Say Cheese

Pete Williams talks to an actor who switched to purveying a different kind of cheese: Sean Wilson of the Saddleworth Cheese Company

Sean Wilson was once Martin Platt, partner of Gail Tilsley and known to literally millions as a “Coronation Street” star. By the age of 18, in 1984, he was wealthy, shooting two episodes a week of the street – not the greatest of workloads – and was getting along very nicely, thank-you.

Back in those comparatively innocent days, cooking on TV was far more limited than today’s ‘reality’-inspired bombardment of get-me-into-the-kitchen-with Jordan and a bunch of asparagus, oh, and a celebrity.

It was the time of Keith Floyd (God rest his well-fed soul) and that’s where Sean’s interest was sparked. Having the time to cook and experiment in the early days appears to have been the key to Sean’s subsequent success.

He admits he had over 100 cook books on his shelf even then; books he would actually consult, as he grew ever more addicted to his cause: great food! He appeared on “Masterchef”, which, by all accounts he should have won, and later found himself in Northcote Manor, Blackburn, working with the Michelin-starred Nigel Haworth. Time, however, was becoming increasingly tight. More hours working on “…the Street” and more time cooking meant something had to give.

“I had been thinking what I should do with the skills I’d acquired – what direction with the food – and then, unbelievable as it may seem, I woke up one morning and had an epiphany, of sorts. Handmade cheese.”

Yet this wasn’t enough in itself. Sean had no idea how to make cheese. It was something that he almost put aside for want of not knowing how to progress it. And then fate intervened. Radio Lancaster called and asked whether he fancied doing a slot for them. Agreeing, unwittingly gave Sean the means he needed. The first person on the show? Bob Kitching, the legendary cheesemaker, from Chipping in Lancashire. Recognising Sean’s attraction to the science of cooking, Bob offered to show Sean how to make cheese and the pieces of the jigsaw started to fall into place.

Behind the modesty, Sean’s pride in Smelly Apeth’s winning the Irish Cheese Award for best newcomer in its class – as well as the British Gold Award for Muldoon’s Picnic – proves impossible to hide in his voice. And rightly so.

“European, creamy, sweet and a light blue”, is how he sums up Smelly Apeth. A great deal of his perspective on food originates his love of French food and the standards they demand. From visiting France himself and working with the likes of Nigel Hawoth in Northcote Manor, local food, sourced as locally as possible and as traditional as possible, is essential. “Provenance…” he assures me. “It’s something you can actually taste. It is, effectively, integrity. You can taste it in the food. You can walk into a French town in the morning and you will smell fresh bread, baked locally, for the locals.”

‘Provenance’ is something Sean does more than merely endorse. The milk he uses is from the Ribble Valley in the Trough of Bowland. Next door, basically.
Hand in hand with his perspective on provenance is a sense of horror that most food lovers have for supermarket mass-produced cheeses. “Our cheese involves hand cutting the curd into small cubes which you let swim in the whey, gently, patiently.” It is a craft, which is avoided by the multiples in the main. But like the Real Bread Campaign that was launched recently, artisan cooking is making a huge resurgence. The move away from factory food is growing.

You’d think that was it. That Sean Wilson would be busy enough… but as the saying goes, if you want something doing, give it to a busy man. Sean has also rolled up his sleeves for DCWC, his Nepalese charity for women and children, which last year saw the building of five schools and this September sees the opening of a hospital.

“Some places we visit involve a five-hour journey after you’ve left the road – in a four wheel drive, and then followed by a four-hour hike, just to get there”.

Here is a north west based charity aimed at improving the lives of the poor children and women of Nepal, especially in areas of education and health. As well as building schools in the remote regions of Nepal DCWC provides vital facilities in areas where there are no hospitals. It has provided funding for schools in villages where the nearest schools have previously been many hours’ walk away, each school able to educate a minimum of 150 children and provide adult education classes for women.

As if to wring the very most out of any stray minute, Sean is also a cheese judge these days, and the way to sample your cheese, he assures us, is to take a walnut size piece and warm it in your hand in order to warm the cultures in the cheese. Once properly warm, give a big, deep smell before finally eating. And if the cheeses in question happens to be one of his, you’ll be choosing from:

Muldoon’s Picnic: current holder of a British Cheese Award, Best Cheese in Show at Bakewell including Best Crumbly and Best Farmhouse Cheese and the Silver Medal in The Chipping Show Cheese Competition.
Mouth Almighty: a Tasty Lancashire cheese matured for 12 months or more which develops a mouth-watering, lingering flavour.
How’s Yer Father: a Creamy Lancashire has a creamy-smooth, velvety texture.
Smelly Apeth: a soft, creamy, European-style blue cheese.

http://www.saddleworthcheese.co.uk/