Pathhead butcher celebrates awards' landslide

Craft Butcher Awards presentations - Hunters of Kinross receive their awards, pictured back from left, Tom Lawn of Scobies Direct, Frank Mitchell, Pamela Hunter, Liz Herkes, Judith Johnston from Lucas and Archie Hall from Dalziel.
Front from left, Conner Stewart, Iain Hunter and David Winton. Photo: Graeme Hart, Perthshire Picture Agency. — Craft Butcher Awards presentations - Hunters of Kinross receive their awards, pictured back from left, Tom Lawn of Scobies Direct, Frank Mitchell, Pamela Hunter, Liz Herkes, Judith Johnston from Lucas and Archie Hall from Dalziel. Front from left, Conner Stewart, Iain Hunter and David Winton. Photo: Graeme Hart, Perthshire Picture Agency.

The awards, presented at the recent Scottish Meat Trade Fair 2017 in Perth, recognised and rewarded the best barbecue products, ready meals and ready-to-cook products currently available in Scotland’s butcher’s shops.

The High Street butchers scooped five gold awards for their quick cook beef bourguignon, venison teriyaki stir-fry, Highlander chicken Balmoral with flowers of Scotland, chicken lasagne and beef bouguignon.

They also secured six Silver Awards for their lamb koftas, Chennai chicken grillsticks, tandoori chicken kebabs, beef Italia with mozzarella and sun-dried tomato grillsticks, sticky maple and sweet chilli duck breast and macaroni cheese.

Collecting the awards, delighted owner Iain Hunter, from Pathhead, said he was “overwhelmed” by the landslide of recognitions from the industry for his products.

“This tells us we are getting the products right,” he said, “which is a tremendous independent endorsement from the industry.

‘The whole team at Kinross put their heart and soul into developing and perfecting our product range and I’m so proud to take back this wealth of awards for everyone.”

Douglas Scott, Chief Executive of Scottish Craft Butchers, said the industry focus on barbecue and ready prepared products reflected consumer demand and praised the high standard of entry in this year’s awards.

“It is important for us to encourage our local butchers to produce quality new and innovative offerings to interest customers during summer barbecue season and those who find time they have limited time to prepare meals.

“This type of product is proving increasingly popular and discerning customers will always look to their local butcher for first choice.

“Scottish butchers like Hunters of Kinross are leading the way with some of the best products in Scotland – using fresh ingredients - and we’re delighted they’ve achieved such high recognition from their industry.

“These awards show customers just what a high standard their local butcher sets.”

The awards, sponsored by Lucas Ingredients, Dalziel Ltd. And Scobies Direct, attracted around 230 entries from over 40 butchers from Shetland to the Solway in a keenly contested assessment process.