Blue cheese is one of those things that either you love or you hate. Good quality blue cheeses have a strong flavor, to say the least. Smoked blue cheese has an even stronger flavor still, with the tanginess of the cheese and the strong, smokey flavor that I associate with barbecue. I have had a package of smoked blue cheese sitting in my fridge for quite some time (courtesy of Harry and David, and well-wrapped for fairly long term storage, as cheeses go.) and, while I like blue cheese, I haven’t been tempted to eat it on its own. While preparing a batch of chili – which had a nice smokey flavor itself – the idea to incorporated the smokey, smelly cheese into some cornbread.
Cornbread has a mild flavor that buffers the strength of the cheese nicely. You can still taste the cheese clearly, but you also get a nice flavor of corn and butter, thanks to the buttermilk in the recipe. I really like the crumbly and slightly rough texture that this cornbread has. I think it provides a nice contrast to the creaminess of the cheese (especially when the cheese is still slightly warm). It also means that the cornbread, while it slices easily, it crumbles well into chili and soups.
If you don’t have smoked blue cheese, you can use regular blue cheese. You can also use a smoked, non-blue cheese if you prefer to start with a slightly less stinky cheese to begin with.
Smokey Blue Cheese Cornbread
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
4-oz smoked blue cheese, chopped or crumbled
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Add in oil, eggs and buttermilk and stir well to combine.
Stir in blue cheese until well distributed. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Let bread cool to near room temperature before slicing (it is quite crumbly when warm).
Serves 8.
Morta Di Fame
June 19, 2009YEAH YEAH YEAH!
Kerstin
June 19, 2009What a great idea, it looks so good! My hubby would go crazy for it!
Trish
June 19, 2009Now THAT is very different. Hmmmm…we shall see if that will go over well with my boys but I am game to try it!
Baking Monster
June 19, 2009This is a great combination!I love this idea!
Sacramento Web Design
June 20, 2009This is just brilliant! Love it, thank you.
Christine
June 20, 2009That tasted GREAT! Thanks a bunch…I love this website –
Linda
June 20, 2009This sounds so good. We love blue cheese in anything!!
Cheese Maker
June 21, 2009I am really excited to try this with the Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue cheese. The cornbread looks fantastic. Thank you for posting the recipe and using our Smokey Blue.
David Gremmels
Amelie Celibataire
June 22, 2009I have baked this yesterday and it was a total succes. It tasted excellent. Thank you for this!!!
Jen
June 22, 2009Amazing flavor combination. Must be a delight with chili!
Romy
June 22, 2009This is a very similar concept to one of my favorite dishes – polenta with gorgozola. Polenta can be bland on its own, but mixing in a good strong blue cheese really balances both flavors fantastically. And leftovers are delicious cut into squares and fried up the next day!
Great post!
Sues
June 22, 2009I love cornbread and I LOVE blue cheese so something tells me I’d really, really love this!!
Terry
June 24, 2009I wanted to try this first and guess what, I didn’t hate it at all. Mine was not looked this much good but sure taste so delicious as this one looks. Blue cheese idea really worked and I loved it… 🙂
Viola Versicherung
October 21, 2009ooohhh, the image look so delicious.
can you bring me a few of this tasty cornbreads?
🙂
Partnersuche Online
November 11, 2009Uii this looks great. I really like blue cheese! Nice Shot, I will try it!
Autoleasing
November 25, 2009Great idea. I just tried this… It´s really delicious!! I love blue cheese..Please publish more cooking recipes with blue chease!!
Cartuse
March 7, 2010What a great combination ! I will try it.
Service Eurodata
March 7, 2010I will use regular blue cheese instead of smoked cheese. Could be better..
Singlebörse
May 22, 2010It look great. I will try it next week