It’s Christmas Eve. Not far off Christmas Day. It must be time to write about cheese – though perhaps I’ll pass up sampling it at this late hour. I may wish for ‘visions of sugar plums‘ in my dreams, but I don’t want nightmares from careless late night cheese eating.
Cheese! The perfect word to smile for the camera. Pretty much the perfect word, if the word is like the substance itself. For I am an unabashed lover of cheese. Maybe not all types. Maybe not to the extent of always ordering cheese at the end of a meal out. But still.
Like so many in the UK, I give thanks for cheddar. Because I know plenty of ex-pats who do just that when able to buy even a tiny slice of it in far flung corners of the globe. It’s tangy, satisfying. And a good sharp cheddar is a treat. Plus it melts well, it makes great sandwiches, and it cosies up to pickles just fine.
It is now time to air that great Yorkshire saying:
‘Apple pie without the cheese
Is like a kiss without a squeeze.’
And indeed, why not? If cheese will work with pickles, it’s only a short step to eating some alongside something like apple pie. I know there are others who alternate mouthfuls of mince pies and cheese.
On that note, cheese and jam? Maybe. I did try it (I try most things, to be honest), but I don’t think I will keep going with it. But Spanish Manchego cheese with membrillo, a sliceable ‘jam’ made from quince, that I can get excited about.
What else? I am probably more in the land of the hard cheese, overall, but hard but crumbly is also good. Cue Cheshire, Wensleydale. There’s more acidity in these, which makes them great to pair with fruit. So, also, wensleydale (or white stilton) with apricot, which I love so much, I limit myself to buying at Christmas. Then it remains an indulgence.
We have developed a little habit of buying a cheese for each of us. Mine is stated above. Dan goes for Applewood smoked cheddar. Brie has been selected by the junior cheese fancier, and generally appreciated (until the point it got a little too ripe, and was passed up to Dan).
On the subject of cheese and fruit, I discovered just how addictive good parmesan and grapes are, when staying with family of our Italian friends, on our first combined trip to Italy. I don’t know if I requested that it was taken away from me in the end, or whether I had to move to another room. The saltiness of parmesan against the honey aroma of grapes: tremendous.
I also have a soft spot for Port Salut, that softer, orange-rinded French cheese. We ate our way through yards of it on a family holiday to France in my teens, when I was not ready for ‘pongier’ cheeses. Still came back with good impressions of French food though.
I had the good fortune to do the washing up at a three star hotel with a great restaurant, back in my teens. I say good fortune, because I was positioned just by the door when the cheese board was wheeled back out of the dining room, at about ten o’clock on a Saturday night.
We would grab some of the freshly made rolls that the kitchen produced, then dive into ‘tidying up’ the cheese board. They served an English cheeseboard way before people were generally putting together artisanal cheese selections.
So I was introduced to Cornish Yarg (the name supposedly being the reversal of Gray), and Hereford Hop, which had toasted hop leaves round the outside. You could cut the hop bit off, but if you ever get to try some, try it with hop first.
You can understand that I am therefore excitable when given the option to eat cheese fondue. Dan hasn’t got there yet, but I have converted him to macaroni cheese, which is a big step in the right direction. He didn’t use to eat lasagna because of the cheese sauce. Luckily he has seen the light on that one.
There is so much more that could be tapped out about cheese, but I’m looking forward to lazy post-Christmas meals, where one after another consists of cheese and crackers. What price Christmas pudding, when there’s a goodly range of cheeses?