The big news this festive season is the enthusiastic revival in the UK of the old fashioned cheese and wine party.
This apogee of social aspiration was hugely popular during the late 1950s and 60s when aspiring middle-class housewives spent the afternoon busily spearing toothpicks into cubes of cheddar, slivers of pineapple, tiny silver-skin onions, and topping the whole lot with a livid red maraschino cherry. These spiked delicacies were then rammed into a whole grapefruit or large orange. The dubious ‘cocktail nibbles’ would be served, accompanied by a couple of glasses of equally dodgy imported wine which, in the main, probably tasted like an artificially sweetened mouth wash. A pack of Rennies, no doubt, came in very handy.
Fast forward 40 years, and cheese and wine parties are a very different beast. I decided to host a modern version by inviting a dozen guests to my home to sample ‘good’ local wine and a superb range of excellent cheeses, kindly supplied by Oliver’s delicatessen in Tala. They also supplied the accompanying oatcakes, very tasty palmiers, posh cheese straws, and French bread sticks, All the wine was from Fikardos and Tsangarides wineries.
The hostess’ bible of the time, Entertaining on a Small Income by Eileen Elias (price 2/6 and published in 1957 by Hutchison’s) suggested Roquefort, Stilton, and Bel Paese would be a ‘well balanced selection’ and wines served should be Claret, red Burgundy or Madeira. It also suggested guests could be offered at the end of the evening a going home beverage of hot spiced wine.
For my soiree, I basically ignored all of this advice, especially when it came to bubbling pans of mulled wine which is basically cheap hot wine with pot pourri added and invariably tastes absolutely disgusting.
Seven magazine’s indomitable wine expert George Kassianos was in complete charge of the essential liquid refreshments and the plan was to entertain but also educate those present on which type of wine would best partner each cheese.
Our parade of cheesy delights included:
Proper French Brie (with white crust)
Brie De Meaux (French-made with unpasturised milk)
Strong Stilton (English Blue cheese)
Gorgonzola and Mascarpone (Italian-layered terrine style)
Wensleydale and Cranberry (English crumbly cheese)
Port Salute (mild soft French cheese)
Admiral’s cheddar (English layered with port and stilton)
Taleggio (Semi soft Italian cheese)
Stinking Bishop (Soft English cheese with a Perry washed rind and a quite rapturous aroma – think well-used sneakers – but tasting delicious)
Few of the guests were familiar with all of the cheeses, and many were initially a bit wary of Stinking Bishop – after all they could instantly catch a whiff of him the minute they opened my front gate.
As the host I felt mightily relieved I didn’t have to cook, and yet was still able to invite friends round and offer them decent hospitality. If you choose the cheeses carefully, and don’t go bonkers with expensive wine, you can easily see why this 1960s-style function works so well.
According to Ms. Elias, “guests will normally only stay for about one hour as many husbands will be weary after a hard day at the office so, the host can comfortably allocate one bottle of wine as being sufficient refreshment for four to five people.”
Another piece of advice to completely ignore, I’m afraid. My lot arrived at around 7.30 pm, hoovered up every crumb of cheese, plus all the nibbles, and dispatched between them one and half cases of wine, plus ten bottles of water. They then called for taxis at 11.30pm.
The evening was fun, stress free and festive and cost a lot less than the usual ‘full Monty’ homemade party style buffet.
All in all, I’m now a converted retro cheesy. Next time though, I’m going to have to invest in some heavily scented candles, as the good old Stinking Bishop was still making his presence felt the next morning!
Thanks to Oliver’s Delicatessen in Tala, Fikardos Winery in Paphos andTsangarides Winery in Lemona.
