Stilton

The traditional accompaniment to Stilton is port. I dutifully try these together sometimes, but can't see any special affinity. They are both delicious and richly flavoured, and fill you up with a contented hedonist, late-evening sense of satisfaction, but either one by itself does that. The same effect might be achievable with port and Ben & Jerry's New York chocolate fudge, or Stilton and sexual intercourse.

Oh dear, I've just noticed the previous write-up is plagiarized directly from www.stiltoncheese.com, so I'm going to have to repeat some of the information before I kill it. Stilton is made by six or seven authorized dairies in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire. It is creamy and "ivory-hued". There, done.

Stilton is a village in Leicestershire near the town of Melton Mowbray: a cheese market was held here, and the local creamy blue cheese picked up the name of Stilton. The first documentary reference is in 1722, but it was evidently well-known before then. There is a nice saying from the village of Wymondham, "Drink a pot of ale, eat a scoop of Stilton, every day, you will make 'old bones'."

A young cheese before the veining has taken hold, is white, and is sometimes sold as white Stilton. It's very nice but since blue Stilton is even nicer, what's the point? And speaking of pointless, that website has a section entitled "Leftover Stilton". Are they nuts??

Stilton Cheese Pizza

Preaheat oven to 500ºF. If you are using a pizza stone, this should go in the oven while preheating. Crumble the Stilton and mix in as much minced garlic as you like. Toss or roll your pizza dough to form a 12" round crust. Parbake crust for about 8 minutes, then remove from oven and brush with olive oil and top with Stilton and garlic mixture. Drizzle some more olive oil on top and add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Return to oven for about 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown and delicious (GBD). Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with a nice red wine.

Variation:

Use puff pastry dough instead of pizza dough. Form pastry dough into 12x16" rectangle, and top with ingredients like above. Bake at 400ºF for about 10 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and GBD.

I guess you could use another blue cheese if you're on a budget or if you want something less pungent than Stilton. If you really want to go all out, chop up some thinly sliced Parma ham and scatter that on top of the cheese.

To manufacture Stilton, rennet is added to cow's milk at a temperature of 86 degrees farenheit until the curds form (this takes around an hour). The curds are then drained of whey and moulded into shape. Stilton is then rested for a week, and allowed to mature for 6 to 8 months.

The fat content of this classically smelly English gastronomic delight is a thoroughly artery-clogging 55%

research source: cheese.com

Stil"ton cheese" (?), or Stil"ton , n.

A peculiarly flavored unpressed cheese made from milk with cream added; -- so called from the village or parish of Stilton, England, where it was originally made. It is very rich in fat.

Thus, in the outset he was gastronomic; discussed the dinner from the soup to the stilton.
C. Lever.

© Webster 1913