Cheese on toast question

[Albie]

Mark, as you are the BBCs foremost cheese expert and connosieur, I would value your opinion, re; is it worth using expensive cheese just for making cheese on toast, or might you just as well use the cheapest "mousetrap" cheddar you can get? I side with the "cheap" school of thought, but it is a controversial matter, and any guidance you can give would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Andy]

Now the real question is whether you put cheese and marmite on toast, of course.

(Shades of Danny Baker's "Sausage Sandwich" quiz!)

[djmahone]

ok. now we're getting to the big questions.

weirdly, i know it's a commonly held belief that you either love or hate Marmite - but I don't mond i either way. does that make me odd?
i do like a toasted cheese and marmite sandwich but i'm not often to be found partaking of simple marmite on toast.
my kids like it a lot tho.

so, to the cheese on toast issue. the cafe at then end of my road (Let's Eat on the A49) does a great cheese on toast which is microwaved milk and catering cheddar poured onto white toast. when taken with beans and chips it is a wonder.
and yet there is a bespoke route to be sure. i once had a long conversation with Punt, or it could have been Dennis, who said 'you can't make good cheese on toast with white cheese'. i told him about the great lancashire cheeses you could taost - probably the best being Lancashire Leigh Toaster. I sent him some in a jiffy bag to his home but by the time I'd got round to it - he'd moved and the parcel was re-directed. By the time it got to him I think it more or less walked up the garden path and delivered itself so he couldn;t test it but later got some from a quality cheesemonger and confirmed that I was right.

And so...after a night on the ale Let's Est cafe hits the spot and no mistake - but a really good toastable lancs or really mature stripping the roof off the mouth cheddar on granary, with Worcestershire sauce, is just a design classic.

[Albie]

Well Mark, as so often your wisdom shines through and you get to the heart of the matter. The bread is so important, and yet, strangely can be often neglected. Although I find myself on the cheap and cheerful wing of the party where toasted cheese is concerned, the bread does need to be of top quality. Granary is an excellent choice.

I think I will try one of these specialist toasting cheeses, they sound ideal. For, er, toasting.

Thank you for the cheese advice, Mark.

[Andy]

Funnily enough, even though we moved to Wales some time ago, I have yet to see Welsh Raebit being offered in any cafe here.

Soft cheeses are definitely not the way to go; I reckon red leicester on a hovis doorstep is really lovely.

Blimey, I'm getting hungry - lunchtime, I reckon.

[YaBB Master (Colin)]

the cafe at then end of my road (Let's Eat on the A49) does a great cheese on toast which is microwaved milk and catering cheddar poured onto white toast. when taken with beans and chips it is a wonder.

I think that's a Garry Rhodes recipe.

[Pugwash]

OK ok not a mention of blue vein cheese here I like to add a bit on top of cheddar... am I weird?

[Goaty]

Stilton with anchovies, olives & tabasco - heavenly.

[Dad Volt]

Stilton with anchovies, olives & tabasco - heavenly.

Bit poncey! Nice bit of mature cheddar,sliced tomato under the cheese. That's all you need!

[jude]

Just so long as whatever cheese is used, it ends up in long stringy buttery strings  

[Sandra]

I replace the milk in Mark's recipe with beer. This is know as a Mahone, for obvious reasons

[Ian W.]

Just so long as whatever cheese is used, it ends up in long stringy buttery strings  

It may be the 'al fresco and abroad' thing, but the best cheesey delights I have ever had were :-

1) A lovely croissant filled with melted Brie on a seafront cafe terrace overlooking the sea in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

2) A tuna melt Panino in a cafe on the harbour in Skiathos Town, Greece.

But I guess things taste better when eaten outdoors with a view and warm sun.

[djmahone]

Oh fellow cheese-aholics...I just remembered something. This is a dish that a veggie friend of mine called Sam made at New year and it is heavenly.

You get an old fashioned cottage loaf and slice the top off. Then hollow out the bread in the middle.
Take a suitably sized camembert and slice the top skin off that.
Caramelise some onions and pears.
Put the cheese inside the loaf.
Put the onions/pears on top of the cheese.
Put the top back on the loaf.
Bake in the oven till cheese bubbly. About half an hour I think.
Then take out, take the top of the bread off, break into chuncks.
Sprinkle a few almonds on the cheese and dip the top bread chunks in the golden elixir.

Heavenly. Promise. Cheers Sam.

[Dan O.]

Oh fellow cheese-aholics...I just remembered something. This is a dish that a veggie friend of mine called Sam made at New year and it is heavenly.

You get an old fashioned cottage loaf and slice the top off. Then hollow out the bread in the middle.
Take a suitably sized camembert and slice the top skin off that.
Caramelise some onions and pears.
Put the cheese inside the loaf.
Put the onions/pears on top of the cheese.
Put the top back on the loaf.
Bake in the oven till cheese bubbly. About half an hour I think.
Then take out, take the top of the bread off, break into chuncks.
Sprinkle a few almonds on the cheese and dip the top bread chunks in the golden elixir.

Heavenly. Promise. Cheers Sam.

That just sounds far too good !  

[Albie]

Oh fellow cheese-aholics...I just remembered something. This is a dish that a veggie friend of mine called Sam made at New year and it is heavenly.

You get an old fashioned cottage loaf and slice the top off. Then hollow out the bread in the middle.
Take a suitably sized camembert and slice the top skin off that.
Caramelise some onions and pears.
Put the cheese inside the loaf.
Put the onions/pears on top of the cheese.
Put the top back on the loaf.
Bake in the oven till cheese bubbly. About half an hour I think.
Then take out, take the top of the bread off, break into chuncks.
Sprinkle a few almonds on the cheese and dip the top bread chunks in the golden elixir.

Heavenly. Promise. Cheers Sam.

Hmm, are caremelised pears entirely suitable to be eaten by a Northern lad like yourself, Mark? Sounds like Southern food to me, and probably London at that.
Have to admit, does sound delicious though. Will have to try it.

[jaypeter (Peter)]

Hmm, are caremelised pears entirely suitable to be eaten by a Northern lad like yourself, Mark? Sounds like Southern food to me, and probably London at that.

You're havin' a tin bath mate, ****** caramelised ******g pears, London??? With onions?? It's not us what eats deep fried bananas in chip shops! Or pieapple rings!

Pineapple.

[Albie]

Hmm, are caremelised pears entirely suitable to be eaten by a Northern lad like yourself, Mark? Sounds like Southern food to me, and probably London at that.

You're havin' a tin bath mate, ****** caramelised ******g pears, London??? With onions?? It's not us what eats deep fried bananas in chip shops! Or pieapple rings!

Pineapple.

Alright, keep your barnet on, I was just talking a bit of pony, trying to have a bit of a bubble bath, not meaning to cause no barney rubble.
Have a butchers at my post, you'll see I didn't mean for you to get your alan whickers in a twist. Well, I'll go to the foot of my apples and (caremelised) pears......

(this is as close as i can find to a pearly queen smiley   )

 

[jaypeter (Peter)]

None taken Geez.

[PaulT]

For the Northern version, just replace the pears with tripe.

(I was Lancs-born, so not taking t'p!ss out of Northerners...)

[OK - born in Liverpool, but it was part of Lancs back in 1953]

[Ruth from Stroud]

Hmm, are caremelised pears entirely suitable to be eaten by a Northern lad like yourself, Mark? Sounds like Southern food to me, and probably London at that.
Have to admit, does sound delicious though. Will have to try it.

I think Stuart has even been known to eat sun-dried tomatoes, hasn't he?!