For the first time in its five year history, World Steak Challenge held its annual competition outside of London.
The 2019 event to determine the World’s Best Sirloin, World’s Best Rib Eye and World’s Best Fillet and to recognise and award the producers of those cuts was in Dublin. I had a lot of fun returning to the WSC table as a consumer judge for my third year in a row.
Beyond the judging (and getting a chance to have a taste of the best of the more than 300 cuts of steak from 25 countries that were entered in the competition), my WSC time in Ireland included a tour arranged by Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board) to the countryside to visit local producers: a couple of farms (one with an especially fab. restaurant), a butchery, and a brewery.
Continuing with my World Steak Challenge 2019 miniseries, I would like to write a bit about the producers we visited with Bord Bia.
Nolans of Kilcullen
In the heart of Kilcullen and said to be this small village’s social centre, the award-award-winning Nolans of Kilcullen is a family owned craft butchery that’s been in business since 1886. Nolans’ focus is a farm-to-fork approach to offering products made with locally reared meat, oftentimes from the family’s own stock. The place has won just about every award it’s eligible to receive, including a number of gold medals from the Great Taste Awards, Best Butcher Shop in Ireland from the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland, the All Ireland Winner for Best New Meat Product also by the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland and lots lots more.
That All Ireland Winner for Best New Meat Product was for Nolans’ homemade cranberry black pudding. I picked some up as a souvenir and when it came time to fry it up for a leisurely weekend breakfast at home, I was glad to have done so.
Find out more at nolansofkilcullen.com.
Rathrush, Ballon, County Carlow
Jim Hogan with his father Seamus runs a traditional, grass-based beef production system at Rathrush, his family’s seventh generation farm, in the heart of County Carlow. Here the Hogans tend to a breeding herd of about 100 mostly Hereford-cross suckler cows. They have a closed herd policy. So breeding bulls are the only animals bought in. With the exception of females selected for breeding, all of Rathrush calves are carried to beef as prime steers and heifers at 24 to 28 months of age. The Hogans are long-time members of the Irish Hereford Prime beef producer group, which markets beef from Hereford-sired cattle. They also have a tillage enterprise, which provides cereals and fodder beet to supplement their cattle’s diet while housed over the winter.
Green Barn Restaurant, Burton House & Gardens, Athy, County Kildare
During the tour, lunch was enjoyed at the Green Barn Restaurant. Set within the grounds fo Burtown House & Gardens, a third generation family run estate, the restaurant does made from scratch dishes using mostly ingredients grown on the estate or nearby. This includes Burtown’s own Dexter beef, reared outdoors in grass meadows.
To be sure, Dexter was on the menu for our lunch. I had mine as an exceptionally juicy burger with a side of some of the best chips I think I’ve ever had.
Everything about the Green Barn appealed to my tastes. Open planning, rustic but minimal furnishings, a walled garden to stroll around, and rural setting that felt very far away from the day-to-day fray, despite only being about an hour away from Dublin by car.
I would love to go back.
More at burtownhouse.ie.
Ballykilcavan Brewery, Ballykilcavan, Stradbally, County Laois
Last but not least on the tour was a thirst quenching stop at Ballykilcavan Brewery. A farm brewery that grows its own barley and even some of its own hops, Ballykilcavan has been in the same family for 380 years. The beers tasted were great. I especially liked the rich but equally easy to drink Brickyard Red Ale (4.2% ABV).
For details visit ballykilcavanbrewing.com.
I’ll be back soon with another instalment in my World Steak Challenge 2019 miniseries.
Until then …
Find out more about Bord Bia go to bordbia.ie.
Go to worldsteakchallenge.com for further details about the competition and how things went down in Dublin during the event.
