BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!

Subject: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 04:22 PM

Ok, Ok, I know it's controversial. It's meant to be. My mate, Ged, reckons that the further you get from the county palatine the worse the cheese becomes. And I agree. So, in Lancashire, you get the wonderful stuff that is sharp on the pallate. Almost spicy, flavoursome and delicious. Comes in crumbly or creamy. Open textured and wonderful.

Near by is Cheshire, nearly as good but not quite up to it. Wensleydale. Wonderful but doesn't have the range of Lancs, unless you mix it with cranberries or whatever is trendy at the moment. Stilton (from Derbyshire!) rich and lucious. Can't eat too much without throwing up though! They all border on Lancashire.

So, where next. Leicester? Gloucester? Hmmmm. Not much flavour there. So, we come to that most famous of English cheeses, Cheddar. Ahhhh, not too bad if you get a proper one but how much crap do you have to wade through before you kiss your prince?

Lets cross the water now. Brie? Smelly socks. Camembert? Jock straps! Edam? Good for playing bowls with.

No lets go further. Across the Atlantic. Processed cheese in a tube... No lets not go there after all. Monteray Jack? Hah! I scoff at your feeble attempts! Limberger? Failed Germanic navel fluff.

So. Full circle. Back to Lanacashire. The perfect example?

Discuss.

I know there will be some dissenters but to us who are passionate about our dairy products how can there be anything else but the truth:-)

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Blowzabella
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 04:24 PM

Huzzah for Grandma Singleton! (There's them as knows and then there's them as doesn't!)

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Les from Hull
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 04:30 PM

I almost agree, Dave. But I thought it was summat to do with your proximity to Wensleydale. And we've got Wallace and Grommit on our side!

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Gurney
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 05:32 PM

Have a slice of cheese and christmas cake this season. Nothing like it.

If anyone never has had it, don't knock it 'till you try it. One of the great combinations.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 05:47 PM

Dave,

I can do nothing but agree.

I lived in Lancaster for a couple of years, and the 'Tasty Lancashire' that I purchased there, remains the best cheese that I've ever enjoyed.

I think that this page says it all:

Tasty Lancashire is the Connoisseurs choice!

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 05:49 PM

Local Resturant does a Caembert on a Pizza - also does a Bacon, Bannana and Chili one...

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 05:56 PM

Ooooh - Sharp cheese and Chrissy cake. MmmmMmmmMmmm. Or try it on a slice of malt loaf. Oooooo.

Sorry. got to go to the larder...

:D

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:17 PM

While I understand your disdain for US cheese, especially given the examples you groaned over, there are indeed some great cheeses here.

New York State white "cheddar"--I know, I know, a misuse of the term-- is marvelous, for one.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:26 PM

In Australia, they only allow cheese made from Pasturised Milk - can't even import Non-Pasturised Cheese.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:32 PM

Also, some of the Wisconsin cheeses are good, and Star Valley Wyoming (of all places) makes a decent cheese. Gotta love the stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:35 PM

Again... typical mypoic, petty mudcat thinking...

ALL cheese is good... in it's time and palce...

There is no BEST...

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:42 PM

You've obviously not eaten 'tasty Lancashire', Clinton! *grin*

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:44 PM

Ahhh, C'mon Clint babe! mypoic? palce... ? Just because yuo cnot sepll!

No sorry. All cheese is NOT good. Some is crap. And even sorrier - Canadian Cheddar is the anti-christ of cheeses!

Going bak to sensible stuff. There is distictly a best.

LANCASHIRE.

No Dboyt.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 06:52 PM

well, Noreen brought us (Ferrara & I) some Wensleydale (Cranberry) when she came over to the US with the Shellbacks in Oct., and if there IS better cheese, I'll be glad to sample some!

CH is right, of course...there is good cheese everywhere and tastes differ..(I don't care at ALL for the strong, smelly types!)(of cheeses)

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:01 PM

For me Danish blue (not the porn movie!) or Mascapone, though extremely fond of very mature cheddars,love some of the Netherlands cheeses.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:03 PM

Screw you DtG.... There might be a your favourite (which matters to no one but you) but there is no BEST... It's arrogant to think so... (especially if you think it's BEST just because YOU like it)

What's appalling is that idiotic thread like this get so much attention when Mudcatter CD release threads and the like fall off the page nearly unnoticed...

And it's not that I can't spell... it's more that I can't type...

Mudcat needs a moderator to delete spam crap like this thread...

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Gareth
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:08 PM

Caerphilly ! Goes well with crusty bread & salted butter.

Gareth (from the County Borough of Caerphilly.)

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:11 PM

Please chill out, Clinton.

If there was a moderator, your posts would probably be first in the bin. Let live, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:17 PM

If there was a moderator, there wouldn't be anonymous postings... so GUEST would be there first...

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:18 PM

A Mod can take this whole thread!

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:24 PM

"ALL cheese is good..."

Clinton must have led a sheltered life, at least so far as cheese is concerned.

But if he just means there is some good cheese from just about every part of the world, that's true enough. But the corollary of that is there's also some pretty dire cheese from just about every part of the world as well. Probably even Lancashire, if you looked really hard.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: jimmyt
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:26 PM

Although I tend to agree that many of the best cheeses are ENglish (from my taste test) I think we should not overlook some of the wonderful cheeses from Italy. Clinton, you could start a thread about, hummm............maple syrup? Beer? gotta be something up there you are proud of, old boy.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 07:42 PM

I'm just a JoeClone, but I'm really enjoying the concept here. Instead of the usual flame wars, Mudcat is now embroiled in the Great Cheese War of 2003.

They sell varius foriegn cheeses at some stores here, and some are harder to find than others. Brie, which I've learned to like, Blue Stilton, which one day I'd like to see how much I could eat before I barfed, Wensleydale & Cheshire are OK, Double Gloucester, and various things I haven't tried. I haven't had Lancashire since I was in Bicestershire.

I love an aged Vermont 'Cheddar' which smells like the stuff under your toenails.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 08:10 PM

I have a recipe for Lancashire Soup, but that might be sacrilege.

Kitty

PS IIRC, when the Beatles first landed in the US, and announced themselves bigger than cheeses, Liverpool was still part of Lancashire for administrative purposes.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 03:53 AM

Ah Lancashire cheese, when young it is termed Creamy Lancashire and the texture is moist and crumbly as it matures the flavour intensifies and it is known as Tasty Lancashire, in the 70's Crumbly Lancashire was introduced, it is a fast ripening cheese that although it tastes like the real thing lacks the depth of flavour, however Dave there are wonderful cheeses from all over, for a superb English cheese try Poachers Imp from Lincolnshire it's wonderful

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Raggytash
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 04:02 AM

Ooooooops that Guest was me, having sampled over 250 cheeses at least Clinton is misguided to say there is no bad cheese, some is truly awful and doesn't deserve to be even called cheese and as for the Wensleydale notion of putting fruit in it ........if your cheese is good in the first place it doesn't need additives and often they ruin a good cheese try Bowland for example Yuk !

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Little Robyn
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 04:28 AM

In 1990 were went into a supermarket in Cheddar, with a separate cheese bar so we decided to try 'the real thing'.
And there, in the middle, the biggest cheese of all....
came from New Zealand - NZ Cheddar cheese!!!
Robyn (in NZ)

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Ferrara
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 04:29 AM

Well but the Wensleydale cranberry was truly bliss to eat with a slice of sweet-sour Nittany apple....

And jimmyt, thanks, I was going to say a bit about Italy (should come as no surprise to anyone.) Although I suspect my favorite Italian cheese, scamorza, is pretty much of an acquired taste (I acquired it when I was too young to know better....), like squid, which I also love, and which the over-critical might say it resembles.

Lots of other good cheeses there though. Italian Fontina is one, cacciacavallo another, never have tasted mascarpone. My family comes from around Naples, I don't know about that fancy Northern stuff.

Well here's hoping the tylenol has taken effect and I can get some sleep, have to be up at 7, and what am I doing typing into a BS thread anyway? Against my principles. Fun thread tho, but not enough varieties of opinion yet! ;-)

RF

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 04:45 AM

Check out Les Barkers song, The Hard Cheese of Old England [ especialy by Martin Carthy ] The only cheese Les doesn't take the mickey out of is WENSLEYDALE, this must mean something.
eric

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 05:39 AM

"some is truly awful and doesn't deserve to be even called cheese"

And no matter HOW bad YOU think it is, there's some collection of folks out there who hold it on high as their fave...

So... what value the epiteth "Best"????

There's nothing more subjective than taste...

Hell... there are situations where I think the perfect cheese is cheezewiz!

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: RangerSteve
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 06:43 AM

DtG - there's nothing wrong with Gouda. As a matter of fact, there's everything right with it.

I recently bought some Swedish cheese. Now, there's a country that knows nothing about cheese. One version had juniper berries in it. It tastes like straight gin (which means that it sucks). The other cheese, flavored with Absolut Currant vodka is still in the fridge, I'm afraid to try it. Also, avoid that brown goat cheese from Sweden that's available here in the States.

I'd also steer clear of the so called "artisan" cheeses from Vermont. I have a hunk of Sage cheese in my fridge. It tastes nothing like sage, but a lot like motor oil. I've had sage cheese before, and it's really good if done right. I'll stick with Cabot when I want Vermont cheese from not on.

I also recommend Saga Danish blue.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: okthen
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 07:00 AM

Here's to you DtG, it's years since I had a decent bit of Lancashire cheese. When my Mum was still able to travel and visited her sisters in Preston, she'd buy a large slab from Preston market and 'twould be blasphemy to compare it to the stuff you get in supermarkets. The best cheese now seems to come from small producers as the EEC and health & safety have legislated everything into an homogenous, bland contradiction in terms.
Wallace & Grommit should in fact be fans of Lancashire as their creator (Andy Park) was born and raised in Penwortham, just outside Preston,(next door to my Aunt)
As I say, it's been years since I had a decent bit of Lancashire cheese,(hint hint, PM for my address)
cheers
bill

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 07:41 AM

Siberian beaver cheese ? no,
wensleydale ? yes sir. right I'll have some of that, no sir thats my name, Mr Wensleydale.
All hail Monty Python.
eric

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 08:23 AM

I cannot believe that no one has questioned the ridiculous claim that Lancashire is better than Stilton. Like insisting that vanilla is better than chocolate.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 08:44 AM

Reading this thread makes me feel like poor Ben Gunn tortured by dreams of toasted cheese!
Didn't General De Gaulle complain of the difficulty of ruling France that it was impossible to govern a country that produced over 300 different cheeses?
Happily Britain is now approaching this level of ungovernability, after a period when unappetising blocks of processed "cheddar" seemed to be the only kind of cheese available. As with real beer there has been a revival of interest in good cheese, and some of these sites demonstrate the variety and quality now available:- Fine Cheese , Specialist Cheesemakers and Neals Yard Dairy
I will grant the outstanding virtues of a Tasty Farmhouse Lancashire, especially that made by Granny Singleton, but living as I do in Cheshire I have to favour the delightful nutty taste of a mature Cheshire made on Mrs Appleby's farm.
Bill, do you remember Gunton's in Crouch Street, Colchester? where I used to buy large 5lb farmhouse cheddars on my way home from school.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: okthen
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 08:55 AM

Matthew, I well remember Gunton's, tho' not for cheese, it was one of the two shops in Colchester that roasted its own coffee,with the wind in the right quarter you could smell it from the Odeon.I think Guntons is still there but it's been a few years since I was in aromatic proximity.Floreat Sodalitas, yeah yeah yeah.
cheers
bill

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 09:03 AM

Screw you DtG.... There might be a your favourite (which matters to no one but you) but there is no BEST... It's arrogant to think so... (especially if you think it's BEST just because YOU like it)


'course it's arrogant! But not without reason. Lancashire cheese is my favourite and it does matter to everyone! I am the most important person here so my views matter more than anyone else's. What I perceive as being best, therefore, must be best! Got a problem with that?

And why bring a crappy folk music CD into an important discussion like this?

:D

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:13 AM

ABSOLUTELY NOT, DtG. *I* have arrived, and *I* created you and everyone else, as *I* am a Solipsist. YOUR petty likes and dislikes come from *my* desires, and *I'm* getting pretty annoyed with you right now and may uncreate you.

Geez. I've eaten Roquefort right in the caves and it was outstanding. I've eaten Star Valley cheese in Star Valley and it's terrific. I've eaten Tillamock from Oregon and it's very, very good. NY white cheddar? -- great stuff. Cheese curd ("rubber cheese" from the sound it makes on your teeth) from a good cheese maker is a gift from the gods, especially if it's scooped right from the tank. Swiss, French, Italian, Irish, Canadian, Mexican -- if it's good cheese it's good cheese and anything else is rampant regionalism of the sort that has started wars.

Back in 1965 I was walking the levees along the Upper River (there is but One River) during a flood. The Red Cross brought bad coffee and cheese sandwiches. It was some sort of processed cheese slices and the slices were old -- in fact, fossils of them were later found in Montana. One chap in my group couldn't eat the cheese, so he stuck it to the bottom of his boots, walked a mile, and found that the cheese was slightly scuffed but otherwise undamaged. THAT was bad cheese.

I've mentioned the cheeses of Roquefort, but we haven't even touched on chevre or cheeses made from mare's milk. Canada, for instance, produced some chevre that is equal to anything produced by France.

DtG, my creation, I will ask you a question to which I of course already know the answer: Have you even drunk English WINE? And I mean wine made in England from grapes grown there.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: jimmyt
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:42 AM

Everyone who flies British Air has an opportunity to drink ENglish wine. It is not at the guality level of your cheese!

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:49 AM

I can remain silent no longer... I grew up in Wisconsin... the land of cheese and bear. (Courtesy of John9.) Every time we go out to visit my family, we go directly to the cheese factory and buy enough cheese for the Messengers and our neighbors. That same cheese, sitting in a cooler in a supermarket for weeks (or shipped overseas) is not the SAME cheese. It's a rough approximation of the cheese we get when we buy it freshly made. I imagine the same is true of the cheese we buy here in our supermarkets that is from Switzerland. It's good cheese, but surely not as good as the day it was made..

A Cheesehead

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: GUEST,JohnJ...not a guest!
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 11:12 AM

From my experience I most heartily agree with DtG's 'league' of cheeses.

I now buy Lancashire cheese from Bury market where it is simply superb, in fact all the cheeses I've bought from there are really good.

Cheers all,

John

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 11:49 AM

I deny the existance of Rapaire. I am considering forming a breakaway religion based on the tenats of peace, love and dairy products.

Cheese eaters of the world unite. You have nothing to loose but your sylph like figures...

:D

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: jimmyt
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 12:05 PM

I have an important question regarding serving a cheese course at an upcoming holiday dinner we are hosting. NAyone who reads this, please post to my CHEESE course thread, so I won't thread drift here Thanks in advance for your help.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 12:07 PM

Nobody has mentioned the Moon as the place to get cheese - as demonstrated by Wallace and Gromit by means of A Grand Day Out

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Peg
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 12:29 PM

I am not too terribly adventurous about food, and cheese is no exception. I like the milder cheeses, but a good extra-sharp cheddar has to be my favorite. A nice treat with tart apples. I also have come to love cheese on toast, that English delicacy. Thank the gods my broiler works or I'd starve. Dice up some broccoli and onions and   add herbs and saute in butter and toss that on your bread before covering it with cheese and broiling: a nice quick veggie meal. Most American cheddars (esp. Vermont and New York) are suitable to the purpose. I am very fond of Engish Farmhouse Cheddar, which one can find in better shops here.


Always remember: anything other than FRESH mozzarella is not worth using! And freshly-grated Romano, Parmesano or other hard cheeses for pasta, etc. is far superior to the pre-grated stuff. Same idea as fresh-ground coffee beans as compared to pre-ground, freeze-dried...

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 12:39 PM

"a good extra-sharp cheddar.... with tart apples"

Well, now I gotta have BOTH!!!

:-P~~~~~~~~

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: jimmyt
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 12:54 PM

peg, I love to eat a salad of Fresh mozzerella, thin sliced tomatoes, onions and basil with garlic and olive oil. In Italy they call it a Caprese. It is the best!

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 12:58 PM

Stop drooling on the thread Clinton. I just ate my last tart apple (Granny Smith) and there's no way I'm going to the store right now. Not without a sled and some dogs anyway. What my parents used to refer to as 'rat trap Cheddar' goes well with apple pie too. Especially my mom's version of pie that has lots more cinnamon than the conventional ones. I DO have some nice sourdough bread and some aged (in my refrigerator) cheddar and I could probably find some veggies in there that aren't pink yet. Now I'm drooling too...

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: GUEST,Guest. Simpsv at work
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 02:59 PM

Stilton from Derbyshire. No, Sir. It's made in the Vale of Belvoir and is therefore from Rutland or Leicestershire.

Subject: RE: BS: The best cheese is Lancashire!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 03:15 PM

Sigh...

I wish people would get their facts right when it comes to these important topics:-)

There has been a creamery at Hartington for over 130 years, producing the highest quality British Cheese. Indeed Hartington is the site of one of only very few creameries in the world which can legally produce the King of Cheeses: Stilton.

Stilton carries the equivalent of 'appellation controlee' and can be made only in the shires of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.

A cheese-making dairy was originally opened on the site of the present Creamery in 1876 by the Duke of Devonshire. It struggled as a business venture and closed in 1895. But in 1900 Thomas Nuttall of Beeby in Leicestershire bought the building to start making Stilton cheese.

So Stilton IS made in Derbyshire!

For this and other facinationg cheese facts check out this site.

Cheers (or is it cheese?)

:D