A good blue cheese sauce is one of the more useful things a competent cook can have in their repertoire. It takes less than fifteen minutes, requires a handful of straightforward ingredients, and transforms everything from a grilled steak to a simple bowl of pasta into something considerably more interesting. The quality of the sauce depends almost entirely on the quality of the blue cheese used, which is why making it with Young Buck rather than a generic supermarket blue makes such a tangible difference.
Young Buck is Northern Ireland’s only raw milk blue cheese, made by Mike Thomson in Ballymena, County Antrim. It has the savoury complexity and long finish that come from small-batch raw milk production, and that character carries through into the sauce in a way that a milder, more uniform blue cheese cannot replicate. The sauce made with Young Buck is not merely blue; it has depth, earthiness, and a finish that makes you want more of whatever you have poured it over.
Table of Contents
What You Need
This recipe makes enough sauce for four portions. It scales easily: double the quantities for a larger group, halve them if you are cooking for two.
- 100g Young Buck blue cheese, crumbled
- 200ml double cream
- 1 small shallot, finely diced
- 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
- 25g unsalted butter
- 50ml dry white wine or dry vermouth (optional but recommended)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley to finish (optional)
The only substitution worth mentioning: if Young Buck is not available, Cashel Blue from Tipperary works as an alternative and produces a creamier, milder sauce with less assertive character. The result is still considerably better than anything made with a generic supermarket blue. Both are available through the Irish blue cheese range, though the depth that Young Buck provides is worth seeking out.
Method
1. Set a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the butter and allow it to melt without browning. Add the diced shallot and cook gently for three to four minutes until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Do not allow either to colour.
2. If using wine or vermouth, add it to the pan now and allow it to bubble and reduce by roughly half. This takes about two minutes and adds an acidity to the sauce that balances the richness of the cream and the intensity of the blue cheese. If not using wine, proceed directly to the next step.
3. Pour in the double cream. Bring it to a gentle simmer over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Allow it to reduce for three to four minutes until it has thickened slightly and coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow it to boil hard, which can cause the cream to split.
4. Reduce the heat to low. Add the crumbled Young Buck and stir gently until the cheese has melted into the sauce. Some pieces may take a moment longer than others; this is normal. The sauce will thicken noticeably as the cheese incorporates.
5. Stir in the Dijon mustard. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. Young Buck is salty, so be cautious with additional salt; the sauce may need none at all. A generous grind of black pepper is usually right.
6. If the sauce is thicker than you would like, add a splash of cream or a little of the pasta cooking water if you are serving it with pasta, and stir to loosen. Finish with chopped flat-leaf parsley if using, and serve immediately.
What to Serve It With
Blue cheese sauce made with Young Buck is at its best alongside food that can stand up to its intensity.
Steak is the classic pairing, and it earns its reputation. A ribeye or sirloin, cooked to medium-rare and rested properly, is the ideal vehicle. The richness of the beef and the savouriness of the blue occupy the same register, and the sauce pulls the two together in a way that makes the combination feel designed.
Chicken thighs, pan-fried until the skin is crisp, work well under a generous pour of this sauce. The mild flavour of the chicken provides a backdrop for the sauce to be the main event. Roasting the chicken in the oven and finishing the sauce in the same pan, using the chicken juices as part of the base, adds another layer to the result.
For a vegetarian application, gnocchi is one of the most effective vehicles. The soft, yielding texture of good gnocchi against the richness and intensity of the sauce produces a combination that does not miss the presence of meat. Toss the cooked gnocchi directly in the pan with the sauce over a low heat and serve immediately with extra cracked pepper.
The sauce also works well as a dressing for a warm salad. Cooked new potatoes, green beans, and toasted walnuts dressed with a spoonful of warm Young Buck sauce is a complete and satisfying dish that can be served as a starter or a light main course. For more recipes built around Irish artisan cheese, the Indie Füde recipes archive covers a range of dishes that make the most of the producers in the range.
Getting the Most from Young Buck
Young Buck is made in small batches, and its character varies slightly across the year, reflecting the seasonal changes in the raw milk it is made from. In practical terms, this means the sauce will taste slightly different depending on when you make it, which is one of the more interesting aspects of cooking with a genuine artisan raw milk cheese rather than an industrial equivalent. You can order Young Buck directly through the Irish blue cheese shop, with delivery across Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain.
When crumbling the cheese for the sauce, take it from the fridge about 20 minutes beforehand. Slightly warmer cheese crumbles more cleanly and incorporates into the cream more smoothly than very cold cheese straight from the fridge.
The sauce does not keep particularly well. It can be made an hour in advance and reheated gently over a low heat with a splash of cream to loosen it, but it is at its best made fresh and served immediately. Given that it takes under fifteen minutes from start to finish, making it to order rather than in advance is the better approach.
A Note on Quantity and Leftovers
If you are buying Young Buck specifically for this recipe, it is worth buying a larger piece than you need for the sauce and serving some of it on a cheeseboard alongside the meal. Young Buck at room temperature, with a Ditty’s oatcake from the crackers and biscuits range and a fig preserve from the chutneys and jars range, is a different experience from the same cheese melted into cream, and having both in the same meal introduces the cheese in two of its best contexts.
Any remaining sauce can be used the following day as a topping for baked potato or as a dressing for a simple green salad. It will thicken overnight in the fridge; reheat very gently and add a small amount of cream to bring it back to a pourable consistency.
For those who want to keep exploring beyond this recipe, the full Irish cheese range at Indie Füde includes a variety of styles that suit both the cheeseboard and the kitchen, and the Meet the Maker section tells the story of Mike Thomson and the other producers behind what you are cooking with.