I think my fascination for cheese started in or around 1988 when I tasted an incredibly ripe Camembert for the first time. I would have been about 18, I suppose, not to give away my age. I was working in a small country house hotel in Yorkshire called Wood Hall, just outside Weatherby — my first proper full-time job after leaving college. I was working in the pastry kitchen, making all the desserts and so on and the cheese trolley that we had there was apparently award-winning and teeming with small unpasteurised French rural cheeses. Not that I had any understanding of why this was so at the time, being a young boy from working-class Manchester and someone who grew up eating mainly packaged and frozen foods, usually with proper English chips. So, the fineries of cheese-making had not, at that time, filtered down to me. But from that moment on, the amazing world of cheese has been deep rooted in my heart, mind and taste buds. Oh yes, and belly, too!

The Discovery Travel & Living channel has been airing a wonderful series called Cheese Slices, hosted by Will Studd. I first read something about him on the Net a few years ago. After spending around $80,000 (Australian), Studd lost the case he was fighting in Australia for the right to sell his passion-filled unpasteurised cheeses. Every country has its own rules about cheeses you are allowed to sell. In Australia, many restrictions have come in over the years, as in America and the UK, surrounding the manufacture and import of cheese made from different types of milk.

Australia disallows the sale and consumption of uncooked cheese made from raw milk (unpasteurised), something that Studd decided to challenge. The result was a case slapped against him and an eventual ruling to destroy 80 kg of imported Roquefort cheese.

So Studd destroyed the cheese in a burial that brought to life issues that had been shot down in court and started a bit of a revolution.

In the television series, he wanders around the world in search of some of the best known cheeses. Sadly, I’ve missed most of the series, only catching two episodes so far, but it’s bound to be aired again. I saw the one on the king of all Italian cheeses, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the good old English cheddar from initial stages of process to the aging. Such a fabulous job and subject to cover! In fact I’m going to call Nondon Bagchi right now to plan a trip to go and see how they make the delicious local Bandel cheese, so watch this space!

Other cheeses in the 10 episodes are two more Italian products, Pecorino and Gorgonzola, Poitou goats’ cheese, farmhouse Morbier, Camembert and one of my favourites, Roquefort, an ewe’s milk blue cheese with an unsurpassed flavour and saltiness. There’s also Gruyere without which the fondue just would not have that same kind of stretchy gooeyness and Quesos from Spain.

Studd left the UK after setting up cheese shops and headed for Australia to open another chain of cheese shops. Studd’s first book Chalk and Cheese was published in 1999 and is out of print now, having become a collector’s item. After its success comes his next book that inspired the title of the TV show, Cheese Slices. When the idea of the show came about, no one wanted to sponsor it. All the big boys of the industry didn’t want to sponsor a show on farmhouse cheese makers and Studd ended up making the show, mainly with his own money. Cool lad.

Macaroni & cheese

Heat an oven to 200°C. Fill a large saucepan three-quarters full with water and bring it to a boil. Meanwhile you can start making the sauce. Put 60 g of butter in a medium saucepan and melt it over low heat. As soon as it has melted, tip in 30 g of flour. Turn up the heat a little. Stir the flour and butter with a wooden spoon to make a thick paste called a roux. It is very important to cook this roux a little or you will end up with a floury-tasting sauce, so keep stirring it for a minute or two while it sizzles gently. Slowly start adding 500 ml of hot milk and stir it into the roux. Gradually add the rest of the milk and keep stirring till it is all thoroughly mixed in. Add a bay leaf, a clove and half an onion. Bring the sauce to the boil and then turn the heat down to low. Let the sauce gently simmer for about five minutes. Stir every minute or so just to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan and allow it to sit, covered, for a further 15 minutes.

Grate 180 g of cheddar and 60 g of Parmesan and grease a large ovenproof dish with plenty of butter. Season the sauce with black pepper and salt, strain out any lumps and whisk in two-thirds of the cheese.

When the water starts to boil, add a good dose of salt and 300 g of macaroni and cook the pasta for two minutes less than the time it says on the packet and drain.

Add the pasta to the cheese sauce and stir together well till thoroughly combined. Pour the cheesy macaroni into the ovenproof dish. Spread evenly and sprinkle it with the rest of the cheese. Place the dish in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or till the cheese on top has turned golden brown and the sauce is bubbling.

Eat immediately with a glass of white wine and lots of crusty bread and butter.