Northern Ireland's McCartney's third listed in Top 50 Foods


Northern Ireland's McCartney's Butchers has been named among the Top 50 Foods in the UK Great Taste Awards 2013/14 for its unique mushroom, leek and smoked garlic tart. The company, based in Moira, County Antrim, gained three gold stars for the tart, the first recognition for a non-meat product.



Listing the product among the Top 50, the Great Taste Awards organisers said: "Having taken the UK by storm with its 2011 Supreme Champion corned silverside beef, McCartney's of Moira has proven to be equally adept in the meat-free category. This tart is made with breakfast mushrooms, leeks, smoked garlic, shallots and fresh thyme."



The Great Taste panel of judges described the tart as 'very attractive' and they loved every mouthful - from the crunchy topping and short pastry to the plentiful filling.



The pie, which gained three gold stars in the Great Taste Awards, is the third product from Northern Ireland to be listed in the Top 50 being announced right up to the end of August. The other Northern Irish products listed so far are salt aged Glenarm Shorthorn beef from Hannan Meats, also based in Moira, and a zingy sea buckthorn and lime jam from En Place Foods (UK), based at Cookstown in county Tyrone.



McCartney's Butchers is a family business run by master butcher George McCartney, brother Gordon and George's daughters Judith and Sarah. The business has been operating in the village of Moira for over 140 years. It is a three times winner of the UK Champion of Champion Sausage Makers Competition, a title which still stands.



The artisan business, which also operates a deli alongside the butchery, picked up the title as the 'Top Shop' in Northern Ireland and the UK. Our well known shop is adorned with flowers throughout the year and has won awards.



The company has over 40 varieties of homemade sausages sold in Britain and further afield. It has supplied sausages and black pudding to Fortnum & Mason in London for a month of Irish Breakfasts.



In 2012/13 McCartney's became the first Northern Irish food business to be named Supreme Champion in the UK Great Taste Awards for its new twist on an old favourite, corned beef. George McCartney crafted the corned beef from silverside using an old family recipe.



As well as three stars for the tart, McCartney's gained two gold stars each for a merguez sausage, chowder, breakfast pork sausage and one star each for white pudding, chicken liver pate and Chinese style pork ribs.