Cheese - what would you choose?

[kimchio]

I'm making a cheese board for boxing day. So far I have boursin and a nice mature cheddar. What would you choose?

yep

I was worried it might just turn to gloop but ok!

You can get star shaped and Santa boot shaped cheese in M and S; also star and Christmas tree shaped cheese in Lidl! Well you could a couple of weeks ago anyway - hopefully not sold out. A variety of crackers is nice - unusual shapes/flavours e.g. hexagons. Little bowls of nuts. Google charcutière boards and you’ll get some nice ideas that can be used for a cheese boats too.
Damn now I want cheese too!

Waitrose's Scooping Gorgonzola from the cheese counter is absolutely out of this world! Ohhh!

You definitely need some raw milk cheeses, my favourites are Roquefort and Epoisses. Comte is also good with honey drizzled over it.

Shropshire Blue

Brie
Cheshire (Applewood smoked)
Cornish Yarg.

Make sure they're all room temperature for serving too. Cold cheese is less tasty.

We have 12 cheeses for ours...some Snowdonia truckles, Alpine, Yorkshire blue, manchego, and Brie. 8 lovely boxes of crackers.

Cambozola

That's just showing off 🤣

Cambozola is a good call.

Depending on timings, a baked camembert with rosemary and garlic always goes down well.

I like to have a good cheddar, a goat, a smoked, a blue and camembert (I don't like Brie)and then I usually find something new in the cheese shop. That's my job for Friday afternoon 🧀🧀🧀🧀

The smelliest Stilton available. You just know it will taste brilliant.

Cornish yarg
Smoked red Leicester
Brie
Goats cheese (soft with rind)
Pate (game and salmon)

Jersey black butter is a great addition to the chutney type accompaniments. And I'd add a chilli jam

Camembert
Goat cheese
Blue cheese
Cheddar

As an accompaniment, grapes, paté, chutney, smoked salmon, baguette

I'd buy cornish blue.

I'd also buy Berthaut's Epoisses from M and S or Waitrose and forget to put it on the cheeseboard! Yummy treat - eat it all by myself in the New Year!

My ideal cheeseboard is:

A really strong cheddar like Isle of Mull
Gorgonzola or a Roquefort
Crème du Bourgogne
Goats cheese
Aged gouda

Chilli jam, membrillo and truffle honey as accompaniments

Green grapes

Sea salt and rosemary crackers, sliced baguette plus Hovis biscuits or rough oatcakes.

Red wine!

A basic template for a cheeseboard would be a goat's cheese, a soft cheese (like Brie), a hard cheese and a blue cheese. Obviously you can adapt as you like! Add a stinky cheese if you like that sort of thing.

This is a really good starting point. If you're really stuck, take a look at the Waitrose #1 range of cheeses and try to match one you like the description of to each in the above list. They have a good range and are very tasty! They were reduced last week, so you might get lucky there too if the offer is still on. Also buy decent crackers and chutney to accompany them rather than rely on a generic box.

I'm just wondering when it's ok to start on the cheese? There is always so much of everything from Christmas day onwards, it seems very sensible to begin sooner rather than later... 😬

The only blue cheese I like is Cambozola.

Also, a really good quality Manchego.

@SkankingWombat thanks for the tip re Waitrose!

We actually have a cheese night to kick off Christmas on the 22nd or 23rd : )

Brie
Orkney cheddar
Port salut

Stilton and Cambozola. Mainly Stilton. Or maybe Cambozola!

And some apple slices are nice too

I agree! My list for a cheeseboard is along the lines of “all of the cheese”😂