London’s Big Cheese
March 26, 2003 - The Santa Fe New Mexican
When one of his assistants walks up to Hodgson with a lump of cheese the shop hasn’t seen since the previous season, Hodgson and the value of a good cheesemonger come into focus.“Almonds. Taste it?” he asks mere moments after the cheese is in his mouth. “Last year, it wasn’t that strong.” He can talk of cheese the way sommeliers can break a wine into hundreds of different flavors.
And talk is the key. There’s no hint of condescension or snobbery when he’s speaking with his customers or staff. At the root of it, there’s just a man who is excited to pass on his love of cheese with his customers all over the world.
Neal’s Yard Dairy started small in 1979 as one of the vendors at Neal’s Yard “wholefood” shops run by Nicholas Saunders. Hodgson graduated from London University with a degree in food science and chemistry and was considering his career options when he took a part-time job with the burgeoning business. After a few weeks, Saunders handed over the reins and gave (yep, gave) the business to Hodgson.
Saunders’ philosophy was novel in London at the time. On his Web site, he wrote, “I decided to start a wholefood shop which I would like myself - one that was cheap, efficient and would not make customers feel bad because they could not recognize a mung bean.
“At that time wholefood shops were mostly of the hippy-style; folksy looking with open sacks and reused paper bags; nice meeting places for the in-group, but hopelessly inefficient, expensive and tending to make ordinary people feel like intruders.”
This mindset followed Hodgson and his shops. He and his workers spend a good portion of their time helpfully educating their customers. No question is unimportant; the employees are friendly (and efficient); and the clientele diverse. As a result, Neal’s Yard Dairy has become the premier wholesale and retail cheese vendor in London, and the de facto place for serious U.S. cheesemongers to buy cheese from the British Isles.
Hodgson’s shops - there are now two in London - are akin to old-fashioned American butcher shops. More utilitarian than fancy, his second London shop was initially set up as a wholesale store, but with a busy street market right around the corner, the conversion was quick and simple.
Giant racks of aging cheese line the walls and the “counter” is a large stainless steel bench bearing stacks of cheese and a cash register. There’s a refrigerator with yogurt, butter and condiments on one side and some wooden shelves with good bread that is half off after 6 p.m.
Hodgson’s specialty is finding the best farmhouse cheese the British Isles have to offer - and he is vigilant in his efforts to preserve the production of these cheeses. He often helps solve problems with the farmers who produce his cheese, letting them know when they’re doing well and helping figure out what’s wrong when they’re not.
Hodgson cites an example where a woman handed the production over to her son at their small dairy and quality took a nosedive. The son couldn’t figure out what he was doing wrong, but Hodgson realized the cheese was, quite literally, missing his mother’s touch. The son, able to lift larger stacks of cheese and put more torque on the cheese press, was accidentally manhandling the delicate product.
“With farmhouse cheese, each day is like an entire wine vintage - it’s a pain in the neck!” he jokes as he moves toward tall, aging racks with giant wheels of Montgomery Cheddar. He pulls out a cheese iron, a sort of miniature posthole digger used to take core samples, and plunges it into the cheddar wheel labeled May 12, 2000.
Breaking two small bits off the inner end of the plug he sums up cheesemonger philosophy in one word, “Taste.”
The cheddar is sharp, firm, fruity and droolingly good. He places what’s left of the sample back into the wheel and repeats with wheels from May 19 and 30. “I’ve tasted every day of this cheese’s production for the last 15 years,” he says. The differences in texture, flavor and sharpness are subtle but distinctive.
“Taste” also describes how Hodgson introduces British Isles cheeses to a first-time customer. “We try to get a piece of cheese in their mouth as soon as possible,” he says. He tries to show newcomers the huge difference between a farmhouse cheese and one that comes from a factory, sealed in plastic.
Farmhouse, aka artisan, cheese is often made with well-cared-for raw milk. This makes a world of difference, as pasteurized, industrial cheeses, often sealed in plastic or wax, have had the flavor cooked out of them and then the cheese suffocates in packaging. A good cheesemonger works to keep his shelves and refrigerators stocked with the good stuff.
Asked about his favorite cheese, his face takes on the look of someone who has been asked an impossible question.
“It depends hugely,” he begins, citing the product fluctuation inherent in farmhouse cheese. “It depends on who’s doing a great job at a particular time.”
His recommendations for a “typical” cheese plate pose similar difficulties for him, but he says what a good cheesemonger should: “I’d make sure a customer tastes them first - I don’t want to give them a cheese they don’t like. Right now, today, I’d suggest a Stilton, some Lancashire, maybe a Wigmore ...”
When it comes to pairing cheese with wine, Hodgson tries to steer clear of the subject. “Customers are worried that they need to know some sort of code and I try to diffuse that - just taste it and love it - that’s fine.”
Locally, Neal’s Yard Dairy cheeses are available at Whole Foods Market, 753 Cerrillos Road, 992-1700.
Availability of many of Randolph’s Neal’s Yard Dairy cheeses varies by season, but you can keep an eye open for a few of the following:
Lancashire - Like Swiss cheese in flavor, with a soft cheddar consistency. Sharp at the end, with a hint of apples and wonderful aftertaste.
Wensleydale - One of Wallace’s favorites and for good reason. It has a near-Parmesan-hard texture with a subtle nutty flavor.
Wigmore - “Made by the Wigmores,” Hodgson explains. Meltingly similar to a French double- or triple-cream cheese.
Cashel Blue and Crozier Blue - Both similar to Roquefort. The former is sweet and the latter, made with ewe’s milk, has a fiery flavor.
Neal’s Yard cheeses are also available over the Internet or by phone from the following sources:
Zingerman’s, http://www.zingermans.com, (888) 636-8162
Murray’s, www.murrayscheese.com, (212) 423-3289
Formaggio’s Kitchen, www.formaggiokitchen, (617) 354-4750
Di Bruno, http://www.dibruno.com,(215) 665-9220
Williams-Sonoma, www.williams-sonoma.com, (877) 812-6235
