Robert Alexander Butchers in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, has been crowned overall supreme barbecue champion at the UK final of the Butchers Q Guild 2016 BBQ Competition with its Coffee Crusted BBQ Steak.
The annual competition took place this year at Eastwood Hall, near Nottingham, with qualifiers from seven regional qualifying heats in six BBQ product categories competing for national titles.
The overall winning product, the Coffee Crusted BBQ Steak, qualified as Scottish regional speciality barbecue product champion. The product is said to be based on an American idea of fillet steak in a rub of ground coffee, seasoned with salt, sugars and spices.
Robert McKenzie, who runs Robert Alexander Butchers, said: “We were up against some of the finest butchers in the country, so to first become national champion, then overall supreme champion is one of our highest ever accolades. We are absolutely delighted and it reflects great credit on the entire team here at Robert Alexander Butchers.”
National speciality sausage champion was H Clewlow Butchers from Nantwich for its Chicken Lemon and Ginger Sausage, whilst Frasers Butchers in Bolton became UK beef burger champion with its Mega Burger, an 8oz burger hand-crafted in-house using locally sourced prime beef topside and skirt, plus a basic seasoning.
Black Barn Butchers, from Milford, near Godalming in Surrey, was crowned national speciality burger champion with its Juicy Lucifer Burger, a burger made from brisket with a three-chilli burger seasoning, fresh chillies and jalapeno cheese.
Walter Smith Fine Foods in Melbick is this year’s Q Guild’s national pork sausage champion with its Packington Free Range Pork Sausage and the steak category was won by Scott Barlow Butchers from Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottingham for it Himalayan salt-ages sirloin.
The Q Guild’s national chairman, Mark Turnbull, said: “The BBQ Competition saw an extremely high standard of entries and was fiercely fought out between all finalists.
“I would like to offer hearty congratulations to all those who succeeded in making it to the finals, as winning a regional event is in itself no easy feat. In the end, the category winners really have proved themselves to be the cream of the crop and I wish to congratulate them all on their achievement.
“The biggest congratulations naturally have to go to Robert Alexander Butchers for winning the Supreme BBQ Championship award. Their Coffee Crusted BBQ Steak was a worthy overall victor and we can all look forward to trying out this fantastic product in our shops very soon.”
The contest attracted a record entry of almost 400 barbecue products from Q Guild butchers, which represents over 110 award-winning butchers nationwide.
The competition was staged alongside the Q Guild’s annual business conference where new products, ideas and initiatives that members could utilise in their own businesses were demonstrated.
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.
