Dongé & Réaux : : The Originals and Still the Best

When the news of import restrictions first hit us in July, we were afraid that we would no longer be able to purchase from and support our much-championed suppliers of Brie de Meaux and Camembert.  It was a huge relief to know that both could supply a limited quantity of pasteurised cheeses as they had a small production so they could export to countries that don’t accept unpasteurised soft cheese.  Even in pasteurised form, their Brie and Camembert de Normandie represent the best of the best and it’s worth reminding ourselves of the key reasons why.

SMALL FARMS

Both the Dongé brothers and Marc Brunet at Réaux work with local farmers situated close to the dairy.  Although the number of farms sound large (40 to 60), each individual farm has only a small herd of cows.  On average they have between 45 to 70 cows per farm.  The advantage of this is, of course, much greater ability to look after their animals and ensure rigorous milking hygiene without needing harsh chemicals.  It also means that they can rear their animals to provide milk that is best suited to cheesemaking: naturally diverse in lactic acid bacteria.  In fact, both dairies pay their farmers to incentivise them to produce milk with that rich biodiversity.

If you compare this to the British farming system, herd sizes are much larger, recorded last year at an average of 219 cows.  It’s common to find herds of 300 or more, even in the specialist cheese industry.  Often these farms are diversifying from supplying liquid milk for drinking, as the commodity price is no longer profitable, but this is a slow process, and the switchover can’t happen overnight.  

Liquid milk prices are based on having a very low total count of bacteria to achieve a long shelf life and this is in complete contrast with what is needed to make cheese.  For this, you want to have levels of naturally occurring bacteria but, of course, the right bacteria.

As the systems scale up, the chances of your milk naturally preserving its lactic acid bacteria diminish.  The longer the link from cow to vat, the more chances there are for other bacteria to get into the chain.  These are not necessarily pathogenic, but bacteria that don’t contribute anything in terms of flavour and do compete for the available food source: lactose.  It has been established in research across Europe that as herd size increases and the milking parlour system is bigger with more extensive pipework and storage tanks, the greatest contributor to the flora of the milk is environmental bacteria from the inside of the pipework and containers rather than the natural lactic acid bacteria present on the udder.

INCENTIVES TO PRODUCE THE BEST MILK FOR CHEESEMAKING

As mentioned above, both the Dongés and Réaux have a payment system which rewards the milk with the best quantity of lactic acid bacteria.  This means that, even when standardised by pasteurisation, the flavour of the cheese isn’t solely reliant on the starter cultures that are added to acidify the milk.  Smaller quantities of starter means that the acidity can rise in a more controlled way and because of this, the traditional methods of production can be used without compromising drainage.  For Brie this can mean ladling with a flat large ladle known as a pelle and with minimal curd cutting to increase whey drainage.  The same is also true of the hand ladled Réaux Camembert. The acidity then contracts the curd naturally, and the cheese can drain at the correct rate compared to the rise in acidification.  If a cheese overacidifies, it loses calcium and this can make the difference between the gentle ooze of the cheeses from Dongé and Réaux or something entirely liquid.

COMMITMENT TO WORKING WITH RAW MILK & PRESERVING A COMMUNITY OF RAW MILK FARMERS

While we may currently be buying pasteurised cheese from both dairies, both are firmly committed to working with raw milk.  The pasteurised cheeses are simply a way of being able to export their cheeses to markets that wouldn’t accept raw milk.  Why should those countries be only able to choose from the larger dairies of the French cheese world like Lactalis who have adapted to factory techniques? 

Réaux and Dongé have an extensive regime of testing, both on farm and with every tanker that arrives at the dairy, to ensure cleanliness but also suitability for cheesemaking.  It is work and expense that they choose to do in order to work with raw milk.  Luc Dongé is the president of the AOC for Brie de Meaux so the small quantities of pasteurised cheese they do make is very different from a cheesemaker who has given up using raw milk for a simpler life.

In France there is cultural and legislative support for raw milk cheese, something cheesemakers in other countries, such as Ireland or the UK, can’t rely on.  In that environment, the argument for working hard to commit to preserving the traditional use of raw milk is more compelling, but it is still a commitment not to be undertaken lightly.

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE EATING

At the end of the day, all the lofty ideals and commitment to traditional farming would merely be academic if the cheese didn’t taste good.  And we were nervous at the start of the restrictions in case we would be disappointed in the pasteurised versions of our Brie and Camembert.  To be honest, while we will welcome back the raw milk cheeses as soon as we can, we’ve been really impressed with the quality of their pasteurised Brie and Camembert.  The richly biodiverse milk, even standardised, the traditional techniques and the knowledge of their process means that both cheeses still more than stand up to similar cheeses on the market.

Our Dongé Brie may vary in age due to us having to pre order, Dongé only make pasteurised cheese once every 4 weeks, but they have whipped frothy hearts with buttery, rich breakdown and lightly mushroom rinds.  Flavours of soy and cabbage can increase as they age.

Our Réaux Camembert retain the rich buttered-shellfish, garlicky savouriness we love and prize. 

Pasteurised they may be, but they’re still the cream of the crop.

Camembert maturing at the Reaux Creamery