09 August 2022, 14:13 PM
  • Julie Oxley-Hoyle, manager at Lewis and Cooper, reveals her top cheese pairings with Speciality Food readers
5 cheese pairing ideas with Julie Oxley-Hoyle, Lewis and Cooper

What’s on your dream cheeseboard?
I’m going with British Cheeses. For the Blue I’m going with Leeds Blue Made by Mario Olianas at Yorkshire Pecorino in Otley. A fantastic rich and creamy Ewes milk blue in the style of gorgonzola . Cheddar I’m going to go with Montgomery’s Farmhouse using milk from a Friesian Herd. I love the smell of it, and its sweet nuttiness. Though I do love Ribblesdale Owd Ewe, an aged sheeps cheese made by Iona Hill, it has great depth of flavour. I will have to have Baron Bigod, an unpasturised Brie de Meaux style cheese. It is a glorious cheese, you can just taste the quality of the milk, the animals and care of the land. Then I will add Gorwydd Caerphilly made by Morgan and Todd Trethowan . I’d add some seasonal fruit, quince paste and perhaps some local honey.

What’s your all-time favourite cheese pairing?
I do love a dark chocolate digestive biscuit with blue cheese, Perl Las is a good choice.

Any unusual pairings you’d recommend?
Coming from Yorkshire I didn’t realise fruit cake and Wensleydale Cheese was unusual, but there are people who still haven’t been converted! I don’t limit my intake to Christmas either. Any fruit cake, the richer the better but my favourite cheese to eat with it is Old Roan Wensleydale, it is the only a farmhouse Wensleydale being made in Wensleydale, a raw milk cheese made by Ben and Sam Spence on their farm.

What do you love to drink with cheese?
This summer I’m loving drinking a chilled sherry such as Barbadillo Manzilla Pasada and nibbling on an aged Manchego, we have a great organic Manchego which goes really well.

What must-have cheese kit would you recommend?
I like to use a slate cheese board as it shows of the cheese so nicely, a bit of drama is good!