Apple pie with cheese? Really?

[john333]

I remember hearing about this as a kid, and didn't really believe it.

Do people really eat apple pie with cheese?

[jhopp217]

I always had cheese with apples, but was a little late to the party on this one. Just tried the combo for the first time during Thanksgiving and loved it. I'm not really a fan of sweets, but the cheese actually cuts the sweetness in my opinion. I also used to grill granny smith's when I made turkey burgers and topped it with melted cheddar. Great combo!

[pdxgastro]

In England they also like to eat cheese with (sweet) Digestive biscuits.

[montrealeater]

Cheddar and digestives is GOOD. We don't do cheese and apple pie at my English parent's house, mainly because my mom doesn't make apple pie, but sliced apple (Golden Delicious and cheese is my favourite, even tho I don't love GD apples on their own) and cheese - cheddar - is an extremely common snack. My parents eat that almost on a daily basis, and it's one of my favourite things about going home - my Dad just handing me a small plate of sliced apple and cheese while I watch TV.

Someone above mentioned cheddar ice cream. I would pay a lot of money to get the chance to try that.

[UTgal]

Yes, always! A cube/chunk of sharp cheddar served alongside. :-)

[Isolda]

This was commonly served at my college (in New England.). I didn't care for it. I either want sweet pie or the cheese tray, but not both at the same time.

[ChrisOC]

Mrs OC looks at me funny when I say I want cheese on my apple pie. The same look she gives me when I put salt on my watermelon.

[iL Divo]

cut up a cantelope a few nights ago to go with dinner.
husband loves cantelope and this particular ball was very sweet, so good.
handed bowl to him, he dove in then said, "no salt?"

[DunkTheBiscuit]

Yes. Though I'm more of a cheese with fruitcake and an apple person, I do sometimes eat cheese with my homemade apple pie.

It has to homemade as I find bought apple pies too sweet to go well with cheese, and it has to be a good crumbly white cheese such as Caerphilly, or Wensleydale, in that order (don't tell my Welsh boyfriend that I've put a Welsh cheese ahead of my native Yorkshire cheese. I will never hear the end of his smugness...)

I know people pair applepie with Cheddar successfully, but it just doesn't sit well on my tastebuds.

[Harters]

I'm with you - Wensleydale & fruit cake is the way to go. Classic pairing.

[John E.]

My mother always offered cheddar cheese when she served apple pie. I remember eating it a few times that way but it never really caught on in our family.

A hunk of good parmesan with an apple is really good, it's a salty sweet thing going on.

[frannieface77]

I once tried a pear pie with gruyere crust...OH MY GOD DELICIOUS. wow.

[malibumike]

My dad used to like it that way too at the Apple Pan in west los angeles in the early 50's with vanilla ice cream on the side.

[oldunc]

Not only that, goes well with cognac too.

[JeremyEG]

My wife and I were married at an apple orchard. Instead of favors, people were handed pick-your-own bags and headed out (in the rain!) to grab as many NH apples as they could. They're pretty good in October. Anyway, we passed on a wedding cake also but each table got a pie from the orchard and a block of a really tangy raw milk cheddar. I still think it's one of the best dishes ever. This thread is making me really hungry. Better go find a pie!
JeremyEG
HomeCookLocavore.com

[iL Divo]

gramma came from across the pond.
her pies were 'known' for their perfection.
apple, my favorite, always with the slice of sharp cheddar on top of the blisteringly hot piece of pie, it melted of course and made every bite total gooeyness. delicious

[mcf]

The first time I ever had apple pie with cheddar was at the colonial style tavern in the historic restoration Williamsburgh, VA... I was just a kid, but knew a match made in heaven when I tasted it.

[Prettypoodle]

After my mom and dad went to see his uncle about her diamond ring (he was a jewler in Philadelphia), they went out to eat. She often said that she was so excited that all she could eat was a slice of apple pie with cheese on top! So yeah, some people do (or did as in my mom's case)

[mels]

I love it because it hits upon my love for the salty/sweet combo. I don't have a big sweet tooth but I do love sweet dishes that have the salt component - apple pie w/sharp cheddar, chocolate covered pretzels, salted caramels, etc.

[inthekitchen]

Absolutely. My last birthday, while living in Vermont, I celebrated with friends. It was an apple pie with Vermont Cheddar cheese. It was fabulous! The cheddar cheese was on the side.

[KaimukiMan]

I've always heard about it, and there are numerous recipes with a cheddar blended crust. does anyone know why shredded or cubed cheese is never baked into the filling? Must be a good and probably obvious reason right?

[Cathy]

The texture of cold cheese mixed with apples...

[KaimukiMan]

yeah, but im the kind that likes cold pizza out of the fridge for breakfast...

[Cathy]

Me too..but a smooth layer of cold cheese on top of sauce and pizza toppings is that way when hot/fresh or cold.

Apple pie usually has some sort of juice/sauce/sticky component in the apple part and the apples are not crispy fresh after baking...they are their own soft filling. That, mixed with a cold glob of cubed or mess glop of shredded under the crust would be it's own texture and not complimentary. With cheese melted or mixed into the crust, you have the flavor but not the inner apple mush/sauce ( I can't think of what it is called, but you know, it isn't just apples) with a hard glob of cold cheese...
{off to find a thesaurus}

[onceadaylily]

Exactly, the texture goes terribly awry when you try to bake the cheese *in* the pie.

I know because I was in my early twenties when I decided that I wanted to try an apple pie with cheddar. I had heard of it, but had never found it on offer. I had two cookbooks, no internet, and no one really to ask how to go about it. So, I made an apple pie, covered the apple filling with cheap pre-shredded cheddar, slapped on the top crust, and baked it. I was quite pleased with myself, until I took a bite of that pie.

I couldn't even tell you what it tasted like, simply because the texture was so godawful. The cheese had become bits of orange slime that seemed to want to hold their own ground against the filling.

[njmarshall55]

+1 on that one!

[odkaty]

I wonder if a bechamel-type cheese sauce would work mixed in with the apples?

As for apple pie and cheese, when I have the opportunity (not often, as I rarely make any pies) I lay paper-thin slices of sharp cheddar on hot pie. Thick slices are just weirdly gummy.

[Passadumkeg]

Typical in New England and Olde England. I grew up w/ slices of muenster, but enjoy sharp cheddar as well. Sometimes vanilla ice, sometimes sour cream. No problem; life is good.

[gaffk]

Apple pie with cheese; apple pie with cream; apple with ice cream? Really, it's all good! (OK, not feeling sour cream :(

[Passadumkeg]

Apple pie w/ green chile and pinon nuts. Freakin' delicious! Don't knock it until....

[EWSflash]

To me it sounds better than cheddar...

[alanbarnes]

And cheddar! Sometimes too much is just enough.

There's a new place in SF where green chile and apple pie meet- gotta get yourself out here soon...

[rworange]

No need to get to SF. When I was doing my Hatch chile experiments, I made a nice compote by mixing apples with Hatch chiles and nuking it. Add sugar to taste. Top with a dollop of yogurt.

I suppose an Anaheim would do, but apples and Hatch chiles ... good stuff

[Passadumkeg]

Al, maybe Easter in Walnut Creek. We really want to see the Gualala River too.
Cherry Bomb red chile and dried cherry pie w/ Mexican crema.

[c oliver]

Where?

[alanbarnes]

Green Chile Kitchen in NOPA. Green chile apple pie with a cheddar crust, a la mode with a red chile / honey drizzle. Yum. They use walnuts instead of piñons, though. Piñons would be better.

[sunshine842]

not sour cream...that would be a little *too* sour.

creme fraiche is amazing...creamy and just a tiny bit of tang to offset the sweetness of the apples.

[rworange]

Sour cream apple pie is delicious and there are many recipes about it on the web. Sometimes it is mixed into the apples and sometimes a layer on top like at Marie Calendars.

[gaffk]

Yep, just not a fan of unadulterated sour cream--at Mexican spots the salsa is gone, the sour cream untouched. But apple pie with creme fraiche sounds great.

[sunshine842]

I'm guessing the sour cream in a sour cream apple pie has more than a little sugar added.

[rworange]

No more sugar than any other apple pie

[PattiCakes]

My daughter and I both make our apple pies with no sugar -- we like 'em tart. Just some spices. We do like to throw in a handfull on dried cranberries, though. We make our applesauce with no sugar as well.

[Passadumkeg]

I too use no sugar. give time for the apple slices to give up their own sweet juices.

[gaffk]

Now I read that differently. Just as cheddar is placed on the top of the already cooked pie, as is ice cream, I assumed Pass meant a dollop of sour cream on top of the pie. And I assumed sunshine meant one would add sugar to the sour cream before placing it on top of the pie. Oh well, you know what they say about assuming.

[sunshine842]

no, the creme fraiche is 'as-is'.

[Avalondaughter]

Or cheddar ice cream. I remember on another board years ago a chef was making apple pie with cheddar ice cream for the restaurant he worked in.

[shaharidan]

It's not really much different in concept than a fruit and cheese plate. Fruit with cheese is a classic combo.

[LA Buckeye Fan]

Warmed cheddar melted on top on pie slice. Breakfast of champions.

[emilief]

I make my crust in the food processor and add grated cheddar to the crust. I prefer this to eating a chunk of cheddar with the pie. This way you can put the ice cream on top and it all goes very well.

[occula]

I have heard of this but never witnessed it, and it sounds icky, so I don't plan on trying it.

[CCSPRINGS]

This is one of those accepted classic, etched in stone kind of things but no thank you. Ditto on the ice cream instead.

Hot caramel over my apple pie in another matter completely!

[Cathy]

Grew up in Detroit and when we would drive into Canada, all the fuel stations had a small counter type restaurant which served apple pie with cheddar. We would stop on the drive in and on the drive home and each of us got our own slice.

[kwjd]

Weird. I'm Canadian and thought cheese on apple pie was an American thing. I've never tried it or seen it done.

[Passadumkeg]

Common in the Maritime Provinces. A Northeast Brittiish food inheritance.

[Blush]

It's also common in Southwestern Ontario, at least in my family.

[kwjd]

Maybe my families are just weird then! Other than one Uncle in Ottawa, I'm the furthest east in the family (Toronto). My family is spread out in SW Ontario (grandparents in Hamilton and London) and I spent 5 years in Waterloo.

We always had apple pie with vanilla ice cream on it.

[sunshine842]

A dollop of creme fraiche is pretty close to awesome, too.

[Uncle Bob]

Heard of it. Tried it once. No thank you!! ~~~ Pass the Hand Cranked Vanilla Ice Cream please.......

[rainey]

That was my reaction too.

[LeoLioness]

Dumb question from another person who has never eaten cheddar with pie: do you tuck in a slice under the crust? Or just put it on top?

[brookerme]

chunk of sharp cheddar next to the pie slice and alternate bites

[Sooeygun]

That's the way I like to eat it too. Some people like it on top of the warm pie, put I prefer it unmelted. This discussion is making me very sad that I had to throw out a piece of apple pie this morning because it had gone moldy.

[JMF]

That's how I like it too. Cold, extra sharp cheddar with the warm pie, alternate bites. Mmmm... And an aged Parmesan is pretty good too.

[rworange]

In Connecticut the slice of cheese goes on top of the pie and is put under the broiler briefly to melt it. I've been holding on to a recipe with a cheese crust that sounds good.

[morwen]

I put cheese in the crust. Big double handful of full fat xxx-sharp cheddar and a pinch of cayenne too. Makes the crust even flakier

[PattiCakes]

Wow, would that ever be good for a snowy day dessert (or breakfast).

[njmarshall55]

I prefer to have a thin slice melted on top. I think it's the contrast of the cheese's saltiness and the apple's sweetness that does it for me.

[Karl S]

Absolutely. I remember this even in my childhood in the 1960s. A very traditional thing in New England, at least, and not uncommon in Vermont and elsewhere for breakfast at home. The cheese is cheddar, btw.

[Chris VR]

Oh definitely. I even have a friend who makes her apple pie with a rosemary cheddar crust.

[PattiCakes]

+4. My father wouldn't eat it any other way. Think about it -- cheese and apples are a natural combination.

Chris VR: love the idea of cheddah in the crust!

[lyden]

I love to bake apple pie with a cheddar crust, never thought of adding rosemary, that sounds great.

At holiday time, I often make a salmon tart as an appetizer, will put some grated parm/romano into the crust -- somehow it cuts a bit of the oiliness of the fish.

[sunshine842]

absolutely, especially in the Northeastern part of the US.

A slice of good Cheddar over a warm piece of apple pie is good stuff.

[Tripeler]

+1 on this. For some reason, a good sharp cheddar really brings out the flavor of baked apples. It's an excellent match. However, for pears I recommend Emmental or Swiss cheese.
"Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze" I think I recall one of my aunts saying.

[chowmel]

Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze - my fathers wisdom too !

[tzurriz]

My mom always said that too. :)

[woodleyparkhound]

+2 I have heard of it all my life and have tasted it. I think it's very good, but I still prefer mine warm, with vanilla ice cream!

Also, a raw apple eaten along with a slice of sharp cheddar is delicious!

[invinotheresverde]

+3
There's another way to eat apple pie?!