Author: charlottek1

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)

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.

Listen to the podcast by clicking here

Spring Courses Announced

sausage

Spring Courses Announced

Following the success of the courses that we presented in 2012 we have announced our spring programme. Book online now

  • 8th March
    Blood and Guts,
    butchersblockSausage and Pudding Masterclass
  • 13th March
    Practical Pig Butchery Course
  • Friday 12th April 5pm to 9pm
    Easter Spring Lamb Workshop
  • Wednesday 24th April 5pm to 9pm
    Knife skills and Beef Butchery
    Workshop

Click here to find out more!

Have a Spit Roast at your Party

For the months of January & February we have a red hot special on our spit roast pig service. Free range spit roast supplied, cooked, carved and served anywhere in Munster for a crowd of up to 150 people for 500euro. This is unbeatable value, so book soon.

An Off-shore Food Adventure in Inishbofin, Galway

Insihbofin

We travelled to Inishbofin recently for a special “nose to tail” and Pork Products Workshop held by Adrian of the Beach Bar and Restaurant on the Island.

As it was our first offshore food venture, we were really excited and looking forward to it. The two day masterclass was a fantastic success due mainly to the interaction with the islanders. We learned as much, if not more, than the skills we imparted.

 

jack and tim

To Adrian, Mary Lavelle, all the fantastic Day girls + GENTS, the great Francie O Hallohran, the mighty John Burke, and all the great great Bofin people we met. I thank you for one of my greatest trips of my life and be assured I will be back for Inis bo finne in first week of October which will be the island’s first food festival. Be warned book early because I honestly think this is going to be a world class event.

THE CALL OF THE ISLAND IS STRONG .

Jack

Now Selling East Ferry Poultry Products Online

We are proud to announce that McCarthys are now the online supplier of East Ferry top quality poultry products.

The birds are reared on the family farm using traditional methods. All poultry produced by East Ferry Farm are housed in mobile houses allowing the poultry to move freely from field to house.

“There is a huge emphasis publicly to buy quality home grown produce. Here at East Ferry Free Range we felt that this was an opportunity to create a Free Range Poultry brand. We offer an outstanding service to our customers, providing a whole range of high quality free range products and satisfying the most demanding requirements with due regard to all EU legislation.”

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.

Let there be blood sausages

The Times, 19th April 2012.
Craig Robertson
Food and Drink
Staring at a plate of black pudding at eight o’clock in the morning…despite the hour. Nor is the black pudding accompanied by the usual British…and is accompanied only by more black pudding. Lots and lots of it.

Special Award for Exceptional Contribution to Irish Food

Award for butchers behind the queen’s black pudding
Irish Independent

THE artisan butchers who created the bespoke black pudding that was served to Queen Elizabeth during her state visit to last May were among the winners at yesterday’s Irish Food Writer’s Guild awards.

McCarthy’s of Kanturk, in Cork, were one of five food producers awarded for their exceptional contribution to Ireland’s reputation as a top food-producing country.

Jack McCarthy and his son Tim come from a long line of butchers who have been producing meat products for five generations.

Also among the winners were David Tiernan for Glebe Brethan Cheese, which is based in Co Louth.

Their product had its beginnings 20 years ago, when they imported two French Montbeliarde cows; now they have more than 70.

Other winners included Brendan and Derek Allen of Castlemine Farm for Castlemine Farm Free Range Pork in Co Roscommon; Patrick and Carol Rooney for Derrycamma Farm Rapeseed Oil in Co Louth; and chairman of the Irish Apple Growers Association, Con Traas of The Apple Farm in Tipperary, honoured with the Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The awards took place at Michelin-starred restaurant, L’Ecrivain.

Irish Independent

 

Jack at the Foodie Forum in Galway

Jack McCarthy had a huge range of puddings on display and did a demonstration showing how his award winning black pudding is made at the Foodie Forum in Galway.

His Pistachio and Mint Boudin was a real favourite.

The Foodie Forum is very active in Irish Food Social Media – find them on Facebook or on Twitter

 

 

McCarthy’s Online Butchers’ Shop

McCarthy’s Blackpudding is available in the online shop.
This pudding is the cream of the crop and has received acclaim at home and abroad. It was served to the Queen at the State Banquet on her visit to Ireland in 2011. In France it has received many awards from the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Blackpudding. The guild visited Kanturk in 2010 in celebration of the McCarthys’ achievements.