The Great British Menu

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Wed May 27, 2009 8:41 pm

"One of the best bits of beef I've ever had in my life" said by a Michelin Chef restaurant inspector. Absolutely brilliant.

Well done Northern Ireland.

acrossthesea · Post by **acrossthesea** » Thu May 28, 2009 9:13 am

Thanks Clive,
Danny did a good job,it looked mouthwatering,its a pity the troops might never taste it. The demand for Dexter beef has gone through the roof over here and far outstrips supply. 12 yrs ago we could'nt have given a Dexter steer away. Long may it last.
Howard Hilton Hillhead Dexters. (N.Ireland)

Pennielea · Post by **Pennielea** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 10:26 pm

The Northern Ireland Group recently held a "celebration dinner" in the Balloo House restaurant. The meal featured a starter and main course of Dexter beef, produced by a member of our group, supplied by Crossgar Meats and cooked by chef Danny Millar - the same team which led to success and publicity on the programme. We have been producing and eating our own Dexter beef for years but it is interesting to experience Dexter meat cooked and presented in such an imginative and appetising way and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Demand for Dexter beef continues to outstrip supply here in Northern Ireland.
We all look forward to trying to repeat our success next year given half a chance! but would not losing to another regional group!

Ian

Pennielea · Post by **Pennielea** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 10:34 pm

oops
Last line should read 'we would not MIND losing to another regional group'

Ian

Pennielea · Post by **Pennielea** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:47 pm

Great publicity again for Dexter beef on TV last Thursday Ch 4 8.30pm Dolce Vito-Dream Restaurant. As part of the story they visited a 'Rare Breeds farm' in Lincolnshire run by Andrew & Jill Nelson and then to a butcher's sghop run by their son Willie.

Most of the filming showed Longhorns, which were excellent, but also brief shots of their other two breeds A.Angus and Dexter. Much praise was given to the flavour of the beef from all three breeds at the tasting, but the final score was;

Longhorn 6 out of 10
A.Angus 8 out of 10
Dexter 9 out of 10. The chef then bought £1000 worth of this beef to take to Italy for his friends and family to sample. I wish I had customers like him!!!!

There is a website 'channel 4 catch up' where the programme can be seen again but it did not work for me.

Ian

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:33 pm

Here's a link, I hope, but it'll only work for a few days at a guess http://www.channel4.com/program....2932789.

It's interesting that during our year of tasting beef before we decided on Dexter, that is exactly the order we would put the beef in. Except to my taste-buds I would score them:

Dexter 10 / 10
Angus 8 / 10
Longhorn 6 / 10

But the Angus has to be Angus Prime and not the supermarket stuff. But we didn't try every breed.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1250955515

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:56 pm

Why did he choose to roast a beautiful fillet for 90mins. a lean tender bit of beef needing little cooking never mind roasting it for in the end 2 hours.

sirloin would have been better, i think anything would have been better.

the guy seems clueless

but we had customers today who had seen it and wanted dexter.

Pennielea · Post by **Pennielea** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 4:51 pm

Here is a paraphrase of an article which appeared in an NI Guide to great food:- 'Leading the charge fo Northern Ireland at the recent Great Taste Awards in London were Crossgar Meats and....
.... Crossgar meats also won, a 2-star Gold Great Taste Award for their Dexter Dry Aged Fillet Steak 'Dexter cattle are a rare traditional Irish bree, their existencewas first recorded in Ireland in 1776. They are the smallest breed of cattle and produce naturally marbelled beef with a unique flavour. Most people say it reminds them of how beef used to taste". Conor Bell, Director of Crossgar Meats commented.

To select the winners, 300 judges carried out blind tastings of over 4800 different products that had been entered by 1000 companies from all over the UK and Ireland.

The Great Taste awards, organised by The Guild of Fine Food is the acknowledged benchmark for speciality food and drink.

Another great plug for Dexters and I have never even heard of these awards.

Ian

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:29 pm

Anyone and anything can get a great taste award, even we have one!!

dom

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:55 am

Yes Dominic that is true. Dexter Beef though has been used every year on The Great British Menu since Sat Baines introduced it 4 years ago. John Burton Race has been a Dexter fan for years or decades. So I think the consistency with which it is picked out tells you they think it's overall the best around, or at least the best that is reasonably available.

All Dexter Beef needs is to maintain what is special about it, and to me that is the unique flavour. I am hearing directly from various sources of carcasses of 300 kg (deadweight). That unique flavour disappears when the animal gets really big; I would say that as would the other produce I know who have expressed an opinion. It would be good to have a taste test.

The top chefs have chosen Dexter because of it's particular flavour; they will indirectly do all the marketing for you and they will ask you for help when they need it, hence the television and other opportunities. Those opportunities are down to the special flavour and have nothing really to do with someone's efforts to get on tele or whatever. My wife Caroline got on Britain's Best Dish and the point at which it was decided that she would be included was when she just "happened" to mention we had a herd of Dexters. The worst thing that could happen now, and it would be a tragedy, is for the beef to loose it's unique flavour. Then it doesn't matter what marketing you do, you'll be banging your head against a brick wall. That's where any efforts should be directed, keeping the size down but non-chondro so that you have consistency.

AlisonKirk · Post by **AlisonKirk** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:55 pm

Hi Clive

My own opinion is that some Dexters are getting too big and I am sure that the quality of the beef will suffer, especially as those bigger animals will probably need concentrates to finsih. Whereas what I call traditional size Dexters will finish quite happily on grass or silage.

I would suggest to anyone feeding concentrates ask your abattoir how much feed is still in the stomach at slaughter and how well finished is the animal. If they tell you the stomach is full of concentrates and the animal is not well finished you need to rethink your management and finishing costs.

We have got consistency in our beef which is so vital if we are to retain our chefs/private customers.

Alison Kirk
Boram Dexters

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:13 am

Hi Alison

At the premium end of the beef market, there is Certified Angus Prime (CAB), which is delicious and USA only I think. To achieve the flavour, they control the size of the carcass as well as other factors. If a carcass is too big, it cannot be classified as CAB no matter how well marbled it is. When I was in New York I had their Angus Prime 4 nights out of 5 in the only restaurant where it is available. Only 1.5% of all Angus gets classified as CAB, so that tells you where it stands. But Dexter is usually better but it will not be at heavier weights, it'll be good beef no doubt, but watered down. If a beef scheme ever comes about, and there is no reason why it shouldn't, a limit on the carcass size is a must.

In CAB, the size of the carcass is MORE important than the purity of the breeding which I think makes the point perfectly. There is no lower limit that I know of.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1252134962