Glossop butcher John Mettrick elected for a second term as President of the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders (NFMFT), at its Annual Conference in Coventry, made good at the event a Federation commitment mentioned in his conference speech to foster and develop craft skills with competitions and young people.
The NFMFT National Barbeque Competition saw Premier Young Butcher 2013 Runner Up and 2014 International Young Butcher Competitor Matthew (Matty) Edwards of Vaughan Family Butchers, Penyffordd near Chester win trophies for Best Beef Product and Supreme Champion with a Spicy Beef and Vegetable Kebab.
On the day, it was virtually a clean sweep for Federation member Vaughan Family Butchers of Penyffordd near Chester winning all but one of the prizes in the competition with Q Guild butcher Martin Player from Cardiff and a Sirloin Steak being the only challenger to win the Best Steak category.
Other prizes
Prizes were also shared between others working in the Penyffordd shop with Best Sausage and Best Pork Product won by proprietor Steve Vaughan for a Pork, Paprika and Roasted Garlic Sausage. While wife Helen walked away with Best Burger for her Mediterranean Lamb Burger which also won the Best Lamb category. As well as winning first’s again for Best Kebab and Best Poultry product with a Spicy Lemon Chicken Kebab.
Forty two entries winning three Bronze, seventeen Silver and fifteen Gold awards challenged judges assessing sausages, burgers, kebabs and steaks for quality, innovation, replication and customer appeal. As well as for taste, texture and tenderness after products were cooked by the contestants on barbecues supplied by industry sundries firm W R Wright.
The competition organised by the NFMFT was sponsored by Federation Corporate members Angel Commercial, Dalziel, Innovative Food Ingredients, Lucas Ingredients, McDonnell’s, Windsor Food Machinery and William Jones Packaging.
Presentations
Earlier in the day the Federation’s AGM was quickly followed by two presentations from Aubrey Allen’s Lucianne Allen about Trailblazer apprenticeships and Ready Meals by Q Guild member Gordon Atkinson of Harrogate based Elite Meats. Following lunch a Butchers’ Forum with 70 or so members and guests ‘brainstormed’ ideas for increasing summer barbeque sales before concluding with presentations for the competition.
The Ladies Section Shield went to the Colchester and District Meat Traders Association for raising £2,200 in aid of the Bart’s Children’s Cancer Unit in London. And a raffle collecting over £200 got the Ladies annual fund raising off to a great start!
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
