Long read: How an old stable was transformed to produce great goat's cheese

When we do the weekly grocery shop, there are lots of factors that affect our decision to purchase one product over anther. I, for one, always look to support Irish producers as much as possible and will happily visit multiple stores, farm shops and markets to get the products that I love each week. But I’m very lucky in that I have met and interviewed lots of wonderful Irish producers in my line of work – I’ve met their families, seen their passion for the food they make first-hand and that sticks with you when you are faced with a decision between two products in the supermarket.

Meeting Michael Finegan, the maker of Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese, means that I now have another permanent addition to my weekly shopping list. Not only are Michael’s blue and bán goat's cheese absolutely delicious and totally unique, meeting his family on their farm in Slane, Co Meath, and seeing the passion he has for his product will remain with me, too.

Michael began making goat’s cheese in 2010 after the recession hit. He’d been supplying Glenisk with goat milk, which he still does, but he started to keep some of it to experiment in making a blue goat’s cheese. Seven years on Michael’s Boyne Valley Blue and his new white variety, Bán, are winning taste awards and are in demand with top chefs all over Ireland.

“I’m lucky there’s no other blue goat’s cheese in Ireland, so my cheese is different and chefs like that,” says Michael. “A lot of them will have it on their cheese board, having an all-Irish cheese board is very popular.”

All of the cheese is handmade by Michael himself and his wife Jenny helps out when she’s not working as a nurse in Drogheda Hospital. Being such a small production means he can be flexible: “If I’m selling to shops, that consumer wants a nice mild blue cheese for their cheese board, they don’t want it to blow their socks off. So I can sell it around six to eight weeks old as a young, mild blue cheese. As time goes on it gets stronger, and some chefs want it really strong because they can crumble it into dishes and the flavour packs a punch.

Michael learned how to make cheese in Teagasc’s Moorepark Food Research Centre in Cork, and credits it for helping him develop his recipe: “They’ve cheese specialists down there and have taught a lot of the cheesemakers in Ireland. They help you design your food product, I was able to do product trials there, it was brilliant.”

Finding his recipe took time and dedication. Michael records everything meticulously, from his herd to milking, to the weather, and his blue cheese took lots of trials and tweaks to get right. All of the production takes place in a purpose-built unit which he converted from one of the old stable buildings on the farm.

“You’re constantly improving and tweaking things. If all cheesemakers made the same type of cheese it would all turn out very different – their herds, what they’re eating, the environment is different. It will all be called a blue cheese but everybody’s will be different,” he explains.

Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese gets its distinctive flavour and texture from a number of elements, starting with Michael’s lovely herd of goats: “Currently I have around 350 goats. I always have one herd rising in milk so I have it all year round.

“The white ones are called Saanen, they give the most amount of milk but they’re lower in solids. The brown and white ones are Toggenburg goats and the black and white are Alpine, they will give slightly less milk and more milk solids which is better for cheese making. And the fourth with the floppy ears are Anglo-Nubians, they’re like the jersey cow they give the least amount of milk but the best quality.

“Everybody’s herds are different, some people have an all-white herd for their cheese but I want my product to have its own character and I need that mixed milk for better quality. What I feed them massively affects my cheese; they get a very dry haylage, it’s lovely and sweet smelling, and they get a dairy nut for their vitamins and minerals.”

When Michael tends to the herd, he has two little helpers that often come along with him – his two girls, Julie who’s five and two-year-old Ruth. “Ruth climbs in through the bars when I’m milking and the goats don’t raise an eyebrow, they’re very relaxed, placid animals which is lovely when you’ve small kids.

“They’re great characters, they’re curious - they come up for a nibble and a scratch. I used to milk cows on my family farm but I’d never go back to cows now.”

When Michael has his milk, he pumps it into a cheese vat where it is pasteurised: “Once that’s done I lower the temperature and start adding the culture which gives it its flavour, then I add the mould. I use a blue mould which I buy in sachets from a specialist company. There are hundreds of different types of cultures and moulds, it’s a fascinating world.

“The last thing I add is the rennet which turns it into curds and whey. Then I cut it and start to stir. Every cheesemaker will have their own recipe depending on how long they stir for. For a blue cheese I need it midway, I need to dry out the curds, but not too much, I have a very specific time for my recipe.

“I then put it into the cheese moulds. You don’t press blue cheese because you want little pockets of air for the mould to grow in later on. When the cheese is set I take it from the moulds and dry salt them. I pierce them just after a week to allow the mould to start to grow inside.

“For the first week the wheels have to be turned and rubbed every day. This helps it gets its rind when the mould starts to grow. Some cheeses have a wax or a cloth rind but mine is a natural mould rind. It’s very important because it adds to the flavour. “There’s so many little things that I learned along the way but they’re all so important,” explains Michael, “it all adds to that end flavour.”

The recipe for his blue cheese has been perfected and recently Michael spent time tweaking his new white cheese, which came about after a discussion with Kevin Sheridan of Sheridan’s Cheesemongers: “It’s based on a French cheese, Tomme de Savoie. Sheridan’s import it from France and Kevin Sheridan suggested I try out the bán, no one else in Ireland is making it.

“I have been experimenting for a long time and now I have it right so I’m starting to produce more of it. I add weight to it because I don’t want air pockets so there’s no blue veins, and the rind is different, too. It’s very pleasant to eat, it’s very mild, and I think it will be more popular than the blue. Its creamy, you can definitely get the goat’s milk flavour, some people have described it as nutty and there’s a nice after taste to it. I’m only just getting it out there now so it will be interesting to see what the feedback is like.”

To date, the feedback on Michael’s cheese has been impressive. Earlier this year his blue cheese won gold in its class at the Artisan Cheese Awards in Melton Mowbray in England, with the bán taking home bronze. He was awarded bronze for both cheeses at the British Cheese Awards this year, too, and his blue received two stars in the Great Taste Awards.

Local restaurants such as Scholar’s Townhouse Hotel and Eastern Seaboard in Drogheda, Slane Castle and Slane Distillery, and Inside Out in Slane village, are keen to work with Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese, and Michael is also stocking the Irish Farm Cheese Store in Drogheda and Sheridan’s stores nationwide.

As much as he enjoys the experimental stages, Michael says that two types of cheese is enough to work with for now and when it comes to growing his brand he’s more focused on increasing how much he can produce. Despite coming to it from a farming background, it’s plain to see he has a passion for the cheese making. Getting positive feedback from customers and seeing chefs using his cheese on their menus is a clear highlight for Michael: “I’ve always liked my food and I’ve always loved cheese. I’m so happy that I’m using my own milk and turning it into a good cheese that is popular and winning awards, and I get to taste it every day!”

Boyne Valley Blue Cheese & roast peach salad

Serves four

For the peaches:

For the dressing:

For the peaches:

1 Heat oven to Gas Mark 4 /180°C /350°F. Grease an ovenproof shallow dish with a little butter. Cut the peaches into wedges, remove the stones and place them in the dish in a single layer.

2 Drizzle over the oil, season with salt and pepper, add the cube cheese and place dish in oven for 15 minutes.

For the dressing:

1 Heat 100ml of the peach puree in a small saucepan until it just simmers and remove from heat (do not allow puree to cook). Stir in the sugar (if using). Place the remaining 50ml of the puree in a medium bowl and sprinkle gelatine over, stir, let sit for 2 minutes and stir again. Add warm juice to cold juice, stir, and pour mixture into an 8x8-inch pan. Refrigerate until firm (approx. 4 hours). Place in the food processor and blend into a liquid gel.

2 Place the peaches on a serving dish and drizzle the dressing on as desired.

Boyne Valley Bán Cheese tortellini

Serves four

For the pasta:

For the filling:

For the sauce:

For the pasta dough:

1 Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl or onto a work surface and make a well in the centre for the liquid. Using a fork, work the flour into the eggs and other liquids until it is incorporated. It should be fairly dry to start. Knead it until its starts becoming elastic and springy to the touch. Wrap in cling film and allow to rest at room temperature for about an hour.

For the filling:

1 Chop up goat’s cheese finely, it’s easier to pulse it briefly in the food processor. You don’t want to make a paste, but you do want it to resemble crumbs. Add the fresh cream and salt and pepper to taste.

2 Divide your dough into quarters and run each piece through your pasta machine as per your preference until you have put it through the lowest setting. Lay your thin sheets of pasta out on a floured surface and cut out rounds or squares using a cutter. I use a 4 inch / 100mm cutter which gives a nice size tortellini. Scoop a generous dessert spoon of filling in the middle of each piece, brush the edges with beaten egg and seal with another cut out round piece on top. Using your fingers press down to release any excess air. Twist the edges towards each other to create a crescent shape.

For the sauce:

1 Pour the cream into the saucepan while stirring; add goat cheese and stir to melt. Add the pats to boiling salted water and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until you reach your desired texture and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper.

2 Place the tortellini in a serving bowl and spoon over the sauce.

This article first appeared in Irish Country Magazine. You can subscribe here