BRACE OF BUTCHERS COMMUNITY HELPERS LUNCH
Friday 19 June, POUNDBURY based Brace of Butchers is holding a feast to celebrate local community helpers for all their hard work during recent times. From 11:30am invited community groups will enjoy the finest local produce prepared by the region’s best chefs, and award winning Brace of Butchers is seeking nominations for 10 more unsung heroes to join them.
The banquet which will be running for several hours during the day will be prepared by chefs Harriet West, Dom Moldenhauer, Luke Vandore-Mackay, Steve Lamb and TV’s Great British Menu Home Economist & Food Stylist, Sam Squire.
The ‘thank you’ goes out to all the fantastic community supporters and includes the following organisations: Dorchester Community Support Group, Poundbury Community Coronavirus Help Group, The Storehouse Church (Dorchester), Dorchester Community Kitchen, Dorchester Community Church, Dorchester Foodbank, Damers School and Prince of Wales School.
Councillor Les Fry
Councillor Les Fry, on behalf of the Dorchester Community Support group, said: "This is a very nice opportunity to thank our volunteers who have been supporting our community and this is a nice gesture from the team at Brace of Butchers. Our group has been operating for three months now and has completed over 800 separate tasks. It will be nice to meet these volunteers in person and thank them for their support. "
To ensure the day meets current social distancing rules each group will be limited in size and be given a time to enjoy their meal. But there is one time slot left and this is where the Brace of Butchers wants to hear from local folk.
There are ten places up for grabs for nominated unsung heroes. Do you know someone who has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the local community? This could be a paramedic, teacher, take away service, village community support – or someone who has just shown true kindness during these difficult times and who deserves a thank you.
There are ten places up for grabs for nominated unsung heroes. Do you know someone who has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the local community? This could be a paramedic, teacher, take away service, village community support – or someone who has just shown true kindness during these difficult times and who deserves a thank you.
Nominations can be made by emailing The Brace of Butchers on office@braceofbutchers.co.uk or on The Brace of Butchers Facebook page from Monday at midday, by commenting on their post.
Tom Amery, Managing Director of the Brace of Butchers, said: “We wanted to say thank you to all the incredible individuals that have selflessly helped so many in and around Dorchester so the team suggested we plan a special thank you lunch. I thought it was a great idea - I have heard so many wonderful stories via the customers, and the teams have been incredible.”
To thank the many supporters Alistair Chisholm, Dorchester’s Award Winning Town Crier has written a cry for the community to thank them for their exceptional energy and support. The poem will be provided to all the guests attending on the day and can be seen in full below.
OYEZ ! OYEZ ! OYEZ !
As the County town we’ve faced Covid 19
And responded with vigour to this enemy unseen.
As one, our community has pulled together,
Helped quite a bit by some fabulous weather !
You’ve cared for those who’ve faced this alone,
Getting shopping and meds and chatting on the phone.
Such care and concern, shown by both young and old,
We can’t wait for the stories yet to be told !
Today we salute you with fine food and fine chefs
The best from the Brace…without any efts !
Your example’s inspiring – you’ve done Dorchester proud,
You’re all very special and stand out from the crowd.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
Alistair Chisholm
Town Crier of Dorchester
June 2020
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER
We are very proud to announce we won UK's Best Butcher in the 2020 Farm Shop & Deli Awards.
Spanning 11 categories, as well as a coveted 'Newcomer of the Year' gong, (won by the Brace of Butchers in 2017) the awards, held in partnership with respected trade magazine, The Grocer, were founded to recognise the very best standards in speciality retail and celebrate the highest levels of service, product knowledge, initiative, innovation and community involvement.
Chair of the judges, foodie, broadcaster & presenter, Nigel Barden commented: "From a fantastic collection of speciality retailer finalists, dedicated to artisan quality, service and the communities they serve, we now have the very best of the best! What a fabulous group of winners they are; shining beacons in their respective fields – truly 2020's finest!"
We're naturally delighted to have won the title of Best Butcher 2020. We set up Brace of Butchers from nothing in terms of premises or organisation, but I strongly believe it's the team you create that provides the seed from which everything can grow and enables the development of something exciting, and worthy of winning some great awards. I thank the staff for their commitment and enthusiasm but also the fabulous customers who inspire and encourage us to try new things and to go the extra mile.
The dedicated team has worked hard to make the Brace of Butchers the success it is, and the numbers speak for themselves; in the last year it saw a 28% increase in turnover and a rise in footfall of over 10,000 visits.
The popular butcher is recognised for its affordable quality and exceptional service. The specialist butchers, Rob, Ben & Owen, have a very close relationship with local suppliers and farmers and produce some of the best products available. Unlike supermarkets which purchase separate cuts from several sources, The Brace of Butchers procure entire animals from local farmers which they believe to be respectful and responsible purchasing. The meat is then skilfully aged in-house to improve the texture and flavour before the skilled work starts turning whole sections into all the fantastic cuts you cannot get everywhere. In this way the shop offers over 64 cuts of meat providing unrivalled choice and variety while many of their in-house prepared products are also gluten free.
As one customer put it: "Simply the best meat in the finest shop in Dorset with butchery at its best."
In addition to the finest butchery, the shop has teamed up with some of the best local producers, importers and foodies to offer bread, vegetables, beers & ciders, gin & sparkling wine, game, smoked seafood, beautiful cheeses, fresh baked goods and a fantastic range of local and international charcuterie. This range has allowed the No butchery team to develop a fantastic array of home cooked ready meals and lunchtime solutions developed by Chef Mark with Nuala, Tara, Henry & Julie.
In November 2018 The Brace of Butchers introduced a new section in store called 'Naked Brace'. Here customers buy their meat totally free of single use plastic, bringing their own containers to weigh, fill and label what they want to buy for themselves. The scheme began with just meat but has now extended into refillable milk bottles and raw honey, refill dispensers of grocery lines and an array of unpackaged fruit & vegetables.
This initiative has proved extremely popular with customers: "Brace of Butchers have got it right; a wonderful place to enter full of fabulous locally sourced food. We get our milk from there now refilling glass bottles each time. It's a community hub pushing green ways of shopping and recycling – we love it!"
The judges for the Farm Shop & Deli Awards who visited The Brace of Butchers mirrored the praise of the customers: "They continue to show significant increases in turnover and footfall, while embracing plastic free and environmentally friendly practices, such as reusable packaging and refillable milk stations. A fabulous, modern shop with a smart website, good community links and a customer-first approach."
In the last 2 weeks they have also provided a Home delivery service to residents in two postcode areas. This is run by Hannah & Grace and has grown the customer numbers further and those new patrons of the business are delighted with the over the phone ordering, personal attention to detail and quality.
Here are some quotes from customers in the last 7 days "I am assisting with food boxes, community support etc. I have been hearing how much you and Brace are doing. Just wanted to say THANK YOU – our community survives on people like you" and "Our first order delivered 2 days ago while in self-isolation. Fantastic service from phone call to delivery. You are lifesavers and thank you."
TO MAKE A GREAT CONSTELLATION YOU NEED SEVERAL BRIGHT STARS
To make a great constellation you need several bright stars. That’s the best way I can describe a good business and how Brace of Butchers was able to win the title of the UK’s Best Butcher as voted for in the Farm Shop & Deli Awards.
We set up Brace of Butchers in 2014 from nothing if you look at it as a premises or organisation, but in reality the team you make provides the seed from which to grow everything and enables the creation of something exciting, and worthy of winning some great awards.
Treat others how you were treated. . .
Throughout my life, I have been fortunate enough to meet leaders or influencers that have inspired my ideas, but only a few that allowed these ideas to manifest into actions. The first was Norman who allowed me, at the age of 13, to learn how to grow plants - it sounds basic but it was not just a couple we were doing hundreds, shortly followed by two ladies at a very traditional market nursery/garden centre. They taught me about retail and how to sell without being obvious. Having left school at 15 with limited qualifications, they encouraged me to go to night school, day release college and ultimately pushed me to attend Writtle College aged 18. During my sandwich year, while studying an HND in Commercial Horticulture, Dan Neuterboom taught me the art of bigger business and the idea of running a commercial farm – lots of staff and big dreams - a skill that subsequently allowed me to join The Watercress Company at 22 in a junior technical role. That’s where I met my long-term and current mentor - Peter Old. This relationship has developed into a 22-year partnership based on incredible trust and mutual support that has endured to create some amazing opportunities resulting in big and small adventures. After seven years I was appointed MD and after a further seven, Peter agreed we could build the Brace of Butchers. It was an idea, a new venture that would teach me what it was to stay up at night with excitement and unrest. The idea of opening a butchers during a recession, while butchers were shutting, was the objective – and the solution was how could we reinvent a dying industry.
It’s this trust that has enabled me to progress to the next stage, by creating a team that is dedicated and passionate, determined to achieve the very best they can. The butchery business has pivoted and adapted to the turmoil around us in the market and has a fantastic team in which two enduring characters have been involved from the very start – meet Rob & Ben. I met them many years ago, armed with a whole Iberia Jammon leg (as you do!) and took it down to them where they worked at the time to bone it so I could share it with my fellow team at The Watercress Company. They looked with some confusion but the answer was ‘Yes! Come back later.’ Unfortunately, in the following year the business where they worked folded and after a year of some planning and thinking I approached Rob while he was behind the meat counter at Tesco – he was uninspired, under-utilised and unmotivated by a non butchery business. The offer was made and he looked excited. It was his helping hand in a lifetime’s dream to create a butchery. The text message that followed the first conversation that night was ‘It’s a yes, but I need a co-worker.’ I agreed, and named it the Brace of Butchers immediately. Since then it’s been a constant journey, adapting our thinking, stretching our energy, bringing in new team members and sadly saying goodbye to some too, but this has led to a constellation that looks like something, the lights are brighter than ever and like all good stories, the chapters just keep getting better….
ROB MOTT VISITS BUTCHERS ROB & BEN AT BRACE
Take a step inside Brace of Butchers as Rob Mott comes to visit. Learn more about Naked Brace, why shoppers love supporting their local independent butcher and how Rob & Ben first got into the industry.
Valentine’s special
What’s on your menu this Valentine’s Day? Hear Mark’s take on a romantic Valentine’s dinner, including how to cook the perfect steak, what to dish up alongside it and what wine to serve your loved one.
NATIONAL YOUNG CHEF AND OUR FISHING FOOD HERO
Find out how budding Chef Katie, mentored by Mark Vaughan, is getting on in the National Young Chef competition with her 3 course meal of Ceviche, Rump of Dorset Lamb and Chocolate Mousse. Also, hear Mark’s thoughts on local & sustainable fishing, with a special nod to our fish supplier, West Country Catch.
BURNS MEANS SCOTTISH HAGGIS
Want to try some real Scottish Haggis on Burns night? Not sure what to serve it with? This week Mark talks us through a Scottish menu that is bound to impress your friends and family. Also hear how small, independent businesses are faring against the larger chains on the high street and what Brace are doing to combat the issue of plastic waste with their loose produce and Boomerang Bags.
New Year Culinary Tips
A New Year, a new start and no doubt, some new resolutions. How can we eat healthily without it costing the Earth and taking up too much time in the day? Mark tells Rob Mott some of the ways we can be thrifty with our food whilst maintaining a balanced diet for January.
Christmas Tips
How can you avoid being stuck to the stove on Christmas Day? Mark reveals some top tips to help you get prepared in advance this Christmas. Listen as he talks the perfect roast potato and how to wow with a flaming Christmas pudding.
Talking Turkey
Mark Vaughan talks all things turkey with Rob Mott this week; how to stop it from drying out, what to serve it with and what to do with the leftovers come Boxing Day. Find out what Mark’s plans are for Christmas Day and learn how Brace of Butchers can help pick the perfect turkey for your guests!
BOOMERANG BAGS DORCHESTER WITH DAMERS FIRST SCHOOL
It all begins with an idea.
Dorchester Chamber for Business hosted an Eco Conference by the Damers First School this week at the Dorford Center.
Edd Moore & Catherine Smith with the incredible help from the children were headline speakers, giving a fantastic update on the fundraising, awards, awareness development and lobbying events they have been part of over the last 12 months. The Children were extremely passionate and showed what could be achieved with support from a fantastic team at the school.
We fortunately had the chance to give the 75 strong audience an introduction to Boomerang Bags Dorchester which was brought to our attention by Edd and what made this special was we were also at the location of our first making event planned for 27th February.
Louise at the Dorford Center has kindly agreed to support the event with her time. We can host around 20 at the event and there is plenty of room for the sewing machines. We will need sewers tooled with their own machines, cutters and general helpers so please to go to our Facebook Group to join and commit to coming to the event advertised on Facebook.
Next job will be to set up more events so if you have a team that is interested, or a venue you want to offer please get in contact via the group and we will book it in. We will be making shop stands soon so woodworking skills will be needed.
Many Thanks,
Tom Amery
WEEK 1 - BOOMERAGING BAGS
It all begins with an idea.
So after the first few days of the Boomerang Bags idea hitting the ground the response has been huge. The Facebook feed for the idea has been fantastic and fabric has already started to be dropped off at Naked Brace in their zero single-use plastic shop.
The next plan is to meet with the team this Thursday and work out here the making stations will be. Damers School and Dorset Creative Arts have both been very kind to offer facilities that will have the equipment available. We still need ideas of where we can make so don’t hesitate to suggest - something in the heart of Dorchester would be ideal.
We understand that some will wish to make some bags at home, so to help with this we have listed a template here and can then deliver the completed bags ready for the big launch once we have the first 100 to distribute.
In order to prepare for the launch we need to start taking names of businesses interested in participating. We need a guide on how many bags you feel will represent your weekly use. We have created a short Google Sheets document so we can get in touch once we have the stock available.
NAKED BRACE SUPPORTS BOOMERANG BAGS
We often finish Christmas and look to a new year with plans and intentions to change, any successful business must adapt every week in order to stay fresh for customers and staff alike. Brace of Butchers is small and that ultimately means its nible and our mantra is to do what supermarkets can’t and stock suppliers that can’t supply supermarkets.
Last summer I was swimming Weymouth Bay with Ben who leads the Duchy team at Poundbury and he strongly advised we take up the offer to expand. The challenge is not interest in expansion but what would we do, everyone wanted another restaurant but everyone needed something new and exciting; and that was going to be a packaging free alternative to the successful mother Business and we would call it NAKED BRACE.
The touchpaper was lit and no sooner did we get dry from that swim i started to plan and argue with myself for weeks on how it would look, act and feel. The most important part of any launch is to do it fast as possible, and not all at one time. Businesses and ideas need to mature and staff and customers need to feel it’s their doing not the hot headed office based business boy coming up with endless suggestions on the phone. Listening to the community on ideas that flow with a narrative is the easiest way, and adapting to the contours of the media machine - but it’s really important to focus on positives and not the negatives in the media, it’s all too easy to become occupied by the rhetoric and not the solutions needed to resolve the problem in hand. If you get that right you have the a solution to the declining high street.
We worked fast and achieved a launch in 3 weeks from taking the keys officially, helped by staff and their children we had only hours left before HRH Prince of Wales arrived for a private viewing of the Business in November 2018. He’s been to our shop several times before and has supported our ethos with very kind words which means so much to the whole team.
As I said, you then have to listen and prepare for the ideas and also implement quickly. Since the opening we have started to stock milk from a dispenser eliminating plastic milk bottles, we also stock cleaning liquids and body/hair soaps eliminating more plastic bottles and finally the week raw honey from self dispenser.
The latest and most important update for this blog is the Boomerang Bags. Again, a suggestion from the community and in particular Edd Moore who is a fountain of ideas as he and his pupils at Damers School are very well known for their sustainable ideas as they won national awards for their WAXTASTIC alternative to cling film.
The principle was established in Australia and its simple, the community make bags from donated fabric, then give the to organisations looking to eliminate plastic bag use and the customers get them for free - they just have to honor the return and reuse policy.
It’s easy to understand…we have only just started the process but like all things that are effective and simple - they just work it out for themselves!
HOW BRACE OF BUTCHERS DRY-AGE BEEF TO UMANI PERFECTION.
Our top tips for dry-aging beef that tastes as good as ours!
Top Question in our award winning butchers - Why does our beef tastes so damn good? Sorry, but is a long answer to a long process!
TOP TIPS FOR AGING BEEF PROPERLY
Purchase the very best beef you can afford. We use a grade that sets us apart from the crowd.
Create a dry aging room to age the beef on the bone for up to 40 days or beyond, no contact between the primal joints.
Make sure the air is dry and well circulated, we have moisture reducing fridges but some use Himalayan salt
Break down the carcase at the appropriate time
It’s a carefully controlled symphony of chemical reactions and biological processes, performed day & night since I turned on the fridge in 2014 when we took delivery of our first prized Dorset reared steer. At this point we had no counters in the shop, but that delivery was destined to sell in 4 weeks so the time was ticking. The process from that day has been constant and the team at Brace of Butchers ensure the beef is matured in perfect conditions enhancing flavour and tenderness.
All beef is aged a bit but there are two forms, wet aged i.e. matured in blood sealed in a bag or dry aged, where the beef is hung on the bone and loses a little weight while the chemistry happens inside. The ageing is not the most important bit as all beef is aged for some time. Supermarkets will advertise aging but this can be from as little as eight days. Meat that hasn’t been aged at least this long has a bland and metallic flavour.
On delivery our beef is checked, graded and booked in. We have a strong focus on the provenance and history of our beef so the farmers call in with the information after delivery. They provide rearing history, breed and their thoughts on the confirmation and fat cover (fat thickness). We pay the farmers direct and they get paid more for higher quality beef so it’s in their interest they carefully select the right animal and the call into the shop after delivery allows them to check the weights and grading met their expectations.
The journey starts here, it’s going to take 3-4 weeks minimum, and in that time there will be a constant control of temperature and humidity with good air circulation. The enzymes in the meat break down the protein, fats and glycogen. This process produces fatty and amino acids including glutamates. We have a sister company called The Wasabi Company and we often use the word Umani (one of the 5 basic tastes) as its found in Japanese soy and miso but also found in parmesan cheese. The glutamate is the natural version of MSG and provides an incredible flavour profile when the beef has been aged properly.
As well as this amazing flavour enhancement there are friendly bacteria’s creating tenderness by breaking down the muscle fibres and connective tissues, changing fats and loosening the collagen.
WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN ITS AGED PROPERLY?
A melt in the mouth texture that is very easy to cut
A fine aroma that is full of flavor
A deep mature colour
A flavor that contains the Umani secret
As the beef is aging we are removing cuts that have completed aging process and this creates a part carcass called a Pistola (spanish for pistol as it looks a bit like one). The meat arrived at 75% water and by the end we are expecting to be 70%, or there about. It does not sound much but it is creating a concentration of flavour - like reducing a good sauce.
The rest is all about carefully selecting cuts to meet our customers needs. Our expert butchers are able to assist with expert advice and even give you hands on lessons on how we create the cuts and Joints . Our goal is to ensure you have a better understanding of your local butcher and the science of Butchery at The Brace of Butchers, Poundbury.
Brace of Butchers is an independent business that established in 2014 on the internationally revered Poundbury development in Dorset, UK
To order shipments online call the shop direct o 01305 260956 or click here to arrange a shipment
