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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”.

What 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.

Not 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

Our Big Value Value Box is reduced from 100euro down to just 85euro – it contains

• 3 T bone steaks
• 3 rump steaks
• 3 fillet steaks
• 4 chicken fillets
• 4 T bone pork chops
• 2 lbs sausages 2 different types
• 2 packs rashers 2 different types
• 1 black pudding
• 1 white pudding

Click here to buy online.
These products freeze well.

We will be wowing the picnicers on the main stage on the Saturday night – well okay, we won’t be on the main stage, but we will be on at the presigious “Theatre of Food” at Electric Picnic. 30th August – 1st September.

We are planning to run some courses in Dublin in the coming months, watch this space.

Our marinaded sirloin roast is reduced from 14.99 per kg to 13.99 per kg

• The ideal romantic dinner for two. This succulent roast is easy to cook and will definitely impress. This tender cut is taken from the top of the sirloin and is marinaded in our own home-made red wine marinade.

Click here to buy online.
These products freeze well.

At the end of May, we were delighted to be involved in the Sheridan’s food Festival. We feel it is the best producer driven food festival in the country.

McCarthys ran a stall and were very pleased when we won the sausage competition with our delicious wild garlic sausage (now out of season – sorry). The competition was judged by the lovely Ella McSweeney, journalist and broadcaster.

Held over the first weekend of October, Bia Bofinne – A Taste of Inishbofin celebrates all things local, with a focus on traditional food, arts and crafts from this exceptionally beautiful part of the country.

This is a weekend that we at McCarthys are looking foward to. The craic is mighty in Inishbofin! Click here to find out more

Having sold out the courses planned for March we have changed the course booking dates to run them again.
Book online now

• Friday 12th April
  Blood and Guts,
  Sausage and Pudding Masterclass
• Wednesday 24th
  Practical Pig Butchery Course
• Date to be announced:
  Easter Spring Lamb Workshop
• Date to be announced:
  Knife skills and Beef Butchery
  Workshop

Click here to find out more!

VOUCHER CODE: offer2013

We have extended the discount voucher for 10% off in the online shop.

Valid until 1st March Click here to visit the online shop.

Offer excludes the course booking prices, but includes all products.

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 before 1st March to avail of this offer.

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,
  Sausage 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!

VOUCHER CODE: offer2013

This is our Valentines gift to you and will give you 10% on all the products in the online shop, but it excludes the butchery courses.

Valid until 14th February. Click here to visit the online shop.

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.

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.

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

The closing date for Christmas orders is 15th December (unless our maximum capacity is reached before then), so please avoid disappointment and order as soon as possible.

We have added some very special East Ferry Poultry products to our online shop including Free Range Bronze Turkeyand Free Range Goose

As mentioned in the previous newsletters, there is a change to the delivery schedule this year as Christmas falls on a Tuesday. This means that McCarthys can only deliver Turkey in Dublin and Cork (within 15 miles of Cork city).

Dublin and Cork deliveries will take place on Sunday 23rd December

All other areas will receive Christmas Orders on 21st December and although we cannot deliver Turkey on the 21st we can deliver other products such as goose, duck or chicken. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Click here to visit the online shop.

We have added some very special East Ferry Poultry products to our online site.

Free Range Bronze Turkey
A bird with delicious caramel flesh at a fantastic €9.90 per kg.

Free Range Goose
Many chefs favour the traditional goose for the Christmas centre-piece, these wonderful birds are €15 per kg.

Free Range Duck
lovely 2.1kg birds €17 each.

Keep an Eye out for Tim at the Christmas Craft Fair at the RDS this weekend. Tim McCarthy is joining over 25 other top quality food producers in the Good Food Ireland section of the food emporium.

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, there is a change to the delivery schedule this year as Christmas falls on a Tuesday. This means that McCarthys can only deliver Turkey in Dublin and Cork (within 15 miles of Cork city).

Dublin and Cork deliveries will take place on Sunday 23rd December

All other areas will receive Christmas Orders on 21st December and although we cannot deliver Turkey on the 21st we can deliver other products such as goose, duck or chicken. We appologise for any inconvenience.

Click here to visit the online shop.

Delivery Details for 2012

There is a change to the delivery schedule this year as Christmas falls on a Tuesday. This means that McCarthys can only deliver Turkey in Dublin and Cork (within 15 miles of Cork city).

Dublin and Cork deliveries will take place on Sunday 23rd December

All other areas will receive Christmas Orders on 21st December and although we cannot deliver Turkey on the 21st we can deliver goose, duck or free range Chicken

Click here to visit the online shop.

There are a few places left for the Practical Pig in a Day Course

BOOK ONLINE CLICK HERE

In recent years interest has grown in home-curing and sausage-making and Jack and Tim McCarthy are offering a limited number of people an introduction to the not so basic craft of butchery.

This is a day long course within which you will learn to make sausages, cure bacon and hams, make black pudding, and use every morsel. You will be shown the techniques and skills required, from primal cuts and knife skills to cures and processing, everything you need to know to get your pig from the field to the fork. This is an in-depth hands-on course, everyone will have a chance to get involved in all the different stages of production, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves. There will also be a chef in attendance to answer your questions.

The course will run from 10am – 5pm. Participants will receive lunch on the day and a gift pack at the end of the course. Places are limited and the cost is 195 euro per person

BOOK ONLINE CLICK HERE

In recent years interest has grown in home-curing and sausage-making and Jack and Tim McCarthy are offering a limited number of people an introduction to the not so basic craft of butchery.

This is a day long course within which you will learn to make sausages, cure bacon and hams, make black pudding, and use every morsel. You will be shown the techniques and skills required, from primal cuts and knife skills to cures and processing, everything you need to know to get your pig from the field to the fork. This is an in-depth hands-on course, everyone will have a chance to get involved in all the different stages of production, so be prepared to roll up your sleeves. There will also be a chef in attendance to answer your questions.

The course will run from 10am – 5pm. Participants will receive lunch on the day and a gift pack at the end of the course. Places are limited and the cost is 195 euro per person

BOOK ONLINE CLICK HERE

The Dingle Food Festival has grown steadily in popularity and is a food lover’s dream. Highlights of the festival include a Taste Trail in over 55 outlets, where festival goers can purchase taste tickets and sample local cuisine delights in locations that vary from pubs and galleries to shop and restaurants.

This year McCarthys are doing an exciting workshop.

Sunday 7th October at 1pm ‘Hands on Curing your Bacon the Traditional Way’

This workshop will demonstrate to you how to cure bacon using traditional methods with different curing mixtures. Not only will you be highly entertained but Jack has asked that all attending bring a tuber-ware container so you can take some home and continue to cure the pork under his guidance on social media. For more information about McCarthys butchers.
It is taking place at the Coach-house on Green Street. Please email markmurphy@dinglefood.com to reserve your place on the workshop. Early booking is advisable as numbers are limited. Admission 10 euro

The Dingle Food Festival plays host to the annual Blas na hÉireann awards. McCarthys are finalists in three categories of the Food Awards with two fantastic puddings and one beautifully cured bacon. These National Irish Food Awards celebrate and reward the very best tasting Irish food and drink products, and the passionate, driven producers who make it. McCarthys are understandably thrilled to have three products in the finals.

Visit www.dinglefood.com for more information about the festival and awards

For Food’s Sake are a Dublin-based collective of food fans who stage regular food-focused events including foodie movies and food discussion evenings. At the Dingle festival they will present:

Food Memories:
A taste of personal palate-shaping experiences

Sat 6th & Sun 7th October, 2pm to 4pm

Adm 2 euro per hour

Food writer and blogger, Aoife Carrigy of www.holymackrel.ie will host a series of short interviews with food producers, chefs, food writers and bloggers, including our own Jack McCarthy, who will remember some of their most treasured palate-shaping experiences.

McCarthy’s won two gold medals and a bronze medal from La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Goûte Boudin, or the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Blackpudding. This gave them the highest achievement of any participant in Europe at the event. They received Gold awards for le boudin traditionelle and le boudin a grillière and the Bronze was for le boudin creatif.

At the Irish Food Writer’s Guild awards in March 2012 Jack McCarthy received a Special Award for his Exceptional Contribution to Irish Food.

This weekend sees the return of the Kanturk Wild Boar Festival. It is going to be a weekend of music and entertainment in the town and at the castle and the fair will be here too. To celebrate we have got in a beautiful wild boar and have made some special Wild Boar Pudding, call in while you are in town to get some.

Jack and Tim have been at some of Ireland’s Finest Food Festivals, doing demonstrations with other chefs and food producers. Jack and Bryan McCarthy of Springfort Hall did a wonderful demonstration of how to cook a suckling pig at the Kenmare Food Carnival. At the Cork Food Festival, Jack and Tim met Sonia O’Sullivan and Paolo Tullio – the fantastic weather brought out the crowds for the event.