Chocolate and blue cheese
The most difficult cheese pairing, and it needs a sweeter chocolate than instinct suggests.
Blue cheese is intensely salty, sharp and pungent, and the instinctive move — pairing it with an equally intense dark chocolate — produces something muddled rather than complex.
What works is sweetness. A blue cheese wants something to push against, which is why the traditional accompaniments are honey, port and dessert wine rather than more intensity. Milk chocolate and blonde chocolate both do that job; an 85% bar does not.
The principle
Sweetness rather than matched intensity. Blue cheese needs something to contrast with, not something to compete with.
Pairings
Milk chocolate's sweetness does what honey and port do alongside blue cheese — gives the saltiness something to push against.
For example: a 40% milk bar with Stilton
Blonde chocolate's caramelised sweetness is closer still to the honey traditionally served with blue cheese.
For example: blonde chocolate with Roquefort
Commonly recommended, and frequently disappointing
Strong blue cheese with high-percentage dark chocolate. Both are at maximum intensity in different directions, and the result is muddled rather than complex.
Related
Covered in
- Chocolate and cheese in depthThe famous one, and why it works.
Chocolate types this pairs with
- Milk chocolateMilk chocolate's sweetness does what honey and port do alongside blue cheese — gives the saltiness something to push against.
- Blonde chocolateBlonde chocolate's caramelised sweetness is closer still to the honey traditionally served with blue cheese.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)