The Ultimate Macaroni Cheese Challenge kicks off now!

OK, now you can't face another mouthful of roast turkey in any guise it's time to get cracking on creating the Ultimate Macaroni Cheese as announced in my post of December 17th.

To recap you can enter any of the following 4 categories (I've just added an extra one) though not the same entry in each category

* Best original recipe - meaning original as in invented by you rather than wacky/off the wall. We’re not particularly looking for recipes that include fish sauce though I wouldn’t rule them out.

* Most mouthwatering mac’n’cheese pic
That gives you scope to make someone else’s macaroni cheese (Simon Hopkinson’s seems to be a strong contender so far) and create a drop-dead gorgeous photo - or series of photos - of it

* Best use of artisanal cheese
Let’s celebrate the fact we have some of the best cheeses in the world in the UK by challenging you to use them in your macaroni cheese. A good category to enter if you like your mac'n'cheese plain and unadorned

* Best drink match
This was suggested by Denise Medrano aka The Wine Sleuth for mac'n'cheese loving winos - or beer or cider lovers. Don't feel you have to limit yourself to wine. What's the perfect way to wash down your macaroni cheese?

The judges will be Denise for this last category, cookery writer Xanthe Clay of the Daily Telegraph who will judge the recipe category, food photographer Marie-Louise Avery who will decide who has submitted the best pic or series of pix and Jess Trethowan of Trethowan's Dairy (makers of Gorwydd Caerphilly) who will judge the best use of artisanal cheese. (I've also recruited food writer Marlena Spieler who reminds me she has written a whole book on Macaroni cheese.) There will be a prize for each winner which I'll announce shortly once I've done a bit more arm-twisting.

Post your recipe/photo/drink match on your blog with a link to this post - letting me know, obviously, that you've done so - or send it to me at fibeckett AT live DOT com (see contact details on the blog). The closing date is January 18th. (NOW EXTENDED TO 11.59PM ON THE 24TH as there are a lot of entries in the pipeline that haven't made it through!)

Good luck!

Vacherin baked potatoes

I was given a Vacherin the other day by the Cheese Detective and was thinking of a new way to serve it when the idea of Vacherin Baked Potatoes came to me. You simply bake your potatoes the normal way, cut a cross in the centre and drop in a quarter of a Vacherin (having first removed the cedar band that encircles the cheese. That should read spruce, as my friend OstreaEdulis has pointed out.)

Rustled up rather hurriedly in between two shopping trips today I admit it doesn't look too elegant but it tasted sublime. A refinement might be to top it a few sautéed mushrooms - ceps would be perfect but chestnut ones would be fine - or simply a sprinkling of salt crystals. The perfect Christmas snack ;-)

Have a happy time everybody.

Woman's Hour, The Cheese Detective and the Hairy Bikers

On Friday I was on Woman's Hour talking about my new cheese book. For those of you who don't know it it's one of BBC Radio 4s flagship programmes presented by one of their most popular presenters Jenni Murray. It has an amazing audience of some 3 million listeners so it's an honour to be invited - well worth the long cold trek from Bristol to Manchester where it's now recorded.

My fellow guest was the self-styled Cheese Detective (above) - a lovely guy called Peter Papprill who I know from way back when I first started in journalism in the early 90s. He sells British artisanal cheese to restaurants and organises various cheesy events. As you can hear if you listen in to the recording which should be up for a few more days he'd been asked to bring along a selection of cheeses that would make a suitable Christmas cheeseboard. I'd been asked to bring along one that would make an interesting cheeseplate.

My choice was a gorgeous two year old Gouda called Reypenaer I found in my local health food shop Stoneground (supplied by the Fine Cheese Company in Bath). Most Gouda - which is pronounced Gow-da by the way, not Goo-da - is so bland in this country that old Gouda comes as a revelation - deep and fruity with intense bursts of flavour from the tiny crystals that have formed in the cheese. A bit like an old parmesan. I suggest accompanying it with dried fruits like unsulphured dried apricots, figs and fresh Medjool dates and a sweet sherry or tawny port.

Peter brought along a Golden Cross goats log from Sussex, a triple-cream cheese called Elmhirst from the Sharpham Dairy in Devon, a Berkswell sheeps' cheese (one of my favourites), a Hafod cheddar from West Wales which I've written about enthusiastically before and Joseph Heler's Cheshire Blue, a new cheese on me - like a Shropshire Blue but creamier. It was apparently featured in a recent series of The Hairy Bikers. It made a good selection - Jenni was particularly taken with the Berkswell as she hadn't tried sheeps cheese before.

Thanks to Peter I now have a fridge full of cheese to play around with in the run-up to Christmas so I'll have to get cooking so as not to waste any. That Hairy Bikers Cheshire soup should be a good start.

The Ultimate Macaroni Cheese Challenge

Yesterday’s post on macaroni cheese provoked such an outpouring of passion on this blog and on Twitter I thought it would be fun to have a post-Christmas Macaroni (aka Mac’n’Cheese) Challenge to see if we can come up with the ultimate version.

I’ve decided there will be 3 categories, each of which will win a prize which I will scrounge from various sources including the long-suffering publisher of my cheese book (quick opportunity for a plug) Ryland, Peters & Small. They are:

* Best original recipe - meaning original as in invented by you rather than wacky/off the wall. We’re not particularly looking for recipes that include fish sauce though I wouldn’t rule them out.

* Most mouthwatering mac’n’cheese pic
That gives you scope to make someone else’s macaroni cheese (Simon Hopkinson’s seems to be a strong contender so far) and create a drop-dead gorgeous photo of it

* Best use of artisanal cheese
Let’s celebrate the fact we have some of the best cheeses in the world in the UK by challenging you to use them in your macaroni cheese. A good category to enter if you like your mac'n'cheese plain and unadorned

There will be an appropriate prize for each and a judge for each category who I haven’t yet identified but will announce when I do. The competition will be launched on December 28th to give you something to do after Christmas apart from going to the sales but you can obviously start thinking about it now. Post your recipe/photo on your blog with a link to this post - or send it to me via the contact email on this blog.

Fun, eh? Get thinking . . .

I say macaroni, you say mac'n'cheese

Apart from the name - mac'n'cheese in the US, macaroni cheese in Britain - is there a difference in this homely pasta dish either side of the pond? The main one, judging from my recent trip to New York is that you Americans like breadcrumbs on the top - you rarely have it that way in the UK.

Yanks being so much better at comfort food than us I was hoping to find the ultimate mac'n'cheese but only one came near that from the cheese-centred brasserie Artisanal (above) which serves it in two sizes for a main course and a side. Having already tried their French onion soup (3 types of onion and 3 cheeses. Very good) I settled for the side which was about the size of a British main course. It wasn't quite piquant enough for my taste - I like a bit of mustard and Worcestershire sauce in there - but it did have this great crust of crispy, buttered, faintly cheesy crumbs - a good addition.

I was even more excited about going to a dedicated mac'n'cheese restaurant called S'Mac in East Village - and so was everyone else it seemed. On a Saturday lunchtime there was a lengthy queue to even get into the place but once I saw the dishes that were being taken to the tables - and spotted one of the chefs coming in with large plastic bags of pre-grated cheese I decided against it. It looked like deep dish pizza - shame as some of the riffs on macaroni cheese looked fun.

Another side of mac'n'cheese (served oddly with a sandwich at City Winery which does a weekly cheese brunch) failed for being too claggy - the sauce should be light rather than dense IMO, which means adding a little more milk than you might think it merits - but without,of course, making it thin.

In my new book I experimented with two types - an Extra-Crispy Macaroni Cheese where you make cheddar crisps and break them up in the sauce for extra crunch and a extra healthy one made with semi-skimmed milk and added greens - both yummy, I think. I also like it made with leeks and bacon or ham but how do these additions go down with you?

In short what makes the perfect mac/macaroni cheese? Best type of cheese(s)? Best added ingredients - or none at all? What type of seasoning? A crunchy crust or a crispy one? Over to you!

A sneak preview of my new cheese book!

If you'd like a glimpse of my cheese book Fiona Beckett's Cheese Course (right) take a look at the Guardian's Word of Mouth section which is currently running a couple of extracts and a new post from me. A perfect Christmas present for that cheese-loving rellie!

. . . and a side of Welsh rarebit

Following my last post and discovery that St John was offering a side order of Welsh rarebit it's been preying on my mind so when my son Will and I were deciding where to have lunch this week and he mentioned he'd never been I leapt at the chance to check it out.

This is what they serve - a big slab of toast generously topped with what our waitress told us was Montgomery cheddar seasoned with mustard, anchovy essence, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper - with a bottle of Worcestershire sauce on the side.

As you can see Will was so keen to get stuck in he cut into the rarebit before I had a chance to snap it but you can still see it looks pretty tasty - and was great with my main of roast beef. (No, we didn't have potatoes as well!)

It's a great idea which I'm sure will be copied all over London, as so many of St John's ideas have been. (For a full account of the meal which had a few misses as well, read my review on matchingfoodandwine.com)

What do you reckon is the secret of a good Welsh rarebit?