Gorgonzola Dolce

Let's talk about Gorgonzola Dolce, and let's be honest with each other.

This is a soft blue cheese, and soft means something. The paste is creamy, almost spreadable, because the curd was never pressed hard and the ripening is short. That's why a knife slides through it and leaves it smeared on the blade instead of crumbling off in clean pieces. The blue veining comes from mould introduced into the cheese, and mould needs air, so you'll see those veins following thin channels, not spread evenly like paint.

Choose it by eye and by nose. The paste should look pale, almost ivory, glossy where it's cut, with veining blue-green, not black. Smell it — it should smell milky and a little tangy, not sharp, not ammonia-like.

Some people say all blue cheese is aggressive and should be used sparingly, like a spice. No! Dolce is mild and creamy by design. Hold back on it and your sauce stays thin and pale, with none of that velvety richness it should have. The real way to use it is generously, melted into pasta or spread on bread, so its softness actually shows, and the sauce clings to the fork instead of running off it.

Energy: 353 kcal per 100 g. Fat 28.74 g, protein 21.4 g, carbs 2.34 g.