Courtyard Dairy won’t be a new name to many people who’ve an interest in the food scene across the North of the country thanks to its role as supplier to many of the region’s best restaurants. Its reputation as a supplier is unimpeachable but with a lack of restaurants to supply, the business has been driven in a different direction, with the consumer market a new priority. While their shop has been a fixture near to beautiful Malham for some time, direct to consumer has become a larger channel for obvious reasons over the last 12 months and has led to the creation of the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Tastings. These regular events take the form of a Zoom call with co-owner Andy Swinscoe who talks you through a selection of cheeses over an hour with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and get involved while working your way through the selection of cheese forming the basis of learning.

We’d arranged to be (virtually) joined by a friend for the event, with one of the perks of a virtual event being the ability to call in geographically distant friends, which kicked off right at the moment we’d normally be putting Baby Fork to bed but we told her as a treat (it was her birthday…) she was allowed to stay up for the duration with as many bribes as we needed to be able to properly enjoy the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Tasting. The event kicked off right on time, remaining punctual and sticking to schedule throughout and we were soon tucking into our cheese and the wine pairing that we’d added on.

The depth of knowledge that Andy was able to impart throughout the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Tasting was quite remarkable, going into as much detail as we could stomach for each cheese both regarding production techniques and ingredients as well as tasting notes. The six cheeses we went through were all outstanding, as you would expect from Courtyard Dairy, and we learnt something new about those new to us and those familiar. The event went on for an hour, packing in plenty of information without feeling rushed or starting to feel like too reminiscent of school days. It’s fair to say that on a repeat booking we’d miss off the wine pairing to keep the cost down; while the wines supplied were very nice and did a good job of matching up to the cheeses they simply weren’t the focus here so my instinct would be to book more frequently and just focus on the cheese.

The story of the Courtyard Dairy Virtual Cheese tasting is representative of the journey of so many businesses in the hospitality ecosystem over the last 12 months, from stability to disaster and back to some form of stability thanks to reinvention. While staying near to Courtyard Dairy last year, we popped in to pick up some treats for our break but the opportunity to enjoy their product at a distance while in the company of a good friend who’s sitting 190 miles away is curiously emblematic of early 2021. While hopefully before long the restaurant supply side of Courtyard Dairy’s business will thriving again, virtual tastings look set to be another string to their bow that broadens their reach greatly.

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I actually took part in a tester session for one of these a few months ago so had some idea of what to expect when I joined up. The equipment and ingredient list arrived in plenty of time to get prepared for the evening’s entertainment, which would be centred around producing a Thai green curry. Rather convenient given that I still have possession of a good amount of quality Thai produce thanks to a recent delivery from Zaap Thai, whose recipe kit I was lucky enough to sample recently. With all my supplies in order, I did my best impression of mis-en-place, in this case featuring a laptop perched on a microwave as a more unusual addition to the setup, I opened a beer and was ready to go.

The lesson started on time and with appropriately high production values, as you’d expect from a Virtual Grand Cookery School, before head tutor Andrew Dixon took the screen and introduced himself. I’ve had the pleasure of several courses with Andrew now and his inhabiting a laptop was no inhibition to his easy and approachable manner, with participants’ microphones remaining open to make sure everyone was at the same point and had their questions answered. Being a good pupil, I’d done a good bit of prep in advance so was able to take things at a more leisurely pace, relaxing with that beer while my classmates caught up.

I’d decided to use chicken thighs (decided might be a strong word for raiding the freezer) as the protein for my green curry and it didn’t take long before we had things simmering away nicely, with time to concentrate on getting some rice well rinsed and ready to go as well as trimming some herbs and chillis with which to decorate our creations. This took place over less than 2 hours, running perfectly to schedule while allowing Andrew plenty of time to answer queries, something he’s extremely able to do with a clear and concise manner and a huge amount of knowledge. By the time we’d finished, all the participants, who’d variously been using chicken, fish or vegetables as the basis of their curry and receiving advice bespoke to the chosen ingredient, had their dinner ready to go – in one case having prepared a meal for six people!

Obviously a virtual Grand Cookery School is going to feel a bit different to standing in a room with your fellow participants, but they’ve done as much as possible in the circumstances to approximate that experience, with the modest £29 price for instruction reflecting that. It would be fantastic to have the option to order the ingredients for delivery, and hopefully once logistical challenges are met this is something The Grand Cookery School will consider. Obviously I can’t wait to get back into a cookery school that includes someone to do the washing up for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and the meal it delivered.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this PR sample experience.

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