Thame butchers strike gold

A top-notch ‘Q Guild’ butcher from Thame has struck gold in the prestigious Smithfield Awards.

Tom Newitt, of Newitt & Sons, with Matthew Fort

M Newitt & Sons, of High Street, Thame, won four gold awards – for their Green Back Bacon, their Smoked Back Bacon, their Long Crendon Black Bacon and their Steak, Ale & Stilton Pie.

A total of 479 products from 54 Q butchers nationwide, virtually half of the national membership, were entered for the eight categories in this year’s Smithfield Awards, the annual national product evaluation competition. They were judged by independent panels of food and meat industry experts.

Awards were announced and presented last Thursday (13/11) at the Butchers Hall in Smithfield, London, ancestral home of the Q Guild, by Matthew Fort, the food and drink editor at the Guardian for over a decade, author of several award-winning books on food, and one of the expert judges on the popular TV series, The Great British Menu.

Mathew Fort spoke of his life-long admiration for butchers, adding: “There’s something about the skill, watching butchers break up a carcass with their calm assurance; it’s like watching a magician at work; it’s like the finest theatre. The knife coming down, even sharpening the knife – the noise and the crunch when the cleaver comes down with such precision. To someone like me this is absolute magic.

“I’ve spent many hours watching butchers going about their business and every time there’s something to be learnt. I’ve never had a serious conversation with a butcher where I haven’t learnt something from that conversation.

“I think the future can be extremely positive for the Q Guild butchers; the emphasis on quality, precision and wisdom – you can’t put too high a price on that.”

Q Guild national chairman, West Yorkshire butcher, Brindon Addy, said: “Smithfield Awards are among the meat industry’s most esteemed and cherished accolades, recognising and rewarding both product quality and innovation, at the same time reflecting the skills continually demonstrated by our members – Great British butchers one and all.”