A Beginners Guide to… Cheese with Simon Day and Paxton & Whitfield
An appealing cheese board is the perfect finale to a great meal; a tempting spread of various cheeses with tangy chutney and some fresh grapes tops off an evening’s eating. But where to begin? Supermarket aisles teem with tempting dairy delights and specialist cheesemongers can be overwhelming.
Cheese guru Simon Day from Unearthed (http://discoverunearthed.wordpress.com) has some suggestions on how to create your ideal board:
“Textures and flavours are our primary concern. As a basic rule of thumb go for a soft cheese such as brie or camembert, a hard option, cheddar or gruyere, a blue option like stilton, and a goats cheese. In terms of flavour, aim for variety again; for example if you have a strongly smoked cheese, don’t pick another smoked one. Try and mix it up.”
Paxton & Whitfield’s www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk best selling cheese is a Montgomery’s cheddar. They ship out over a tonne of the stuff over the Christmas season alone, so definitely a good starting point. Stilton too is among the more popular choices and would be a perfect blue option.
Remember any serious cheese outlet will be more than happy to let you try before you buy so don’t be scared to have a nibble and see what you like. For a goaty option, ex-Blur bassist Alex James produces the delicious Farleigh Wallop, and across the channel the French produce a wider range of more complex goat’s milk varieties. Head towards a Brie de Meaux for a fruity yet mild and tangy flavour that won’t fail to impress your guests.
Make your cheese board look more appealing by adding some green curly lettuce to freshen it up. Fruit is also a superb accompaniment. Figs go well with goats cheese, as do apples with hard cheese. Possibly serve oatcakes as a classy alternative to crackers and biscuits.
Finally, why not include a cheese that no one will have heard of? This will create a great talking point and make for a more memorable experience.
Learn more & buy on line at www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk
By Charlie Nelson (http://eatmynels.blogspot.com)
