The Best Charcuterie in Britain

Yorkshire Dales farm shop wins Champion Product

A farm shop in the Yorkshire Dales with its own Charcuterie production has won the top product award at the British Charcuterie Awards for its home produced Longhorn Beef Bresaola. The awards postponed from last year had to change the judging process to allow the competition to continue with judging taking place remotely throughout the country.  

Fifth generation butcher, grazier and charcutier Chris Wildman said “We are incredibly proud to win this award that showcases our home reared Longhorn cattle and the finished cured product.  The awards include some fabulous innovative products from our fellow butchers & charcutiers in this growing industry”

The judges commented on its “Lovely dark colour with uniformed slices, great aroma which was matched by the taste – great choice of species bringing the beef taste forward.”

The award Champion of Champions Product, sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Butchers, recognises the best scoring products achieving Gold (scoring 90+ points out of a possible 100).  

Judging for British Charcuterie Live Awards was carried out blind by small teams of experts – class by class – and each product is assessed for a number of factors including Taste, Mouth Feel, Appearance & Presentation. The judging panel was led by new head judge Keith Fisher, Chief Executive of the Institute of Meat,

Henrietta Green, founder of the Awards, said: “In spite of the challenges British producers are undergoing as a result of the pandemic, over 100 producers entered more than 300 products into the nine classes, and our judges were struck by the exceptional quality and range of the entries. It’s so encouraging to see more and more producers are starting to make both British- and Continental- style Charcuterie. It’s becoming a truly vibrant sector of British food production.

English Longhorn Cattle are a long-horned brown and white breed of beef cattle originating from Craven, in the north of England. The Longhorn is a strikingly attractive large, lean, beef breed. The cows are good milky mothers and their wide pelvis ensures ease of calving. The body may be any one of a wide range of brindle colours but they all have the characteristic white line along the back and down the tail, which is also passed onto their cross bred progeny. The impressive horns are obligatory for show cattle but commercial cows and steers may be easily disbudded when young.   In addition the Longhorn is much valued for the contribution it can make to environmentally sensitive sites. Longhorns have been extensively used by organisations such as Natural England and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the management of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and other important environmental sites.

Bresaola is a marinated and air dried salted beef cold cut, usually from the topside, ideal on a charcuterie & cheese board.