St Andrews Links Blog

A butchery masterclass

Our kitchen staff were recently treated to a masterclass by Stewart McClymont, Butchery Manager at the award-winning Blair Drummond Smiddy Farm Shop near Stirling. Stewart obviously knows his chops from his cutlets as he prepared a whole Scotch lamb in front of our impressed kitchen team.

Alongside his job at the shop, he works with Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) to help promote the Scotch Beef PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), Scotch Lamb PGI and specially selected pork brands.

In this capacity, he carries out various demonstrations for colleges, chefs, kitchens, schools, teacher conferences and public events such as the Royal Highland Show. The idea is to make more people aware of the brand and what it stands for as well as helping people have the confidence to approach their local butcher’s counter and ask for it:

“We have the very best beef and lamb the world has to offer in this country. The rest of the world buys it!”

It was a meeting of minds that brought about this live butchery demonstration put on by Stewart. Educating people is a passion of his and our Food and Beverage Manager, Ian MacDonald. In conversation with Ian at The Staff Canteen’s annual Scottish Chefs Lunch, Ian felt that a lesson in butchery for his chefs would prove beneficial for them and Stewart was happy to help:

“I enjoy it! It’s far easier to do this sort of work when the audience is interested and appreciate what you do. The demand for such demonstrations is increasing all the time, which is great.”

In the wake of such a successful session, Ian looks to push his team on from Stewart’s demo and grow the relationship:

“It was great to have Stewart teaching and inspiring the kitchen teams Links wide. His depth of knowledge, skills and obvious passion for what he does was very much appreciated by the team. We hope that in the near future some of the chefs are able to go and work alongside him at his shop as it will help add to their skill set.”

Of course, the demonstration would’ve been incomplete without tasting the produce…