Donald Russell Butchers Favourite Selection and Butchery Masterclass

Thursday 16 October 2014
Based in Aberdeenshire, Donald Russell are an award winning and royal warrant holding online butcher. As an existing customer and fan of their quality produce I was delighted to be offered a Butchers Favourite Selection to cook with. My parcel arrived in a sturdy polystyrene box packed with dry ice. Everything is vacuum packed and ready to transfer into your own freezer. You can choose the date for your delivery and leave instructions of where it should be left if you are out, the insulated coolbox will ensure that the contents remain frozen. The accompanying 'How to Meat Perfection' booklet is my go to guide for how to cook each and every cut of Beef, Pork and Lamb.
The selection contained : 
2 Ribeye Steaks, individually packed (pack weight 270g)
1 pack Minced Steak (pack weight 440g)
1 pack Diced Steak (pack weight 440g)
1 pack Beef Stir Fry Strips (pack weight 440g)
4 Pave Rump Medallions, 2 packs of 2 (pack weight 270g)
8 Pork Sausages, 2 packs of 4 (pack weight 280g)

And here's what I made with it...

Smoked Paprika, Beef and Vegetable Casserole - Diced Steak
Perfect comfort food and amazingly tender beef. My only slight issue was that the diced steak was in huge chucks so I had to fish it out from my pan and cut it up further. Smoked paprika adds a fantastic colour and flavour to any dish. Its one of my favourite ingredients.
Toad in the Hole - 8 Pork Sausages
The pork sausages were fantastic but our toad was somewhat solid and flat. Not quite sure what went wrong? It was a Delia recipe that I've used before. Anyone got one that's fail safe?
Moussaka - Minced Steak
There aren't many foods that I don't like but one of them is aubergines. Hence this was a slightly cheats version of moussaka made with courgettes. I absolutely love Donald Russel Mince. Its made from offcuts from their top quality steaks and you can really see and taste the difference.
Mexican BBQ Wrap - Beef Stirfry Strips
Again these were much more substantial in size than I expected and would have benefited from being sliced finer. I added Pitboss BBQ sauce and served them on a wrap with refried beans, green tomato salsa, soured cream and cheese.
Ribeye Steaks
Quality steaks don't need messing about with. I cooked these rare on the Optigrill and served them up with Potato Crush, Peppercorn Sauce and mixed beans and peas. Delicious!

Stir Fried Vegetables and Noodles - Pave Rump Medallions
You'll see from the photo that I really do like my steak rare. Mooing is good for me and well done is sacrilege. But each to their own. These wee medallions are so versatile and unbelievably tender. These steaks are expertly cut from the centre of the rump. You can see Donald Russell Head Butcher, Mark Farquhar, explaining the step by step process in the masterclass video below. The whole beef fillet is expertly butchered into Chateaubriand, Centre Cut Fillet Log, Fillet steaks and Fillet tail.



Disclaimer : Donald Russel provided me with a Butchers Favourite Selection and have compensated me for my time in writing this post. All views expressed are my own.

2 comments

  1. I normally just use my usual Yorkshire pudding recipe for my toad with a little extra. 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 2 eggs and a good pinch of salt (I use a bit less than this for my puds as otherwise I have too much batter left over). You can add other things to it and generally get a good result as long as the oil in the tin is nice and hot when the batter goes in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing Sarah. I'll give your one a try next time.

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