With dairies in every corner of the UK producing something unique and delicious, artisan cheese is one of Britain’s most romantic food stories. Here photographer and writer Angus D. Birditt shares recipes and anecdotes from his tour of our most loved cheesemakers
About Angus
Angus D. Birditt is a writer, photographer, poet and award-winning food producer. For his latest book, A Portrait of British Cheese, Angus visited and documented dairies all over the British Isles, looking at the food, people and landscapes dedicated to artisan and farmhouse cheeses, from Lincolnshire Poacher to Britain's own Brie in the form of Baron Bigod from Suffolk. The book is a unique journey through photos, essays and recipes, revealing the joys and challenges of a life in cheesemaking.
Kirkham’s Lancashire
A true Lancashire, it is said, is made within sight of Beacon Fell. Beesley Farm, where the Kirkham family make traditional farmhouse Lancashire, lies just south of the verdant valleys of the Forest of Bowland, and it is well within sight of the fell. The head cheesemaker at the farm, Graham Kirkham, and his team make Lancashire to a nineteenth-century recipe used by his grandmother, Ruth Townley.
Kirkham’s Lancashire is a hard-style cheese made using raw milk from Beesley Farm’s herd of Holstein-Friesian cows. Making the cheese is a slow process, which focuses on using the morning’s milk and a starter culture that includes strains of a culture going back to one used by Graham’s grandmother. It is aged from eight weeks, when it forms into a milky, soft Lancashire, up to a year, when it has become drier and firmer and with a more robust flavour. As Graham says about the whole cheesemaking process: ‘Each piece of farmhouse cheese is a piece of history.’
Kirkham’s Lancashire Loaf
Makes: 2 small loaves or 1 medium loaf
Prepare: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
170g self-raising flour
Handful of fresh chives, finely
chopped
110g walnuts, finely chopped
170g Kirkham’s Lancashire, grated
3 tbsps whole milk
1 large egg
Sea salt and freshly ground black
pepper
1. Preheat the oven to a 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4 and line two small loaf tins with baking parchment (I used two white enamel oblong dishes at 16cm long). You can also use one large loaf tin – also lined with baking parchment – if you prefer having a larger loaf.
2. In both cases, combine the flour, chives, walnuts, 150g of the cheese, salt and pepper in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the milk and egg together. Gradually add the egg mixture to th
