No overindulgent gourmand worth his salt fails to own a stilton scoop. Mine has a bone handle and Mappin & Webb silver plate. It has an ingenious contraption to release the cylindrical pellet of cheese: a bit like those retro ice cream scoops that, with a little squeeze, crack like a whip, the metal slicing under ice as vicious as a mousetrap. My stilton scoop is gentler. One releases the mouldy blue at one’s own pace, until it falls sensuously on to the plate. It is used just once a year, at Christmas, like the cookie-cutter and the nut-cracker.
Why this extended detour about a kitchen utensil? Because one cannot talk about cheese at Christmas without talking of stilton. It is the festive cheese, as Christmassy as the dreaded Mariah Carey music and rivalling brandy butter as the most important dairy component of the festive season. The Colston Bassett Stilton sold by Neal’s Yard Dairy is a classic choice.
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