What is Blue Cheese?
Funky, tangy and (yes) moldy, blue cheese can be an acquired taste. But once acquired, for many of us, the taste of blue cheese is something we can’t get enough of! We put it on burgers, crumble it over salads and eat chunks of it sliced straight from the wedge. And oh, yeah—the best blue cheese recipe of all—we make blue cheese dressing with it, too. But what exactly is the definition of blue cheese?
Blue cheeses—sometimes labeled bleu cheese, usually referring to a French bleu like Roquefort, or Bleu d'Auvergne—are so called because of the blue color of the mold that defines their blue-green marbled appearance. The mold was originally a naturally-occurring feature of these unique cheeses, but modern cheesemakers intentionally inoculate their cheese with mold—usually penicillium roqueforti or P. glaucum—to achieve the desired viening or marbling.
How to Buy Blue Cheese
Our easy blue cheese dressing recipe is a little chunky—we like to have tangy, creamy pieces of blue cheese in each bite—so look for a relatively hard blue cheese that will crumble easily. You can also buy blue cheese crumbles, and save yourself some time. However, if you’d like to spring for a hunk of something special, here are three classic blue cheeses to try:
- Roquefort: production of this famous French blue cheese can be traced back to at least the 9th century, and probably even longer. Made from sheep’s milk cheese, Roquefort is creamy and almost fudgy in texture, but crumble or cut it up into this blue cheese dressing and you’ll be rewarded for your messy labors with an ultra-delicious, show-stopping blue cheese dip or dressing.
- Gorgonzola: hailing from Northern Italy, this lovely blue cheese is commonly available in either dolce or piccante—dolce is younger and creamier cheese, whereas a cheese labeled Gorgonzola piccante is aged a bit and will be better for crumbling.
- Stilton: one of the great cheeses of England, which is saying a lot, because the U.K. is home to many great cheeses. Stilton is sharp, salty, mineral-y and has a milder funk than many of its blue (or bleu) counterparts. It crumbles beautifully, too.
How To Make Blue Cheese Dressing:
How homemade blue cheese dressing—something so simple to make—became a salad dressing that people seem to only order in restaurants or buy pre-made we can’t understand. Once you’ve made it yourself at home, there’s no going back. Our classic blue cheese dressing recipe will yield a dressing and dip that is immensely more flavorful than store bought, and rivals anything you’d taste in a restaurant. All you do is mix together:
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream
- Worcestershire sauce
- Fresh lemon juice
- Vinegar
- Fresh chives
- Heavy cream
- Crumbled blue cheese.
Tools You’ll Need:
- A bowl for mixing.
- Hands for crumbling blue cheese.
Dips, Dressings and Sauces, Oh My!
Now that you know how to make the best blue cheese dressing ever, you might just want to spruce up your other dip and sauce-making skills. Here are a few dip and dressing recipes we turn to again and again:
Double Dip!
Will you serve this as a blue cheese sauce? A dressing? A dip? All three?! However you serve it, we’d love to hear about it! Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy eating!
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