Stichelton became a cheese celebrity this past winter when it was written up in the New York Times. It's a masterpiece of a cheese. It's a work of art! This succulent blue cheese has a unique earthiness, an intense fruitiness tasting of apples, a spiciness to play off the sweetness, and a rich creamy texture. There are only a few wheels of Stichelton that leave England for the United States. So, when I see it at a cheese shop I always purchase a piece.
Stichelton is a raw milk Stilton. Ever since 1989, Stilton was required to be produced with pasteurized cow's milk. Yearning for their raw milk Stilton, Randolph Hodgson of Neal's Yard Dairy and Joe Schneider, an American cheese maker, experimented with their first batches of what would become Stichelton. Before the cheese was perfected, they called it Worksop Blue. Finally, they came up with the name Stichelton, the ancient name of the village that would eventually be known as Stilton.
This cheese is sure to convert someone who is terrified of blue cheeses into someone who savors their many complicated delicious layers of sharpness and aroma. Recommendations on the best way to savor Stichelton's complexity can be found after the jump.
This is kind of like when the US Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes were not fruit.
The High Court in London decided that Pringles do not count as "crisps" (that's chips to us in the USA) for tax purposes. The VAT (value added tax) in England isn't applied to most foodstuffs, but potato crisps are subject to the tax. Lawyers for Prinlges, however, argued that since they are made from only 42% potato flour and their shape isn't based on anything natural, they are not really crisps and should therefore be exempt from the VAT.
According to Times Online, the High Court in London agreed, but don't count on that being the last word on the matter. England's Department of Revenue and Customs isn't happy about missing out on that tax money and is considering an appeal.
I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour until I run out. Please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.
Metro.co.uk reports that eighteen year old Kathryn Ratcliffe from Newcastle, UK broke the record for eating grains of rice during the Chopsticks Championship. How does someone win this honor? She ate 96 grains in two minutes - breaking the existing record of 64 grains in three minutes.
Kathryn broke her first world record at the age of 12 and she now holds four records! Her other records are for eating Smarties with chopsticks, eating jelly with chopsticks, and separating jelly beans by color into separate pots with a straw.
I wonder what Kathryn has planned next. More with chopsticks? More with straws? Perhaps she'll retire after her fourth win. I doubt she'll quit now. I see many records in her future.
By now, I think most of us are aware that drought is hurting many places around the world. However, one place that is going through a drought that probably won't get any attention is Scotland, the Western Isles to be precise.
The world may take notice, though, when it can't get Scotch whiskey from that part of Scotland. OK, maybe only whiskey connoisseurs would really notice, but still. About half the distilleries in the Western Isles have had to shut down so far, and the other half only have a few weeks of water left.
Sure, a lot of people are worried about running out of water (I mean other than the distillers), but apparently plenty of residents are also pretty happy about all the sunshine. Well, here's hoping that they, and all drought sufferers, get some much needed rain soon. Hopefully it'll be enough to keep the whiskey flowing.
The London Festival of Architecture will be starting this week, and the culmination of the festival will be tasty, indeed. As part of the festival, there's a competition to re-create famous architecture out of Jello (referred to as jelly across the pond).
According to the Guardian Online, the contest to re-create famous architecture is a charitable event and the proceeds go to Article 25, a disaster relief and development fund. Apparently the contest was inspired by the Millennium Bridge, which opened as a pedestrian bridge in 2000 in London but developed a dangerous wobble after only a week. It was nick named the "Wobbly Bridge," and had to be shut down to be fixed.
The architect who originally designed the "Wobbly Bridge" is actually making a Jello replication of it for this contest. He says that even though he was, of course, embarrassed about the flaws in the bridge, he is amused that his mistake can be used as the basis for a charitable event.
AOL Health Editor Katherine Steinberg submitted the photo above for inclusion in the Midnight Sausage series, but we thought it was worthy of a post all its own.
"As I was wandering the streets of London foraging for food, I came across something even more foreign to me than the British slang -- the hot dog hamburger, or the 'express special'. It was so strange that I had to take a picture. I'm not sure what about this makes it faster than your average meal, but I do know that it comes with fries. But don't get too excited, judging by the recent price dip, it won't be popping up in your local deli anytime soon."
Has anyone seen or sampled this frankenfood in London or elsewhere? We'd love a first-hand account.
Berry jams are probably the most popular in the U.S. When it comes to jams, we rarely consider plums. I love plum jams because they have a unique candy-like sweetness that is tempered by a little acidity and a smooth texture. Below are three types of plums that produce exceptionally one-of-a-kind jams:
Mirabelles: If you have even the slightest sweet tooth, these plums are seriously addictive. Mirabelle jam has dark yellow colored chunks of juicy sweet mirabelle plums. Don't be surprised if you start eating the jam straight from the jar with a spoon. This jam is delicious on buttered toast. These plums are a specialty in the region of Lorraine in France.
Reines Claudes (Greengages): These green wild plums produce a vibrant orange-brownish colored jam. Eating this jam is like eating a decadent confection produced solely for royalty. Reines Claudes are cultivated in the United States, England, and France. The name "Reine Claude" originated from the 16th century in France and refers to queen Claude, the wife of Francis I. Its other name "Greengage" refers to the Gage family that brought the plums from France and cultivated them in England during the 18th century.
Quetsches: They look like large luscious deep purple grapes. Quetsche jam often has a delicate succulent sweet flavor. Quetches come from the regions of Alsace and Lorraine in France where they are used to make desserts and eau-de-vie, clear colorless fruit brandy. Try this dessert at home: Questche plum tart with walnut cream.
Yep, in conjunction with the University of Leicester in England the Doritos Broadcast Project is beaming the ad toward a solar system in the Ursa Major constellation. They're transmitting from the EISCAT European space station.
The Doritos Broadcasting Project you ask? Um, yeah, I'm guessing it was created just for this. The DBP asked for 30 second entries from people in the UK and they were then able to vote on the winning ad. According to the article in Science Daily, about 61% of Brits think that this is just a first step in communicating with extra terrestrial life. My question is, why would aliens want to communicate with a species that hits them with an ad the first chance they get?
The first thing I thought when I read about the new project from British designer Kacper Hamilton was, "How many times has this guy seen the movie Se7en?" The second thing I thought was, "How the hell do you drink out of such funky glasses?"
Hamilton's "7 Deadly Glasses" is a set of bizarre red wine glasses based on the 7 Deadly Sins. The one representing sloth, the fourth sin, is pictured here. It's an especially apt design since someone has to turn the the valve at the bottom so the sinner can drink. The glasses representing the other sins seem much more difficult to drink from. I'm not sure if it's because these sins are considered deadlier or what. Take wrath; it's a glass that has a teardrop shape hollow cut out of the top. It looks impossible to drink out of without cutting one's face.
Hamilton says the glasses are "about celebrating passion and encouraging the user to be sinful in a theatrical passion." I can understand why he chose red over white to embody sinfulness. I suppose a set of white wine glasses would have revolved around a less punitive bit of Western culture, like the nine muses of Greek mythology.
This isn't a vegetable you see every day, and, depending on how well it does in England, you may never get a chance to see it in person. Named the C-thru-cumber, it's a new variety of cucumber that has a very thin skin that doesn't need to be peeled before using it in a salad or sandwich. It's quite pricey compared to the regular cucumbers at grocery stores in the UK.
I am in no way, shape or form a fan of cucumbers, so the question of whether to peel or not to peel is a non-issue for me. I know that they peel the cucumbers for finger sandwiches where I work, but not for salads. Also, as I understand it the nutrients are mostly in the skin, so are these veggies less nutritious?
Judging from some of the comments in the Daily Mail Online article, the C-thru-cumber isn't going to go over well. What do you think?
It's an increasingly globalized world out there, with an increasingly global food market. That can lead to a certain amount of homogenization and difficulty for small producers of artisan foods. The idea behind the "Ten things to eat before they die" gala dinner in Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, England this week is to bring attention to some of the worlds most endangered delicacies.
The spotlighted ingredients in the dinner aren't endangered by over consumption, but from under consumption. Items like the English asparagus that used to be a favorite of ocean liners but that's now grown in only four acres, and the Spanish capers that used to be famous but that now can't get sold outside of the local villages will be highlighted.
The event organizers wanted a thought provoking dinner. Part of the idea is to get some of these great foods known to foodies so that maybe high end retailers will pick them up, thus allowing the small producers to make a living selling their delicacies. I'd love to go, but as the dinner is in England and it costs about $160 (£85) it's a little out of the question. The goals of the planners are working, though: I am very intrigued by some of the items on the menu. Does anything on the menu strike your fancy? What would you try?
Ok, imagine you saw an event on Facebook that was so cool you couldn't possibly pass it up. Well apparently that's what happened in East Sussex, England. There was to be a movie style pie fight, in which participants were encouraged to dress up and hit each other with whipped cream filled pie pans. The brains behind the operation were out to break the British record for pie fighting, which is currently at 70 people.
Unfortunately, it was so cool that too many people wanted in on the action. Over 1200 people indicated that they would be there for the pie fight. The local police were worried that they'd be unable to control the crowd if things went wrong, and they wouldn't be able to prevent non-participants from being hit.
The East Sussex police do have a sense of humor though. They told the original planners that a properly organized pie fight would be fine, so it's back to the drawing board for now. I know there's a record for everything, but pie fighting sounds like fun. I know I'd sign up if I saw it on Facebook. What would you do?
A couple in Cornwall, England, who have been keeping chickens for more than 25 years, thought they had seen everything that the agricultural life could dish out. But then one of their 30,000 hens laid an egg that is four times the size of the eggs they normally see on the farm.
They say that it is a perfectly shaped egg, with a smooth shell and even finish. They can't determine which chicken laid this honker of an egg, but inspections have uncovered nothing and all the hens appear to be in good health. They plan on blowing the contents out of the egg and displaying the shell at their stand at the Royal Cornwall Show.
I have a weakness for great gourmet oils, vinegars, and spices. This makes every trip to my favorite foodie store that specializes in these three things divine torture, and an exercise in failing restraint. I try a million different flavors, and I have even been known to finish off a small cup of vinegar like a shot. I go into a foodie haze and I can't be stopped.
Last week, I met up with a friend to go to that sinisterly tasty place and made a new discovery: Halen Mon Sea Salt with Taha Vanilla, which merges sea salt from Wales with Tahitian vanilla. (Details) It's delicious -- and I say this as someone who steers clear of flavored salts. The mixture offers the sharpness of the salt with the sweetness of super-tasty vanilla. I couldn't help but buy some.
Aren't you tired of seeing advertisements everywhere? I know I am. Well, now 
Ok, imagine you saw an event on Facebook that was so cool you couldn't possibly pass it up. Well apparently that's what happened in East Sussex, England. There was to be a 
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
