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Food Thread:The Frogs Are The GOAT...At Least When It Comes To Goat Cheese

How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?

-- Charles de Gaulle

Actually, de Gaulle underestimated the number, with most assuming that France has more than 1,000 different cheeses. He wasn't wrong about the "ungovernable" part, but that is a discussion for a different forum.

The variety of cheese is astounding. There are three excellent cheese stores within a five-minute walk of my apartment, and that's not counting the supermarket, which has a mass-market selection that is nevertheless pretty good.

That cheese in the photo is called La Tour Du Montot, made in eastern France by midget monks who live in a tower, and milk the goats only at night under a full moon, overseen by angels.

Well, maybe not, but it is the best goat cheese I have ever tasted, and I have tasted a lot of goat cheese! Of course the other cheese on the table was an absolutely marvelous sheep's-milk cheese from...somewhere. How the hell am I supposed to keep track?

I love America, and I am very pleased that I will be moving back, but damn! Great cheese and great bread is a wonderful thing, and the Frogs do them well...maybe the best in the world.

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Freedom is an unalloyed good thing, even if it bites you in the ass because you did something stupid or even just unwise, or even something that has manageable but significant risk.

Like drinking raw milk.

Florida Department of Health Provides Update on Raw Milk

Due to continued recent severe cases of Campylobacter and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infections linked to Keely Farms Dairy, located in New Smyrna Beach, FL (Volusia County), the Florida Department of Health is providing information to assist Floridians in making informed decisions about their health. Sanitation practices in this farm are of concern due to the number of cases. There have been 21 cases since January 24, 2025, including six children under the age of 10, and seven hospitalizations linked to consumption of raw milk from this farm. Severe complications have been reported in at least two cases.

The Florida Department of Health will continue working with Keely Farms Dairy to ensure that effective sanitation practices are implemented consistently across every batch.

STEC bacteria in its most severe form can result in hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) which is characterized by hemolysis and kidney failure, which is of particular concern for children. Groups at higher risk for severe illness include infants and young children, pregnant women, elderly individuals, and those with weakened immune systems.

Floridians are encouraged to use this information to make informed decisions about their health and sources of raw milk should they choose to consume it.

The state of Florida is managing this very well. Raw milk is legal in the state, and all they are doing is making sure that people are aware of the risks. They are treating Floridians like adults, which is a far cry from the nanny-state behavior in blue states and, sadly, in more than a few red states.

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[The Spruce / Leah Maroney]

Yup...that looks great! And as your snobbish Food Thread proprietor I should be telling you to modify the recipe for Breakfast Pie With a Hash Brown Crust to homemade hash browns instead of the packaged ones.

But that would be stupid. It's a pretty easy dish to make, and it looks delicious. Why complicate it? Maybe if you have some leftover homemade hash browns you can be all snooty and flaunt your gourmet cooking, but I'm going to make this with store bought!

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Remember that Croque Monsieur I waxed poetic about at the end of June? Yeah...we went back to the café to have another, and it was a decidedly inferior sandwich. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't special. Not crisp enough, not enough ham, and even the fries that were so delicious the first time were merely good.

Maybe Thomas Wolfe is correct; "You can't go home again!"

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He is amusing, but not 10,000,000 followers amusing. Although he is taking some well-aimed potshots at an absolute dipshit Woke celebrity chef, so I'll cut him a bit of slack.

[Hat Tip: nurse ratched]

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[Hat Tip: Misanthropic Humanitarian]

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I thought France would have good garlic, but the Frogs seem to have the same problem we have in the U.S. At least they don't import filthy garlic from China. Pork is great here, but no game, so send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!