Why Does My Brie Cheese Smell Like Ammonia?

Brie Noir

I received a comment from Angie who read my post, Moldy Brie Cheese asking about some brie she purchased that looked lovely, but had an overwhelming ammonia smell. I sent her question to my favorite cheesemonger, Jack Morgan, who gave a great reply.

Jack gives a small plug for his cheese shop here in Philadelphia at the end of his explanation but it is also great advice when seeking out a reputable cheese store anywhere. It is so important to find a cheese person who doesn’t just try to sell you cheese but answers your questions and let’s you try their cheeses. Be nice to your cheese purveyor and you will be surprised how much they will go out of their way to make sure you are satisfied.

From Angie:

I have read conflicting responses on other sites about the ammonia smell to Brie. The rind is pure white, and the cheese is a beautiful color, but the ammonia smell is throwing me. I have never tried this particular kind until tonight – Martin and Collet French Brie. I don’t know that I’ve had a French Brie before, but I do not recall it smelling like ammonia. Please help!

From Jack:

Brie does not necessarily have to be “pure white”.  True “Brie”, that soft-ripened” cheese named after the town of it’s origin, should not, in fact be all white. The various colored spots that may decorate the rind (fleuri) of a authentic brie will tell you a little about the state the cheese is actually in.

Just as our experiences tell us a green banana will taste different than one which is yellow, spotted, or black (and all are very usable in each state of ripeness) so too with the average soft-ripened, bloomy rind cheese.

In truth, a pure white brie will usually denote that the cheese has been “ultra-pasteurized”; a system of heating the curd using very high heat for long periods of time, twice, so that most, if not all bacteria will be killed off. (The word “bacteria”should not be confused with “pathogens”). This process allows the cheese to be “shelf stable”. The resulting cheese is now an approximation of brie.

This super market ideal is based on ill informed facts on how long a particular cheese on a grocers shelf will last before profits are lost with the ultimate decay of the aforementioned product. Knowing this, if one can only buy cheese at a supermarket and you see a “spotted” brie, avoid it. Surely since the cheese has been stabilized you can correctly deduce that the cheese is “old”, rather than aged or professionally cured for x amount of time.

Ammonia Smell

A by product of all bloomy rind cheeses is “ammonia” smell. This some-what offensive aroma results when the cultures used to make the cheese consume and convert the proteins in the curd into ammonia. Refrigeration traps this aroma in the cheese not allowing it to evaporate away. Exposing the cheese to air will help dissipate this aroma.

It is what it is. A lemon should be sour. Excessive anything is never good so it will be up to the individual consumer to decide what is palatable. If you are unable to taste before you purchase, make sure the cheese slightly bulges to touch, is not to colorful, and the smell does not overwhelm you.

Each and every person’s taste buds are legitimate. There are no hard fast rules to what we should like or dislike. Rare steak can be as enjoyable as well done. Do you want yellow bananas or black bananas for puddings and daiquiris? Find a cheese shop, establish a courteous relationship, and  try some samples before you buy.

The photo above is “Brie Noir”; One year “aged”.  At what point is this cheese not serviceable? The answer is up to who will use it and for what purpose.

A small plug for my shop - All customers are allowed to taste most of our cheeses. We supply service and knowledge that matches the superior products we sell. We do not require that any particular consumer have any knowledge what so ever on what it is they may want.

Cheese snobbery is a predictable result of insecure, self-important individuals. We try not to intimidate. The experience of tasting and purchasing should be pleasurable. After all, it is only cheese.

Jack Morgan
Downtown Cheese
The Reading Terminal Market
Philadelphia, Pa.

Related Topics

Moldy Brie Cheese

Interview with Cheeseman Jack Morgan

Cheese Primer

Cheese Guide for Home Cooks

How To Prepare Egg Foo Young

by contributing writer Chef Mark R. Vogel

Smoked Salmon Egg Foo Young

Photo Credit

The word “omelet” or “omelette” if you prefer, first appeared in English in the early 1600’s, after being successively morphed from Latin and then French terms beforehand.  Whatever the diachronic linguistics, omelets have been consumed by man since ancient times.  And once omelets became nascent, it certainly didn’t take long for man to realize that other ingredients such as meats and vegetables could be added to them.  The truth is that most of today’s dishes, even so called “classics,” are largely derivative.

On that note, say hello to egg foo young, which for all intents and purposes is an omelet.  You should first note that it has a plethora of spellings with “fu” instead of “foo,” and “yong” or “yung” in place of “young.”  And just to make it more complicated the various foos and youngs can be connected or separated such as egg fuyung or egg foo yong.  The only constant in this chaos is the egg.

Egg foo young is an American Chinese restaurant staple.  Like many other common “Chinese” dishes it was invented in the US.  However, egg foo young does have authentic Chinese underpinnings.  It is a variant of an old Sichuan dish called Fu yung egg slices, a dish based on egg whites and pork.

Exactly who and precisely when egg foo young was created is elusive but it appears to have been extant since the 1940’s.  In a nutshell, (or should I say eggshell?), egg foo young is beaten egg mixed with vegetables, sometimes a protein, pan or deep-fried, and served with a sauce reminiscent of brown gravy.

The vegetable options include onion, scallions, carrots, peas, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and cabbage.  Meats include beef, pork, chicken or shrimp.  Of course the specific combinations vary from chef to chef.  Sometimes there’s no meat as in “vegetable egg foo young.”  If the admixture contains a protein it will usually be denoted in the title as in “pork egg foo young.”

Variations of the Same

If you research various egg foo young recipes you will find a dichotomy exists in the cooking instructions.  Some instruct you to stir-fry the vegetables and/or the protein first and then combine them with the egg, which is then fried.  Others direct you to add the uncooked vegetables and meat to the eggs and then proceed with the frying.

I believe it is prudent to cook, or at least partially cook, the non-egg ingredients first.  The eggs fry very quickly and the vegetables, especially harder ones like carrots, can end up too hard if not pre-cooked.

The sauce is based on chicken broth to which soy sauce and cornstarch are added.  The soy sauce adds flavor and darkens the final color while the cornstarch imbibes it with viscosity, thus producing the aforementioned brown-gravy-like quality.  For the best flavor and authenticity I recommend you make your own Asian chicken broth.  I have supplied a recipe below.  But of course if you are pressed for time, a canned chicken broth will do.

Asian Chicken Broth

• 8 lbs chicken parts, (legs thighs, and/or wings)
• 6 quarts of cold spring water
• 1 batch scallions, white and green parts, roughly chopped
• 1 two-three inch chunk of ginger, sliced
• 1 dried hot red pepper

Add the chicken and water to a large stockpot, bring to a boil and then immediately reduce to a very gentle simmer, uncovered.  Bubbles should only be lazily breaking the surface. This is important.  A strong simmer will evaporate the fluid too quickly and not extract the flavoring elements as efficiently.

Skim the top to remove any scum or errant particles but do not stir.  Stirring will make the final broth cloudy.

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer, occasionally skimming, for at least 4 hours.  Strain the soup to remove the solids.  For a clearer broth strain again through cheesecloth and a chinois, (a fine-meshed strainer).  Discard the solids.  (You can save the leftover chicken meat for chicken soup).

Vegetable Egg Foo Young

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot, cut into small dice
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1 handful of bean sprouts
• Vegetable oil, as needed
• 6 eggs, beaten
• Pinch of salt
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ¾ cup peas

For the sauce:

• 1 cup Asian chicken broth (from above recipe)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

How to Prepare at Home

In a large sauté pan saute the carrot, onions, and bean sprouts in some vegetable oil until the carrots begin to soften.

In a large bowl beat the eggs with the salt, pepper, and soy sauce.  Add the sautéed vegetables and peas to the egg mixture and stir to combine.

Wipe out any errant particles from the sauté pan and add new oil to at least a half-inch depth.  Heat the oil fully.

With a large spoon pour portions of the egg mixture into the pan.  Try not to make them much wider than your spatula to facilitate flipping.  Brown the first side, flip and then brown the second.  Remove to paper towels to drain and then serve with the sauce.

Make the sauce while the above ingredients are cooking.

For the sauce, bring the chicken stock, soy sauce and black pepper to a boil.  Whisk the cornstarch with the rice wine in a small bowl until fully incorporated and then add it to the stock.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for a few minutes, regularly whisking, to thicken it.  When done whisk in the sesame oil.

Chef Mark R. Vogel

The Reluctant Gourmet receives a lot of questions via email.  Some of them I can answer right away, and others I rely on the help of some of my chef friends for answers.  Remember, I am by no means a professional chef.  I’m called “Reluctant” for a good reason, but I promise that if I can, I will find answers for you.

I often save the baking-related questions for my friend, Pastry Chef Jenni Field, so here is a round-up of the most recent baking and pastry-related questions and answers.  Thanks, Chef Jenni!

How do you keep the Wontons from getting mushy In Wonton Soup

From Chuck:

Hello.  I made wonton soup for the first time the other day and was very pleased with the way it turned out — with ONE exception.  The wontons were a little mushy.  Now wonton soup you get at a Chinese restaurant has the wontons, of course, but they are rather stiff.  If you have leftovers, you can put them in the refrigerator and they do not get mushy.  I realize that cooking time is a factor (I boiled mine), but I’m wondering if a restaurant would use a different kind of wonton wrapper that keeps the wontons from getting mushy.  Thanks in advance for your opinion.

From Chef Jenni Field

Wow, Chuck.  This is a really good question, and using a different wrapper than is available to home cooks is often an answer that lots of people don’t even consider.  I would hazard a guess, though–and this is just a guess–that the wontons are steamed until just-tender and then added to the soup at service.  Otherwise, I’d bet that even the most sturdy wrappers would get mushy as the starch granules swell and swell and then finally burst, giving a mushy texture.

If I were you, I would try the same thing.  Set up a steamer, either a bamboo steamer/wok combination, one of those collapsible steamer inserts or even just a rack that would suspend the wontons over, not in, boiling water.

If you don’t want to get out a bunch of other pots, consider boiling the wontons in salted water until just barely done, so the wrapper is still a little al dente, as it were, then place them in bowls and ladle boiling hot broth over them. The hot broth should finish cooking them until perfect doneness.

As to leftovers, I would only boil what I need and keep any extras frozen until the next time you make the dish.

I hope this answer helps.