Stepping onto Gubbeen in West Cork, Eire, looks like visiting the storybook definition of a farm: it’s lush, emerald inexperienced, and stuffed with fortunately moo-ing cows. “The farm is the spine of every part,” displays Fingal Ferguson. Now a 250-acre dairy farm, the Fergusons began making cheese within the Seventies when matriarch Giana began experimenting with the method in her kitchen. “I keep in mind my mother having these bits of plastic piping and cheese fabric and wood disks that may be used to press the curd,” Fingal recollects. “It began there, from this one large pot, with the ability to make one or two cheeses.”
Phrase rapidly unfold in regards to the creamy, rind-washed cheese coming from Gubbeen. “I keep in mind mother strolling by city at some point and anyone grabbed her [and said], ‘The place did you purchase that cheese? The place did you get that?’ And she or he mentioned, ‘I made it.’ They usually mentioned, ‘Might you make me some extra? I’d love some.’” When Fingal was a teen, he and pop Tom constructed the primary smoker at Gubbeen, which was later used to create a smoked model of Giana’s signature cheese — in addition to various smoked meat merchandise, from chorizo to salami. “Individuals type of turned to me and mentioned like, who’s going to eat salami? We’re Irish. We simply need bacon and cabbage and ham and people issues. However the Irish are fairly adventurous,” says Ferguson. Gubbeen’s meats are actually flavored by sister Clovis’s on-site, biodynamic backyard produce. Seasonal herbs and greens are added to restricted batches of product, making every batch distinctive.
Enter Lee Tiernan, a London-based chef who first began utilizing Gubbeen throughout his time at legendary London restaurant St. John’s. “I appreciated Gubbeen earlier than I even knew the Fergusons. I used to be assured in its taste, and knew folks have been going to take pleasure in it with the cheese plate. After which I began placing it on potatoes, and I had all this rind left over.” Tiernan created a signature cream sauce utilizing the rinds as a base, which he poured over potatoes. He posted about it on-line, catching the eye of Giana Ferguson. The 2 struck up a digital friendship, and Giana rapidly invited Lee and his spouse Kate to Gubbeen. Though they deliberate for a day journey, their journey become a two-night keep. “We’ve been rolling alongside properly since that day,” recollects Tiernan fondly.
Tiernan now owns his personal restaurant, Previously Identified As Black Axe Mangal, in London’s Islington neighborhood. Identified for serving daring, creative dishes, Tiernan relishes the chance to make use of Gubbeen substances each probability he will get. “I don’t know another distributors the best way I do know the Fergusons,” Tiernan muses. Watch the complete video to be taught extra about how the cheese (and sausage) are made at Gubbeen — and prized by cooks like Lee Tiernan.