On the rural idyll, marketing and other myths, with some truth thrown in.

The September sun has reached its peak in the sky. The plough rests on its side. A very large, powerful horse, maybe a Suffolk Punch or a Shire, chomps at the rich grass by the hedgerow made lush by recent rains. A strong, tanned man unpacks his canvas knapsack revealing: a hunk of bread, an apple, a slice of cheese and maybe a pickled onion wrapped in grease proof paper. He also pulls out an earthenware bottle containing a pint of the local ale. This is, of course, how the "Ploughman's lunch" was born and since then it has been available in pubs all over the country. Except, it's not.

Whilst this rural idyll paints a lovely picture linking us back to a time when life was hard but simple the concept of the "Ploughman's" as a pub lunch was invented by a canny marketing executive at The Milk Marketing board looking to sell more cheese. It is an invention of the 1960's not the 18th century. Being fair, there are a few references in literature to the lunch eaten by hairy handed sons of the earth, but the Ploughman's Lunch was a ploy to get people in pubs eating more than a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. 

However, in amongst the cynicism and lack of authenticity, that marketing executive had stumbled on one of the great food pairings on earth: beer and cheese. I don't wish to run down the value of wine when it comes to creating the perfect match to food but many red wines carry far to much tannin to taste anything other than metallic when matched with cheese. At this point I must stress that fortified wines such as Port and Madeira as well as sweet wines such as Sauternes and Tokaj can match cheese beautifully. Also its worth trying white wines with some of the lighter cheeses. 

So on to the point of this blog. I have long felt that the match of beer and cheese was one of the hidden secrets of the science, art and craft of food and drink matching. In order to illustrate this the first match I will look at the Ploughman's Lunch as it would be served in a pub in the 70's albeit with quite a modern cheese. I will match this with a beer that is over 70 years old.

Abbot Ale is a premium ale brewed by Greene King. It is regarded by many as a classic. It is a solid bitter with a sweet caramel edge and fruit notes balanced by traditional bitter English hop character. It is the sort of beer that makes people say "That's what good beer used to taste like!" and there is a nostalgic edge to its flavour. It is, however, beautifully brewed and a perfect example of its type. In the bottle it is lovely but if you can get it drawn from the cask in a good pub, you are in for a treat.

My first cheese - the centre point of my Ploughman's is Rock Star from Snowdonia Cheese company. This award winning cheese is aged for 18 months in the now disused slate mines of North Wales. The cheese itself lives in a slate blue wax until eaten. It has a sweetness in both the smell and palate. It half crumbles, half melts in the mouth and has enough maturity to warm the mouth just a touch.

The maltiness of the beer and the strength of the cheese work beautifully together and the sweetness of the beer contrasts with the saltines of Rock Star whilst matching its sweet creaminess. AS a match this is about as British as it could be. My Ploughman would be delighted.