Meat

The Fisherman’s Retreat has farming roots and we are surrounded by 80 acres of our own land. We rear cattle, pigs and red deer therefore at least 50% of the meat on our menu throughout the year is our own home-reared beef, pork, and venison.

Understanding the Meat Ageing Process

Beef is aged by holding at temperatures between 1 and 3 °C for extended periods of time after slaughter and initial chill. Ageing improves the tenderness and flavour of the meat. There are two methods for ageing meat – wet ageing and dry ageing.

Dry Ageing

When an animal is slaughtered the glycogen (a form of carbohydrate only found in animal tissue) goes through a series of chemical changes resulting in the formation of lactic acid which then lowers the PH of the muscle. The increase in acidity helps to tenderise the meat because it aids in breaking down the proteins and also makes the meat less hospitable to bacteria which allow it to keep better.

The meat is then hung in a very clean, temperature and humidity controlled cooler for a certain period of time dependant on a number of factors (six to eight weeks at The Fisherman’s Retreat).During this time enzymes within the meat break down the muscle and connective tissue making it even more tender and producing a distinctive flavour.

Dry aging proves expensive due to the fact that a large amount of meat has to be stored to ensure a constant supply which represents a considerable amount of inert capital, also a lot of weight is lost due to evaporation and the surface of the meat has to be trimmed before use resulting in further loss.

Wet Ageing

Occurs when meat is vacuum packed in plastic and sits in its own juices for about three weeks, there is no significant weight loss so it is much more cost effective but the end result is far from that of the quality of dry ageing

Top ^