Irish Beef

Marvelous piece in the Farmers Journal this week entitled 'Where's the beef?' by Imen McDonnell about the quality and taste of Irish beef and how she has come to appreciate the taste and flavour of our grass fed beef.

From our own point of view, for quality and taste the traditional breeds are best whether it be Angus, Hereford, Irish Moiled etc.. We of course would be rather partial to the Irish Moiled, but basically if you want top quality beef  buy Irish, buy it from your local butcher and preferably from a butcher who has his own abbatoir. They need our support and our beef needs them!

And speaking of local butchers, we have just come back from Flood’s of Oldcastle where we went to see our Moile bullock which has been hanging in their fridge for the past 3 weeks. It was a great opportunity to see it on the hook and to discuss with Johnny, Declan and Martin Flood the different cuts and options to make the best use of it from our freezer!

If you’re ever in Oldcastle be sure to call in, or alternatively look out for their market stall on Saturdays at Sheridan’s Cheesemongers warehouse in Carnaross.

The four quarters ageing nicely in the fridge, and a good covering of fat too, essential for flavour. I was relieved to see the carcass looking so well as I was worried he wasn’t finished properly, but Declan assures me that it’s looking really good.

Our own organic rare breed beef, butchered locally and into our freezer: a total of 25 miles from ‘field to fork’!

We will be using this Moile beef through our B&B, and may have small amounts for sale but essentially we envisage using most of it here, however we sold 2 bullocks to Clanwood Farm who own and operate The Organic Kitchen, which you may have seen at shows and festivals round the country.

As part of their business they also sell their organic beef to specialist shops in the Dublin area: Cavistons, the Organic Supermarket and Thomas’s of Foxrock to name a few. So keep your eye out for Irish Moiled beef in these establishments and better still, create a demand by asking for it!

Some of our Irish Moiled Cattle