The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

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СКАЧАТЬ seconds in warm water and returned to the press with light pressure; later the same day, the cheese is changed into a dry cloth and greased with melted lard which is rubbed thoroughly into the surface of the cheese; then the cheese is pressed for another 24 hours; after removal from the press, another bandage is applied. Ripening is at 8-9°C and a relative humidity of 86°; the cheeses are turned every day and cleaned to remove mould.

      The production of block cheddar is similar until the moulding stage is reached. Then it is pressed into blocks. On removal from the press, it is wrapped in film to exclude air, and the cheeses are then strapped under pressure and transferred to the ripening room.

      Cheddars sell at various degrees of maturity: mild (6 months after making); mature (9-12 months); extra-mature (over 12 months).

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH WEST ENGLAND.

      Clotted Cream and Clotted-Cream Butter

      DESCRIPTION:

      CLOTTED CREAM IS THICK, WITH A SOLID, PALE GOLDEN CRUST. IT CONTAINS 55-60 PER CENT BUTTERFAT.

      HISTORY:

      Clotting cream is really a means of lightly preserving it; when ordinary cream has been transformed into clotted cream it will keep in a cool place for about 2 weeks, as opposed to a few days. The method is probably very ancient and similar products are known in western Asia. Early references to clotted, or clouted, cream can be found in English texts from the sixteenth century onwards. The first mention cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is Boorde’s Dyetary of Helth (1542). A multitude of descriptions and references exist from the seventeenth century and later. Even the earliest references make clear that it was a regional product. Recipes show that the method for making it has remained essentially unchanged for 400 years.

      This is a region with a mild climate, rich pasture lands, and a traditional cattle breed yielding milk with a high butterfat content, all factors conducive to the development of specialist dairy produce. Law’s Grocer’s Manual (c. 1895) remarks on ‘the increasing fancy for this delicacy’; that a regular sale for it was springing up in all large towns, and that the best was thought to come from Devon, notably the area around Ilfracombe. The cream was packed in small glazed pots for export to other parts of the country. Although the presumption is that clotted cream comes from Devon, it is equally known and long-established in Cornwall. The Devon connection probably took first place simply because it was the larger county, with wider connections to the country at large.

      Once clotted, it was claimed the crust was sometimes solid enough to support a pound weight without breaking. Clotted cream has been used in the cookery of its region of origin (in breads, cakes, pastries, with fish, or as other regions might use cream); it is more generally thought of as a delicacy in its own right.

      Clotting cream was also a very good way to turn milk into a flavourous butter. The heat-treatment required to make scalded cream and transforming the result into butter are 2 consecutive steps in preserving and adding value to a local raw material. ‘This cream was stirred by hand, the maid putting her arm into the pot and stirring it until the butter came. In hot weather when the hand was too warm, a bottle was sometimes used’ (Fussell, 1966). The existence of this butter was acknowledged by the author of the General View of the Agriculture of the County of Devon (1813) and, a century later, White (1932) writes about a Devonshire farmer’s wife demonstrating making butter by beating clotted cream with her hand. There is a view current that this form of butter-making is now more known in Cornwall than Devon. Small amounts are still produced in the West Country for local consumption. No other region of Britain has developed clotted cream, or butter made from it, as a speciality. Awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

      TECHNIQUE:

      Clotted cream requires long slow heating at a moderate temperature. The craft method is as follows: both unpasteurized and pasteurized milk are used. Traditionalists prefer the excellent flavour of unpasteurized milk from Channel Island cattle which has a high butterfat content. The cream is separated from the milk and kept overnight; it may be ripened if desired. The cream, contained in enamel pans, is placed in a bain-marie and heated gently for about 2 hours. This process is crucial; the time and temperature must be correct; only experience will teach the right combination. The temperature of the bain-marie is maintained at below boiling, about 82°C. Once the correct golden, honeycomb crust has formed, the pans are removed from the heat. Industrial methods work on the same principle, but heating takes place either in an oven or in steam cabinets.

      Before the advent of milk separators, cream would be clotted on the whole milk. First, the cream would be allowed to rise naturally on the pan of milk saved from one of the day’s milkings. If the morning milk, it would be left until late in the afternoon; if the evening’s, then left overnight. The pan was placed carefully over the fire and it was scalded, as described above. In small farmhouses, the pan would be placed over the kitchen hearth; in larger households, the dairy might have a special stove constructed from a stone slab pierced with holes big enough to accommodate the pans safely. A charcoal brazier could be placed beneath each pan. These pans were of brass or of earthenware. Once the cream was scalded and had clotted, it was skimmed off the milk and stored in flat dishes. Brears (1998) provides illustrations.

      Clotted-cream butter is made on a small scale by craft producers. Instead of stirring the cream by hand, as was done in the past, an electric whisk is now used. The cream is whipped until crumbly and worked by hand to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. It is washed in cold water, then beaten with a boiled cloth on a wooden platter. It is pressed by hand into a mould to make round pats.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, DEVON AND CORNWALL.

      Cornish Yarg Cheese

      DESCRIPTION:

      PRESSED COW’S MILK CHEESE, WITH NETTLE LEAVES AS A WRAPPING, MADE IN 2 SIZES, 15CM DIAMETER AND 25CM; BOTH ROUGHLY 7CM HIGH. WEIGHT: 1KG AND 3KG. FORM: A TRUCKLE AND A FLAT WHEEL. COLOUR: ALMOST WHITE CURD, WITH A POWDERY GREY RIND THAT SHOWS A PATTERN DERIVED FROM THE NETTLE LEAVES IN WHICH IT IS WRAPPED. FLAVOUR AND TEXTURE: A YOUNG YARG CHEESE HAS A FRESH, LEMONY FLAVOUR AND A MOIST, CRUMBLY CURD; IT SOFTENS AS IT MATURES, DEVELOPING A DEEPER FLAVOUR.

      HISTORY:

      The use of leaves of common plants such as nettles as substrata for draining cheeses, or wrappings for the finished product, has a long history, though now unusual. ‘Nettle Cheese’ was mentioned in the seventeenth century by Gervase Markham, who considered that a new milk cheese ripened on nettles was ‘the finest of all summer cheeses which can be eaten’.

      Although Cornwall was never famous for cheese in the way of counties to the east, some was made. A recipe ‘to make our good Cornish cheese’ was published in Farmhouse Fare, a collection of recipes from farmers’ wives all over the country. The details suggest that modern Cornish Yarg is not dissimilar. It was developed in the 1970s by Alan and Jennie Gray (‘Yarg’ is simply ‘Gray’ spelt backwards). It has been awarded a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

      TECHNIQUE:

      Milk from designated herds of local Friesian cattle is used; the milk is pasteurized. Starter is added, and the milk left for about an hour, before renneting with vegetarian СКАЧАТЬ