Vintage Mature Cheddar & Branston Pickle on Farmhouse White - 6.5/10

Ingredients:

Fresh baked Farmhouse White loaf hand cut into think slices

Pilgrim's Choice Vintage Mature Cheddar – Grated

Branston Pickle

Lurpak Spreadable

Scores:

Cheese : 8.5/10 - Strong cheese with a firm 'just crumbly' texture that melts in the mouth forming a lovely creamy paste. As this happens the 'bite' appears which is sharp and powerful but not overpowering

Cheese/Bread : 1/10 - Nothing there! The cheese completely overpowered the bread which just became a sticky glutinous mush. A substantial Granary would have been much better

Cheese/Condiment : 9.5/10 - A classic that is hard to beat. Only the small chunk version which gives a more consistent flavour per bite could have scored more

Build Quality : 8.5/10 - Thanks to thick slices and a softer texture the bread held up well helping to keep the filling from falling out

Overall Flavour : 5/10 - Would have scored much higher if the bread had factored more in the flavour and the Lurpak wasn't used

Final Score : 6.5/10

Tasting notes:

I'm of the opinion that adding fat to a sandwich ie. butter or margarine lessens your ability to actually taste the cheese and generally it should not be used at all

This was clearly the case here and the sandwich became a rather bland affair which was only broken by the use of the pickle

Whilst from a personal taste preference it lessened my enjoyment of the sandwich the fat was used here in order to help create a known benchmark that many readers will have experienced.

From this and other benchmarks to follow, a better understanding of the scoring system can be achieved and therefore future, more adventurous, sandwiches can be judged more effectively

Scoring System

I've realised that if I'm to find the perfect cheese sarnie I need a quantifiable means of comparing them
After much thought a system has been developed that should thoroughly cover the relevant areas
There are to be five areas where points can be awarded.
Each area is scored out of 10 giving a total score of 50 which will then be reduced by a factor of 5 to give a final mark out of 10

The criteria are:
Overall Flavour - The final balance of flavours is what distinguishes a great sandwich from a sub-standard one
Cheese - It's the star of the show and as such deserves it's own special mention
Cheese/Bread Compatabilty - Soft White or Hearty Granary? Sometimes a cheese needs a particular type of bread to really bring out the flavour
Cheese/Condiment Compatibilty - Sharp or Sweet? Does it over power the cheese or help cut through a cloying variety?
Build Quality - If a sandwich falls apart so you end up eating everything separately it's no longer a sandwich but bread and cheese

I'll be revisiting my earlier examples in order to give them a fair appraisal with this new scheme
I'll also be introducing tasting notes and some benchmark sandwiches such as Cheese Salad and Cheese & Pickle etc

Recipe submissions are always welcome as long as they don't involve Marmite as I believe it to be the culinary extension of the Darkside and it should not be allowed in the food chain!
For those of you who are not aware of Marmite's origins it is the waste product from beer production
As we all know Beer = Good so by default since it is a waste product Marmite must equal Bad! Simples!
And I don't want any arguments from any deranged fans of this foul smelling dark matter either. It's my Blog, I make the rules!

Also there will be no meat in any of my sandwiches since I am a Vegetarian. Actually I'd describe myself as a Vegan with a cheese addiction but that's another story...