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Smoked cheese is very nice, applewood is available in Asda and I'm guessing probably most supermarkets.
What is the best way to eat Stilton?
- Thread starter Cristobal
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Shropshire is milder and more earthy, Yorkshire is creamy and maybe more of a tang - hard to quantify from memory. Blacksticks Blue is another that's worth a try. Sainsbury's Basics blue cheese is quite reasonable especially if left to mature a bit and eaten at room temperature.
Stinking Bishop is absolutely wicked, very tasty and doesn't take much leaving out to turn liquid, it really does stink though! usually only to be found in Delicatessens. Lanarkshire Blue you probably won't like if Roquefort is too much. Cornish Yarg isn't a blue but I remember it being jolly tasty - wrapped in nettles! What you need is to find a good delicatessen.
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Curiously, Stilton is not allowed to be made in Stilton which is in Cambridgeshire. It has PDO and may only be made in Leicestershire, Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire.
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Should you even keep it in the fridge after all it was a way of preserving milk before refrigeration? Xmas time I left mine out for a couple of weeks on a shelf under a closh and forgot about it. Some of it became exceptionally ripe (delish) and for a few days I was sniffing around the kitchen wondering what the eck had gone off until I realised.
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I forgot, blue cheese goes exceptionally well with beef (preferably well aged) as after a bit of controlled spoilage they share some similar flavour profiles. If you've ever been into meat dry aging room it smells of yes you guessed blue cheese, hard to beat blue cheese on a decent burger.
- Thread Starter
- #38
I love steak with Roquefort sauce, but I never know how to dose properly the Roquefort cheese (Bleu d'Auvergne is probably more suitable for a sauce).
However, I tried this for lunch: some kind of improvised croque-monsieur, English bread toast, German Black Forest ham and Stilton on it, grilled altogether in the electric oven. The result is very edible, pretty good actually, I spread the melted cheese all over the slice of bread; the only drawback is that the Stilton taste is not strong enough or cook/heat resistant, all the sweet bitterness of the blue is gone. Stilton would be a rather good alternative to béchamel in a croque-monsieur. Next try: quiche lorraine with Stilton in it (it will replace the Comté I usually put in it).
However, I tried this for lunch: some kind of improvised croque-monsieur, English bread toast, German Black Forest ham and Stilton on it, grilled altogether in the electric oven. The result is very edible, pretty good actually, I spread the melted cheese all over the slice of bread; the only drawback is that the Stilton taste is not strong enough or cook/heat resistant, all the sweet bitterness of the blue is gone. Stilton would be a rather good alternative to béchamel in a croque-monsieur. Next try: quiche lorraine with Stilton in it (it will replace the Comté I usually put in it).
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@ Cristo, the problem with ham and Stilton together is they are both extremely savoury so I'd leave out the bacon in the quiche if I were you. Brocolli & stilton work together because the sweeter broccoli offsets the Stilton so you could certainly try that combination in a quiche....
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/04/christmas-standby-recipes-angela-hartnett
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/04/christmas-standby-recipes-angela-hartnett
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For melting on toast try mixing with a grated hard cheese or covering the stilton crumbs with slices of hard cheese. Cheddar is good it seems to let the Stilton flavour survive.
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On a digestive biscuit with an apple
I agree, digestive biscuits are essential. Not tried apple (yet), but I find a couple of glasses of LBV port works well. (Can't stand tawny port)
I also knock up a fine leak and stilton soup when the cheese is a bit far gone for even me.
Was going to say that if consistency right, it goes very well with Digestive Biscuits. Have got a few friends and sons into Port, when we served it with the Cheeseboard.
- Thread Starter
- #44
I found out that grilling your Stilton toast just to the point of fusion of the cheese (when it becomes creamy white, but fat and blue do not separate yet) preserves the taste. Of course, it requires to watch carefully the grilling process.
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- Thread Starter
- #45
I'm not sure, I use to cook my quiche lorraine with lardons (diced bacon) and Comté cheese (from a region beneath Lorraine, that's the reason why we add our local cheese to the egg/crème fraîche mix, which tastes much better to me). Furthermore, it reminds me that when we eat raclette, which is quite savoury too when melted, we usually/often accompany it with salted/cured ham or charcuterie (diverse sausages, smoked ham, white ham, etc) and potatoes of course.
As for quiche, you can basically put every vegetables you like in the mix. I used to make a quiche with leeks, onions and a mix of young cheddar and red Leceister (which doesn't melt very well by the way, probably because of my oven), perfumed with herbes de Provence and basil.
Stilton seem to melt very fast, but if too hot the cheese becomes some kind of lump of fat, hence the cream+egg or milk mix to keep it together I guess.
However, Stilton is a cheese with a lot of potential (according to the way you cook it), imagination is the limit... It's the sign of a great cheese when it can be cooked in so many ways.
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Stilton is as far removed from Comté as a cheese could possibly be, it's far too potent and for that reason cannot be matched and used in many dishes (google stilton recipes, there won't be many). Comté on the other hand is a mild nutty almost sweet cheese so naturally compliments ham/bacon, substituting one cheese for the other in a recipe is frankly bonkers.
- Thread Starter
- #47
Stilton is as far removed from Comté as a cheese could possibly be, it's far too potent and for that reason cannot be matched and used in many dishes (google stilton recipes, there won't be many). Comté on the other hand is a mild nutty almost sweet cheese so naturally compliments ham/bacon, substituting one cheese for the other in a recipe is frankly bonkers.
That's the difference between British cuisine and good cuisine my friend.
If it was true, all the ready made dishes sold in the UK's supermarkets, in which cheddar is used as a cheap replacement for foreign cheese could be thrown in the bin... And there are a LOT (from macaroni and cheese to Brit-lorraine quiche with English bacon and cheddar sold in Sainsburry's, beside the regular quiche lorraine made in Britain).
Yes, Stilton is certainly potent, but not that much (it is if of course compared to the other British cheeses, but it's a sweet compared to Roquefort that we eat with beef for instance). Furthermore, its strength completely vanishes if cooked/heated on the contrary to Comté or raclette or even Roquefort.
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Don't be daft, I was clearly refering to swapping cheeses that have opposing flavour profiles like Comte with Stilton not young mild cheeses used in mass produced fare like a supermarket quiche where you couldn't be able to tell what was what.
It does seem though you have developed a taste for our crap British white sliced bread and not the best or at least very young Stilton, as you can see from your semi-croque there is little to no blue in your cheese compared to Sandersons so that may explain some of your comments but there are better examples of mild blue creamy cheeses.
A good (usually aged) Stilton has a creamy finish and the best Roquefort I've tasted (Vieux Berger) was quite superb, complex and not in the least bit aggressive but creamy and piquant.
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