The Overuse Of Blue Cheese

[DonRocks]

I cannot think of a single ingredient that is more abused than blue cheese in restaurants.

It is quite possible that I'm in a very small minority, but for my palate, blue cheese is something to be used in very limited doses, ideally as part of a cheese plate after dinner. (Yes, I know that's old-school French, but it's how I like mine the best, and even on a cheese plate, I only want *one* of the cheeses to be blue).

Blue Cheese is everywhere. It's in appetizers, it's in pizza, it wouldn't shock me if I saw it in a dessert. I find it to be an *extremely* strong taste - right up there with whiskey - and it's best used in small doses or not at all.

This is not something you serve chunks of in a salad with walnuts to begin a meal with, or at least not to me.

Or as a stuffing for chicken wings, leeks, or anything else. Even as a pizza topping, it's usually just too much.

I do enjoy it as a component of a sauce for a steak-frites, as long as the flavor of it isn't overwhelming.

Do I stand alone here? I'll go so far as to say that blue cheese is the single-most overused ingredient in restaurants that I can think of. You can make your arguments for beets, goat cheese, kale, charcuterie, etc., but those are at least milder, less-offensive flavors. Even after eating it for the past several decades, it can still very easily make me wince, and I'm actually wondering if I have an extreme sensitivity to it: Even on a cheese plate, I prefer it in very small doses.

So is it a vile trend, or is it just me? I'm perfectly willing to accept the latter.

[Rhone1998]

"Blue cheese" itself encompasses such a wide range of flavors, though.  I can totally see your point if you were talking about Cabrales, for instance, but there are some really mild blues too which (again, to my palate) are quite unassuming.

[Tweaked]

it wouldn't shock me if I saw it in a dessert.

Colesten and Bassett Stilton Flan with Port Glaze.  DR Blowout Dinner at Restaurant Eve September 2005.

[The Hersch]

It is quite possible that I'm in a very small minority, but for my palate, blue cheese is something to be used in very limited doses, ideally as part of a cheese plate after dinner.

You're unlikely to find a piece of good apple pie in a restaurant, but if you are lucky enough to encounter a really excellent apple pie, made with green apples and with a tender and flaky crust, such as my mother used to make, your bliss will only be heightened and intensified if you find a bit of Stilton or Roquefort sharing the plate with the piece of pie. With chocolate cake? Well, no.

[DonRocks]

You're unlikely to find a piece of good apple pie in a restaurant, but if you are lucky enough to encounter a really excellent apple pie, made with green apples and with a tender and flaky crust, such as my mother used to make, your bliss will only be heightened and intensified if you find a bit of Stilton or Roquefort sharing the plate with the piece of pie. With chocolate cake? Well, no.

I agree with you, but actually prefer a sharp American Cheddar because that's what my dad used to like so much, and it grew on me.

"Apple pie without cheese, is like a kiss without a squeeze," he would say.

[lperry]

You know what this thread is making me crave?  Thick, goopy, 1980s-quality, blue cheese dressing on iceberg lettuce.  *sigh*

[The Hersch]

You know what this thread is making me crave?  Thick, goopy, 1980s-quality, blue cheese dressing on iceberg lettuce.  *sigh*

That craving can be readily satisfied, you know. Marie's is still around, and iceberg lettuce too. I'd say go for it. Follow with pasta primavera, or quiche.

[DonRocks]

You know what this thread is making me crave?  Thick, goopy, 1980s-quality, blue cheese dressing on iceberg lettuce.  *sigh*

Well, just go to any moderately upscale restaurant in the DC area, and you can find it.

[Waitman]

I think that if you took menus from 50 random but decent restaurants in the DC area, cut them up so that each individual dish was a small slip of paper and threw them into one of those large round mesh cylinders with a crank -- the ones with a trap door through which the winner's name is drawn -- spun it and and then began drawing individual dishes out one at a time, you would find many things used (and abused) far more often than blue cheese.  The aforementioned kale tops the list, along with Brussels sprouts and beets. Then check calamari, tuna tartar, bacon, sweet potatoes (yecch), cilantro...

You have a blue cheese problem.  Could be worse.

Regarding the iceberg salad thing, I've always thought it funny that my father's favorite appetizer circa 1968 -- which always grossed me out -- has re-emerged as a hip staple.  Of course, he also wore  Wayfarers -- he worked briefly for Bausch and Lomb -- which I thought were unbelievably ugly in the age of wire-frames.  Now I own a pair.

And, as long as I'm shirking work, let me add that my favorite TV night dinner is delivery pizza recrisped on the pizza stone to an audible crunch, topped with fresh arugula drenched with "quality" blue cheese dressing.  Second favorite is chicken wings, but with the dressing tarted up with crumbles of artisanal grocery store blue.

I have a blue cheese problem, too. Just a different kind.

PS: Tanks to everyone for not spelling it "bleu" cheese.

[lperry]

That craving can be readily satisfied, you know. Marie's is still around, and iceberg lettuce too. I'd say go for it. Follow with pasta primavera, or quiche.

Oof.  I made the mistake of checking the ingredients list on the Marie's website.  Can't bring myself to do it.  I'll mix up a batch of homemade.

...Second favorite is chicken wings, but with the dressing tarted up with crumbles of artisanal grocery store blue. 

I can't remember a time when there wasn't a package of this in my Mom's fridge.  I remember being a kid and thinking how sophisticated we were to have such an interesting cheese at hand. 

[Barbara]

One of my very favorite salads is chopped endive with lemon juice and olive oil, sprinkled with bacon and blue cheese. Yesterday, I picked up some endives and "roquefort" cheese at TJ's with the intention of making this for supper tomorrow. Now, all I need to is to find some bacon. 

(BTW: my brother won't touch blue cheese in any shape or form.  )

[Rieux]

Blue cheese is perhaps my favorite food in the world.  I can't think of anything better than slices of baguette with a stinky roquefort on it.

[DonRocks]

Blue cheese is perhaps my favorite food in the world.  I can't think of anything better than slices of baguette with a stinky roquefort on it.

Société, Papillon, or Carles?

Roquefort is particularly well-made and definitely a first-ballot Cheese HOF candidate.

[ktmoomau]

Speaking of blue cheese dressing, the Italian Store's blue cheese dressing is amazing, I want to go get another tub.  They have it on a salad of tomatoes and broccoli that is excellent.  I love all forms of blue cheese although it doesn't love me.  But it does love me more than other dairy which I can't have even with a dairy pill.

It is used a lot, but these days I see a lot of the same ingredients all over the place.  As a child salads with greek dressing and crumbled blue cheese was a favorite of mine, I still love it.  I like it on steak, oh I really like it.

[The Hersch]

Of course, he also wore  Wayfarers -- he worked briefly for Bausch and Lomb -- which I thought were unbelievably ugly in the age of wire-frames.  Now I own a pair.

It's possible that I'm among the last few people alive to learn that Bausch and Lomb sold its Ray-Ban business in 1999, and, in fact, is no longer in the optical business at all, except for soft contact lenses and ancillary products. I stumbled on that information a year or so ago.

Wayfarer sunglasses have always been hip, in my view, and always will be.

[Dr. Delicious]

I couldn't disagree with the title of this thread more...Also, I recall having blue cheese ice-cream once or twice, tho I can't remember from where (it was someplace fancy). I was taken aback when i first saw it on the menu, then realized if anyone were to like it, it would be me...and it was delicious!

[DonRocks]

It's possible that I'm among the last few people alive to learn that Bausch and Lomb sold its Ray-Ban business in 1999, and, in fact, is no longer in the optical business at all, except for soft contact lenses and ancillary products. I stumbled on that information a year or so ago.

Wayfarer sunglasses have always been hip, in my view, and always will be.

You should watch the 60 Minutes piece on Luxottica.

[SeanMike]

The idea of cheese on apple pie makes me vaguely nauseated, though I had some sweet Norwegian cheese recently that was fantastic on freshly sliced Granny Smith apples.

Blue cheese, however, I find to be good for people (like me) trying to watch overall consumption of cheese - just a few sprinkles of it on a salad gives a whole bunch of taste. Just a wee, little, bit (not even an ounce).

Or paired after dinner with a good sour beer or a nice wine.

But most of the time in dishes it does seem to overwhelm, I think.

[The Hersch]

The idea of cheese on apple pie makes me vaguely nauseated

The cheese shouldn't be on the pie, but next to it.

[DonRocks]

The idea of cheese on apple pie makes me vaguely nauseated

The cheese shouldn't be on the pie, but next to it.

The thought of cheese *on* apple pie also makes me vaguely nauseated - it's definitely a side-by-side thing. The odd thing is, there's nothing about this combination at all that works on paper (other than sweet and salty), but it's somehow really good - it's essentially "fruit on a cheese board."

[The Hersch]

it's essentially "fruit on a cheese board."

That's a great idea! A small piece of exquisite apple pie, accompanied by morsels of several different cheeses--Roquefort, crumbly aged Cheddar, something pungent and gooey like Brillat-Savarin, maybe a bit of Parmigiano Reggiano. One could build a reputation on that, if the pie's good enough.

[zoramargolis]

Don--you have an extremely sensitive palate. So does J.--he finds very intense and pungent flavors overwhelming. But he really loves good stilton on baguette that has first been spread with sweet butter--stilton is probably the mildest of the blue cheeses. Cashel blue is similarly delicate. And gorgonzola dolce.

[johnb]

Blue cheese is of course loaded with umami.  I occasionally like to make an umami bomb salad dressing, consisting of sour cream, blue cheese, and fish sauce.  Pour some of that on sliced tomatoes (another high umami food) and you've got tasty eating with no compromise.

[saf]

sharp American Cheddar because that's what my dad used to like so much, and it grew on me.

"Apple pie without cheese, is like a kiss without a squeeze," he would say.

My husband's friend D says this too. He is from CT. Was your dad from there? It seems to be a regional thing.

[weezy]

I love blue cheese.  Grew up eating it on a slice of crusty Italian bread, usually a Danish blue that was delightfully stinky.  And it's a great pairing with grilled pineapple -- it's about the only flavor I know that really holds it own against the pineapple and both are more intense for it.

[DonRocks]

My husband's friend D says this too. He is from CT. Was your dad from there? It seems to be a regional thing.

No, my dad was born in Brunswick and went to Frostburg.

[BklynBoy]

I like blue cheese, but as you say Don, generally in small doses. Once a year or so I do get in the mood for a retro "wedge salad" with my dressing. I did it just last week in fact with a grilled steak:

• Bleu d'Auvergne
• Real sour cream from the Russian Gourmet (smetna) (enough artery clogging for a whole year)
• celery powder
• white pepper
• Champagne Vinegar

[DonRocks]

Blue Cheese is everywhere. It's in appetizers, it's in pizza, it wouldn't shock me if I saw it in a dessert. I find it to be an *extremely* strong taste - right up there with whiskey - and it's best used in small doses or not at all. 

Unless it's Roquefort which should be served after every single lunch and dinner.

I think that if you took menus from 50 random but decent restaurants in the DC area, cut them up so that each individual dish was a small slip of paper and threw them into one of those large round mesh cylinders with a crank -- the ones with a trap door through which the winner's name is drawn -- spun it and and then began drawing individual dishes out one at a time, you would find many things used (and abused) far more often than blue cheese.  The aforementioned kale tops the list, along with Brussels sprouts and beets. Then check calamari, tuna tartar, bacon, sweet potatoes (yecch), cilantro...

Chuck's Weenie ($11.95) - Our tuna tartar amplified by house-smoked bacon, accompanied with cubed sweet potatoes, accented with garden cilantro. A single ring of slow-poached calamari on the side.

Let the renegade who would not honor this dish, step forward and be accounted for.

[lackadaisi]

Blue cheese rivals bacon for me with regard to the ingredient that I get most excited about being added to anything. I love them all. It can never be over used.

[Ilaine]

We don't go to restaurants much anymore due to dietary restrictions, so I can't comment on the overuse of blue cheese in restaurants.

But we love blue cheese.  Roquefort (Societe) is our favorite, but also Stilton, goronzola dolce, Cashel blue, blu di buffala, and so many more that I don't have them memorized.

Among the few restaurants in our rotation are Cheesetique, which has not only an excellent cheese selection, but a very pleasant assortment of cheeses on a cheese plate in their cafe, and Dino, who always has a good but rotating cheese selection.

In fact, the best blue cheese I ever ate was on the second to last night at Dino in Cleveland Park.  We had three blue cheeses, and asked the waiter the name of the one we liked the best.  He gave us a little slab to take home, but when we got home, were disappointed that he gave us another one.  We had taken home the menu, so went back the next, and last night, and asked for the other ones, only one was available, but that wasn't it, either.  We drank way too much Brunello to focus, so that's all I remember.  I searched the internet for all three, and the probable cheese did not appear on a Google search, and I am very good at googling.  The I misplaced the menu. So, it's a mystery.  It comes from Italy, the cheese is as white as Roquefort if not whiter, but the texture is crumblier than Roquefort.

At home, we crumble roquefort on salads, and spread gorgonzola dolce on burger patties and steaks.

One comment on the once ubiquitous wedge with blue cheese.  The value for money ratio in a restaurant is about as low as it gets.  You're paying top dollar for a quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce and some low grade blue cheese dressing.  Make it at home with good quality blue cheese.

[Barbara]

Stuffing blue cheese (of whichever is handiest) into dried apricots is one of the easiest and tastiest noshes one can produce in a hurry.  Just sayin'.