Showing posts with label award-winning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label award-winning. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Taste of the Week. Killenure Castle Dexter Beef Salami


Taste of the Week
Killenure Castle Dexter Beef Salami

Taste of the Week is a gem: Killenure Castle Dexter Beef Single Estate Salami, to give it its full title. The cattle are raised in Dundrum, Co. Tipperary.

It is salami and you may eat it in much the same way as you’d enjoy any other salami. But this is not just another salami as it has got its own amazing texture and flavour thanks to the heritage beef and “a heritage curing process”.

Killenure have returned the native Irish breed to its “original birthplace in Dundrum”. The salami is not the only product. Watch out for their “Boutique Beef” and “Dexter Dripping”. Nothing is wasted: they also do leather and bone crafts. Must see if I can visit!

Glad I recently ordered the #IrishFood hamper to raise awareness & funds for #RearingtoGo @TeacTom via @gingerbreadmiss , as that’s where I came across the salami. Not too sure about stockists but you may purchase direct from the castle.

Knockavilla,
Dundrum,
County Tipperary.


Sunday, November 19, 2017

Davidson's Craft Butchers. Standard Bearers in Montenotte

Davidson's Craft Butchers

Standard Bearers in Montenotte
Chris (left) and Luke

I asked our local butcher Chris Davidson about his plans for the run-in to Christmas. “We’ve already started”, he said. “It's the earliest we’ve ever started but people started asking so we started taking the orders. It is our fourth Christmas here and we have great confidence in our products at this stage.”

And top of the Christmas wish list are their free-range East Ferry Turkeys. Easy Ferry also supply them with eggs and chickens. “The most popular order is the boneless Turkey Crown, now selling all year round. Spiced beef too is incredibly popular. We use the eye of the round, a very lean cut, very good.”

“We have plenty of alternatives, including duck, beef fillet, crusted lamb, and pork steak Wellington. And we also have a special: Cranberry and sausage meat stuffing balls.”

Chris, from Cobh, is a 4th generation butcher. His great grand-father was a butcher in the harbour town, followed by Chris’s grand-uncle and then by an uncle. Chris himself started learning the steps, the ones well down the ladder, as a 14 year old at the well respected Jim Crowley butcher shop in Midleton.
Crusted lamb

He worked there during the holidays, even when he started going to UCC. “I was never bored, it was always interesting.” And the thing was that Chris himself was always interested and eventually decided that it was for him.

He started work in the Montenotte premises with the previous owner in 2009 and, just about three years ago, took it over. He found it hard to get used to the paperwork but “so far, so good” is his verdict now.”Every year has been better than the previous one. The three years have flown. Now we are more comfortable, more confident, particularly over the past six months.” 

The “we” is Chris and Luke, the two full-time employees. He also had two part-time workers.
You’ll see newly installed flower boxes on the building and also notice Craft Butcher displayed over the Davidson doors. I asked Chris about that. A lot of hard study over three years by the looks of it. 
Ready to cook

“To be qualified as craft, you have to do the 8-module course. It is very comprehensive. It covers every single aspect of modern butchery. When you finish, there is nothing left to learn. You've been trained also to present your produce, to engage with and sell to the customer. All about hygiene and food safety. The qualification is all about reliability. I see it as being a standard bearer.”

Chris has put the training to good use, especially in their speciality range. They are very strong here and have won many awards at craft competitions. Davidson’s have been national runners-up with their Pork Steak Wellington and with their Home-made Meat Loaf, national champion with their absolutely delicious (personal experience) Crusted Rack of Lamb. And they have gold for quite a few specials including Steak Stir Fry, Butterflied Leg of Lamb, Chicken Pizzaiola, and Chicken Supreme stuffed with broccoli and gruyere cheese.
Stir-fry

And, looking to the future, the plan is to keep up that standard, to keep innovating. “We’re always tipping away here, trying to improve the range. We plan to increase our presence on Social Media as well. And an upgrade of machinery is also on the cards.”

And you can, of course, get more than meat here. “Arbutus Bread is a fantastic product and we also have their pastries on Saturday mornings. We stock some kitchen essentials such as bread and milk. And newspapers of course. We have Green Saffron spices and the Gran Grans Chutneys are also available here.” Well worth a visit!


Davidson's Craft Butchers
7 St Christopher's Dr, Montenotte, Cork, T23 KV96
Hours: Open Monday-Friday· 8a.m.–6:30p.m.
Saturday: 8a.m. - 6.00p.m.



Thursday, August 18, 2011

WEST CORK'S CARBERY WINS UK CHEESE GOLD


Dubliner Cheese wins GOLD at the prestigious
Bath and West Cheese Show


Award-winning Dubliner Cheese - The perfect ingredient for al fresco dining this summer

Dubliner cheese and baked potato
Dubliner Cheese, the delicious range of Irish cheese made by Carbery in West Cork to a traditional recipe, has beaten off stiff competition from bigger European cheese makers in countries such as Italy, Holland, Norway and Spain to win GOLD in the specialty hard cheese class at the prestigious Bath and West Cheese Show.

Niamh Lennon, Sales and Marketing Manager for Dubliner Cheese said:  “We are delighted that Dubliner Cheese has received such a prestigious award. This award recognises our dedication to producing some of the best tasting cheese available and demonstrates once again that consumers can choose the best quality, best tasting products from Irish producers. Dubliner cheese continues to maintain the gold stamp of approval!”

This most recent win further reinforces