The Cheese-off

I got a challenge: present enough cheese to show off the current Quebec cheese revolution to 36 people and have them face the competition from best of artisanal Wisconsin. What to do? A visit to the local cheese monger produced the following:

• Riopelle de l'Îsle
  
• Peau Rouge
• Magie de Madawaska
• Le Sieur de Duplessis
• Le Ciel de Charlevoix (a blue)
• Le Cendré
• La Sauvagine

A bunch of brilliant, mostly raw milk cheeses, perhaps a little heavy on the Tomme style (which was fine with me). See descriptions on this site.

And the result? I'd recommend all of the above -- the winner among the fans of the more odorous, softer, Euro-style entries above was hands down La Sauvagine. But surprise! While some people liked the more European style Quebec cheeses, some preferred the harder, largely saltier Wisconsin entries. Go figure. You don't lose much trying 8 or 16 excellent cheeses.