English vs. French Cheese Taste Off

[DavidT]

Interesting article in this weekend's Financial Times on a taste off between 5 English & 5 French cheeses:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/cbf651...

[Harters]

Perhaps no real surprises in that "taste off".

Montgomery Cheddar is a world class cheese. Kirkham's Lancashire is pretty good - IMO, the third best of the Lancashire's (but probably the most easily available outside the region).

Stichleton is good - and will give most of the well known Stiltons a run for their money. It's made in the same manner, and from the same geographical area, but can't be called a Stilton as it's made using unpasteurised milk.

The sheeps milk is a new one from my region and I havnt come across it before (certainly one to look out - made on the Holker estate which produces some very good venison and other game)

[cheesemaestro]

A rather pointless exercise, don't you think? If the "voters" had all been French, I suspect the final result would have swung in the opposite direction. Different cheeses might also have produced a different outcome. It's also hard to believe that blindfolding the participants succeeded in eliminating patriotic bias. I'd expect Brits to be familiar with the taste of Stilton and Lancashire and to recognize them even without the benefit of sight.

A better pairing for the Montgomery's cheddar would have been the Salers, which is considered to be a precursor of cheddar-type cheeses. I'd still give the nod to Montgomery's. If there is a better cheddar on the planet, I haven't found it yet, although Keen's comes close. In the actual pairing, the Beaufort d'Alpage is a fabulous cheese in its own right, albeit in a completely different style from a cheddar.

The Stichelton/Roquefort comparison might have been the toughest one for me, since I love both cheeses. In the end, I'd probably agree with the panel and pick the the Roquefort.
The Gabriel Coulet used for the taste-off is my third favorite Roquefort, after Carles and Vieux Berger, but still excellent.

[limster]

One other thing - Mons is a good cheesemonger (I buy from them fairly often), but one often needs to pick and choose to get an optimally ripe cheese. And while their cheese are excellent, they aren't always the absolute best of their kind.