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29 August 2024A matter of taste
Paxton & Whitfield has been in the cheese business since the 1790s, and with 150 different options on its historic counters it’s very much the place to come for some specialist knowledge
W
ander along London’s Jermyn Street and there, amid the bespoke tailors and shirt-makers, you will find one particular interloper whose fragrance is rather more distinctive and, most of us would probably agree, appetising.
Paxton & Whitfield has been in the cheese business since the 1790s, and with 150 different options on its historic counters it’s very much the place to come for some specialist knowledge
W ander along London’s Jermyn Street and there, amid the bespoke tailors and shirt-makers, you will find one particular interloper whose fragrance is rather more distinctive and, most of us would probably agree, appetising.
We are talking of Paxton & Whitfield, cheesemonger to the cognoscenti of the capital since the 1790s, long-term supplier to the royal household and resident in these parts since 1896; when the firm established this shop close to some of its best customers – the grand hotels, houses and gentlemen’s clubs of St James’.
The timing was also fortuitous for a different reason, as Hero Hirsh, former pastry chef turned Paxton & Whitfield’s retail manager, explains.
‘In the 1890s what we call the Territorial style of cheese we recognise today was starting to emerge. These cheeses had strong associations with a particular town or county; Lancashire, Cheshire, Wensleydale and others. Similar cheeses had been around much longer, but around this time their recipes began to become a lot more standardised.’
Even before then the taste of many of Britain’s best-known cheeses would have been familiar to today’s diners, she adds. ‘In terms of flavour and texture, the descriptions are similar, but a different lexicon was in use then. If you look at cheese notes from the 18th century you’ll find phrases like ‘‘bright tasting’’, which doesn’t mean that much to a modern audience.’
Long-standing classics are very much part of Paxton & Whitfield’s offering, but this most traditional of cheese shops is also keen to nurture new talent.
Hirsh says: ‘Because we have a long-standing reputation we’re often approached by cheese makers with new cheeses. We also have four branches, and each shop manager will be on the lookout for exciting things at their local farmers’ markets, for example.’
And, once a year, the business gets together a panel of its experts to share tasting notes on what deserves to be added to the store’s long list of cheese for sale.
‘My perfect cheeseboard would consist of just three cheeses: a hard, a soft and a blue.’
So as someone who’s professionally geared up to selecting the best in the business, what would Hirsh include if she was looking for a dinner party endpiece?
‘It’s really difficult. We’ve got 150 cheeses on our shop counter so that’s really my ideal cheeseboard. Personally, I like to have fewer different types and more healthy wedges.
'In fact, my perfect cheeseboard would probably be just three cheeses and some sort of variant on the triumvirate of hard, soft and blue.
‘I adore Comté, and we have a 22-month old one that is absolutely perfect, not too overwhelmingly nutty. I love a Gorgonzola, soft and oozing and sweet, and my soft cheese would probably be a lovely new goats’ cheese we’re selling called Sinodun Hill, which is made in Oxfordshire.
'It’s a white, wrinkly rinded pyramid and it’s got a super fluffy middle when you cut into it. Its texture is just wonderful.’
She also recommends a newcomer to the Paxton and Whitfield stable.
‘People immediately reach for red wine with cheese, but white wine is actually much easier to match because there aren’t the tannins.’
‘The team behind [Irish cheese] Cashel Blue have created a brand new, hard sheep’s milk cheese. It’s absolutely delicious, like an Irish version of a Pyrenees-style cheese; sweet, nutty, and with a really fudgy consistency. We tasted it back in February 2018 and immediately said yes, we’d like to buy lots of this.’
In terms of washing it down, her advice may come as a surprise to some.
‘People immediately reach for red wine with cheese, but white wine is actually much easier to match because there aren’t the tannins. I would say that opting for a very tannic red wine as an accompaniment is not the best way to enjoy cheese. If you have a selection, I’d recommend a nice full-bodied white wine like a Chardonnay.’
So does she ever come across a cheese that is just too strong and vigorous?
‘This is just a personal opinion, but I’m not a fan of really aggressively flavoured cheeses,’ Hirsh admits.
‘I recently tried a Spanish blue cheese called Cabrales, It was so strong it actually felt as if it had stuck my gums to my cheeks, as if it was attacking my mouth. For me that’s not very pleasant. It felt it needed something sweet like quince paste to take the edge off it.’
Even so, when she took a sample home for friends to try, she found it divided opinion. Some agreed with her in relation to its gum-glueing intensity, others thought it hit the spot in a wholly positive way.
‘That tolerance for strongly flavoured cheeses is incredibly subjective,’ she adds. ‘We have some customers who ask us what the strongest flavoured cheese we have is. For them, that is the signifier of quality. A lot of other people, however, would look more to whether you can still taste the subtleties of flavour. Personally, I’m in the subtlety camp.’
paxtonandwhitfield.co.ukWords: DH
