Food
8 October 2009
Stawley
Cheese stats: Small round of goats cheese, bought from Neals Yard Dairy[1]
The stawley has a creamy yellow and white white wrinkled rind. A sticky, translucent layer lies just below the rind, and the cheese becomes a denser, opaque white towards the centre. It’s thick, and solidly sticky, and the texture reminds me of putty or plasticine. (I didn’t test this by attempting to sculpt anything from my lunch.)
The rind tastes bright and acidic and fruity – predominantly pineappley. (Q. for Food Science; Why does my cheese keep tasting pineapppley? This is the fourth pineapple-flavoured cheese.) The white paste tastes creamy and goaty. It’s dense and thick and melts slowly in my mouth. It rewards patience; the taste opens out as it melts into this bright excited lemony explosion.
1. I forgot to write down any detail for this cheese, and it is TOO NEW to be mentioned on the internet.
Harbourne Blue
Cheese stats: Blue goats cheese, also from Neals Yard Dairy. This is the goaty sibling cheese of Beenleigh Blue.
The last goats blue I tried had me running for water, and gasping for breath, but this one couldn’t be more different. Harbourne blue is white, firm and crumbly, with scattered specks of blue-green moulding. There’s no rind. In my mouth it feels slightly waxy – almost a plastic texture, and crumbles and melts quite easily.
It’s surprisingly well-mannered; mild, creamy and nutty (walnuts and hazelnuts), fruity with hints of flowers. And more than any of this, it’s sweet; a milky, fudgey sweetshop-ness that the cheese pusher seller and I narrow down to the taste of the icing on a coffee cake. This goes well with the walnuttishness. Even the patches of blue are restrained in their spiciness, although they do give the cheese some bite. There’s a touch of sharper grassy goaty tang, but that’s kept very much in check by the sweet milkiness.
Cheesy conclusion: I really enjoyed the way the Stawley opened out from a dense creamy cheese to a huge burst of lemon; it felt like I was discovering secrets. The Harbourne Blue was a tad too sweet for me, though; I prefer my cheeses with a bit more bite. But it wasn’t a bad cheese! Just not the right cheese for me.
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 2 Comments
1 October 2009
Swallet: a raw soft ewe’s milk cheese from Cumbria, bought from Neal’s Yard Dairy
The swallet has a wrinkled rind, and is a rich cream colour underneath a faint white bloom. Tiny patches of blue-gray mould are scattered across it. Directly under the rind there’s a melted liquid layer. Inside it’s a paler cream – almost white – and very light and fluffy.
It tastes deceptively mild and intensely creamy. It feels like eating rich thick yellow cream with a spoon straight from the tub. (I am a greedy pig and love to eat cream by the spoon.) It’s very full and rounded and mouth-filling, and also light and fluffy, almost moussey. Subtle flavours of fudge, grass, hazelnut and pepper ping about my mouth.
Cardo: a washed rind, raw milk goats cheese from Somerset, also bought Neal’s Yard Dairy
Cardo has a biscuit-coloured wrinkled rind – fairly hard and dry – and a creamy yellow moist paste.
My little slice of cardo is soft and melts out of its rind as soon as I try to cut a piece. In my mouth, it feels like silk; soft and smooth and slightly slippery. And it’s intensely salty, especially eaten after the mellow mild swallet. It tastes of gentle washed rind savoury sockiness, and rich dark plummy fruit flavours. There are undertones of herbs and flowers and nuts, and of goaty tang.
Cheesy continuity:
It’s a Geotrichum candidum moulded rind that gives the swallet its velvety wrinkled appearance and liquid layer – just like St Tola.
Cardo’s so called because it uses the cardoon thistle as rennet, like Torta de Barros.
Conclusion: These two made a fine cheesy double act; the creamy gentle swallet and salty fruity cardo were great contrasts. The cardo is a very gentle washed rind – none of the unfortunate people who share an office with me (and my cheese) were moved to complain about the smell – so not a scary cheese at all. The swallet is absurdly creamy, and has a wonderful soft fluffy texture. I think that the swallet just about wins it, if I’m forced to choose a favourite, but they were both quite delicious.
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 1 Comment
29 September 2009
Cheese stats: Raw cow’s milk, semi-hard cheese from Switzerland, bought from KäseSwiss
This cheese has a dark, crumbly, dusty grey rind, and contrasting pale creamy yellow interior.
The inside of this cheese is BEEFY – a huge blast of umami dominates the taste initially; lots of bovrilly, marmiteish intenseness – it reminds me of beef broth. This fades into a creamy yoghurtyness as the cheese melts. (It melts surprisingly easily for a semi-hard cheese.) There’s a fruitiness skirting the edges of the beef; cheese-eating chum is reminded of sour green apples, and I am tasting a hint of pineapple and a smidge of grass. The impressively pitted rind tastes musty; undergrowth, compost bins and leaf mould. I really like it, but this might be an acquired taste. It comes partially wrapped in cloth (which I do not eat, not being a goat), so maybe this rind isn’t really meant for eating.
Conclusion: Really meaty! This is a pretty tasty cheese. It feels like a winter cheese; intense and hearty. I’d like to try melting it on top of French onion soup, or making it into warming cheese toast
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 4 Comments
25 September 2009
I met up with Katie for a cheesy Friday Borough Market lunch-and-review the other week.
This is our lunch! Clockwise from the top left you have salty ricotta, Raschera, St Denis and Roquefort.
Raschera
Mostly cow, with a bit of sheep, Italian, from Gastronomica
This is a soft pale elasticy wedge of cheese, scattered with little holes. It’s initially very creamy, and melts in the mouth, leading to both a sharp fruity bite – think gooseberries, and a contrasting sweet milkiness that reminds me of those pink and white milk-teeth sweets
Katie’s verdict: ‘Delicious – a bit like dairylea for grownups.’
more »
marna in FT /Pumpkin Publog • No Comments
8 July 2009
The battle over the future of pubs is being fought, as we’re constantly reminded in the media. You can judge the healthiness of a pub in many ways, but one surely has to be its range of potato products.
Packets of crisps are getting ever more rarefied, as Walkers are forced out from some higher end establishments by competition from Salty Dog, Tyrrell’s and some brand that only sells their stuff in little cardboard boxes as I spotted in an East Dulwich pub the other week. You can pay over £1 for some of these brands.
There’s also the bowl of chips, which just could be the new battleground in the fight between community boozer and gastropub. One might berate £3 or £3.50 as being simply too much, except that given the escalating price of a pint in many such places, this is generally less than a beer costs. Plus, you can still justifiably consider yourself short-changed if you get scarcely more than a handful.
And now, from a recent visit to the reliably posh White Horse in Parsons Green, the bar has been raised yet again. No triple-fried hand-cut muck for these people. Only the finest “crispy new potatoes” served intermingled with capers and olives.
Though would it be heresy to suggest I liked them? Under £3 and more character than some of the pub’s habitués.
Ewan in Pumpkin Publog • 4 Comments
2 May 2009
(full menu: prawn-and-potato cakes, sugar-spiced salmon with “chinese” hot mustard, roast courgettes, sauteed leaks in balsamic vinegar)
(raspberries and chocolate cake and cream to follow)
The ask here was an easy-to-chew-and-swallow FANCY BIRTHDAY FEAST in nice rich flavours. Main prep time is 30 mins, but potatoes shd be semi-boiled a good deal earlier and let cool (an hour before you eat minimum; ideally a lot longer, so they can dry nicely).
YOU WILL NEED:
A large frying pan or skillet; a griddlepan or non-stick frying pan; a large pan (possibly two but can use the same one twice); a roasting dish; various mixing bowls; a chopping surface and knife; something ideally to blend or mince the ingredients of the prawn-and-potato cakes.
Salmon steaks or fillets (c.500 gms for 3 adults)
Prawns (as many as you can possibly imagine a nice bunch)
Potatos (4 large or 8 small, suitable type to end up fried)*
Spring onions (about 8)
Coriander (to taste: i like a lot)
Dill (to taste: ditto) more »
pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 2 Comments
24 April 2009
Eat At Wally’s!!!
Oh dere lord, but I want to move to Akron, Ohio RIGHT NOW. I can feel my arteries hardening just reading that review:
I could eat that crispy coating and chicken skin all day for the rest of my life. Adding sickeningly sweet syrup contrasts with the savory salty taste of the chicken, which is what was awesome. Flavor explosion!
is my favourite bit i think.
also, looking at the second pic I couldn’t work out why there was some ice cream on the plate as well, until i read further down and realised it was BUTTER…
Also it’s good to see that Dan Quayle is now gainfully employed…
CarsmileSteve in FT /Pumpkin Publog • No Comments
17 April 2009
As deliberate foodologists we cannot wait for the arrival of SQUEEZ BACON in the UK. The difficulty of proper bacon, however well cured, is its intractability when it comes to being spreadable, and the difficulty in writing your name with it. As we all know bacon is a malleable and portable substance ideal for squirtyisation, so it amazes us that no-one has realised the paradigm shift in a jar.
No artificial additives or preservatives and a shelf life of twelve years (though I reckon I’d get through a jar a week) it really is the pasty gift that keeps on giving. As the creator Vilhelm Lillefläsk says “Aldrig kommer att ge dig upp!” Which we believe translates as “Never gonna give you up”. On assumes SQUEEZ BACON is also unlikely to let you down, run around or desert you. Though you can put it on your dessert.
Nevertheless the jar does make excessive claims about its powers, including :”it’s rumoured ABBA met while eating Squeez Bacon® sandwiches?”. Now I don’t want to pour dairylea on their squeezy bacony parade but everyone knows the members of ABBA met after getting their respective bumper cars entangled at a funfair in Stockholm.
Though perhaps I could offer the suggestion of aerosolising it is as well. BACON WHIZZ…
Pete Baran in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 1 Comment
26 March 2009
I’ve noticed many people saying the only thing wrong about the crazy world of the Heston’s Feasts series has been the celeb diners making their inane comments. So yes, the format is great — a talented man’s fabulous cooking inspired by myth, fable and history — but the guests he’s cooking for are (mostly) rubbish.
I’ve not, so far, seen people making the complementary complaint about cBeebies ‘Big Cook, Little Cook’. A long description of the show can be found on an old post on Richard Herring’s blog, but in short the eponymous cooks have to cook for a character from nursery rhymes or fairy tales (Snow White, Old Macdonald). The problem is that as a show meant to inspire children to cook, the options are limited to recipes involving mashing together cottage cheese, crushed up crackers, toast and food colouring, with specially shaped-cutters (stars, fish, etc) to theme it up a bit. more »
Alan in FT • No Comments
5 March 2009
An extraordinary passage in Huizinga’s The Waning Of The Middle Ages comes to our attention:
The taste for unbridled luxury culminated in the court fetes….Nothing could be more insipid or ugly than the ‘entremets’, consisting of gigantic pies enclosing complete orchestras, full-rigged vessels, castles, monkeys and whales, giants and dwarfs, and all the boring absurdities of allegory. We find it difficult to regard these entertainments as something more than exhibitions of almost incredible bad taste.
Speak for yrself mate! Further discussion of these remarkable pies, and the events surrounding them, will feature in Saturday’s Lollards of Pop show.
Tom in FT /Pumpkin Publog /The Brown Wedge • 1 Comment
« Older
Newer »
