The butchers blog

Welcome to the butchers blog where I will endeavor to enlighten you in the dark arts of butchery from entrails to appendix to oxtails, fillets, trotters, grass or grain, fat or finishing, fries and frankfurters I will try to explain our methods and show you a bit of our madness.

Some refer to butchering as a trade for some it is a job, I have even head it being referred to as a vocation by one rather colourful butcher. For others we are simply shopkeepers or traders, but for us we like to refer to our trade as a craft. Bringing livestock to the table requires many varied and different techniques and skills which all rolled into one can be classed as a craft. The family butcher once a dying vision around the country is thriving by cornering a market for customers who want to know the field, breed, age, origin and husbandry of their meat.

From dry curing to dry ageing to tunnel boning, slow roasting, seasonal cuts and pudding making we are always trying to improve our methods and techniques to give the customer a new variety, taste or sensation but also to further our craft. Techniques used generation ago while never forgotten or dispensed have to evolve to market demands but the basics stay the same. We still use the same base recipe for pudding, sausages and curing that have been handed down thru the family for generations while the slaughtering, ageing and primal preparation of carcasses have changed little in the last 100 years except to adapt the best technologies available. Staying true to those methods and techniques is crucial for us and the integrity of our product.

While supplying fodder for the queen may have seemed like treason to my forefathers selling on the Internet could not be fathomed to them. We’ve come a long a way and in the blog I hope to show you a little of how we do it and the ways we do.

Welcome and I hope you enjoy it and at times you may have to endure the odd rant or three.Feel free to interact or comment.

T (@MyButcherTim)

Kenmare Food Carnival 13th – 15th July

We are delighted to be stall holders at the Kenmare Food Carnival from 13th – 15th July. We will be joining some of our good friends from the Irish food scene and the event promises to be fantastic.

Kenmare Food Carnival is a fun family food event showcasing the best of Kenmare’s eateries, local food producers and spectacular scenery. Nestled where the world famous Ring of Kerry meets the beautifully unspoilt Ring of Beara.

The event incorporates a carnival style atmosphere with street theatre, parades, music, food trails, jazz lunch, afternoon teas, demos, kiddies events and lots more!

Come and say hello if you are at the event.

Brotherhood of Black Plackpudding visit Cork

The 25 strong group of representatives from this French Fraternity will be parading in their regalia in honour of Black Pudding in Kanturk on Tuesday 21st September at 5:30pm.
There will be a spit roast and traditional music in celebration of this event on Main Street Kanturk to which all are welcome.

The brotherhood of the knights of the Black Pudding is one of the worlds greatest authorities on Black pudding. At the annual international awards three Irish Butchers were awarded medals. So impressed were the French by the quality of the puddings presented by the Irish that they decided to make Ireland the location of their annual pudding pilgrimage.

The Black Pudding Fraternity was established in 1963 at Mortagne-au-Perche in the heart of the Perche region of France by a group of foodies to promote traditional black pudding. Black pudding has a history dating back over 2000 years and there are variations in many countries, so that the annual pudding festival hosted by the fraternity has become a major international event with over 600 entries in 2010.

The Fraternity has welcomed some 2,250 people into membership since 1963. These are food connoisseurs from all walks of life; included are personalities from the worlds of politics and the arts both French and from abroad. Thus thousands of members worldwide support the efforts of the Fraternity with its core leadership of about thirty dignitaries entitled to wear its regalia, which is a tradition amongst French gastronomic societies. Dignitaries of the Fraternity are ambassadors for the Perche’s most noble product, its black gold!

Cookery Demonstration

We will be hosting a cookery demonstration on Saturday from 12pm by R.T.E celebrity chef Rozanne Stevens in store.
rozanne_stevens
Rozanne will be cooking a black pudding starter and some other delicious specialities, she is the resident chef on the Pat kenny radio show so come along meet the delightful Rozanne and learn some delicious meat based recipies on Saturday.

Six Nations and Triple Crown visit McCarthys

Tim McCarthy is a proud man
Tim McCarthy is proud to hold the All Ireland

Everyone in McCarthys was thrilled to welcome the Six Nations and Triple Crown Trophies into the shop recently.  It is the first time in 61 years that Ireland has won both championships. The McCarthys are keen rugby followers, Jack is even the Vice President of Kanturk Rugby Club, so you can imagine the buzz caused by this unexpected event.

Ollie, Tim & Jack and, of course, the Trophy
Ollie, Tim & Jack and, of course, the All-Ireland