This summer Bord Bia - the Irish Food Board, and Irish beef are collaborating with a collective of the UK’s top live fire cooking chefs to create fresh, new BBQ recipes, cooking hints and tips, and on-menu BBQ specials featuring grass-fed Irish beef as part of “The World’s Greatest BBQ” campaign.
John Chantarasak of AngloThai, Nick Fitzgerald of Tacos Padre, Lee Westcott (pictured) and Andrew Clarke are amongst the live fire chefs involved in the campaign. Each chef has drawn on their international culinary backgrounds to create limited edition on-menu specials which will be served at their restaurants and events throughout the summer.
Collaborating with premium chef butchers Aubrey Allen and HG Walter, the dishes will feature premium quality grass-fed Irish rib-eye’s to mouth-watering beef short ribs to the unsung off-cuts of onglet and bavette and showcase the cut’s role within the exciting world of international BBQ foods and flavours.
In addition, the campaign will see regional Irish beef ambassadors sharing their exciting on-menu creations and BBQ cooking tips from their restaurants. These include chefs: Ronnie Aronica of Bench in Sheffield, Sam Grainger of Belzan in Liverpool and Paul Welburn of 215 Kitchen and Drinks in Oxford.
Running for eight weeks with the aim to reach one and a half million foodie consumers across the UK, the campaign will see each chef champion a different cut of the grass-fed Irish beef.
Consumers are invited to taste and trial the range of dishes which will be served at the chefs' restaurants, high profile foodie events and at festivals across the UK including London’s iconic foodie destination; Borough Market and foodie festival favourites Wilderness and Meatopia.
Emmet Doyle, UK Meat Market Specialist, Bord Bia, said, “We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with some of the country’s top chefs for this campaign. With a range of exciting backgrounds and cooking styles, the one thing all these chefs have in common is a passion for using the best, top quality produce, such as grass-fed Irish beef.
'Ireland has a steeped history in agriculture, where farms are traditionally family owned, passed down from generation to generation, as too is the love and craft of livestock farming.
'Not only does Ireland’s sustainable grass-based farming methods deliver high standards in quality, traceability and animal welfare but also delivers on great tasting Irish beef which is of a consistently high quality and lends itself to a whole range of delicious BBQ dishes and cooking techniques no matter the cut.'
The BBQ recipes featuring premium grass-fed Irish beef cuts include:
John Chantarasak from AngloThai: John has taken inspiration from his British and Thai background and will be spicing up the summer with a Thai BBQ dish of wood smoked grass-fed Irish beef short-rib, served with a peanut butter panang curry, roasted peanuts and Thai basil.
Chantarasak said, “Slow cooking or ‘smoking’ grass-fed Irish short ribs over live fire is my preferred technique to bring out the deep flavour in the grass-fed beef that can’t be achieved indoors. This really makes a difference to the end result as the beef takes on the smoke from the BBQ to deliver short ribs that simply melt in the mouth.
'When the animals graze outside on the pastures in nearby Ireland for most of the year, eating the clovers and herbs in the grass, it really helps accentuate the grassy flavours in the beef and holds up against the punchy Thai flavours I use in my cooking.”
Nick Fitzgerald from Tacos Padre: Nick takes his BBQ to another level, packed full of Mexican flavours with 28 day aged grass-fed Irish rib-eye carne asada tacos with black aguachile, soft herbs and aged beef fat flour tortillas.
Lee Westcott: Lee’s seasonal and modern style of cooking really shines through in his grass-fed Irish onglet dish, with Sichuan pepper, ember grilled peas, sorrel and mint which is bursting with fresh, summery flavours and the perfect addition to any BBQ menu this season.
Andrew Clarke: Andrew has channelled his passion for live fire cooking and grilled grass-fed Irish bavette and fillet steaks over hot coals and served on beef dripping toast, with green peppercorn sauce, muscles, tomato and seaweed.
The campaign also features a high-profile social media competition, The World’s Greatest BBQ Giveaway, which will run across the Irish beef Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts featuring an exciting array of BBQ prizes, including Weber heat resistant gloves, Big Green Egg utensil toolkits, London Log Company campfire cooking kits, Joy Stoves and vouchers to our BBQ chef’s restaurants.
In addition to the giveaway, grass-fed Irish beef is also launching a 'World’s Greatest BBQ' challenge for restaurants, encouraging consumers to join in on social media and tag and share pictures of their World’s Greatest BBQ dish.
The #WorldsGreatestBBQ recipes and live fire cooking tips will be available on @Irishbeef and on @englishhippy’s, @nicholaspfg, @leewestcott and @chefandrewclarke Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, as well as at www.irishbeef.co.uk over the summer months. For even more BBQinspiration follow these accounts and share your recipes on social media using the #WorldsGreatestBBQ.
Grass-fed Irish beef can be found in major retailers nationwide right through to premium butchers and top end restaurants across the UK.
