JULY 2016 – YORKSHIRE THEME
BREAD
BCW JULY 2016 YORKSHIRE
1. WALNUT & SULTANA RYE Dale End Cheddar Locksley Gin This is made with 100% Yorkshire Grains. The rye is milled in Barnsley at Worsborough water mill and the wheat is grown and milled by Yorkshire Organic Millers. This bread is a sourdough, meaning that no yeast has been added to the dough. It is fermented and risen over three days giving it the charistically strong flavour of rye bread. We have added toasted walnut, sultana and some black treacle to bring out the sweetness in the grains. This should be a great contrast to the freshness of the gin.
2. SHARROW SOURDOUGH Ribblesdale Goats Pinot Noir Our sourdoughs are made with just three ingredients: flour, water and salt. Making bread this way is very traditional. We ferment flour and water together and this leavens the bread instead of using fresh or dried yeast. The bread is made over three days as this method generally needs much longer to prove than yeasted breads. The long fermentation gives it a chewy, holey structure and slightly sour taste. Sourdough breads also have natural keeping qualities because they are slightly acidic (which prohibits mould growth). We think that the slight tang complements the strength of the cheese.
3. SPELT BREAD Sommerfield Pericone This wheat is milled by Worsborough Mill on Barnsley. And yes, it is a wheat! Lots of people think that it isn’t! Spelt is an ‘ancient’ grain, meaning that it hasn’t been cultivated or developed for high manufacture and as such some people find it easier to digest. It has a delicious naturally nutty flavour that should go amazingly with the Alpinestyle Sommerfield.
4. SODA BREAD Blue cheese selection Baccus/Savauvignon This bread is out version of the Irish classic, but using 100% Yorkshire wheat. Yorkshire Organic Millers grind a course wholemeal especially for us for use in this bread. The bread is naturally sweet because of the wholewheat and is very soft as a result of the Organic Buttermilk which is made for us, also specially, by Acorn Dairy in North Yorkshire.
5. STOUT CAKE Cream Cheese topping Bete Noir Debortoli Semillion We have opted for a plain scone so that the curd and berries can shine. We use organic, uncultured buttermilk that is bottled for us by Acorn Dairies in North Yorkshire. Scones rise because of a chemical reaction between the acidity of the buttermilk and the bicarbonate of soda mixed in with the flour. This reaction happens as soon as they touch so need to go straight into the oven to ensure a light, fluffy texture.
CHEESE
Dale End Cheddar
Dale End Cheddar is made in Botton from full-flavoured, quality unpasteurised milk collected from the Camphill Community’s 46 Dairy Shorthorn cows (a traditional Craven breed known for the superb quality of their milk).
The Courtyard Dairy decided to stock the Cheddar and age it to 18-months old, by which time it is rich, with a sharp Cheddar bite.
Summer Field
Alastair Pearson also makes Summerfield, an Alpine-style cheese. Gruyère-style cheeses are notoriously difficult to make and cannot be made from silage-fed animals (for technical reasons), so whereas Botton’s Dale End Cheddar can be, and is, made all year round, Summer Field is only made when the cows are out at pasture and thus in very limited supply. This pasture-grazing gives the cheese its name – Summer Field.
Ribblesdale Goat Curd
Curd is a very fresh and young form of cheese. Curds are created when the rennet and starter culture are added to the milk and these separate out the liquid whey which is drained off. A small amount of salt is added to finish it off.
Blue Monday
Blue Monday is a complex cheese with a spicy bite from the blue – a mix of blue sharpness + sweet creaminess. It has the feel of a British Gorgonzola.
Originally made by the rock star cheese maker Alex James & now made by Yorkshire based cheese makers, Shepherds Purse. It is named after Alex James’ favourite New Order song.
Harrogate Blue
Harrogate Blue is a soft, luxuriously creamy, blue-veined cheese, delivering a mellow blue flavour with a hint of pepper to finish. Harrogate Blue is from the Shepherd’s Purse Dairy in Thirsk. It was launched in 2012 and was the first cheese that Judy’s daughters, Katie and Caroline produced together, having just taken over the running of the dairy. Harrogate Blue was a hit with customers from day one and within a couple of weeks it won its first award. It’s gone on to win two golds at the Global Cheese Awards and a silver at the World Cheese Awards. Harrogate Blue is matured for a minimum of 10 weeks to give the cheeses the time to develop the depth of flavour and creaminess.
Ribblesdale Blue
Ribblesdale Blue is unusual as it is a goats’ blue. It is now made in Hawes, Wensleydale, but not at the Wensleydale Creamery. Originally it was made on the family farm at Horton in Ribblesdale near Settle, hence the name, but moved to larger premises and now gets its goat milk from Lancashire. It is similar to a Gorgonzola in flavour, but is milder and sweeter.
Longley Farm Soft (Cream) Cheese
WINE
LOCKSLEY GIN AND 1724 TONIC.
Locksley Gin is created by Sheffield based head distiller John Cherry. John spent years in the United States working at large wine retailers before coming back home to create his gin. Using botanicals local to Yorkshire such as Elderflower and Dandelion, Locksley Gin is a light, summery style of gin with a touch more residual sugar to allow it to be consumed neat. We’ve added a splash of Chilean 1724 Tonic, just as John likes it, to emphasize the lighter more delicate notes. Pairing gin and cheese is not common but we find the fruitiness of this gin lifts the cheese and the effervescence of the tonic helps the palate. A great aperitif.
ENGLISH WINE PROJECT PINOT NOIR AND RONDO 2014
Using grapes from our closest vineyard at Renishaw Hall (so Derbyshire and not strictly Yorkshire) head winemaker Kieron Atkinson aims to create modern English wine. Renishaw Hall was first planted over 40 years ago by then owner, Sir Reresby Sitwell in 1972. Being a merchant of wine he was already familiar with grape varieties and the tiny 2.5 acre site with sandy loam soils was, at one time, the most northerly vineyard in the world. This Pinot and Rondo blend is a new wine from Kieron and shows light red berries and raspberry with a touch of blackcurrant coming from the Rondo grape, which was first hybridized in 1964 and then first commercially planted in Ireland as late as 1997. Kieron planted the Rondo at Renishaw in 2013. We chilled the wine everso slightly to retain its freshness and to show a lightness and racy acidity which matches the youth of the goats cheese and the tartness of the tomatoes.
CARUSO AND MININI PERRICONE
Stefano and his brothers Franceso and Roberto are the fourth generation to make wine on the family estate in Sicily. Perricone is not a widely known grape but is widely planted in its native country and creates a wine displaying delicious tayberry and mulberry flavours backed up with a spice and a touch of cracked black pepper. A robust wine that has layers of complexity to it. The perfect foil for the weight of the alpine/cheddar Sommerfield and the texture of the Spelt. A favourite wine at the shop. This Perricone comes from a small 2.1 hectare plot at 260 metres near Salemi, uses only organic fertilizer, is picked at the end of September and spends 6 months in stainless steel before further aging for up to 4 months in the bottle before release.
ENGLISH WINE PROJECT SAUVIGNON BLANC and BACCHUS 2014
The second wine from Kieron this evening, in keeping with keeping things local! Before becoming a winemaker in 2010, Kieron served in the Army for 9 years leading troops in Afghanistan. His wife is from Derbyshire and so he came to Renishaw in 2011 as the 40 year old vineyard was in need of a manager. His wines have gone on to scoop many prizes including a Decanter magazine World Wine award for this bottle! The Bacchus, named after the Greek God of wine and as a varietal created in 1933 and released in 1972, comes from Kieron’s other project at Welcombe Halls vineyard in Warwickshire near Stratford upon Avon. Fresh and zippy with lots of youthful energy, this wine should excite the palate when tried with the blue cheeses. It’s worth tasting the cheese, then the wine and going back to the cheese to see how the combinations change. You should find this wine amplifies the saltiness of the cheese whilst the cheese amplifies the fruitiness of the wine.
KELHAM ISLAND BETE NOIR STOUT and DOMAINE BOUSQUET FORTIFIED MALBEC
Two drinks to finish. An amuse bouche of stout and fortified desert red wine. The stout comes from Kelham Island brewery, Sheffield’s pivotal craft/real ale brewery which was set up in 1990 by Dave Wickett, originally behind the Fat Cat Pub, and has been the nursery or training ground for many of today’s head brewers including the likes of Claire from Welbeck Abbey, Stuart from Magic Rock as well as brewers who have worked for Brewdog and Thornbridge. Bete Noir was one of their first stouts and shows rich chocolate notes with a lightness that belies its 5.5% abv. A component of tonight’s cake it’s worth trying on its own.
Finally a small offering of Domaine Bousquet Fortified dessert wine. Organically grown Malbec grapes at 1,200 m in Mendoza in Argentina. A four month-long maceration ensures that the maximum amount of flavour has been extracted from the skins of the Malbec grapes. With fermentation in American oak to provide vanillins and then aging in French oak to provide spice. Good natural acidity is an essential factor in quality sweet wines and there’s just the right amount here to keep in check the layers of plum fruits, chocolate, coffee, caramel, spice and marmalade flavours you’ll find here. A delicious way to end the evening.
