Cheese with Seafood: Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I've done a lot of research into the whole Never Pair Seafood with Cheese phenomenon. Maybe more than I should have, but my heritage (my dad was born in northern Italy) all but requires me to understand it. This is something that seems to have started with my ancestors, but there is some debate on that point. Here's a great article on this:

http://www.thekitchn.com/the-fish-and-cheese-debate-the-76178

Point: The subtle nature of (most) seafood can be overwhelmed by the intense flavor notes of (most) cheeses.

Counterpoint: Not all fish have subtle flavors (examples: anchovies and smoked salmon), and not all cheeses are intense (example: havarti).

Where it Works: there are some seafood-and-cheese dishes that are accepted as legitimate dishes, though I'd guess not accepted everywhere! You can follow the link, but here are some examples:

Salmon mousse - salmon + cream cheese
Fish Tacos - fish + cotija cheese
Lobster Thermidor - can be served with an oven-browned cheese crust, typically Gruyère
Pizza - besides the obvious mozzarella + anchovies, the link mentions a shrimp pizza.
Lobster Mac and Cheese

They don't list it in the above link, but one of my favorite breakfast items is Bagels and Lox: smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese.

Conclusion: As far as I'm concerned, you can do whatever you want. But, I think it's also worth considering the type of cheese and type of seafood you're trying to pair together. I'd never pair orange roughy with gorgonzola, for example. But, you can't take my bagels and lox from me...especially if I haven't had my coffee!

And now...what do you think?

 

[Morning Glory]

Great research - it bears out what I think. Its all a matter of balance. Pizza with anchovies and mozzarella - delicious!

I'd never pair orange roughy with gorgonzola,

I don't know what orange roughy is... I could Google it but I prefer to hear it from the horse's mouth.

 

[The Velvet Curtain]

Cheese sauce with a smoked haddock works very well, and indeed the other way round with smoked fish flaked into a Welsh Rarebit is very good. Last week I had a shellfish morney which was nice, except the scallops were a little swamped by the flavour..

 

[Morning Glory]

Cheese sauce with a smoked haddock works very well

Indeed!

 

[Francesca]

@The Late Night Gourmet

Interesting article. However, each to his or her own as I say.

I do not eat cheese with shellfish .. or fish or seafood ..

And most of the dishes that you mentioned are extremely scarce culturally and relatively unavailable in the formats mentioned.

The majority of Spaniards, do not eat smoked salmon with cheese .. Restaurants serve it with capers and Evoo and some salad greens from Micro Spain .. for example ..

Pizza: I do not eat pizza unless it is either White ( Bianco) or Genovese Basil, Mozzarella di Bufala with fresh tomato .. Never tomato sauce ..

And I eat anchovies just as they are or with a Niçoise Salad .. They need nothing except a wonderful glass of Santiago Ruiz ( a Galician White O´ Rosal Albariño Wine ) or a Cava, a sparkling wine from Sant Sadurni d´ Anoia - Barcelona 30 km, northwest from here ..

 

[Morning Glory]

And most of the dishes that you mentioned are extremely scarce culturally and relatively unavailable in the formats mentioned.

It might depend where you live: certainly pizza and anchovies with mozzarella is a completeley normal thing in the UK and I think Italy? Salmon mousse is a bit of a retro classic - I've certainly come across it in the past. Lobster Thermidor I have had with gruyere cheese in a restaurant in the UK. Lobster mac 'n cheese is an America thing and not something I've had here (I'd love to try it!). The tacos are the only thing not familiar to me.

 

[ElizabethB]

@The Late Night Gourmet correct me if I am wrong but I think Fish Tacos originated on the west coast. It sounds simple but the taco shell and the fish must both be cooked to perfection or it is a fail.

Lobster Mac and Cheese - serious comfort food.

I frequently watch Chopped. One of the judges - I think Marc Murphy - has fits if the contestants use cheese with seafood. Unless both cheese and seafood are in the basket. Then he just grumbles a bit.

Most of the time I use a simple lemon butter sauce or Beurre Blanc on fish - oh and Piccata.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

@ElizabethB: yes, Marc Murphy and Scott Conant – and some other chefs – will make a big deal about cheese with seafood. But, I've seen some that will tell you how wrong it is, and then say that there are certain exceptions, such as lobster mac & cheese.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I don't know what orange roughy is...

you can't get orange roughy in England? They're from Australia. I wonder if it's just the distance, or if it has something to do with resentment for past colonization.

Anyway, Orange roughy is a bit like tilapia, or a sweeter perch. It's quite amazing by itself with a little bit of salt and pepper. Some people want to put lemon on it, which is fine, but I want to taste it without anything altering it.

Now, I'm going to have to buy some and make something with it. Thank you!

 

[epicuric]

Good topic @The Late Night Gourmet
It is a matter of taste, and/or tradition, not a matter of right or wrong. I understand the Italian viewpoint - it is the way in the North Western parts of the Mediterranean to focus on simpler dishes that celebrate a few ingredients with light or minimal dressings. Head south or East and more complex, spicy sauces are used. Head north into France and Britain and heavier, dairy based sauces are common.

Anyone who pointblank states that it is wrong to pair cheese with fish is complete talking complete tosh, and should be sent to their bedroom to read one of Escoffier's weighty tomes, wherein they will find many dishes combining cheese with fish.

 

[Lynne Guinne]

...As far as I'm concerned, you can do whatever you want....

That's pretty close to my life motto. If it's not illegal, and if it's not hurting anyone, just let me go my own way.

As far as that orange roughy goes, I'm surprised you can even get it. It had pretty much disappeared from the stores when we were leaving Ohio (2000). I haven't seen it up here at all. It is one of the fish listed on
Seafood Watch's list of fish to avoid. The methods used to harvest it are damaging to the coral reefs off of New Zealand. As a certified SCUBA diver (with one whole dive to her name - woop woop ), I know how important the coral reefs can be. Also, by 2008, the species had been so overfished near Australia that ocean reserves were down to 10% of what had been there in the 1970s. Time to find a new, plentiful fish to love.

 

[epicuric]

That's pretty close to my life motto. If it's not illegal, and if it's not hurting anyone, just let me go my own way.

As far as that orange roughy goes, I'm surprised you can even get it. It had pretty much disappeared from the stores when we were leaving Ohio (2000). I haven't seen it up here at all. It is one of the fish listed on
Seafood Watch's list of fish to avoid. The methods used to harvest it are damaging to the coral reefs off of New Zealand. As a certified SCUBA diver (with one whole dive to her name - woop woop ), I know how important the coral reefs can be. Also, by 2008, the species had been so overfished near Australia that ocean reserves were down to 10% of what had been there in the 1970s. Time to find a new, plentiful fish to love.

That's a great point @Lynne Guinne. The seas are in a parlous state what with overfishing and pollution. It would be useful to reproduce on here a list of which fish to avoid, either for conservation reasons or because they are out of season. There have also been quite a few news stories recently about pollution, particularly by plastic micro particles. I will try to dig some out.

 

[Francesca]

Good topic @The Late Night Gourmet
It is a matter of taste, and/or tradition, not a matter of right or wrong. I understand the Italian viewpoint - it is the way in the North Western parts of the Mediterranean to focus on simpler dishes that celebrate a few ingredients with light or minimal dressings. Head south or East and more complex, spicy sauces are used. Head north into France and Britain and heavier, dairy based sauces are common.

Anyone who pointblank states that it is wrong to pair cheese with fish is complete talking complete tosh, and should be sent to their bedroom to read one of Escoffier's weighty tomes, wherein they will find many dishes combining cheese with fish.

@epicuric

I am a grand appreciater of good Mediterranean & International cheeses on a cheese board with wine / Sherry / sparkling wines, however, I detest dairy products with shellfish or fish (salmon, seabass, John Dory or Saint Pierre, Gilt Head Bream or Dorada, Sea Bream, Cod, Sable or Black Cod, or any shellfish or celophoids ..

Escoffier, I respect to the utmost however, I shall not touch anything from the sea with cheese or dairy .. It is extremely subjective however, moreover, it does not agree with my system so I avoid like plague ..

Each to his or her own ..

Have a nice day ..

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

As far as that orange roughy goes, I'm surprised you can even get it.

I hadn't seen it for a long time, and then I started seeing it again from time to time. I didn't realize it had such an unfortunate history, so I think I'll stick to tilapia.

 

[ElizabethB]

In the early 80's we went to Disney World/Epcot. In Epcot there was a "by appointment" tour and discussion of Tilapia farming. While in Florida we took a side trip to a commercial Tilapia farm. The tilapia had been hybridized (not GMO) to give it the red color instead of the original black. They are voracious feeders and grow at an amazing rate. At that time Tilapia farming was in it's infancy. The idea was to farm raise Tilapia for sale to restaurants hoping to replace the overfished and endangered Red Snapper. Apparently it worked since Tilapia is readily available in both restaurants and markets.

Red Snapper has made a come back but it is still highly regulated - a specific season and serious catch limits.

A few weeks ago step son and daughter-in-law went deep water fishing in the Gulf of Mexico - 60 miles out. They fished around oil platforms - great fishing because of the structure. They caught several beautiful Red Snapper (Red Drum) but had to release them - out of season. A shame since the fish probably died anyway. They live very deep in the ocean. The process of bringing them to the surface causes their air bladder to burst. Think of a diver with the bends.

They did catch yellow fin tuna. On their way home to Houston they stopped and gave us some tuna.

The first thing we did was slice some very thin to eat raw. MMMMM! The rest we cut into steaks.