Crumpets and cheese

After a rather disturbing conversation with a certain person I know, it has come to my attention that some people don't think cheese on crumpets is a good idea. This is quite obviously nonsense. I am now going to explain why.


This is a crumpet with butter on it. That's fine. Perfectly alright. Here's a picture of me eating it.


I'm content.The butter is nice and melted, it is stodgy, warm and comforting. It's a lovely early evening snack and I'm quite happy with the state of my crumpet. But, and this is the important part, it's just a crumpet. To really make this worthwhile you're going to need something on top of that crumpet. Something with enough saltiness to cut through the stodge but enough fat and creaminess to keep the whole thing in the comfort food arena. That something is cheese.


Cheddar is good, but a soft cheese or a nice stringy melting cheese would be best. Beaufort is my favourite, as it's quite fruity but mild and very stringy. In the picture I've gone for Munster on the left and Taleggio on the right. Once the crumpets are toasted put a generous slice of cheese on the top and pop under the grill for 30 seconds so it starts to melt but doesn't go too crispy.

If you want to go in a slightly different direction, take a hot crumpet and spread on a thick portion of a creamy goats cheese. The heat of the crumpet will warm it slightly, but the variation in temperature is very satisfying. Boursin works well for this, but I went to a cheese and wine tasting the other day where I tried a cheese called Cerney. I think this would work very well. This is a young ash-covered goats cheese in the shape of a pyramid. It's sweet and tastes of sour cream with a hint of goatiness. I intend to try it on crumpets as soon as I can get my hands on some.

For the sake of scientific comparison, this is a picture of me eating the crumpet with cheese.


Do you see? Do you see how much better that is? I hope that this clears up any confusion on the subject. Bronners out.