Traditional English Potted Cheese

This English Potted Cheese Recipe is the most delicious! And it’s the best way to use up leftovers from your cheese tray. This recipe is sponsored by Columbia Crest.

You know how when you have friends over for an evening and you put out a cheese tray? And at the end of the night there are all these tiny random bits of cheese? And you can’t decide if you should keep them or throw them out? KEEP THEM!

And then turn those random bits of cheese into something spectacular – Potted Cheese.

What Is Potted Cheese?

Potted Cheese is an English spread served as an appetizer or snack. It’s traditionally made by blending together bits of cheese and clarified butter. Leftover bits of cheese are perfect!

The mixture is then put into little jars (or “pots”) and then topped with more clarified butter. Since clarified butter doesn’t have milk solids, it lasts longer than regular butter. This topmost layer therefore helped to preserve the cheese and give it a longer shelf life.

How To Make Potted Cheese

But don’t get caught up on the clarified butter thing. I’m all for making life easier. Since I know that the potted cheese is so delicious that it will be eaten within a couple of days, I don’t bother clarifying anything. I use regular unsalted butter. I put it into a food processor with all the small pieces of cheese (different kinds are fine, mix and match and throw in whatever you have). I add in a splash of red wine, some dry mustard, Worcestershire Sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Process it all together.

At this point you have to stop and taste it. It’s going to be different every time because you’re using different kinds of cheese every time and so how you season it is going to change. A bit more mustard, a bit more Worcestershire, a bit more salt and pepper or leave it alone.

Then you transfer it into ramekins. Smooth the tops. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. I like to serve it slightly chilled. So I get it good and cold in the fridge and then I take it out about 10-15 minutes before serving. You’ll want it to still be cold but to be more spreadable.

Put out some bits of baguette, some crackers and a bottle of wine. I like to serve it with the same kind of wine that I added to the cheese mixture.

This is such a delicious appetizer or snack. In fact, it’s so good that nobody will ever ever ever guess that it comes from the leftovers of your last party.

Traditional English Potted Cheese

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Christine Pittman
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 0 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
• Category: Appetizer
• Method: Mix
• Cuisine: British

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DESCRIPTION

This English Potted Cheese Recipe is the most delicious! And it’s the best way to use up leftovers from your cheese tray.

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Ingredients

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• ½ lb. cheese (I suggest using 4 oz. Cheddar, 2 oz. Brie and 2 oz. Stilton)
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 2 Tbsp. wine (I used Merlot)
• ½ tsp. dry mustard powder
• ½ tsp. coarse black pepper
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 small dash of Worcestershire sauce
• Baguette slices and/or crackers for serving

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Instructions

1. Shred any hard cheeses and chop or crumble softer ones. Place in a food processor with the butter, Merlot red wine, mustard powder, black pepper, salt and Worcestershire.
2. Pulse until mostly smooth. Taste and add more salt and/or pepper, if desired.
3. Divide the cheese mixture among 3 (4 oz.) ramekins. Use a knife to smooth the tops.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 2 hours.
5. Remove from the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving. Serve in ramekins alongside sliced baguette or crackers for spreading the potted cheese onto.