Guest blog (number 2000!) by Stephen Fleming of www.georgeandjoseph.co.uk
A recent conversation over my cheese counter at The Source raised an interesting question – does your surroundings affect the way you taste cheese? Does it demand absolute silence to appreciate subtle flavours, or are some cheeses better sampled in a noisy environment? Does a delicately flavoured cheese like Shepherds Purse Olde York flourish on a quiet summer’s morning, or does a feisty cheese like Ribblesdale Blue Goat’s Cheese excel in the mosh-pit of a crowded bar?
This got me thinking about how, where and when to best enjoy cheeses to appreciate their varying tastes, textures and aromas. Other questions then sprang to mind about the best way to enjoy cheese … with drinks and chutneys? Alone or with company? In reverential silence or the hustle and bustle of a busy pub (as is the case with Leeds’ own Homage2Fromage cheese club)? So many questions …
A study carried out by The University of Manchester in 2010 found that increased background noise affects the ability to detect sweetness and saltiness in food. This research provided one explanation as to why airline food tastes so bland.
It’s a well-established fact that cheese needs to be at room temperature to bring out the best I it, as flavour and texture are dulled by time in the refrigerator. Tasting cheese like tasting wine – you need to touch, smell and taste to get the whole picture. Pick the right sauce or pickle to accompany a cheese and the result can really enhance the flavour, get it wrong and the resulting car crash of flavours can send you dashing for a glass of water.
Several years ago, my Saturday morning used to involve picking up a few cheeses, meats and bread from Haley & Clifford and spend the morning in my back garden sampling them. Taking time to quietly appreciate the flavours in the quiet sunshine seemed ideal.
That said, I also enjoy the communal bustle of a Boxing Day leftovers smorgasbord, where there is plenty of “noise” from the accompanying meats, sauces and pickles. Helped along with good banter and some good tunes on the stereo (yes I know I’m old).
I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed cheese tasting en masse through Homage2Fromage – which you could say is the extreme end of cheese tasting – 100 cheese-heads in a room all tasting and discussing cheese over a drink or two.
I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve missed the subtlety of some cheeses as a result of not eating them in absolute silence. Perhaps as cheese is a naturally salty food it is less affected by background noise than other foods might be.
Like so many things there’s no right answers, so I’ll throw it over to you … how – and where – do you eat yours?
Update Stephen has offered a cheese hamper (champer) for the answer he most likes. Come on bring on the cheese… Winner notified by Saturday 13th October
I’m a fan of late night cheese. At midnight on New Year’s eve 2011 we cracked out the Yorkshire cheese, crackers and chutney – a brilliant alternative to an overpriced (and usually disastrous) night out.
In a moderately busy pub with friends, sharing a cheeseboard, accompanied by a variety of interesting beers!
When alone, I eat cheese with a very sharp knife, on a small plate, with an apple. The apple is pre-cut into slices. When cheese is desired, a small amount is sliced using the knife and placed on top of one of the slices of apple. Then, I pick up the apple and cheese canapé and place into my mouth, where I eat it. It tastes nice.
When with others, in a nice restaurant, I usually choose the cheese board – even though it appears to be the most expensive dessert item on the menu. However, the benefit of this choice results, if you are lucky, in a good selection of cheeses, with interesting pickles and spreads. My favourite spread is that figgy one, which you can only seem to get in restaurants. (anyhow, I can’t find it in my local Londis)
I like putting butter on top of crackers with cheese, which some people don’t like, but which I think tames the cracker.
My favourite cheese at the moment is the French Comté.
I was once at a conference in the Savour region of France (the same region where the cheese is produced) and in the reception afterwards, in addition to the local lovely wines, they had an entire wheel of Comté! It was my first introduction to this cheese, and I must admit I ate a fair percentage of the wheel! We were also encouraged to take a big lump home too, which I think is amazing hospitality …I think I’ll go have some now…. hmm, where did I put that knife?
on my sofa, in the evening with a glass of wine
I love sitting in front of an open fire on a winters evening with a glass of red wine and a plate of mature strong Cheddar such as Isle of Mull and a wonderful Stilton. Absolute Bliss! No other entertainment required!
I have trained my Egyptian husband to prepare us a platter of Jarlsberg, mild cheddar and double gloucester, cut into slices with a messy stack of crackers.
This is devoured when the kids have gone to bed….it’s our guilty pleasure!
I’m a cheesaholic. This means I’ll eat cheese whenever and wherever. I love cheese, and generally the stinkier, the better. For the past 3 and a bit years, though, I’ve been on a quest to try every cheese in the world with a nice blob of honey on it. This is heavenly with soft cheeses, like Stinky Bishop! but also gorgeous with a lovely crumbly Italian cow’s milk cheese. My favourite place in the world, however, is La Cloche au Fromage, in Strasbourg (http://www.fromagerie-tourrette.com/), where it is possible, with the guidance of experts, to experience cheese Nirvana.
I stand naked in front of the fridge, and eat cheese with my hands out of the packet. It’s not always pretty, but there’s rarely anyone watching.
Cheshire, Wednesleydale, Caerphilly or Lancashire, left out of the fridge for a day or so so that it is beginning to go soft, crumbled on a plate with cherry tomatoes, fresh bread and sliced beef. With more salt than is good for me as we’ll.
Once, while inebriated, I returnd to my parents’ house thinking I still lived there. In he morning, my mum discovered that I had raided the fridge in the night by finding a block of extra mature cheddar that I had taken a bite out of. This was without unwrapping so I must have ingested a significant amount of plastic as well. Not my finest hour.
Stilton on oatcakes, Stilton on steak, Stilton crumbled over pasta, Stilton ice cream, stilton and broccoli soup, Stilton Stilton, I love Stilton.