Today Fromagical hosted a fun grilled cheese lunch featuring four different ages of cheddar with distinct pairings based on the flavor profile of each cheddar's age.
The one thing that remained constant was the fact that each grilled cheese utilized Vermont Butter & Creamery's cultured butter and of course an aged cheddar.
With the young, creamy, milky and dense one year aged cheddar we did a spring-y pairing on rosemary ciabatta with a melange of fresh rosemary, thyme, anise, and basil. Aromatic, herbaceous, and enlivening -- this was an upbeat grilled cheese perfect for the youngster cheese.
With the middle two year aged cheddar that was slightly biting and spicy with a nice milky sharpness we did thin slices of golden delicious apples and prosciutto on whole wheat walnut raisin bread. Fruity, tangy, meaty, cheesy all rolled into one yummy gooey melted sandwich.
With the three year aged cheddar we did a white fig raisin compote with wildflower honey and sel de la guerande on Sourdough Pullman. The perfect salty sweet savory blend -- it was really about the purity of the ingredients here -- the cheese has developed a nice nutty, butterscotchy, caramelly, crumbly bent at this age that was accentuated with the rustic sweetness of the fig.
And lastly with our old guy, there was homemade roasted tomato sauce and caramelized onions with a basil leaf on sourdough pullman. Flavorful and rustic with an aromatic bent, the cheese has now become very crystallized and crumbly with a nice roasty, toasty, nutty, butterscotchy feel and with the warming tomato sauce and the sweetness of the onions, this was an excellent way to round out the grilled cheese selections.
Isn't fun to see what one cheese can become depending on age and how the pairings with the four year would not necessarily work with the one year and the reverse?
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