Heavy snow at Grange Farm makes national news

Our part of North Yorkshire was covered with the heaviest falls of snow over the past 20 years, yesterday Emma Murphy and her crew from ITV News battled their way to the farm to film the difficulties of livestock farming when the snow fall is unexpectedly early.

We are in the middle of lambing our flock of Dorset sheep, which touch wood is going really well with some fantastic lambs being born to the three new tups we bought back in the sunny days of May from The Dorset Sheep Fair. The only problem now is trying to get them out into the fields which have got a thick carpet of clean fluffy snow. Certainly for the rest of this week and the first part of next it looks like they are going to have to spend their time in the sheds racing round and round while being watched by their proud mothers.

The article went out on the ITN National News on Thursday evening. Below are some screen shots of Emma with Lesley, Arthur and Ewan, the Grange Farm Shepherds.

Ginger Pig wins Butcher's Shop of the Year Award, South of England Region

THE GINGER, BOROUGH MARKET IS BEST IN SOUTH OF ENGLAND

The Ginger Pig, Borough Market, has been named the best in the South of England Region after proving itself a cut above the rest in the annual Butcher's Shop of the Year Awards 2010.

The butcher impressed the judges from awards organiser Meat Trades journal and was judged on the following criteria: shop display, shop interior layout and design, cabinet displays, use of marketing and promotional material, efficiency, team working abilities, knowledge and presentation of staff, training and development of staff, back of shop organisation, hygiene, business development plans.

Meat Trades Journal Editor Ed Bedington said, "The Ginger Pig's passion and enthusiasm for their business shines through on every level. They set standards in South of England that other Butchers would do well to follow"

After accepting the award at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, Charlie Shaw Head Butcher and Manager said: "We are very proud of the shop and the staff as we have all worked very hard, it is an honour to win such an award."

Ginger pig is highly commended in RSPCA Awards

The Ginger Pig got a highly commended award in the RSPCA Good Business Awards 2010. The RSPCA press release said "Butcher Ginger Pig Limited was also highly commended for its innovation and dedication to ethical sourcing and animal welfare. Recently it has been improving the standards of its pig housing to better protect pigs in bad weather and has started a free range chicken enterprise using traditional breeds of poultry"

Below is a picture of Jayne, Scott and Natalie celebrating collecting the Award.

Ginger Pig Beef Makes French Guide

On Monday 13th September Tim was invited to Paris to join in the launch of the 2011 Le Guide des Gourmands edited by the famous French food writer and broadcaster Elisabeth de Meurville and highly acclaimed chef Joel Robuchon. Each year “le Guide” acknowledges 12 artisan food producers who have been outstanding in their particular field – Chocolatier, fromages et beurre charcuterie etc and awards them the ultimate European accolade of Coq d’or. Past recipients of the award have in the main been from France, Italy and Spain. In 1999 Mary Quicke and her family received the Coq d’or for their traditional cheddar cheese and until this year remained the only British receiver of the award. We were delighted and pleasantly surprised when the Ginger Pig was chosen as an outstanding producer and retailer of beef and received Great Britain’s second ever Coq d’or award.


It was a doubly important honour for us at the Ginger Pig, firstly to be recognised but secondly recognised by the French who since the outbreaks of BSE and then foot and mouth have not looked on British Beef favourably. Leading chefs and food writers all agreed that the dry ageing process or hanging that the Ginger Pig practices enhances flavour. The awards ceremony was held in the spacious showrooms of the Moben Kitchen Designers opposite the Gare de Lyon in Paris where each show kitchen had been taken over by an artisan food producer. We tasted wonderful hams and salamis, exquisite patisserie, cheeses even rillets made from properly raised capons (no hormones). There were also some small wine producers and an exceptional maker of calvados.


We had sent over some of our mature beef foreribs which had been cooked in Mobens main kitchens and was met with a lot of praise. This years 12 Coq d’ors received their awards in Mobens Cookery School where Tim was also asked to join France’s Ros Bif Club made up of 1,500 European Chefs and Food Writers.

Ginger Pig's TV interview about Lady Gaga's meat dress!

Following Lady Gaga's appearance earlier this week in a dress made out of meat at the MTV Awards, a camera crew from the new ITV Daybreak TV Show set up in our Waterloo Shop (in Greensmiths) to interview our butcher and customers about using meat for clothing.

Our head Butcher Tom was asked what would make a good hat and shoes if you had to make them out of meat and he recommended a ribeye hat and veal escalope for shoes.

We don't think this is a fashion that will catch on but Ginger Pig will continue to sell the wide range of meats...we will leave it up to our customers how they choose to use their purchases!

Borough Market shortlisted for Butcher's Shop of the Year Awards

Congratulations to Charlie and his team at Borough Market on becoming shortlisted in the Meat Trades Journal, Butcher's Shop of the Year Awards, South of England Regional Category.

The Market is shortlisted along with two other Butchers Shops.

We wish Charlie and his team all the best in the final selection process.

Rose Veal

This week we have the first delivery of Rose Veal from a group of farmers on the Shropshire, Welsh borders. Midshire's Veal is a small cooperative of 5 farmers who are breeding and finishing the calves to a very high standard of welfare. I spent the day looking around the farms and abattoir and was very impressed.

These calves are killed between 8 and 12 months of age and have a natural diet of mothers milk and hay or grass, hence the colour of the meat which changes from the plain white of milk fed veal often found in Holland and Denmark to a richer pink colour.

All our shops will be getting a delivery this week and we will be happy to take any special orders at the farm.