Unique Shaped Cheese
From cutting soft, pyramid-shaped cheeses to slicing cylindrical logs to making Tête de Moine rosettes with a girolle, our tips will help you expertly cut even the most uncommon shapes of cheese.
Tête de Moine Rosettes
In order to shave thin ribbons of Tête de Moine, you’ll need a girolle machine, a wooden tool with a crank knife that slices thin shavings of the cheese when rotated. These thin shavings of cheese can then be folded and arranged to look like small flowers.
Start by cutting the round-shaped rind off the top of the Tête de Moine wheel using a knife, exposing the paste underneath.
Set and pierce the wheel in the center, open paste side up, on top of the the spike of the girolle. Make sure that the wheel is completely pierced and sits flat on top of the wooden base.
Connect the cutting knife portion of the girolle and, using the handle, rotate it in either direction to create beautiful cheese curls.
Pyramids
Cheeses included
ValencayFor soft, pyramid-shaped cheeses, the optimal technique is similar to a cake cut. Start with large wedges, then slice them into smaller triangles.
This cut starts as if you’re cutting a small cake or muffin. Make a vertical cut by starting at the top center and ending at the base.
Make another vertical cut perpendicular to the first and remove the tall wedge from the wheel.
Place the small cut-out wedge on its side and make parallel cuts to create serving-size portions.
Logs
With cylindrical logs of cheese, the goal is to create even-sized coins, as if you were slicing up a salami chub or a stick of butter.
Create coin-shaped pieces by cutting perpendicular to the long side of the log.
Depending on the desired serving size, you can cut the round coins further in half for a half-moon shape or in quarters for a triangular wedge shape.