THE TIPPERARY BUTCHER

I have often thought what led me to a career as a butcher, and more importantly why I have stayed in this work for 26 years.

I can remember at a very young age trying to help my Mum cook. I remember her baking pies, cakes and also making delicious stews. She was and still is a great cook. From helping her and watching her, I knew even then that I would work with food.

My Grandparents were small farmers. They milked their own cows, grew potatoes, kept chickens, pigs and turkeys. I spent most of my school holidays helping them, and learning from them. When I look back my first butchery experience was on my Grandparents farm. I helped him to slaughter and pluck some turkeys. I can still remember everything clearly, and was fascinated with the whole process of producing a food from start to finish. It was also the best turkey I have ever eaten!!

On another occasion, my Grandad along with my Uncle Eamon and myself, butchered two pigs. We packed them into large wooden barrels with salt. I have never seen this done since with the wooden barrels. The fat was like butter and the meat was a little bit darker than bacon is now……and truly delicious!!

So for the next two months I would cycle to Grans for dinner, just for the bacon and the potatoes, all produced on the farm. This is when I think the seeds were sown for me to become a butcher.

The following summer I got my first job in the local butchers. It was a summer job which led to twenty six years as a butcher so far.

During my career I have learnt a lot about meat and am still learning, and looking for new ideas. In this period of time I have seen a lot of changes in the meat industry, some for the better and some not so good. These things I will cover later. I believe now is a very interesting time to be a butcher. People are becoming more and more conscious of what they eat. The Customer is quite rightly now more particular about their diet. Food is something we should be enjoyed and not just a necessity.

I am passionate about food and a bit of an amateur home chef. I love trying new things and flavours, and always looking for something different. I take lots of inspiration from my travels.

I am currently working for James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel, Tipperary. It is a multi - award winning shop with very high standards.

Now I have decided to embrace modern technology in Twitter and Blogs. It is all a bit new to me but I am going to use this as the next level in my career. Looking forward to sharing my knowledge, wisdom and experiences within the meat industry with you!