Cheese & Pickle ~ Help me do it right?
 

I have the cheddar cheese and the Branston pickle, but need directions please.
What kind of bread makes a proper cheese & pickle sandwich?
Butter or other additions?
Thank you to the UK!

Oh my gosh, that's my favorite sandwich ever!! People in the US think I'm nuts.
I like a nice soft bread, not too strong to over-power the cheese and pickle. Butter, slice the pickles very thin and layer the cheese then pickle...yum!

It's definitely an aquired taste. My Mom ate them while pregnant so I was born with a taste for them :)

Darn, now I'm craving one.

Thanks but my Branston pickle is like a thick relish.
What kind of pickles are you slicing? And you're using cheddar cheese, right?

I don't use any butter with pickle and use any type of mild bread such as white or oatmeal. IMHO dark bread would detract from the pickle flavor.

I also like pickles on my sandwiches but that's another discussion.

Stilton isn't bad either.

I use a whole grain bread.

And an apple.

Some pale ale or cider is not amiss.

All a matter of taste. It isn't a gourmet experience for most of us.

hollywoodsc: 'pickle' isn't like kosher dill pickles or sweet gherkins that one can slice. It is a brown relish made of finely chopped veggies. Believe it or not - cauliflower, carrots, rutabaga, onions and marrows (squash).

nyse: Just experiment to see how you like it best. I personally don't use butter when using pickle and usually a crusty/country white bread.

But sometimes I also just like to take Carr's wheatmeal biscuits and put a slice of cheese and a dollop of pickle on each one - instead of making a 'real' sandwich.

I like it with brown bread or rolls. LAtely I have been using Pappperride Farms frozen whole wheat rolls. Noticed that Branston makes a fine cut relish in addirition to the reglar. Haven't tried it yet

Nice crusty white bread, thin spread of butter, thick slices of strong cheddar and a good spreading of branston on top.
Also good with baked potatoes. just add buter to baked potato,some grated cheese and a dollop of branston on top.

If you use cheddar, make sure it's a really good one. Unfortunately the name isn't protected. A Californian friend tried Montgomery's cheddar and says that it has put her off all other versions.
The website http://www.farmhousecheesemakers.com/ unfortunately doesn't say where you can buy it in the US

I like it with crusty bread, just one slice or with crackers. Pickled onions on the side. Just bought some porc pies with pickle at a fair in Norfolk. Yum! I always bring back some jars of Branston pickles. You can buy them in plastic containers.

Cheddar and mango chutney is also a good combination. And toasting the sandwich is good too. I don't use butter, pickle or chutney is sufficient lubrication.

Back in 2004 the Branston Pickle factory burnt down and jars were being sold on EBay ... http://preview.tinyurl.com/c38em73 At one point people were actually trying to sell part used jars!

Personally, I find Branston pickle too coarse and acid for use in a cheese sandwich. There are plenty of alternatives on sale in British supermarkets, made with many different fruits and vegetables. None is more authentic than any other - it's just a matter of taste. A smooth pickle made with apple or tomato is probably best for a sandwich.

Although Cheddar is the commonest British cheese, and comes in many different styles, there are lots of other cheeses suitable for sandwiches - Leicester, Double Gloucester, Wensleydale, Caerphilly, Cheshire, etc. All have their own characteristics. There are also a lot of artisan cheeses available now, which you will findn at street markets, country fairs and farm shops, as well as at specialist cheese shops.

well are you doing an open sandwich or a closed one. I'd prefer to use a bun or a roll (assuming this is wholemeal bread with seeds and stuff in, white bread must be eaten by someone, I guess), tear it open, stuff in cheese (not very flavoured so maybe a mature cheddar or a very runny somerset brie) and obviously not butter (who eats butter and cheese? what next extra virgin olive oil and olive oil, yuch) and then some pickle on top of that. Trouble is Branston pickle is basically the Macdonalds of pickle (cheap, tasteless, and far too salty (to keep it cheap)), you would do better at any market stall in any festival in the UK or I guess US. (avoid pikilili, gastly stuff even if spelt correctly)

Mature cheddar and branston is excellent on buttered crusty white or wholemeal bread. Wholemeal or Hovis doesn't have seeds etc in, that's granary or multi seed here in the UK.

By the way Avalon2, I've tried the fine chopped Branston and it just doesn't do it for me. The whole point of Branston is the crunch that you get from it. The fine version just doesn't have that.

Must admit i prefered Pan Yan pickle to Branston but I don't think it is made anymore

Something a little different are cheese and pickle scones.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2...chutney-scones
My family pounce on them warm from the oven spread with butter.

Branston pickle for me is one of those nostalgic taste sensations... it may be 'cheap' but there is no substitute for a real cheese-n-pickle sarnie! Takes me back to childhood straight away.

I grew up on this and learned to hate it but am back again to loving it. Plain old white bread with a scrape of butter, the Branston and the cheddar. Serve a pickled onion on the side and it's heaven!

There's no more to be said but............Bring out the Branston.

http://www.bringoutthebranston.co.uk/

"Takes me back to childhood straight away."

Absurd indulgence in our youth, and impossibly naff now we're all grown up, Branston really isn't everyone's idea of heaven.

In the early 1950s we were just amazed cheese had come off ration - and who could possibly afford glorified jam to put on top of it?. In the 21st century, surely everyone uses the chutney they've made from whatever's in glut? And if you're too lazy to simmer apples and mint for 3 hours, what's the point of your local WI or National Trust property if not to buy theirs?

Be honest now: Branston really is as horrid as Hartley's strawberry jam.

This reminds me of an episode of "As Time Goes By". Jean is trying to impress a "perfect" woman she's interviewing... reaches into her bag and comes up with a handful of pickle.
(From a sandwich Lionel has made for her...)

>>Branston really isn't everyone's idea of heaven.<<

Nor are madeleines mine, but Proust got a life's work out of one, so there's no accounting for tastes.

Still, he was French, which may account for something. Or not.

After reading all this, I had to give it a try. I used aged Welsh cheddar, Branston pickle, and Publix White Mountain bread. I was afraid the pickle would be too sweet, as the jar is labeled "sweet pickle." It was not sweet-nicely acidic and crunchy-and wonderful. How did I grow up without this? It sure beats white bread with bologna, American cheese, and yellow mustard.

Welsh Cheddar? What sort of bastard cheese is that? My mother-in-law was taught cheese making in Somerset, where Cheddar is, and proper Cheddar cheese comes from. I advise you to accept no substitutes.

Good God. It will be prosciutto from Utah next.

I will be sure to let Publix know, chartley. I figured Welsh was better than American.

erk I've never liked Branston (or any other pickle but this thread has me craving crusty bread and Cheddar so strong it makes the inside of your mouth itch.

Thanks for the laughs eveyone. Such opinions over pickles!

That said - sweet sliced pickles, medium cheddar cheese on lightly buttered, white bread.

Relish and prosciutto? Heaven help us!

If you find yourself in the USA, try Vermont cheddar. You really cannot beat a good Vermont cheddar: pungent, dry, and crumbly.

It probably will be pungent three years after the OP. (-:

Rubicund, it'll take at least 7 years for the cheddar to be pungent (I'd give it a good 10-12). The OP on the other hand... ;)

many thanks to whoever revived this thread - just like a cheese and pickle sandwich it's a true fodors classic.

Do you tip the cheese maker?

Oh - so "pickle" is NOT A pickle. It;s some sort of pickled veggie and or fruit combo.

I could never understand how you could keep the little round slices of pickle from sliding out of the sandwich.

Just a point of interest - not going to eat this - don't like pickles (too salty) - or pickled stuff - at all.

nyt: It isn't anything like what Americans call a pickle. It is more sweet than tart/sour. It is a sweet combo of veg and dates with a spicy undertone (cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves etc)

Branston pickle is similar to pickle (or any) relish or chutney in consistency.

nyt - perhaps this will help:

http://www.picturebritain.com/2013/0...on-pickle.html

As a matter of linguistic usage, we don't really have "A" pickle in the US sense. We have "pickles", which might be pickled whole vegetables (like pickled onions, shallots, gherkins or even young walnuts), or chopped vegetables (like red cabbage, or mixed vegetables, such as in mustard pickle or piccalilli, which is very finely chopped). To me, Branston pickle is verging more on a chutney, being quite sweet; and those you can make with a whole range of fruit and veg mixtures (I did quite a nice rhubarb chutney once).