Blue Stilton - King of the Stinkers (and amazing in pie!)

One of the all time classics. That is, if you are keen on the strong and stinky end of the cheese spectrum.  Soft and crumbly,  this one was made by Long Clawson and has greeny-grey veins and is nice and creamy. Now I love Stilton, but it's so hard to spread. When putting out a platter, I prefer putting out a blue that is not going to have people crawling on the floor as though they've dropped a contact lens shouting "I'm sorry mate, I've spilled Stilton on your carpet!". Much as I love cheese (and blues), I do not fancy my house smelling like socks and bum. I much prefer it to smell of Davidoff 'Champion' and Ribena (but I have done some scoping and I think I will get in trouble if I "accidentally" spill some of that on the carpet). 

My point is, that it is very crumbly. You would never build a castle out of a Stilton because the normans would be in and have a hot poker in your belly-button within five minutes. No, no... you'd build a castle out of an old Cheddar or a Parmeggiano. It would take a six month siege then. 

That said, it is unbelievably tasty and goes very well with other foods. Because it is soft and crumbly it has a lower melting point and can be added to sauces. 

I had a slow and restful Sunday this weekend, and I decided to use part of it to expand my culinary skills and make a pie for the first time. You should know that pie is the other food that holds a very special place in my heart. I friggin love it. Especially the earthy, rich-flavoured jelliness of the pork pie! Boom!!). So as if I was going to do anything else than try combining my two favourite foods!? I decided that my virginal pie experience should be broken in by something easy - the chicken, ham and Stilton pie. It was actually mega easy, and a taste sensation, sending me into a post-dinner trance of combining pie ingredient combinations in my mind - "baked beans and corned beef? Nope, no.....lamb and port?..." It was definitely made by the Stilton - it just added the substance to the meaty combinations with its strong flavour - even the non-blue lovers would appreciate its inclusion. 

The Long Clawson Stilton is definitely worth a try, but try it also as an addition to something else. It won the "Reserve Supreme Champion" title at the International Cheese Awards in 2011 and is a safe classic. Well deserves an 8 in my book. But please do remember (**DISCLAIMER**) - do not use it to build castles or and type of load bearing construction. Take care. 

What's this all about?

So I have always loved cheese, but not to an extent that I ever wanted to write or dedicate a blog page to it. So why now? It's a bit weird that I have chosen to do so actually but it is therapeutic to be writing about something that you like and can just do in your own time.


What happened was, it was my birthday a month and a half ago and Linda D (my girlfriend's mum) had a thoughtful present for me waiting at her house. Zoe (gf) and I popped round on the Saturday night for dinner and XFactor, and after spending an hour laughing at some of the tone-deaf people who genuinely believe they can sing, Linda went into the kitchen and came out with a giant hamper saying 'happy birthday' to me. On unwrapping the cloth to reveal the contents, my face went into 'cheeky beam' mode. It was full of cheese, wine, oils (cooking!) and A GIANT PORK PIE with my name on it. (interjection - at this point I should state that pork pie is the only other food that challenges cheese at the top of my love list! When they both come together, like pork & Stilton pie...ohhhh baby!!).

Over the last few weeks since, I have been chomping through (nom-nom-nom!) these various cheeses that I had not heard of or seen before and hit a couple that made me think 'phwoarrr - that ain't half bad mate!' in my best Essex accent. They were good and I wanted to eat them again. I decided that the best thing to do was to get a notebook, write down their names and a short rating of why I liked them. Then I thought 'hey, I'm a 21st century guy - why not write a blog? That way I'll have the record with me wherever I go and it can be like one of the travel diaries I've had in the past - except with stories about cheese.'


So there you have it. I sit here now talking about these experiences feeling a little bit like teen medic Doogie Howser MD, except my computer is a little less antiquated and I don't write about saving lives (only hypothetically by spreading the word of cheese). I probably won't just stick to reviews of cheese. There are too many other stories and opinions to share!