Local butcher wins top award

Many of Ireland's finest butchers went head-to-head recently in the first-ever All Ireland Sausage & Burger Championship, organised by Butchery Excellence Ireland.

Taking place at Butchery Excellence HQ with the awards evening being held at The Four Seasons Hotel Monaghan, the competition saw local butchers Clayton Moore and David Weir from M & W Meats Portadown walk away with the title of ‘All Ireland Vegetable Roll Champion.’

For M & W Meats, receiving the award will give their shop and their products - especially their now award-winning Vegetable Roll - extra kudos with customers. The win will hopefully attract new custom to their store and for current customers, they can be confident that they’re purchasing the Best Vegetable Roll in Ireland for their summer BBQs.

Sean Owens, Managing Director of Montgomery Food Consulting & Chief Judge commented, “Over many years of judging at high level sausage competitions, it’s now in the knowledge that butchers across Ireland are taking their rightful place in respect to innovation and creation across the butchery industries of Europe. Needless to say, the entrants in this competition have surpassed previous adjudications with their new and exciting products whilst staying true to artisan and traditional methods and recipes.”

Clayton and David, winners of the ‘Vegetable Roll’ title said, “We are delighted to have the best Vegetable Roll in Ireland.

“It is a real achievement to have won such a competition. Being the current Butcher of the Year for BES Ireland only motivates us more to try and maintain our title in the Champion of Champions at the end of the year.”

Rhonda Montgomery, Chief Executive of Montgomery Food Consulting and Founder of Butchery Excellence Ireland added, “We have had an amazing response to our first All Ireland Sausage & Burger Championship competition, with well over 200 entries being received from across the 32 counties. The calibre of the entries has been exceptional and the judges had many tough decisions to make in all of the categories. However, there could only be one All Ireland Traditional Vegetable Roll Champion and we would like to congratulate M & W Meats on having the ‘Best Vegetable Roll in Ireland’. We are already looking forward to seeing what the next competition has to offer.”