Espérance 75013
9 rue du Poteau 75018

[Robert Lauriston]

I found it at the wonderful Fromagerie Quatrehomme.

[Parigi]

Chouette! Verdict?

[Robert Lauriston]

It was good but not as good as the ones we had in the Perigord. We got some other great cheeses there, though, including a great Camembert au Calvados. Very serious affineur, reminded me of Marie-Anne Cantin. Delices de Sevres at the next corner is an excellent bakery.

[Delucacheesemonger]

If you can compare it to Citeaux, similar product from Burgundy.

[LongBeak]

I beg to differ with DLCM: cheese from l'Abbaye de Citeaux and la Trappe d'Echourgnac are, to my taste buds at least, not that similar. They are both soft and made from cow's milk, and both were developed in monastries, but that's about where the similarity ends - unless perhaps you are talking about the version of the Trappe that is not made with walnut liquor (and which I haven't had the opportunity to taste)?

For the French readers on this forum, you can find the Abbaye's site here: http://www.abbaye-echourgnac.org/abba... - with photos of the cheese making and ageing process. The Abbaye d'Echourgnac have also given the right to make this cheese to another monastry in Brittany.

If you're looking for it in Paris, I recently bought some at François Priet, rue des Pyrénées (near Gambetta), in the 20th. As it was made in the Abbaye, I imagine it is of the same quality as that which you can find in Périgord, which is why I'm surprised that the quality RL found in Paris wasn't up to that found in Périgord. Does anyone know if other cheese makers outside of the Abbaye are making it and commercialising it under that name? I wouldn't have thought they would have had the right to do so...

[Robert Lauriston]

I think the one I got in Paris just wasn't as ripe. It had the same label.

[mangeur]

"As it was made in the Abbaye, I imagine it is of the same quality as that which you can find in Périgord, which is why I'm surprised that the quality RL found in Paris wasn't up to that found in Périgord."

We often forget that cheese is alive and therefore undergoing constant change over time. A cheese may appeal to someone at a given stage in its life but may not before or after that stage. There are several cheeses that I have thought not to like, later finding them delicious in a more or less ripe condition. So identically provenanced cheeses can exhibit vastly different tastes and textures.

[carlux]

It's even in the supermarkets in the Dordogne (our local Leclerc anyway) so hard to imagine you wouldn't find it in Bordeaux

[Robert Lauriston]

Nope, I looked at several markets in Bordeaux with good cheese selections.

[Ptipois]

Maybe in supermarkets in Bordeaux then :-)
Supermarkets big and small are so overlooked as one of the best means of distribution for local products.

If you go to Metz, of course it's not a local product, but I know there's one fromagère in the covered market near the cathedral who loves that cheese - last time I was there she had what seemed like a truckload of it on her stall.

[Robert Lauriston]

I looked in supermarkets in Bordeaux.

[Ptipois]

I saw it at Monoprix gare Montparnasse last Winter. The food hall in the basement.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Thought l saw it at G Lafayette a few days ago, but not sure

[Robert Lauriston]

Google turns up a few mentions of Androuet having it.