Kettyle Irish Foods creates a richly flavoured burger with Guinness

Fermanagh ‘son of the soil’ Maurice Kettyle has created a method of processing premium meat that’s recently been described as producing “the finest dry-aged beef in the world” by a leading British restaurateur.

Maurice, who grew up on the family beef farm in Fermanagh is a pioneer in dry-ageing of beef in caves lined with bricks of Irish salt moss for unique taste and texture.

In addition to featuring on the menus of high-end restaurants in the UK, Ireland, other parts of Europe and the Middle East, steaks from Kettyle Irish Foods, the processing business he established in Lisnaskea in 2004, are in the chillers of major food retailers

including Marks and Spencer.

Maurice set up the processing operation from a career in meat production, marketing and wholesale operations here and abroad.

He’s also created a richly flavoured burger in association with Guinness Ireland for selected retailers and hospitality outlets across Ireland.

Maurice shares a passion for quality and outstandingly tasty beef with Peter Hannan of Hannan Meats in Moira, another acclaimed pioneer of premium beef and lamb.

Based in a modest factory at Mandeville Business Park in Lisnaskea, Kettyle Irish Foods, part of Linden Foods in Dungannon, which is itself a subsidiary of ABP, Ireland’s largest processor of a range of Irish meats, has won widespread acclaim including UK Great Taste and World Steak Challenge awards.

Maurice based the business on a desire to “do something quite different” in processing steak: “We decided to create our own new and unique salt moss ageing chambers using hand-crafted seaweed salt bricks – bringing the Irish sea to the Irish land.

“Our salt moss ageing process concentrates the flavour of the meat and almost renders the fat to a dry flakiness. Loins and ribs are also cocooned which relaxes the muscles to create an exquisitely tender eating experience. The dry nature of salt aged beef enables it to caramelise quickly in the pan, sealing and locking in the sweet yet nutty beefiness. The colour profile is that of treacle – rich and dark.”

He works with grass-reared Aberdeen Angus, Hereford and Dexter breeds for greater consistency in the quality of meat and liaises with around 40 farmers especially in terms of diet and husbandry.

Grass-reared beef is nutrient-rich with health benefits including fewer calories, greater Omega 3, vitamin A and E and micronutrients, all of which emanate from the animals living a healthy life on lush pastures. The meat is then aged in the salt moss chambers to increase flavour and to tenderise.

Antonio’s restaurant on Merseyside is the most recent eatery to acclaim Kettyle’s steak as “the finest Irish dry aged beef in the world”.

Tony Cummins, owner of Antonio’s, an upmarket Italian restaurant, continues: “The food and hospitality industry is continuously evolving. I want Antonio’s to stand for value and integrity. Our journey is taking us back to the roots; the core you might say, of yesteryear, where produce was right.

"We want to bring that back. We ensure every ingredient used in our dishes is sourced with integrity and sustainability. In doing so we ensure all of our dishes have a unique and personal history and a story to tell.

“Kettyle’s salt moss ageing process provides an all rounded, well-balanced flavour that is unique. When hearing about Maurice’s incredible and pioneering produce, we knew we had to have this beef on our menu.”

He added: "Samples arrived two weeks prior to our trip over to Fermanagh and the rest is history. I have eaten beef all my life and let me tell you, I love my food, especially a good steak.”

The beef, he says, is being produced by “a man with sustainability in mind, a man who has worked the lands from a young boy and is someone who has great respect for the people and the families that have nurtured the lands and its produce with love for generations”.