I’m fancying a bit of post Christmas dinner cheese action, so looking to make up my own cheesboard.

The theme is a suitably pompous “A Journey Through Celtic Cheeses” 🙄

So have you guys got recommendations for:

– scottish/irish cheese
– no goats cheese
– think cheddars, blue cheese, hard cheese
– out of the ordinary accompaniments (ie charcoal crackers??)
– where best to get these cheeses ie online or local monger-of-cheese?

I’m Edinburgh-based so might fire into Iain Mellis, but would like to put my own touch on it rather than shop bundle.

Cheers!

As you’re based in Edinburgh blue cheese should be easy, go out and find the oldest, dirtiest, smelliest unwashed tramp you can, chop off his feet, leave the feet to go rotten and mouldy then serve em up with some crackers and red wine..
Stinky cheese… 😥

Mini stilton and spoons.

http://www.northumberland-cheese.co.uk

Best cheese in the world.

scottish/irish cheese

Most everything you pick will be a poor imitation of the English cheese it is trying to be then! Or are you going to claim the Auld Alliance and get something French?

Saying that, I’d recommend Cooleeney, but that is soft.

Cashel for the Irish stuff.
Keens for Cheddar.
Colton Bassett for Stilton.
Some fig jam or fruit cake to go with the cheddar,

Port to your taste to wash it all down.

Snowdonia Cheese – The Little Black Bomber works for me

Celtic Pride Promise – Welsh, smelliest I have ever come across, but the flavour is subtle and delicious. I believe a milti-award winning cheese

Continuing the Celtic (but non-Scots / Irish) theme…

Cornish Yarg is a good hard cheese – again, subtle flavour, but with tingly wrapping!

Cornish Brie – seems to be creamier and more delicate than the mass market French bries.

Other suggestions…

A good Caerphilly

I also like the Harlech and Y Fenni cheeses, but they are flavoured cheddar type cheeses (IIRC)

ETA – need to check the name on that Celtic “Pride”….

ETA – Update – Celtic Promise

Gorwydd caerphilly.

And swallow the pride and get some Stichelton as your blue veined offering. Everything else is second best.

Thanks guys! Esoecialy Sandwich and rkk01.

Aye, I’m not hardfast on the celtic thing – had sopme great cheese from the Lake District at a wedding last year, so will try and hunt that down.

Right, now to scythe some tramp trotters…..

You need grapes as well to freshen the palette between cheeses

This is my personal favourite cheese

grandma singletons tasty lancashire

It makes your teeth water! And another belter of a blue cheese from the same place…

Garstang Blue Lancashire

If it’s Celtic Cheese, then surely you need to get something from Brittany? Something from the Abbaye de Timadeuc?

I had one that contained jalapinios was crumbly, cnt for the life of me remember what it was called??? From morrisons supermarket and also one with chives i asked for a good selection on the cheese counter n he came good ; )

Swaledale with Old Peculiar. – just lovely.

It’s hardly going to be ‘the ultimate’ with such a regional bias is it?
Maybe it should be ‘the best we could do considering my jingoism/nationalism and indifference to the noble cheeses available around the world’ ?
🙄

Celtic Cheese

Surely a big chunk of Wensleydale with stripes of green food colouring applied is required as the centre-piece.

No need for green food dye. Just get some Sage Derby

Its bloody lovely!

Gruth Dhu Crowdie – Scottish cream cheese coated in peppercorns. Awesome!

Dunsyre Blue

it meets none of your requirements, but I would suggest Ossau-Iraty and Comte to anyone pondering this thread for some Christmas cheese, along with some quince jelly.

Whatever happens DO NOT neglect your Quince jelly and chutney accompaniments.

+1 for not ignoring the Welsh cheeses caws cenarth

Asturias in Spain has Celtic roots. On that basis – Cabrales

gouda – what mature cheddar wants to be when it grows up.

MrSmith – Member

Maybe it should be ‘the best we could do considering my jingoism/nationalism and indifference to the noble cheeses available around the world’ ? 🙄

You’ve missed out the 😉 smiley, you should edit your post before everyone thinks you’re a colossal bell end. 🙂

Caws Cenarth (Wales) do some very nice cheeses including an excellent blue.

Thanks for all the responses guys, never knew STW had so many fromage connoisseurs!

Great suggestions and more than enough to last the Xmas period

For cheddar, I’m partial to Black Bomber:

Home

Ideally, Cheddar should come from Cheddar, and be properly mature, strong enough to feel as though your tongue’s being bitten off! 😀

Best cheddar I’ve ever had was a four year old called Scruttock’s Old Dirigible.
Sourced from my local cheese shop, but they specialized in low volume cheeses so it’s probably not available anymore.

Waitrose do a goats cheese that is very hard like a cheddar, though slightly crumblier and still quite sour, definitely worth a punt.
Good shout on the comte above as well.

http://www.costco.co.uk/view/product/uk_catalog/cos_6,cos_6.4,cos_6.4.4/141223

And a big box of Hovis biscuits

Job Jobbed 😀

Get down ASDA in Galashiels, they’ve a ‘classic’ Scottish cheesboard. Five varieties of ‘orange’ chedder laid out on a ‘platter’…

Some of these are quite nice (old smokey and captains claret)

http://www.inverlochcheese.co.uk/home.htm

Why pick and choose, when you can have them all in one go?

Why pick and choose, when you can have them all in one go?

I am embarrassed by this. 🙁

I love a cheese thread! I opened this one in the hope of finding someone getting flamed for suggesting Applewood. 😆

+1 for Yarg, it’s gert lush. If you want to go leftfield but still celtic, see if you can get some Abbaye de Timaudec.

Shropshire Blue is a lovely cheese originating from Scotland. Much nicer than Stilton IMO.

Ideally, Cheddar should come from Cheddar, and be properly mature, strong enough to feel as though your tongue’s being bitten off!

Not this.

Proper Cheddar isn’t just strong, proper cheddar has far more depth of flavour than just strength. Get a Montgomery’s, or a Keen’s, or even a Lincolnshire Poacher (Cheddar styled, just not made in Somerset) and have your eyes opened.

Lancashire crumbly. Mmmmmmm.

Shipcord Mature, from Suffolk is a little less bitey than Cheddar, made local to me.