London, 9th March 2021: To help consumers celebrate St Patrick’s Day at home this year Bord Bia (The Irish Food Board) is launching “THE GREAT ST PATRICK’S DAY FEAST” a campaign in collaboration with award winning butcher Aubrey Allen and a collective of high profile chefs from across the UK and Ireland to help showcase premium Irish produce including sustainably produced grass-fed Irish beef.
Central to the campaign is a premium St Patrick’s Day Irish steak and cheese box from Aubrey Allen. The box features a showpiece cut of premium quality grass-fed Irish bone-in-rib-eye, as well as further craft and speciality Irish produce including gin infused smoked trout; farmhouse cheeses and high-end spirits.
“The Great St Patrick’s Day Feast” campaign sees chefs Adam Bennett, Tom Cenci, Anna Haugh, Richard Sharples and Paul Welburn draw on their experiences of visiting Ireland, meeting the farmers and seeing the cattle and grassy pastures first hand to create a special St Patrick’s Day menu. These chefs will be using premium grass-fed Irish beef; farmhouse cheese and seafood from Ireland as well as share their top cooking tips to help consumers make the perfect feast at home. The campaign runs throughout March across PR, web, email and social media to help raise awareness of the premium qualities of sustainably produced grass-fed Irish beef, wider Irish produce and Ireland’s grass-fed production systems.
The campaign also features a high profile online and social media competition “The Great St Patrick’s Day Giveaway” which will run across the Irish beef Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts featuring an exciting array of prizes, including premium Irish cookbooks, vouchers for top Michelin-star restaurants and hampers of delicious Irish produce from award winning butcher Aubrey Allen.
The chefs recipes featuring premium grass-fed Irish beef cuts and premium Irish produce include:
Adam Bennett, Chef Director, The Cross at Kenilworth:
Adam showcases his impeccable attention to detail as he grills a grass-fed Irish rib-eye over charcoal before serving the dish with an onion tartlet, salt baked celeriac, grilled Hen of the Woods, a chicory and Cashel crozier blue cheese salad, Pommes Anna chips and a stout and pickled walnut Bordelaise sauce.
Tom Cenci:
Inspired by premium seasonal produce and a play on Irish cuisine, Tom puts his spin on the traditional 'Irish Boiled Dinner' and has made a slow cooked grass-fed Irish rib-eye with seasonal root vegetables’. He has served this dish with Boxty pancakes topped with Irish rainbow trout caviar.
Anna Haugh, Chef Patron Myrtle:
Channeling her Irish heritage and love of Irish food, Anna has created her take on a St Patrick’s Day banquet featuring sustainably produced marinated Irish rib-eye served with a kale pesto, Boxty pancake pinwheels, Colcannon and roasted vegetables. She will also be making a smoked trout cocktail salad to start using Goatsbridge Irish rainbow trout.
Richard Sharples, Executive Chef, Elite Bistros, including Sticky Walnut and Burnt Truffle:
Inspired by the start of spring and BBQ season Richard has reverse seared his grass-fed Irish bone in rib-eye on the BBQ in a black garlic and treacle marinade, served with charred leek and potato salad and a black cabbage salad with mustard and coriander dressing.
Paul Welburn, Head Chef, TwoOneFive:
Paul has curated a three course feasting menu, starting with Drumshanbo Gunpowder gin-cured Irish trout with a lemon tonic puree, cucumber and dill, followed by a glazed grass-fed Irish rib-eye with smoked cabbage, cashel blue crozier, beer pickled onions and a Guinness and bacon sauce, and to finish a chilled apple and blackberry crumble served with Killahora Orchards Rare Apple Ice Wine custard.
“Our grass-fed Irish beef comes from areas of outstanding beauty, reared by farmers who are fiercely passionate about sustainable agriculture, animal welfare and producing the best quality beef. With Ireland’s close proximity to the UK, we’re able to source some of the freshest, tender and ethically cared for meat to deliver the best in quality to our customers. In this Irish steak and cheese box we’ve included some of the finest Irish produce for the ultimate feast at home, including a grass-fed bone-in Irish rib-eye full of stunning flavours. It’s the perfect feast to celebrate with this St Patrick’s Day,” commented Lucianne Allen, Director of Sales & Marketing at Aubrey Allen.
“It is a pleasure to work with butchers like Aubrey Allen and these like-minded and dedicated chefs who only accept the best for their customers, which of course begins with the ingredients they use. Chefs who, like us, are passionate about quality they can trust, especially as each chef has visited Ireland to see and experience first hand the country’s grass-based beef production system, traditional family farming practices and exceptional animal husbandry which helps to deliver consistently premium grass-fed Irish beef. It's thanks to our lush grass fields, clean air, plentiful rainfall coupled with our dedicated farmers which makes Ireland the perfect place for producing quality grass-fed beef,” said Emmet Doyle, GB Meat Market Specialist, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board.
“After visiting Ireland I was able to learn so much more about the quality of grass-fed Irish beef and discover what makes Irish Hereford prime so exceptional. Being able to meet the farmers was not only an inspiring moment for me as a chef but it was also really insightful, learning more about the quality and provenance means I can cook and serve it with complete confidence. I saw first hand the attention to detail, depth of knowledge and pride that goes into every step of the process. As a chef, I am always searching for that perfect ingredient and Irish beef certainly meets that criteria. I cannot tell you how proud I am to cook and serve Irish beef at The Cross, with quality produce being a key pillar for our business and our reputation,” commented Adam Bennett, Chef Director, The Cross.
“Ireland is the perfect environment for rearing cattle, and because the cattle can graze on grass, clover, yarrow and herbs most of the year means it adds a depth to the beef, it is always of consistently high quality which is full of flavour. The fact that Ireland is also local to the UK is a big plus as it means the carbon footprint is lower and it’s more sustainable. Traceability is essential for chefs and is also reassuring for the customers on where their food is from and that it has been sustainably produced,” commented Tom Cenci.
“I enjoy using any great produce, but using great Irish produce makes me particularly proud. Ireland is perfectly suited for rearing cattle. The farmers care for their animals using practices that have been handed down in their families from generation to generation… that’s really important to me and what I have in mind when choosing what goes on my menu. This St Patrick’s Day I’m collaborating with grass-fed Irish beef to create a delicious recipe using the grass-fed bone-in rib-eye, a beautiful cut that’s full of wonderful marbling and the fat to meat ratio is just perfect,” commented Anna Haugh, Chef Patron, Myrtle.
“I choose Irish beef for our steaks as, put simply, it’s exceptional. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland to witness the whole process and I was really impressed with their ethical and sustainable approach to producing wonderful grass-fed Irish beef. What you get is a product that’s wonderfully tender and bursts with dense meaty flavour that’s perfectly intertwined with rich yielding fat,” commented Richard Sharples, Executive Chef, Elite Bistros.
“I visited Ireland a few years ago and experienced the passion and care from the farmers that goes into grass-fed Irish beef. I saw first hand the sustainable farming processes which have been passed down from generation to generation and how the consistent quality is maintained. The flavour of grass-fed Irish beef is incredible and that is due to the outdoor grazing on the lush green Irish pastures, the diet of these happy and free cattle brings the unique deep grassy flavour which I look to enhance rather than mask in my cooking. When a product is so good you don’t need to do much to it and why would you want to, I use my creative twists to add even more flavour though seasonings and glazes that only touch the exterior of the beef so the flavour of the meat and fat is not affected and why would you want to,” commented Paul Welburn, Head Chef, TwoOneFive.
The #GreatStPatricksDayFeast recipes and chef tips will be available on @Irishbeef, @chefadam_1 @tomcenci @haughser @rich_sharples @paulwelburn Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts as well as
www.irishbeef.co.uk. For even more #GreatStPatricksDayFeast recipes and inspiration follow these accounts and share your recipes at #GreatStPatricksDayFeast
Irish beef can be found in major retailers nationwide right through to top end butchers and restaurants in London and across the UK
