The cheeses of Neal’s Yard
April 30, 2003 - The Dallas Morning News
LONDON - Randolph Hodgson, owner of Neal’s Yard Dairy, is one of
the great pillars of the world of cheese. He’s much like David Macaulay, author of the How Things Work books: someone with expert knowledge on his subject and the means to make it fun and accessible to everyone.
Most at ease when he’s up and about, Mr. Hodgson is a walking cheese encyclopedia. He can often be found simultaneously loading a truck with cheese, playing tag with one of the neighborhood kids and teaching an employee about the variations in this month’s Wensleydale.
When an assistant at one of his two London stores walks up to him with a lump of cheese, Mr. Hodgson and the value of a good cheesemonger come quickly 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 flavors.
Neal’s Yard specializes in farmhouse or artisan cheeses - cheeses made by hand, not in a factory. Often they’re made by a single family, always in small batches.
There’s no hint of condescension or snobbery when Mr. Hodgson speaks 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, including a growing legion in Dallas, where several stores sell Neal’s Yard cheeses.
Just ask Joe Kaulbach, assistant specialty team leader at Whole Foods Market in Plano.
“Each [cheese] has a distinct earthy flavor,” he says. “The cheeses come from small farms that make cheese the traditional way. Neal’s cheeses are wrapped in cloth, so they can breathe while they age. You don’t get a plasticky flavor from them.”
Whole Foods carries a large selection of the cheeses, as does Central Market. Marty’s and Sigel’s in the Quadrangle and in Addison also carry Neal’s Yard cheeses. Prices range from $13 to $19 a pound.
Neal’s Yard Dairy started small in 1979 as one of the vendors at the Neal’s Yard shops run by Nicholas Saunders. Mr. Hodgson had graduated from London University with a degree in food science and chemistry. He took a part-time job with the burgeoning business.
After a few weeks, Mr. Saunders handed over the reigns and gave (Yep - gave) the business to Mr. Hodgson.
Today, Mr. Hodgson and his staff spend a good portion of their time educating their customers. No question is unimportant. The employees are friendly and efficient; 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.
The Neal’s Yard London shops are akin to New England butcher shops. The second shop, more utilitarian than fancy, was set up initially 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 with 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 marked half off after 6 p.m.
Mr. Hodgson’s specialty is finding the best farmhouse cheese that the British Isles have to offer, and he is vigilant in his efforts to preserve the production of these cheeses. He often helps the farmers who produce his cheese solve problems, letting them know when they’re doing well, and helping figure out what’s wrong when they’re not.
He cites an example where a mother handed over the production to her son at their small dairy, and quality took a nose dive. The son couldn’t figure out what he was doing wrong, but Mr. 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.
Artisan products
Farmhouse, or 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 suffocate in their packaging. “With farmhouse cheese, each day is like an entire wine vintage - it’s a pain in the neck!” says Mr. Hodgson, as he moves toward tall aging racks holding giant wheels of Montgomery Cheddar. He pulls out a cheese iron, a sort of miniature post-hole digger used to take core samples, and plunges it into a Cheddar wheel labeled May 12, 2000.
Breaking two bits off 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 May 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 amazing.
“Taste” also describes how Mr. Hodgson introduces his artisan cheeses to a first-time customer.
“We try to get a piece of cheese in their mouth as soon as possible,” he says. The goal is to show the customer the huge difference between a farmhouse cheese and one that comes from a factory, sealed in plastic.
Does he have a favorite?
“It depends hugely,” he says.
Product fluctuations are inherent in farmhouse cheeses.
“It depends on who’s doing a great job at a particular time.” He then takes a step back and begins musing: “We are on a roll with Stilton at the moment, and Lancashire did catch my fancy today.”
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.”
And when it comes to pairing cheese with wine, Mr. 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.”
Joe Ray is a free-lance writer in Paris, France, who specializes in cheese. Dallas writer Susan Taylor contributed to this story.
A CHEESE SAMPLER
Availability of Neal’s Yard Dairy cheeses varies by the season. Tony Stevens of Plano’s Central Market says the company ships cheeses only when they are properly aged. Here are a few to seek out:
* Lancashire: Resembles Swiss cheese in flavor, with a soft cheddar consistency. Sharp at the end with a hint of apples and a wonderful aftertaste.
*Wensleydale: It has a near Parmesan-hard texture with a subtle nutty flavor.
*Wigmore: “Made by the Wigmores,” explains Mr. Hodgson. 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.
