Tag: Peter Hannan

Major UK food award for Peter Hannan of Hannan Meats

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Northern Ireland food innovator Peter Hannan, managing director of the multi-award winning Hannan Meats, has won one of the most prestigious awards for his innovation and enterprise in food and business from the BBC.

Mr Hannan, a Food NI board member,  gained the Derek Cooper Award at the annual BBC Food and Farming Awards. Named after the programme’s first presenter, the award is for the individual or organisation whose work has brought about real change in our relationship with food.

The award aims to recognise the often unsung heroes who’ve made a real difference to knowledge and appreciation of good food. The winner is decided by the expert judging panel.

The BBC Food and Farming Awards were launched in 2000, to mark the 20th anniversary of Radio 4’s The Food Programme. The awards aim “to honour those who have done most to promote the cause of good food”.

The first judging team included Derek Cooper, the founding presenter of the Food Programme. Subsequent judges have come from a cross-section of the food world – chefs, academics, retail analysts, writers and campaigners.

Mr Hannan established Hannan Meats in 1991 as a catering butchery business. The company, which is based at Moira in county Armagh, has pioneered the dry-aging of beef and lamb in the world’s biggest complex of Himalayan salt chambers and also the curing of bacon using sugar pit and other novel techniques.

He has established Glenarm Shorthorn beef from county Antrim as among the world’s best and tastiest.

The company sources, produces and supplies a range of exceptional meat products for high-end restaurants and five-star hotels as well as selected retailers in Britain and exports to Michelin star restaurants especially in France.

In addition, Hannan Meats has won widespread acclaim for outstandingly tasty meats. The company has won more UK Great Taste Awards than any other producer in the UK and Ireland including two supreme champion award, the only company in the UK and Ireland to achieve this coveted accolade twice.

 

NI Celebrates Success At Golden Fork Dinner

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Column by Michele Shirlow for Farm Week (14 September)

Three Golden Forks for Northern Ireland is this year’s Great Taste Awards is a very good haul by any measure. While we didn’t secure the Supreme Champion title at the gala dinner in London hosted by the highly influential UK Guild of Fine, the championship was still retained on the island of Ireland, an achievement that speaks volume for the quality and providence of our meat in particular and the innovation of the butchers who are continually coming up with outstandingly tasty new products.

Our own Peter Hannan of Hannan Meats, a Food NI director and long-time supporter of our aims and especially of our engagement in the British marketplace, gained the Northern Ireland Regional Golden Fork from Invest NI for his stunning sweet cure bacon rack. He came close to the top award and also achieved three gold stars for his Glenarm salt-aged lamb rump, appropriately during Love Lamb Week.

Hannan, as most readers of this column, will be aware is now the most decorated company from the UK and Ireland in the Great Taste, winning the Supreme Champion title on two separate occasions, in 2012 and 2016 and collecting over 200 separate gold stars for his meats.

Another local meat producer, Ispini Charcuterie, from a family farm at Aughnacloy, won the Best Charcuterie in the UK award for its unique rosemary and thyme bresaola – just eight months after the formation of the business by pig farmer Jonny Cuddy and sister Janice. Charcuterie is a target growth area being promoted by the UK Guild of Fine Food, and for Ispini to win this Golden Fork is a truly remarkable achievement.

Our good friends and dedicated butter makers Will and Allison of Abernethy Butter in Dromara deservedly earned the VIP Golden Fork organised by Woman and Home magazine in a vote by its readership. To be selected by readers of the magazine, most of who are based in Britain, is another stunning achievement for a small local business.

So, well done all the Northern Ireland winners including Davy and Janet Uprichard of Tempted Cider in Lisburn whose elderflower cider was listed in the Top 50 Foods along with Peter Hannan’s sweet cure bacon and Glenarm lamb.

Also remarkable is the Irish dominance, especially meat producers, in the Great Taste Supreme Champion Award. Only once since 2011 has this coveted award gone outside Ireland. We’ve won it an impressive three times since 2011 – George McCartney of McCartney’s Meats, Moira in 2011, Peter Hannan in 2012 and 2016 and two producers from the Republic – Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel in 2015 for his beef dripping and Hugh Maguire of Maguire’s Meats of Ashbourne, Co. Meath for his smoked black pudding in 2017.

Last week was, in fact, the third consecutive year a meat product was named the Supreme Champion at the Great Taste Awards – all from the island of Ireland.

Some 12,366 products entered into the awards. The smoked black pudding was one of over 100 smoked products that picked up Great Taste Awards. So, there’s clearly a developing trend towards hand smoked foods. Smoked eel from Lough Neagh also did exceptionally well, picking up three gold stars.

What the Great Taste achievements demonstrate is the growing awareness in Britain of Northern Ireland’s premium quality food and drink. In particular, the success of Abernethy Butter in the public vote organised by Women and Home magazine, which includes an excellent food section edited by Jane Curran, shows how a strategic focus on Great Britain can pay off in terms of consumer recognition and business.

Peter Hannan already has significant business there, and the success of Ispini ought to encourage this smaller business to target this market. There will be many wishing to taste a product rated the Best Charcuterie in Britain.

Food NI has taken this message to Britain by our participation in last week’s Speciality and Fine Food Fair. We had hundreds of original products on show from almost 30 producers. Our aim will be to do as much as our resources allow to build on the market profile of our food in Britain.

 

Great Taste Awards 2017 On The Horizon

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Article by Michele Shirlow MBE for Farm Week

The annual Great Taste Awards will soon be upon us. I expect that we will hear from the UK Guild of Fine Food which local food and drink companies have met and exceeded the exacting standards set for the three categories on gold stars and the Top 50 UK Foods within the next two weeks.

The Supreme Champion title, won last year by Hannan Meats in Moira, Co Down, will be revealed at the beginning of September and ahead of the Speciality and Fine Food Fair at Olympia in London.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Food NI will be showcasing the best of Northern Ireland food and drink at the event. We are currently encouraging local companies to be part of this important presentation at the show which attracts thousands of trade buyers, making it a great route into the strategically important marketplace in Great Britain.

The Great Taste Awards is a hugely important competition for our companies and also for the wider Northern Ireland food and drink industry. And we’ve a great track record in the influential competition. Northern Ireland companies have won the supreme title on three separate occasions – McCartney’s Butchers and Deli in 2011 and Hannan Meats twice – 2012 and 2016 – and the only UK producer to do so. Hannan has also won more gold stars than any other company in the UK and Ireland. I am confident he can secure a hat trick, if not this year, in the not too distant future.

A host of smaller companies have also done extremely well in the coveted awards and have succeeded in securing prestigious business in Britain. Abernethy Butter of Dromore, for instance, gained three gold stars last year and is now on the menus of top hotels and restaurants in Britain.

The company, run by Will and Allison Abernethy, specialises in hand crafted butter, has also just announced business with the Spa Hotel in historic Tunbridge Wells and Yummy Stilton of Cropley Bishop, home of stilton cheese. Other local companies which have won three stars in recent years include Baronscourt Estate Venison from Omagh, Ewing’s Seafood of Belfast, Fermanagh’s Fivemiletown Cheese and Genesis Bakery of Magherafelt. Hundreds of other small companies have also gained gold stars, far too many to list here. They all merit great praise for the quality of their products and for their willingness to benchmark these with others from around the British Isles.

Other companies which have done well in the Great Taste Awards have gone forward to win major competitions in Britain and beyond. Mash Direct in Comber is a good example of a medium sized company which has pitched its products and overall professionalism against larger and often multinational competitors, winning the very prestigious UK Food Manufacturing Excellence Award last year and also the award for innovation at the big SIAL international food show in the Middle East. Moy Park in Craigavon also won the UK Food Manufacturing Excellence Award  the year preceding Mash Directs success. The Quiet Man Irish Whiskey from Derry won no fewer than four silver awards at this month’s International Spirits Challenge in London. Other local drinks companies such as Co Antrim’s Old Bushmills Whiskey, Shortcross Gin, Echlinville Distillery, Tempted Cider and MacIvor’s Cider has also been successful in international events.

As I mentioned earlier, taking part in major awards such as the Great Taste Awards is an important way companies can benchmark their products and processes against competitors particularly in Britain and RoI and improve their competitiveness. It helps improve business and also showcases Northern Ireland as a source of great food and drink, the latter being one of Food NI’s objectives in our Taste the Greatness action plan. Good luck to all the NI entrants awaiting award results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hannan Meats and Top Chef Terry Laybourne Joins Forces For Steak Bar

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Northern Ireland’s multi- award winning Hannan Meats is part of a highly innovative butcher and steak bar being developed in Newcastle upon Tyne by top chef and restaurateur Terry Laybourne.

Laybourne’s unique Porterhouse Butcher and Grill Bar is an expansion of his 21 Hospitality Group within Fenwick Food Hall in the high-end retail complex in Newcastle city centre.

Terry Laybourne said: “This new venue has been driven by the positive response we’ve had to the Saltwater Fish Company which operates as a fish bar and fishmonger within Fenwick. We offer a premium product, treated with respect and cooked in front of customers who really engage with the process.”

Hannan Meats, based at Moira in county Down and current holder of the UK Great Taste Supreme Champion title, is supplying most of the meat to the Porterhouse Butcher and Grill. The award-winning beef is dry aged for up to 45 days in Himalayan salt chambers which give the meat a unique flavour and tenderness.

Top nationally renowned chefs turn to this beef because of its unique quality. Terry Laybourne has been working with Peter Hannan, the founder and managing director of Hannan Meats, and serving his Himalayan salt-aged beef from other restaurants within his 21 Hospitality Group for several years. However, this will be the first time such premium, restaurant quality beef will be available from a retail outlet in Newcastle and the North East. London’s Fortnum & Mason is the only other retailer to offer this beef in England.

Terry Laybourne added: “I have never come across beef that is so good and is of such consistent quality. This beef isn’t just different, it’s consistently better.

“Our chefs will treat all these premium meats with respect. They will work hand in hand with our butcher, taking a ‘we cook what we sell, we sell what we cook’ approach. Our meat and game is seasonal so both our butcher and dining menu will be constantly changing.”

Peter Hannan said: “We are delighted to be part of what is an immensely exciting and unique dining and retail experience in Newcastle. It’s an example of the smart culinary and catering ideas that we’ve come to expect from Terry. We’ve developed an excellent relationship with him over many years and look forward to continuing to work with him to offer consumers in Newcastle and the wider North East supreme quality meats from our Himalayan Salt Chambers. It’s a marvellous boost for us and also for the network of Northern Ireland farmers who supply us with exceptional grass-fed beef.”

Porterhouse Butcher and Grill will offer casual dining at the counter, along with seated restaurant space. There will be counter seating for around 14 people, table seating for 30, an open kitchen, creative chefs and knowledgeable service staff.

Meat will be cooked in front of customers using a charcoal fired Josper grill, ensuring a lively, dynamic environment throughout the day. Diners will have the opportunity to see and discuss how premium meat should be prepared and cooked.

Porterhouse Butcher and Grill will employ up to nine kitchen and front of house staff when it opens in early August.

For Fenwick, this sees the introduction of a dynamic, new offer within the Food Hall. Store director Rhys McKinnell said: “This new hybrid retail/restaurant concept epitomises everything Fenwick Food Hall stands for – highest quality produce, exceptional cookery and craft skills plus premium service, which together create an elevated customer experience.”

Porterhouse Butcher and Grill will source best quality produce from a multitude of small, specialist producers including Steve Ramshaw and his Northumberland Wagyu beef and Middle White pork from Ravensworth Grange Farm.

Big hitting red wines will feature on the carefully selected wine list along with some classic cocktails.

Porterhouse Butcher and Grill will follow Fenwick store hours, with the dining space open 11am daily.

Terry Laybourne’s 21 Hospitality Group operates his flagship restaurant, 21, along with Caffe Vivo and The Broad Chare pub on Newcastle’s Quayside; and Café 21 and Saltwater Fish Company within the Fenwick department store. Terry acted as a consultant to Fenwick helping advise on the overall Food Hall multi-million pound redevelopment in 2015.

Northern Irish steak from Hannan Meats among the world’s best

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Hannan Meats has won two gold medals at the industry’s most prestigious and influential World Steak Challenge in London. The awards consolidates the Northern Ireland company’s standing as among the world’s very best and most innovative steak producers.

Based at Moira in county Down, Hannan Meats gained golds for its Glenarm Shorthorn fillet and ribeye steaks from a distinguished international panel of expert judges.

Hannan Meats also collected two golds in last year’s awards for its steak that’s aged in the world’s biggest complex of Himalayan salt ageing chambers at its factory in Northern Ireland.

The company, founded and run by Peter Hannan, among the most respected figures in the international meat industry, has twice won the supreme champion title in the UK Great Taste Awards, the most recent being last year when it gained the top award for another Glenarm Shorthorn beef.

Hannan Meats was among entries from 17 countries in five continents and more than 100 meat products. Competition was intense. Each steak was put through a series of stringent tests by the exacting  judging panel.

The World Steak Challenge is organised by William Reed Business Media (WRBM) – publisher of international news website GlobalMeatNews.com and UK trade publication Meat Trades Journal. WRBM also is behind a number of renowned global competitions, including the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and the International Wine Challenge.

The idea behind the competition is to offer producers of steak from across the globe the chance to benchmark their products against their competitors, and to offer a platform for sales of top-quality steak to be increased both within domestic markets, but also overseas.

In addition to this, the challenge also aims promote steak to consumers and celebrate the joy and benefits of eating it as part of a healthy balanced diet.

The winners were announced at a VIP reception and BBQ at the Magic Roundabout in London