Meet Robert Pouget founder of the Oxford Cheese Company

Can you take us back to the beginning – what inspired you to start The Oxford Cheese Company, and how did the business first come about?

I went into cheese completely by accident, because I happened to visit the covered market in Oxford back in 1983 with a friend of mine who was a tour manager of a pop group. I was working as an agent in Paris at the time when I came to London to work with one of his bands on some merchandising. For some reason we were in Oxford and we went into The Covered Market. I said what this needs is a bloody good cheese shop. He said why don’t we open one!? There were no cheese shops in Oxford at the time. There were only two real cheese shops in the country.

We found a fish mongers keen to sell, and this is is where we still are today. At the time we new nothing about cheese, all I liked was camembert. Supermarkets only had cheddar at the tim. So we got stuck in, set this shop up and it was an instant success. We also started importing it ourselves. The shop was very busy, I was juggling two jobs going back and forth to Paris. My partner Louise Pouget runs it in the day to day now, and my son William is one of the directors who also runs Alpha Bar. It’s always done very well.

What do you like best about The Covered Market?

Our logo says at the heart of Oxford and you can’t be more at the heart of Oxford than The Covered Market. By being in the heart of Oxford we are part of the evolving process of retail in the city. The market is not a static offer it’s always evolving and it will continue to evolve. As it goes, it’s clear the people in charge ie the Councillors and Council officials are determined to keep the Covered Market which is great, and it makes sense that changes do have to happen as they always have since 1774 so that it can keep up with the times. There’s been some fantastic new traders in the market recently including Hamblin and Arbequina.

I also like that we have a proper market stall style of shop so people can browse and take their time but don’t feel committed. From that shop we’ve launched several brands Oxford Blue, we sell about 3 tonnes a month. If you fly on Emirates, British Airways, or Virgin Atlantic you are very likely to see Oxford Blue on there. Oxford Sauce is another one. I started making it in a 50 litres vat on a cooker and bottling it ourselves. Thing is, once it was bottled the sauce kept exploding, so we got a food expert in. The recipe is full of all kinds of good things like tamerind, birds eye chillies dates. The lady who was making it got the amount of chilli wrong – she added 10 times what it originally was. When I tried it, it tasted great and there we have it another accident that has actually been the making of the sauce. It’s now going world wide as well as being stocked in Waitrose.

You have such a wonderful range of cheeses – how do you choose which cheeses to stock?

We’ve recently upped the selection by a lot of cheese from Switzerland and French Mountains. We have a very good selection of mountain cheeses from small farms, small producers and the same with produce from the Pyreneese.  We also have a very good selection of goats cheese from central France and Spain. We import a whole variety of manchegos, even parmesan is very close. We’re very keen on working with high quality small producers.

In our shop in the market we also innovate, we affinage. For example we wash the Oxford Isis with alcohol. We’ve also been experimenting with Oxford Dolce by adding quince fruit cheese. The thing about this cheese is that you have to get it right, it’s a big departure from ordinary blue cheese making in the country. It takes time to get it right. We cut the cheese in two halves and then we put the top back on and let it mature with a wonderful seam of Quince fruit cheese running along inside. The the sugar starts to permeate the cheese and it’s absolutely delicious.

Animal welfair is also very close to our heart, something my partner Lou and I are working hard on is gathering in a fine selection of Calf at Foot cheeses. These are where the calves are allowed to stay with the cow. It’s tricky and does cost but over all it’s a much more humane way of making cheese. Watch this space as we continue to develop this very special range of small farm cheeses.

Which cheeses would be your top picks for Summer picnics?

If it’s hot like it is at the moment you’ll want something light, so I would suggest something like a Chaource Rouzaire – it’s light and has a lovely lemony taste. Another one that would be good for the summer would be Roquefort it’s sharp but it’s not heavy. And then if you wanted a third there’s nothing worse than a really stinky cheese in the summer. Bleu Bes Causses is very similar to Roquefort but it’s a cows milk and it’s half the price. It’s again a sharp cheese that’s very fresh tasting.

So, start off with the Chaource Rouzaire, then a ewes milk cheese like a Tomme de Brebis it’s a very subtle flavoured cheese it’s not strong it’s not over bearing it a very special flavour. Then you’d go for a Roquefort or Bleu bes causses. We’ve a few wonderful  English cheeses to consider too. My partner Lou will also always recommend you have a fine quality cheddar, the stunning Hafod Cheddar would be perfect, it’s also one of our calf to foot range I mentioned earlier. Finish off with a glass of a lovely Rose! We import our own wines too. We focus on wines from the Ardeche which is where my family is from.