For Colin Anderson, chef director of Glasgow’s long-established Brett restaurant, Specially Selected Pork is the hero ingredient for its highly-popular côte de porc and prawn main.
The dish – featuring pork and prawn tortellone, verjus, asparagus and sauce vierge – is a lighter take on pork. It features a barbequed cote du porc, with minced pork and prawn inside a single basil tortellone, and uses pork trimmings as the base for one of the sauces.
He says: “Specially Selected Pork is a great meat for barbequeing for this dish. It has a great fat content, colour and flavour, and just requires gentle cooking – it is a delicious piece of meat.”
To carry the Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) industry branding, Specially Selected Pork must be born, reared and processed in Scotland. Scotch Quality Assured meat also means that animals have been raised to the highest welfare standards. The Scottish SPCA (Scotland’s animal welfare charity) independently inspects farms to ensure these standards are being maintained.
Like many restauranteurs, confidence in the supply chain for Brett is key, says Colin, with Specially Selected Pork’s assurance a critical factor. “The farm side of things matters. I put a lot of trust in my suppliers, and this means I can concentrate on creating incredible dishes and experiences for our guests.”
For Aberdeenshire pig farmers Ben and Harriet Lowe, producing Specially Selected Pork is a key part of running a circular farming system on their farm near Ellon, which includes a large acreage of crops too.
Ben says: “Our target is to produce what we call a ‘five mile pig’. About 90% of the feed we use is grown by us within five miles of our pig unit, so we only buy-in some vitamins, minerals and a small amount of protein. The manure from the pigs goes back onto the crop land, so it all goes together as a circular system.
“We are really proud to be producing Specially Selected Pork. As part of it we have regular inspections from QMS and the SSPCA, as well as a quarterly vet visit and ensuring that we are all well trained.
“We are always looking for Specially Selected Pork on menus and shelves, and it’s always exciting when we see it – we do go out of our way to buy it.”
Businesses which are proud to serve Specially Selected Pork are eligible to join QMS’s Scotch Beef Club. Many Michelin-starred restaurants are members – but so too are smaller restaurants, alongside foodservice businesses. It is aspirational but not elitist, and welcomes new members – so why not apply for membership of The Scotch Beef Club?
Our team at QMS is looking forward to meeting you at UCFF, where you will find us on stand 60.
Come to see us there to:
Sample our brands throughout the event;
Talk to experts about our provenance, sustainability and quality, and;
Find out how we support businesses, and can benefit you and your diners.
Comments