Wait…”fromage”?
The French once called Bavarian cream “fromage Bavarois”? What on Earth does Bavarian cream have to do with cheese? The answer is nothing. The word “fromage”, as I understand it, refers as much to a process as it does to a specific food. Classically, “fromage” is something which is “made in a form.” We anglophones can see the relationship a little more clearly in the Italian word for cheese: formaggio. A loose translation of the Old French “fromage Bavarois” might be a “Bavarian cream in a form.”
Indeed, fromage most generally applies to any sort of coagulated milk product. It can get a little confusing, though — if you buy fromage blanc in France, for example, you could end up with yogurt, quark, cottage cheese, or cream cheese (or something in between, like a really soft cream cheese with a yogurt-like tang). My wife and I have learned the hard way to taste before adding to a recipe when we buy a new brand of fromage blanc….
Great stuff, Jimmah!
Thanks,
– Joe
See also: head cheese.
Ah yes…thank you, Evan!
– Joe