The Butchers Blog - Top Tips

SIMPLE DRESSINGS FOR FISH...

2012-02-22T14:28:00.003Z

SIMPLE DRESSINGS FOR FISH...
- a simple melted butter & lemon sauce with chopped parsley & capers.
- a chopped avocado salsa with chopped coriander, red onion & lime juice.
(you could add chopped red chilli for an extra kick!)
- chopped sundried tomatoes with fresh basil, garlic & balsamic vinegar.
- crème fraiche, chopped chives & a squeeze lemon juice.
- bashed up basil, mayonnaise, lemon juice & a pinch of salt.
- green pesto.
- greek yogurt, capers, chopped parsley & lemon juice

Tip of the week - Eat Less Meat!!

2012-02-20T21:11:00.003Z

WHAT!!! - A Butcher telling you to EAT LESS MEAT!
Yes, that's right - eat less meat, but MORE good quality meat. Less trips to the supermarket meat counter, but more trips to your local butcher and buying good quality local meats.

Supermarket meats can often be processed, or packaged in long life plastic sealed trays or just not given the care and attention that your butcher has. Your local butcher is a craftsman (or Woman) and is depending on your return business, so will always give you the best care and attention.

So to stay healthy - eat red meat 2-3 times per week, add in some fish, turkey, chicken or perhaps have a 'veggie' day. A good balance of all the food groups does you good. - See, our mothers know best!

www.cullensbutchers.com

Tip of the week - Cooking leftovers

2012-02-13T11:34:00.001Z

We all enjoy leftovers, and in fact, some dishes just seem to taste even better the next day. Stews, Chillis etc benefit from overnight 'resting'. So, how to reheat? Microwave is fine, but in order to kill off any bacteria, the food must reach at least 70deg C. That is, piping hot all the way through! What is 70deg C? Well its the point no bacteria can survive. Mmmmm - now, where is last nights casserole....

www.cullensbutchers.com

Five steps to cooking the perfect steak at home

2012-02-07T09:20:00.001Z

Five things to look for when buying a steak
1. When choosing a steak, striploin is a fine choice due to its tasty, melt-in-the-mouth succulence. Good striploin has just the right amount of fat and nice marbling. Rump (sirloin) steak is slightly cheaper than striploin but it's still a great steak for griddling or frying, with more flavour than striploin.
2. Age of the steak is important, as the hanging process develops the flavour and tenderises the meat. So ask your butcher how long the beef has been hung for. As a rule, 21 days as a minimum and 35 days as a maximum is a good range to go for.
3. Good beef should be a deep red colour.
4. Check the beef has good marbling - little streaks of fat running through the meat. This melts when heated, helping the steak to baste itself from within as it cooks.
5. A good layer of creamy-white fat around the top of striploin and sirloin steaks is essential.

Five steps to cooking the perfect steak at home
1. Take steaks out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking to allow to come to room temperature. Heat your griddle or frying pan over a high heat, until smoking hot.
2. Lightly brush the steak with a little olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper just before cooking.
3. Don't griddle more than two steaks at a time, and keep them spaced well apart. If you add more than two steaks to the pan at once, the temperature will drop and the steak will stew, rather than fry.
4. Don't turn the steaks until good seared markings are achieved, then turn them over and cook on the other side (see timings, below).
5. Let the steak rest for about 5 minutes (in tinfoil) before serving, to allow the juices that have been drawn to the surface to relax back into the meat.

How long to cook a steak for
These timings are based on cooking a striploin steak that's about 2cm (3/4 of an inch) thick. (Cooking times will vary depending on the type and thickness of the steak, and how hot your pan is.)
Blue: 1 minute each side
Rare: 1½ minutes each side
Medium rare: 2 minutes each side
Medium: 2¼ minutes each side
Medium-well done: 2½ - 3 minutes each side.

Check out www.cullensbutchers.com for more

Cullens Quality Butchers
Main Street
Wicklow Town
www.cullensbutchers.com
0404 69719

Tip - No Mess Marinades

2012-02-01T16:05:00.003Z

WANT A NO MESS WAY TO MARINADE MEAT?

Usea zip lock plastic bag.

Azip lock plastic bag with help coat the meat more evenly, you can really getthe flavour in there! You can turn orrotate it to help distribute the marinade.

Italso saves room in the fridge instead of using a glass bowl. Using a zip lockplastic bag helps prevent any risk of other items in the fridge coming incontact with the meat.

www.cullensbutchers.com

Tip of the week - Making Stock

2012-01-27T12:30:00.001Z

STOCK
Keep your Chicken Carcass, Lamb or Beef Bones to make a stock which may be used as the basis
of a delicious soup.
Making Stock
· Put the carcass into a large pot and cover with water.
· Add chopped onion, carrot, celery.
· Season with salt and pepper.
· Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer until reduced.
· Pour through a sieve into a jug keeping only the juices and getting rid of all else.
· Allow to settle and cool.
· Cover and refrigerate.
· When using remove top layer of fat first then add as a stock to meals or use to make soup.

Check out www.cullensbutchers.com for more great tips

Tip of the week - Menu Planning

2012-01-20T10:35:00.003Z

MENUPLANNING

Planyour week’s menu when possible - this will help shrink your spending budget -eliminating impulsive buys, causes less waste and will stop those fast foodsplurges when you don’t know what to cook and everyone’s over hungry!

Thenmore you menu plan you’ll get into the habit of using everything up and throwless away

Tip of the week - cooking times

2012-01-14T11:17:00.003Z

Cooking times for meat vary due to a lot of factors. The type of meat. The method of cooking and your desired result. Sometimes different types of ovens are faster, such as fan assisted.
So when you see cooking times on a recipe on on a label, these are always only guidelines. The best way is to use your eyes, and check the meat by cutting into it slightly. Always ask your butcher if you are not sure.

See some cooking times for roasting here.

http://www.cullensbutchers.com/RecipeFolder/roasts.pdf

Tip of the week - kids lunches

2012-01-10T10:32:00.002Z

Now that school is back, the familiar routine has returned. If you are cooking a sunday roast, be it chicken, ham, beef or whatever. Just buy a slightly larger piece than you need. The leftovers make ideal sandwich ingredients for school lunches.

We cooked a ham at the weekend and the leftovers provide us with tasty fillings for the lunch roll instead of over processed and over priced packet ham.

Check out our recipe for Marmalade Ham....

MARMALADE & MAPLE GLAZED HAM
Serves 4-6
Ingredients: 1½ Kg (3lbs) Cullens Quality Butchers’ Centre Cut Ham
1 carrot
2 celery sticks
1 teaspoon peppercorns
Glaze:
Orange Marmalade
Maple Syrup
1 tbsp Butter
Toasted Pecan Nuts
COOKING YOUR HAM:
· Soak the ham overnight.
· Wash under cold running water.
· Return the ham to the pot with fresh water and the veg and bring to the boil.
· Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 min per pound (450g) – you could change the
water at this point if you wish. (Try adding some cola or cider for an extra kick!)
· Remove from the saucepan and cut away the outer skin leaving a thin layer of fat.
· Score the fat into diamonds and press some cloves into it.
· Cover the ham with the glaze mixture of marmalade and maple syrup (see below)
· Place in roasting tray and bake at 200 deg C / 400 F / gas mark 6 for 20-30 mins
until glaze is golden.
To Make the Glaze: In a small saucepan combine orange marmalade and maple syrup.
Heat over medium heat stirring until bubbly. Whisk in butter until smooth. Add the toasted
pecans. Add to the roast for the 20 mins baking time. And baste.
This roast is great served with red cabbage, roasted veg and roast potatoes.

www.cullensbutchers.com/recipes

Tip of the week. Using Christmas leftovers

2011-12-26T10:03:00.001Z

Looking for inspiration for your St Stephen’s Day Leftovers?
Try making a pie with store bought puff pastrySimply chop your leftover cooked turkey, veg and gravy into a pie dish. Cover with the puff pastry and cook into the filling is hot and the pastry is golden.
Use cooked Turkey or Ham leftovers in Quiches.
Combine cooked turkey in a salad with mixed leaves, tomatoes and a dressing.
Leftover Turkey is great in sandwiches when teamed up with stuffing and cranberry sauce.
Make some yummy Quesadilas.
Use your leftover ham with pasta,Simply chop the cooked ham into bite size pieces & add a tin of chopped tomatoes to a pan, heat through, then chop up any fresh herbs that didn’t get used in the stuffing and add to the pan. Serve with some cooked drained pasta. Easy!

What to do with Christmas Leftovers?
Christmas Leftovers Pie - download recipe
Stephens Day Quesadillas - download recipe
Leftover Sage & Pancetta wrapped Chicken - download recipe

Tip of the week - cooking the turkey

2011-12-15T14:29:00.001Z

Another Christmas Theme this week..

Always allow the turkey to rest before you serve.

Do this by covering with tin foil.

Then with a couple of tea towels.

This will ensure the bird can rest without losing too much heat.

This also allows all the juice back into the bird for a moistTurkey.

To store leftover turkey – allow to cool.

Remove all the meat from the carcass.

Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

Remember to use up the carcass. Make stock for soup.

How do you know yourTurkey is cooked?

At the thickest part of the leg the juices should run clear from the bird.

(You can also use aTurkey pop up timer)

www.cullensbutchers.com

A Victorian Christmas

2011-12-12T15:57:00.001Z

Did you know that the dinner we now associate with

Christmas began to take shape in Victorian times.

Victorians transformed the idea that Christmas shouldfeature

around Family Celebrations and the Cooking of a Feast!

A Victorian Christmas Dinner wasa feast in all its splendor! Tables were set with the best linens & china. Therewere a lot of dishes associated with it but A Roast formed the centerpiece ofthe feast! Taking pride of place on the Christmas table! A Goose or Turkey (For the Gentry), Rib ofBeef on the bone (for the Northern Folk) or a Boar’s Head or Ham was served upwith roasted veg, mash, gravy & sage and onion stuffing. Even in a humblerhousehold, Christmas was a very special occasion, people celebrating with thebest meal they could afford. A Game Pieor Rabbit was usually served. Then, asnow, Christmas Dinner was the high point of the day, a carefully planned meal and a realtreat! Thespirit of the Victorian Christmas is very much part of the Christmas wecelebrate today! A Celebration of Family& Food!!

Check out our Facebook page for more great photos!

Tip of the week - Turkey Gravy!

2011-12-12T09:58:00.001Z

How to…Make Turkey Gravy…
After removing the turkey, Put your roasting tin that has the leftover juices on the heat.
Add ½ a glass of red wine into the pan and watch it sizzle.
This will help deglaze the pan.
(You can add some flour if you want it thicker)
Turn the heat down slightly and continue to stir adding some stock.
Continue to whisk, & season.
(A Tablespoon of Cream, Redcurrant Jelly OR Balsamic Vinegar
will also add to the flavour of gravy - if you want to try something a bit different!)

www.cullensbutchers.com

Why Shopping Local benefits all

2011-12-08T16:36:00.001Z

What’sall the fuss about shopping local?

We hear all around us about ‘shoppinglocal’ supporting our ‘local’ Town etc, but what does it all mean and why doesshopping locally have such a big impact?

Lots of studies tell us that shopping localnot only supports local jobs, but means more money is staying in the localeconomy. Big companies and multinationals’ profits are often shipped offelsewhere and rarely use local suppliers, whereas the small local businessoften has local owners, local workers and local suppliers. It is thisdistinction that really makes the difference.

Local shops also often offer superiorcustomer service. How many times have you gone to one of the big chain DIYstores to look for help or one of the large electrical superstores and askedabout home delivery? We have all been frustrated by their indifference, butoften you will get just a good a deal locally and leave the shop with a smileon your face!

There are lots of new websites and localinitiatives too to help in this campaign. Websites such as ‘Mystreet.ie,Localzone.ie, Fiver Friday and the new WicklowTown.ie website all of which areencouraging local shopping. Wicklow Town even has a new ‘I love Wicklow Town’brand – more of which will be rolled out over the coming months.

Here in Cullens Butchers for example,almost all of our suppliers are located in Co Wicklow, with the exception ofsome additional suppliers in surrounding counties of Wexford, Carlow and Dublin.

Our Beef, Lamb, Pork and Bacon all comefrom right here in Wicklow. Our Veg suppliers are in Wicklow Town.We use marinades and sauces made in Kilcoole, Herbs and Spices from Rathnew. Wesell Local Jams and Honey and our Italian Meats are supplied from a companybased in Newtownmountkennedy. We also sell Wicklow Cheese, Free Range Eggs fromArklow and our Wild Game, Corn Fed Chickens and other speciality meats comefrom Glenmalure.

On the other side we also supply lots oflocal Hotels, Restaurants, Coffee Shops, Delis, Golf Clubs and ConvenienceStores with our products helping complete the cycle of local to local..

Keeping business local helps us all!

1. You keep money in thelocal economy.

2. You embrace what makes usunique.

3. You take advantage of ourexpertise.

4. You make us a destination.

5. You invest inentrepreneurship.

6. You create more choice.

7. You help keep your localTown healthy.

8. You nurture community.

9. You help create localjobs.

10. You help the environment.

Tip of the week - all about Christmas

2011-12-04T12:40:00.001Z

This weeks post is all about Christmas and contains loads of great tips for cooking your best Christmas dinner ever! How to make perfect roast potatoes, how to select, cook, carve and serve the turkey. How to get the perfect baked ham. What about an alternative dinner? Venison, Pheasant, Goose? How about some side dishes and how to find the perfect wine to match! All found by going to our main website... http://www.cullensbutchers.com/christmas.html

Tip of the week - Roast Potatoes

2011-12-01T15:27:00.001Z

At Cullens, its not all about the meat.

The secret to the best roast potatoes is using GOOSEFAT!

Par boil the potatoes, (about 10 minutes)

Drain & chuff them to make the edges go crispy. (ie shake well to rough up the edges!)

Add the goose fat to the roasting tray & melt in theoven.

Once melted add the par boiled potatoes and coat in the goosefat.

Roast in the oven for about an hour.- Until crisp andgolden.

Then enjoy the ultimate roast potatoes ever!!

www.cullensbutchers.com/

Tip of the Week - cooking steak

2011-11-26T09:26:00.001Z

FOR PERFECT STEAK
· Make sure the char-grill or pan is very hot.
· Brush the meat with oil not the pan.
· Turn only once.
· Then rest the meat to allow juices to settle

Tip of the week - Afraid of fat on meat?

2011-11-21T10:09:00.000Z

Afraid of fat on meat? Leave a thin layer of fat on steaks and roasts during cooking to preserve juiciness. Trim fat after cooking. This will result in much better tasting meat.

Tip of the Week - food hygiene

2011-11-17T12:22:00.001Z

Avoid leaving meat in warm places, refrigerate meat as quickly as possible.
· Always wash your hands before and after food preparation. (Especially between handling raw and
cooked meats.)
· Do not use the same cutting board for cooked and raw meats.
· Make sure all utensils are kept clean.
· Always ensure when defrosting meat that it is fully thawed before cooking.
· Remove meat from plastic bags place on a dish or in a bowl and cover with foil.
· Always store cooked meat above raw food in your fridge.

Tip of the week - Slow Roasting

2011-11-15T10:03:00.001Z

Slow Roasting.
Certain cuts of meat benefit from Slow Roasting Such as Lamb Shoulder, Pork Belly etc because they are a little tougher than other cuts. Slow roasting at a lower temperature allows the proteins to break down making the meat more tender and helps develop the flavour!
They need very little preperation, just a simple rub or marinade.

Tip of the Week - herbs and spices

2011-11-10T13:31:00.000Z

Herbs make a difference between a dish tasting ok... & tasting excellent!
Rubs and spices are a great way of taking meat in a whole new direction.

A rub or spice can change the flavour of the meat you cook week in week out.

Pork, Chicken, Beef, Lamb Fish & Potatoes work great with rubs or spices.
Tip: Try scoring the meat or bash it out to create a bigger serface area. This will help get the flavour in there!

Tip of the week - chill out

2011-11-05T16:57:00.001Z

Allow meat such as Roasts or Steak to stand at room temperature 1 hour before cooking: It will cook more quickly, brown more evenly, and stick less when pan-fried. (Do not do this with highly perishable meats like mince beef, chicken strips or items like liver or kidney)

Tip of the week - take a rest

2011-11-01T19:02:00.000Z

When cooking a roast, be it beef, pork, lamb or poultry,
It's important to let it rest a little before carving.
That allows the juices to retreat back into the meat.
If you carve a roast too soon, much of its goodness will spill out onto the carving board.
Simply cover with silver foil and let rest for a few minutes. This also works very well with steak!

Tip of the week - double up

2011-10-25T17:27:00.003+01:00

When making Lasange, shepards pie, stew or any kind of big hearty dish, why not double the quantities. That way you can freeze the extra portions - perfect for those evenings when you are running late or dont know what to cook! Plus you save on the washing up too!!

Tip of the week - going further with a chicken

2011-10-25T17:27:00.000+01:00

A large chicken goes much further by cutting it up or ´jointing it´ You can easily feed 6 people in a casserole or ´coq a vin´. And the good news? We have extra large chickens for only 10.99! or Medium one for 5!

Tip of the week - sharp knives

2011-10-11T12:44:00.002+01:00

Tip of the week 2:
Keep your knives sharp.
Use a 'steel' to keep the edge on your knives, it makes life in the kitchen so much easier. We can even sharpen your knives for you - just bring them in next time you are coming into Wicklow and we will show you how to keep them sharp!

Tip of the week - preheat oven

2011-10-04T13:37:00.002+01:00

Always preheat your oven before cooking. This ensures faster and more evenly cooked food. P.S - don't forget to check if anything is in there first (eg baking trays etc)

Cullens Quality Butchers
Main Street
Wicklow Town
www.cullensbutchers.com
0404 69719