Monday, September 22, 2014

Quality Food award for The Burren Smokehouse

The Burren Smokehouse has netted yet another award for their Irish smoked salmon, picking up one of the top prizes at the 2014 Irish Quality Food and Drinks Awards.

The Clare-based family business won the category of “Best Fresh Fish Award” with their Burren Smoked Irish Organic Salmon with Seaweed product.

The Irish Quality Food Awards are open to all Irish retailers, food producers, wholesalers, and food service operators in both the North and South of the island of Ireland. The awards draw on the heritage and expertise built up over 30 years by the UK Quality Food & Drink Awards, now a consumer-recognised brand.
 
The judging took place over two weeks in July at The Dublin Institute of Technology’s School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology.  Every product was evaluated by at least 10 highly experienced judges.
 
Bruce Langlands, Director of Foods at London’s prestigious department store Harrods, congratulated Burren Smokehouse owner-manager Birgitta Hedin Curtin on her continued success when they met at the Awards Dinner at the Mansion House in Dublin. 
 
He said he was "not surprised" at the success of the "Seaweed Salmon" having been a judge at the Great Taste Awards 2013 where the marinade won a 3-star Gold Medal and was named in the TOP 50 Foods out of 10,000 entries. 
 
Burren Smokehouse Ltd. was set up in 1989 by Birgitta and her husband Peter. The company sources quality raw materials for its Burren Smoked Salmon, Trout and Mackerel products, and controls its own quality standards with backup of regular testing from independent laboratories and regular checks from organisations who certify it. The Smokehouse currently employs a staff of 18, and ships within Ireland and to countries all over the world.

Burren Smokehouse have been supplying Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges and Harrods in London as well as independent retailers like Avoca, Donnybrook Fair, Fallon & Byrne in Dublin, chefs like Ross Lewis in Chapter One, Dylan McGrath in Fade Street Social, Nevin Maguire in MacNeen’s Restaurant. The company also supplied Burren Smoked Irish Wild Salmon for the Irish State Dinner held during Queen Elizabeth II’s historic visit to Ireland in 2011.