Crafted from raw whole milk and turned by hand, our rustic and noble Tomme de Savoie cheese ripens in the natural cellar of Fort de Montmélian where it slowly ages to achieve its fruity and earthy taste. Chef Jethro Lawrence has created some innovative pairings to really make the most of this special cheese. Featuring fresh, wild foraged ingredients from the British countryside, these pairing recipes are for the adventurous gourmet. Follow Sodiaal UK Instagram for more recipe inspiration.
500g Shipton Mill organic White Flour
7g dried yeast
Large pinch of salt Flour for dusting
Approx 340ml tepid water
A good Cob loaf is simple beauty of basic ingredients transformed. A Cob has a distinctive, round, well-risen, and slightly domed shape, with a natural “Cobblestone” look on the top where the dough has expanded. Traditionally not baked in a tin, the shape is formed by hand.
This humble loaf works perfectly sliced thickly and grilled, then topped with the BBQ wild asparagus, the grilled with a few slab-like slices of the Tomme, and then finished with a generous drizzle of the fermented truffle honey and a pinch of the preserved ramson capers.
200g Local honey (Raw, un-pasteurised)
20g Truffle, I used Perigord 42g Water (Roughly 19%)
42g Water (Roughly 19%)
Raw honey needs a moisture content of 19% to ferment. When honey is made the bees collect the pollen, chew it up and empty it into the cells in the hive, they will then use their wings to dry the honey to bring down the moisture content. Hence adding it back in during this fermenting process.
The fermented finished product is sweet (not too sweet as the fermentation process consumes some of the natural sweetness) tangy, earthy and a little malty. This a is a potent flavour enhancer.
Probiotics with Probiotics! This combination makes for an absolute Umami bomb!
Both aged cheeses like Tomme de Savoie and truffles are rich in natural glutamates, which contribute to umami. The fermentation of the honey further develops complex flavour compounds, sweet and savoury, pungent, funk, tang.
Elevation with a touch of luxurious, fermented depth.
600g Ramson capers
200g Maldon sea salt
400g Willy’s Cider vinegar
100g Water
100g Sugar
This is my third and favourite offering from what is undoubtedly the most foraged ingredient that is wild garlic. The ramson capers appear after the flowers drop, these are the seeds of the plant, preserving them allows us to enjoy the fruits of wild garlic in the months to follow.
Preserving by salting and then storing in vinegar makes for a briny, tangy, garlicky goodness.
Garlicky zing vs earthy mildness!
The sharp, aromatic intensity of the preserved ramson capers cuts through and enlivens the creamy, nutty and subtle richness of the Tomme. Texturally the crisp pop of the capers work very well with the semi-firm and sometimes buttery texture of the Tomme.
25 Wild asparagus spears
Olive oil
Maldon sea salt
Cracked black pepper
1 Clove garlic
Squeeze of lemon juice
Wild asparagus tastes like regular cultivated asparagus but intensified, it certainly has that “green” tasting characteristic and it has a milk-like sap from its stem which you don’t get with cultivated. It’s herbaceous and slightly bitter when raw, with a nuttiness when roasted or barbecued.
Asparagus has its history rooted back to the Roman times, some say they introduced it here, and after they left it continued to grow wildly, hence we have this amazing wild asparagus still growing today. A friend forages it close to the Bath area which makes sense.
Both wild asparagus and Tomme de Savoie are products of their environment! The wild, untamed landscapes for the asparagus, and the Alpine pastures for the cheese leads to compatible flavour profiles. The wild flavours of the asparagus find a partner in the rustic farmhouse notes of the cheese.
Tomme de Savoie has a subtle tang and saltiness which acts as a natural brightener for the asparagus.
