Dales Butchers were celebrating again, this time, bringing a nice little windfall of 13 awards back to their Kirkby Lonsdale shop from the Q Guild of Butchers 2020 Smithfield ‘Star’ Awards.
The multiple honours haul included a total of six top-ranked 3 Star accolades, with all but one of them being shortlisted for a ‘best of the best’ Diamond award as category finalists.
Dales Butchers five category finalist products were:
Pancetta: Cured pork belly from locally reared Saddleback-cross pigs. The judges said it was “a lovely product with excellent taste and texture.”
Cracked Black Pepper Burger. Made using brisket from locally farmed Beef Shorthorn cattle. “Very appealing, tasty and flavoursome with good seasoning,” according to judges.
Pastrami. Once more, made using the brisket from locally farmed beef. The judges commented that it was “visually appealing, with good flavour, texture and smell. An Impressive product.”
Dales Butcher had two products shortlisted among the finalists with Pork and Haggis Sausage and Festive Sausage. Both again were produced using locally farmed Saddleback-cross pork, the latter also included venison sourced from local shoots. Judges said both “looked and tasted superb, with the festive banger well produced with a good balance of flavours.”
Also clinching a top-rated 3 Star award with their 28 Day Aged Sirloin Steak, plus “ Stars for Home-Baked Guinness and Chilli Black Pudding, Pork Balmoral, Traditional Pork Pie, Traditional Steak Pie and BBQ Brazilian Pichana Skewers. And,last but not least, a 1 Star award each for banger bracelets-Gluten-Free Sausage and Cumberland Sausage Pork and Leek.
Dales Butchers proud owner commented, “Naturally, in the face of such heavy competition from our fellow butchers nationally we are over the moon to be shortlisted for not one, but five category-leading Diamond awards. Although this year we didn’t hit Diamond we came really close and hopefully the constructive remarks made by the judges will enable us to make steps towards bigger and better things next year.
For the first time this year, the revamped Smithfield ‘Star’ Awards featured a brand-new star rating system that awarded 3***, 2** or 1* certificates to products that achieved a set standard.
Claire Holland, general manager of Butchers Q Guild said: “These awards are a great way of showcasing our members and their achievements. They work really hard to develop outstanding products and to keep up with consumer trends therefore to have it topped off with an industry judged accolade is the icing on the cake. Although Dales did not achieve a Diamond award this year they should be very proud of this impressive haul.”
At Dales Traditional Butchers, we have been supplying the finest quality, locally farmed meats to the people of Kirkby Lonsdale and the surrounding areas of Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales for over 100 years.
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