We’re turning up the heat on your summer cheese board with this blowtorched French wheel.
Photographed and styled by Andrea and Paul Bartholomew.
At its core, Tommette Brulée is a classic P’tit Basque—a hard sheep’s milk cheese from France’s southern Basque region—until the torch comes out. Made from Manech sheep’s milk, the wheels are set aflame mid-aging to create a visually striking rind and a unique charred flavor.
Depending on who you ask, the brûlée technique was either born from accident or necessity. “The first story is during a big party in the Basque mountains … somebody fell on the table and all the cheese went in the fire,” says Rodolphe Le Meunier, the world-renowned cheesemaker and affineur behind the namesake company. With nothing to waste, the revelers ate it anyway—and discovered something worth repeating. Another version is more practical: Affineurs were using blowtorches to clean mold from aging rinds. “Two stories,” says Owen Rumiano, export manager for Rodolphe Le Meunier. “One very romantic, one practical.”
Le Meunier’s Tommette Brulée stands apart in two ways: First, the wheels are washed with annatto, giving them a distinctive copper hue. Second, after about a month on the farm, the cheese arrives at Le Meunier’s cellar in La Croix-en-Touraine near the city of Tours, where he oversees an extra two to four months of aging at around 46.4 degrees F. This extended aging in cooler temperatures softens the natural intensity of the sheep’s milk, letting the high-fat paste be supple and refined rather than barny or aggressive.
The brûlée itself is a quick, precise flash of a blowtorch—just a second or so—enough to char the rind without melting the cheese. Inside, the paste is supple and layered, offering delicate fruity and nutty flavors under toasted, caramelized notes—“almost like burnt popcorn,” Rumiano says—making it a cheese anyone can enjoy. The aging process is shaped by Le Meunier’s philosophy to make cheese people will enjoy. “If I only sold the very strong cheese, like the French guys typically eat, I would never export it. I’d only sell it at farmers’ markets,” he says.
Serve Tommette Brulée as an amuse bouche with Basque black cherry marmalade or quince paste, or pair it with dry sparkling wine. For something unexpected, Le Meunier recommends Kentucky bourbon.
Josie Krogh
Josie Krogh is culture's Digital Strategy Lead. She earned her master's degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from The University of Georgia. Josie developed a love of food while working at farmstands in the D.C. area as a young adult, and discovered her love of cheese while living and working on a dairy farm on Martha's Vineyard. Josie currently lives in Catskill, NY.
Andrea and Paul Bartholomew
Co-owners of Bartholomew Studio, a photography studio focused on food and beverage and interior design. Andrea’s background in fine arts and food styling combined with Paul’s award-winning expertise in food and interior design photography ensures their work is not only beautiful, but impactful and effective.
