Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Apple Mac & Cheese


srhcb

Recommended Posts

It actually sounds like it COULD work. Apples and cheese are not an inherently hostile combination, although cheddar and apples wouldn't be the mix I'd normally think of (maybe the taste of the Gorgonzola balances things out).

Also, I think the recipe may be a bit too open about which kind of apple to use. Granny Smiths to Braeburn to Fuji sounds like a fairly wide spectrum from tart to sweet.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually at a deli I used to frequent, one of my fave sandwiches was apple, cheddar, and a spicy horseradish based mustard all on a crusty roll. I'm not sure I understand this combo hot, but I guarantee it can be yummy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one here has ever had some cheddar cheese melted on top of apple pie? :shock: It's a classic combo that I'm sure would work well.

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, I think that recipe would be just fine. In addition to the classic slice-of-cheese on warm apple pie that Katie mentions, I have often enjoyed stuffing cored apples with a tangy cheese (like sharp cheddar, or even a decent chevre) and baking them. Try it sometime... it's good.

enrevanche <http://enrevanche.blogspot.com>

Greenwich Village, NYC

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.

- Mark Twain

Link to comment
Share on other sites

cheddar and apples wouldn't be the mix I'd normally think of

<blink> Really? It's one of the world's great natural flavor-combos, right up there with basil and tomatoes.

When Eugene Field (an otherwise unsung 19th century fella) wrote

But when I undress me

Each night, upon my knees

Will ask the Lord to bless me

With apple pie and cheese

he wasn't talking about no Gogonzola.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was a kid and my great-aunt Minnie would come to visit, her apple pie was always afoot. She served it with a slice of good sharp cheddar melted on top. That is one of my favorite combinations.

That being said, I have a real problem with that recipe. The taste combination may be there but the imagined texture really bothers me. ICK!

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one here has ever had some cheddar cheese melted on top of apple pie?  :shock:  It's a classic combo that I'm sure would work well.

When I was a kid, we'd have apple pancakes, which we'd slather with loads of butter and cinnamon sugar, and pieces of cheddar.

You'll note the lack of syrup or anything to make the pancakes not totally dry and gummy. Hence the butter. But it was the cheese that made it a meal.

Whoa, I can't believe I'm alive sometimes.

Edited by mrbigjas (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one here has ever had some cheddar cheese melted on top of apple pie? :shock: It's a classic combo that I'm sure would work well.

It seems to be either you love it or you never heard of it. I brought an apple pie into work with slices of cheddar cheese on the side and most everybody started looking for crackers to put the cheese on. I had to explain the concept of pie and cheese and they all took a pass. There was at thread a while back where someone in Germany made the Julia Child recipe for brownies which was basically looked on as a concept too bizarre to eat. Its like that.

slowday

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That being said, I have a real problem with that recipe. The taste combination may be there but the imagined texture really bothers me. ICK!

I dunno, I'm guessing the apples would kind of melt into mush, basically just helping to thicken the sauce. And I bet it would taste REALLY swell if you introduced some pork products into the mix.

It reminds me of a Madeleine Kamen recipe that I have never been brave enough to try, because there is no way to make it fit on ANYBODY's diet. It's pretty much a heart-attack on a plate, though it sounds delicious, to my oddball ears. You basically line a pudding basin with vast quantities of bacon. plop in some mashed potatoes, throw in a layer of dried pears and then some more bacon, and finish it off with more potatoes and pears, wrapping the bacon around to enclose the top. She recommends it as part of an apres-ski meal. I think you'd pretty much have to hike UP the Matterhorn and then schuss down it to burn that baby off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one here has ever had some cheddar cheese melted on top of apple pie?  :shock:  It's a classic combo that I'm sure would work well.

It seems to be either you love it or you never heard of it. I brought an apple pie into work with slices of cheddar cheese on the side and most everybody started looking for crackers to put the cheese on. I had to explain the concept of pie and cheese and they all took a pass. There was at thread a while back where someone in Germany made the Julia Child recipe for brownies which was basically looked on as a concept too bizarre to eat. Its like that.

slowday

I was kind of alluding to the fact that a lot more people here have probably had some kind of soft cheese--like Brie--with apples.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apples and cheese are not an inherently hostile combination, although cheddar and apples wouldn't be the mix I'd normally think of (maybe the taste of the Gorgonzola balances things out).

Here in central NY state where I was raised, excellent locally produced cheddar cheese is a staple and we also produce some of the best apples in the country (my local espresso purveyor used to run a fruit anf gift basket business in Alaska and flew in 10,000 pounds of Macouns every year to Anchorage, where they sold immediately to those in the know - the Macoun is that good).

I grew up hearing the phrase "Pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze." Is that just a regional saying? I always assumed that it was a widespread phenomenon. Some of my parents' friends always served apple pie with a wedge of sharp cheddar on the side. I love cheese with fresh apples but the combination with pie has always puzzled me - I just don't get it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up with the same saying, Owen. And I'm also fonder of my cheddar with just a nice fresh apple -- a combo that I find blissful in the extreme. However, the crispness of said apple really contributes a lot to the mix, and I wonder if the pie-and-cheese combo isn't based on very short -- i.e., crisp -- pastry. And being the product of a thrifty New England housewife, that pastry would also be unsweetened, so you'd have the combination of crisp, savory pastry, sweet apples, and rich, tangy cheddar. If you deconstruct it, it's sort of like a crunchy cracker or biscuit and cheese, with a cooked-apple relish -- not entirely unlike the mix in a traditional ploughman's lunch or in a Brit-style cheese-and-pickle sandwich.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband makes an omellette of Granny Smith apples and cheddar with sautéed onions. It's delicious, and not unharmonious in the least.

Edit: But Mac & cheese with apple? How is it Jinmyo says? "Gah?" "Feh?" Ick, anyway.

Edited by GG Mora (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Edit: But Mac & cheese with apple? How is it Jinmyo says? "Gah?" "Feh?" Ick, anyway.

Actually, in this case I think it would be okay.

However I would certainly adjust the proportion of diced and grated apple way down. I'd use quite tart apples, extra old cheddar, and Stilton.

And I wouldn't tell anyone there was apple in it until was too late. :laugh:

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Old proverb

"Apple pie without the cheese is like a lass without a squeeze"

I have made a tart with finely sliced, fairly tart eating apples, topped with parmesan.

I love animals.

They are delicious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

However, the crispness of said apple really contributes a lot to the mix, and I wonder if the pie-and-cheese combo isn't based on very short -- i.e., crisp -- pastry. And being the product of a thrifty New England housewife, that pastry would also be unsweetened, so you'd have the combination of crisp, savory pastry, sweet apples, and rich, tangy cheddar.

I think that perhaps I've never tried it with the right type of pie. When I did have pie with cheese, the apples were not crisp and tart and the pastry not flaky enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it would be good. I regularly make an omelette very like GGMora's husband's, and I once made an apple-cheese strata which was eaten with pleasure (by people other than me, as well). I dunno that I'd bother with the Gorgonzola, even.

And I might thin-slice some of the apples, put them on top, sprinkle on the Parm and broil till just crispy round the edges.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When cooked down, I'd think the apples could be thought of as onions, at least to those who didn't know apples were an ingredient. There's a similar sweetness, but the aromatic part is not there.

I think it would work. Anyone try it yet?

Screw it. It's a Butterball.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alton Brown is a serious mac freak. I had a recent email dialogue recently explaining to him what a nut case Steven Jobs is.

When he heard I used a PC, I had to reassure him I was using Linux, not Windows, so it didn't count.

Oh yeah, I told Alton that Jobs is a VEGAN. I think that hit him pretty hard, considering that macaroni with apples recipe contains cheese (Vegans don't do dairy) and Alton is a BBQ freak.

http://www.flamingmailbox.com/maccomedy/ar...10509vegan.html

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"May 26th. Four o'clock p.m. I took Betsy to Charles Coffee Shop on Columbus Circle. I had

black coffee and apple pie with a slice of melted yellow cheese. I think that was a good

selection. Betsy had coffee and a fruit salad dish. She could have had anything she wanted."

Travis Bickle likes it. :biggrin:

We need to find courage, overcome

Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, I love apples and cheddar, and gorgonzola! This is from living in England, where apples and cheddar are part of the pub Ploughman's Lunch. And Bleu cheeses are heaven with apples. I fondly remember my lunches when I worked at a wine bar in London. I'd make myself a sandwich of excellent granary bread, gorgonzola (dolcelatte) and pippin apple slices. Heaven!

“"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...