Northern Irish butcher Dylan Gillespie and Lincolnshire-based butcher James Taylor recently represented the UK at the International Young Butcher Competition, at Imst, Austria, and delivered personal best performances.
The competition is organised by the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders (NFMFT).
The two young butchers were competing against the likes of ten other top butchery apprentices from Austria, France, Germany, Holland and Switzerland, in what has been described as “the most demanding butchery craft skills competition for 18-23-year-olds in the world”.
James James from Simpson’s Butchers and Dylan Gillepsie from Clogher Valley Meats came fifth and ninth respectively in the Surprise section, beating twelve other candidates, from countries including Austria and Germany.
They also performed well in the Ready to Eat category, in which James finished eighth and Dylan ninth, beating a German competitor and both Dutch candidates. In the Seam Butcher category, James finished ninth and Dylan eleventh, commanding 30% of the total marks, beating one of the Swiss candidates in twelfth place.
Elsewhere, Dylan finished in seventh and eighth position in the Barbecue and Kitchen Ready categories, respectively, while James finished ninth and tenth, beating German, French and Austria competitors.
Tony Carville from France was crowned International Young Butcher 2017, having won three categories and finishing second and third in two out of the competition’s six classes.
The team prize was carried off by the Switzerland contenders for the third consecutive year, with only fourteen points separating them from the bottom place.
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.
