White Pudding is Blas na hEireann Award Winner

The Blas na hEireann, Irish Food Awards is the biggest competition for quality Irish produce on the island of Ireland. So McCarthys were absolutedly delighted to win the top award for White Pudding! You know our Famous Black Pudding is good but have you tried our White Pudding yet?

Products from every county on Ireland were entered into the 2020 competition to win Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards in a broad range of food and drink categories as well as key awards such as Supreme Champion and Best Artisan Producer.

The McCarthy’s Team celebrating winning a gold for White Pudding at the Blas na hEireann Awards

Evan wins Butchering Apprentice of the Year

Deeeep breath. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with accolades, awards & reviews coming from all directions.

Well done to our very own Evan O Sullivan who has been with us just over 12 months and has been awarded butchering apprentice of the year. This is a national award, not easily won and is chosen from all the young butchering apprentices in the country. A massive honour for Evan. We are both delighted and proud of his achievement, it’s well deserved and he has a bright future ahead of him.

We won runner up in shop of the year 2018 and are delighted to be finishing so strongly in a category we won last year.

We also won best marketing initiatives for a butchers.

Thanks to each and every one of our customers and supporters without whom none of this would be possible.

Two Major Awards at the 2017 Butcher’s Awards

We are delighted to announce that we have won two major awards at the 2017 Butchers Awards.

We have won shop of the year for our newly refurbished shop and Jack won lifetime achievement for contribution to the Irish meat industry.

These awards are the only awards taking in butchers from all over the Island of Ireland and we are delighted to be lucky enough to be nominated never mind win 2 major awards.

Thanks to all our customers for their continued support allowing us to continue doing what we love.

Watch this video where Tim talks about this great achievement!

Butchers Excellence International Awards

McCarthy’s Award Winning Products

With Jack and Tim’s innovative and creative ideas (as displayed on facebook live…) come prestigious awards.

Butchers Excellence International is the only all Ireland butchery body.

We were delighted to win awards at the 2017 ALL IRELAND SAUSAGE, BURGER AND PUDDING COMPETITION 2017 for

  • our Bramley Apple Sausages,
  • Country style Beef Burgers,
  • Prime Steak Burger,
  • Gluten Free Smoked Bacon Chicken Burger
  • Traditional Pork Sausages.

We won the prestigious Diamond award for our Black Pudding, and White Pudding

We are looking forward to Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards on 30th September where we have a couple of finalists.

award winners

Blas na hEireann Awards

dingle food awardsThe awards keep on coming. Our traditional black pudding and our famous Bramley sausages won gold for being the best in the land at the national food awards in Dingle at the weekend.

Now in its 8th year, Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards is the biggest competition for quality Irish produce on the island of Ireland. Over 2500 products were entered into this year’s competition.

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The Blas na hEireann awards are the most prestigious food awards in Ireland and to win double gold for two of our products is a massive honour. Thanks to all our customers who continue to champion our product and support us.

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Bringing home the Treble

awardsMcCarthy’s were proud to win three awards at the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland competition this year.

Cork may not have brought home Sam or the Liam McCarthy cup this year but all has not been lost as Jack & Tim McCarthy, McCarthy’s of Kanturk ran away with cups at this year’s Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland (ACBI) National Sausage and Pudding Competition and Speciality Foods Competition, winning Best Black and White Pudding and the Supreme Speciality Food Champion title for their Smoked Air Dried Beef at this year’s awards held at retail and hospitality expo, Food and Hospitality Ireland in Citywest . Cork did the double in 1990 and the McCarthy’s did the treble this year.

John Hickey CEO, ACBI presented Jack McCarthy owner and of McCarthy’s Butchers in Kanturk with the prestigious accolades.

The competition has been running for over 11 years now says ACBI, who were delighted to say that this year was an extremely successful year for entries, with over 40 finalists in the National Sausage and Pudding Final and over 100 entries flooding in for the Speciality Foods Competition. The competition was judged by the highly knowledgeable Leslie Williams, food writer for the Evening Herald and Irish Examiner and member of the Irish Guild of Food Writers and the very experienced Marilyn Bright also a member of the Irish Guild of Food Writers.

Overall the judges were impressed with the quality and innovation of the products, Leslie Williams Food Writer for the Evening Herald and Irish Examiner was very impressed by the quality of the products saying, “Craft Butchers know about Irish food and using the very best of Irish ingredients. Getting the balance of flavours right while still tasting the quality of the meat is key to cooking with Craft Butchers meat. Craft Butchers are expert craftsmen and are central to our Irish food heritage. You cannot go wrong if you start off with good quality meat from your local Craft Butcher.”

Leslie Williams described McCarthy’s Black Pudding as being “full of flavour and well-seasoned” and their White Pudding as “nicely balanced with good texture and perfectly seasoned.“ Their Supreme Champion title winning Smoked Air Dried Beef was described as being “expertly crafted slices of beautiful beef, bursting with flavour.”

Julie Cahill Marketing Manager ACBI said “McCarthy’s Butchers produce so many innovative products using traditional techniques; from Black Pudding fit for a queen to Beer Cured Black Bacon to Smoked Air Dried Beef, they continue to keep meat interesting. McCarthy’s have the perfect balance; they practice traditional butchering techniques but yet are contemporary in their product offering which is key to meeting consumer demand and changing lifestyle trends, they are at the top of their game when it comes to quality Irish meat.”

The McCarthy’s were delighted with the win on the day, thanking all their staff and loyal customers, “I am delighted with the win, we take quality meat and turn it into creative award winning products, we put a lot of time, energy and passion into what we do, it is a marvelous achievement, it’s good for business and it’s good for Kanturk.”
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Jack and his son, Tim McCarthy, are fifth generation butchers in the family run shop in Kanturk. McCarthy’s are well known for their value-added beef and pork products. McCarthy’s bacon and rashers have won international awards and the Blackpudding has received acclaim from the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Blackpudding and was even served to the queen at the banquet on her visit to Ireland in 2011.

With quality at the foremost of their minds, and the clean air and lush pastureland providing healthy livestock, you can rest assured that Jack and Tim will source the finest meat for your plate.

ACBI Awards 2014

craftbutcher2They entered five products in the Associated Craft Butchers awards, winning awards for all of them – traditional sausage, bramley apple sausage, black pudding, white pudding and speciality sausage – gluten free chicken sausage.

Blas na hEireann food awards 2014

blas na heireannJack and Tim were pleased to see their new speciality product Guanciale do well and secure a silver medal in the Blas na hEireann food awards. Guanciale is tasty cured and spiced pig’s jowl – a very flavoursome ingredient, used like you might use a pancetta. They also received a silver for their special black pudding, using the recipe that was used to serve the Queen at the state banquet.

Gold Medal for International Creativity

BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme covered this years event and did a special feature about the McCarthys. Jack and Tim were delighted to receive the only Irish gold medal from La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Goûte Boudin, or the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Blackpudding in 2013. Not only was it the only Irish medal it was an International victory as it was for “International Creativity”.

boars head puddingWhat did they do to earn this accolade you wonder?

Jack and Tim created a pudding inspired by the centre-piece of a medieval feast. Kanturk is derived from the Irish, “Ceann Tuirc”, which means “The Boar’s Head” so in honor of their home town they stuffed a locally sourced boar’s head with a special rum and raisin black pudding. The judges were wowed by their creative approach.

bbc radio 4Not only did they win the medal, BBC Radio 4 covered the event in The Food Programme and visited Kanturk to interview Jack and Tim.

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