Cheese certainly helps to bring to life any dish and let's face it, us Brits love it! Whether we're eating it on toast or in a simple sandwich with pickle, cheddar in particular, is one of those cheeses that are immensely versatile.
Cheddar cheese is produced today in several countries around the world, but its origins lie in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset. The relatively hard cheese comes in a variety of strengths ranging from mild to extra mature. It is in fact the most popular cheese in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for over half of the country's £1.9 billion annual cheese sales. Over in the US cheddar is second in popularity behind Mozzarella and a staggering 1,616,690 tons of it was produced there in 2010.
Cheddar cheese has no Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) within the European Union, but only Cheddar produced from local milk from four counties of South West England may use the name West Country Farmhouse Cheddar.
The Craft Guild of Chefs Social Secretary, Dennis Mwakulua, puts forward his tips on how to make a menu even more cheesy:
1. Dips are perfect for sharing platters or starters. Why not try a Cheddar cheese and spinach dip. It's really easy to make and I tend to lean towards using a more mature cheddar, so that there's even more flavour.
Simply cook a béchamel sauce as normal and throw in lots of grated cheddar. Do it to taste. If you're anything like me then the more Cheddar the better! Quickly blanch some spinach and add this to the Cheddar and béchamel mixture. Blend and season to taste.
2. Cheese as mentioned has so many wonderful uses. It goes great with potatoes, as anyone who loves a jacket potato and cheese will agree. Cheddar cheese also makes for a perfect glaze on mash. If you're making something like a cottage or shepherds pie then you really shouldn't leave out the cheese.
Add lots cheddar and butter to the mash to create a nice golden colour finish on the pie topping after baking.
3. Keeping on the potato theme then it's possible to get even more creative. Foam can round off a meal really well and it's a good way to get different flavours into a meal without directly putting the ingredient onto the plate. It's a really clever technique and always creates conversation.
You could try making Cheddar and truffle potato foam. Simply bake the potatoes and once they are ready, pass them through a drum sieve. Add in infused truffle and Cheddar cream. Season then add lecithin and then pour the mixture into a foaming dispenser.
4. How to make the cheese course cheesier? Well, how about making a Cheddar and sesame seed biscuit for the cheese board
All you have to do is cream together grated cheddar cheese and butter. Mix in flour and cayenne pepper and then roll the mixture out into a log shape. Add the sesame seeds and roll them in, before refrigerating the log to make it firm up before baking.
5. For my final tip here's something very off the wall - A savoury ice cream containing Cheddar and walnuts.
To make this you bring to the boil the rind of Cheddar and cream. Pour this onto an egg mixture containing ground white pepper and sugar to taste (I use 3 egg yolks to 250ml of cream). Put this mixture back into the saucepan on medium heat, and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and is creamy.
You'll now need a fine sieve to get rid of any bits and allow it to cool down. Finally churn in an ice cream machine and add crushed salted walnuts when the ice cream is almost ready.
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