Latest News from deliciouslyorkshire - our subscriber email September 2010

A young and dynamic Yorkshire farmer, who also owns Weetons, a contemporary award winning urban farm shop and delicatessen in Harrogate, says it’s time to re-think the way we choose and eat our beef.

Andrew Loftus is celebrating five years in business next week and he firmly believes that the traditional breeds of beef sold in his shop are great to eat because of the way they are farmed, and the breed of cattle from which they come.

Andrew says that size isn’t everything when it comes to the best tasting beef, and he only farms a traditional breed called Red Poll, which originated in East Anglia in the 19th Century. They get their name from their luxuriant reddish brown colour, and from the fact that they are Polled, a technical term for cattle which don’t grow horns.

Andrew has two great passions – reducing food miles to help the environment, and producing his meat in a way that is kind to the animals and gets the best taste for his customers. Unlike most of the beef from supermarkets which is sent for slaughter from as little as fourteen months of age, these ‘steers’ as they are known are at least two years old before they are killed. And they have an entirely natural diet.

“They are fattened purely on grass” Andrew says, of a fine looking group of steers munching away at the grass near Ripon, “These animals have never had a touch of anything else and they’re about ready to go into the shop.”

Andrew Loftus says that turning to a traditional breed like the Red Poll raised some eyebrows amongst his fellow farmers.

“They aren’t as big, aren’t as muscly and they don’t grow as quickly as some of the continental breeds that we’re used to, but really it’s all about the quality and flavour of the meat. A lot of the flavour in meat, in any meat, is held in the fat, and when it’s grass finished the fat runs in little veins through the meat and that adds the flavour all the way through.” This also helps to make the meat more tender when it is cooked.

“Here we’re about producing a top quality product which is ethically produced, very welfare friendly so the cows are out at grass as much as they possibly can be, and we get a really premium steak.”