According to Nigella, you’ve been eating mince pies & Christmas cake wrong for years – the ingredient you eat them with
MINCE pie season is upon us, and it turns out we may have been eating the festive treat wrong for years, according to Nigella Lawson.
The glamorous food writer claimed there is a surprising ingredient we should be pairing with not only mince pies, but Christmas cake too.
Speaking on BBC’s The One Show, host Jermaine Jenas took the opportunity to get Nigella’s advice on festive food for December.
He said to Nigella: “At the top of the show we teased the fact that you say that Christmas cake, that everyone loves on Christmas Day, should be eaten with cheese.
“We were on board with it, our socials and inboxes have gone crazy in agreement with you.”
Nigella gushed about the unusual mix, saying: “Quite right.
More on food
“There is a bit of north-south divide, and even though I am a soft southerner, I am very much with the north on this.”
Jermaine agreed, saying: “It’s the way forward.”
Fellow host Alex Jones asked Nigella what type of flavours go best with the Christmas cake, and the foodie replied: “Tangy, you want something sharp and crumbly, a Lancashire also good.”
Wensleydale cheese was also recommended as a top pairing to go with the fruity cake.
And it’s not the only Christmas treat that works well with cheese.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Nigella responded to a comment which said “Cheese works well with mince pies too”, saying “absolutely.”
Many The One Show viewers got in touch to share their love for the pairing during Nigella’s appearance.
Jermaine read some of the response out to the writer, sharing: “Alison has said of course you should have cheese with Christmas cake.
“I grew up in Yorkshire and was always on the Christmas cake with Wensleydale.
“I am now in my seventies and still do.”
The UK’s love of combining a sweet mince pie with other flavours could also be attributed to influencers such as Pinch of Nom and chef Jack Monroe who have created blue cheese mince pie toasted sandwiches to use up leftover cheese.
Heston Blumenthal even launched a three-cheese mince pie last year.
Catherine Duffy, marketing manager at Elite Imports, which supplies Bavarian cheeses like Cambozola and Montagnolo Affine to UK supermarkets said: “Our research shows that British people are not afraid to experiment with flavours and are happy to mix sweet and savoury ingredients in a mince pie.
Read more on The Sun
“Mincemeat is very similar to a sweet chutney, so it makes sense to include Cambozola blue cheese under the lid.
“Even better when it’s warmed through, and it melts. Delicious!”
