By Dave Goosselink
Cheese rolls are a great source of pride in the South – a must in any self-respecting pie warmer.
Judges at the International Science Festival in Dunedin have analysed over 80 cheese rolls from across the region, to try and find the best recipe.
The ultimate cheese roll recipe
Genuine cheese rolls, a staple in the south, have a pre-cooked savoury onion filling that experts say takes them way beyond your standard cheese on toast.
“If all you taste is cheese you sort of miss the point,” says Jason Moore of Mojo Café.
“It’s really that balance between the cheesy filling and the crispness of the bread.”
Judges spent hours chomping their way through over 80 entries as part of a competition to find the tastiest cheese roll of them all.
The cheese roll became a popular fixture on the southern menus around the 1950s, inspired in part by sliced bread.
The more extreme entries included a blue cheese a quiche recipe.
Others added cranberries, pineapple and even alcohol.
But the winning entry was a fairy traditional one.
Joy Jones used a family recipe, passed down from her mother, with a few twists.
“A bit of cream, a bit of mustard,” she says.
“They have to be toasted and eaten practically straight away. That’s the secret.”
Judges don’t know why cheese rolls have remained a southern secret.
“it’s a wonderful staple on a cold Saturday afternoon with soup,” says chief judge Tony Heptinstall.
The winning recipe is now being served up to Dunedin diners.
It may not be gourmet, but it’s comfort food that will continue to warm the hearts of those in the South.
3 News