This buttery beauty is the St. Stephen, an indulgent Triple-Cream cheese from Four Fat Fowl Creamery, a brand new cheesemaking operation just getting off the ground. Four Fat Fowl is the project of four partners: Willy Bridgham, a cheesemaker with 15 years of experience, including at Old Chatham Sheepherding Co.; his wife Shaleena Bridgham, who also has experience in the cheese world and will be in charge of sales and distribution; Josie Madison, and her husband Seth Madison, on the cheesemaking/affinage and business development sides, respectively.
The operation is based in Stephentown, in upstate Rensselaer County, NY. As they say on their site, the name came from the fact that "...in the seventeenth century, the Dutch colonized this area of the Hudson Valley and a landlord, called the patroon, took possession of the area. The last patroon of Rensselaerswyck (what is now Rensselaer County), after whom Stephentown was named, collected annual rents from his tenants which included "four fat fowl", a day's labor, and ten to twenty bushels of wheat per hundred acres."
Triple-cremes must have a fat content of 75% or greater to qualify as such (Formaggio Kitchen's blog has a good breakdown of the difference between double- and triple-cremes). Four Fat Fowl identified it as a style that was not currently being produced in the Hudson Valley region, and set out to produce a version that would bring the textural and flavor characteristics of the classics like Delice de Bourgogne or Brillat-Savarin, using locally sourced milk.
In this they have succeeded, with a Jersey cow's milk cheese that, when warmed to room temperature, has the color and texture of a freshly whipped buttercream frosting and a pillowy white rind wrapped around it. The flavor is intensely buttery, tangy, a little sour, with mushroom and grassy notes, the paste melting in the mouth.
Triple-cremes are the quintessential decadent experience in cheese, an explosion of butterfat on the tongue, and it's hard not to overdo it once you get started in on the wheel. You can also pretty much substitute it for anywhere that butter works, and slathered on some crusty bread with a dollop of fruit preserves is a great way to start the day (or end it).
Four Fat Fowl has recently launched a Kickstarter to raise funds for first-year expenses and to purchase much-needed equipment for the creamery; you can learn more and contribute here. For now the plan is to distribute locally, with limited distribution further afield, to grow with time.
They will also have a launch party at the Old Chatham Country Store on Saturday, June 7, 7:00am – 2:00pm, where they will be giving away samples of St. Stephen, and special promotional items.