This isn’t really a recipe, not the usual kind, but it is a good, especially on a cold, snowy day like this one which greeting us this morning:

The recipe is made with cheese that can only be found at this time of year and, usually, only in France. It called Mont d’Or.


A blurry look at the label. As you might be able to see, it says raw milk. It is a very pungent cheese and the refrigerator reeked each time it was opened. My apples and bottled water even tasted like the odor. I should have put it in a sealed container. It tasted fabulous though.

As the days get shorter in late autumn, Mont d’Or with its typical wood box can be found at cheese counters and especially in December. It is made in Franche-Comté at the border with Switzerland. It is only produced between the middle of August and end of March. This cheese is made of raw cow milk from just two breeds of cattle. It is shaped into its round shape with a rind of spruce bark and then placed in a round box made of pine or spruce. It’s good stuff.


Here it is all melted and delicious. You cut a hole in the middle and pour in some white wine and insert garlic slices throughout. I saw a recipe where the cheese is marinated in the wine for a day but I didn’t plan that far ahead. Anyway, because it is such a soft cheese, it has to be kept in its wooden round box because you have to put it in a hot oven for 30 munutes until the cheese is all hot and runny, so you have to wrap the box in foil. It is then put over boiled potatoes and ham or sausage. Easy and good. I think it is similar to raclette, just a different flavor.

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