Breed Beef at Oxtail & Trotter

Ready for this weekend Hugh has sourced some delicious White Park beef for the counter. Here is a little about this breed and why it's well worth popping down to the shop to try some:

White Park Cattle

White Park Cattle are a very old breed of beef cattle, kept in Britain for more than 2,000 years but which are now rare. They are closely descended from Britain's original wild white cattle that were enclosed in parks by the nobility during the middle ages.

By the end of the 19th century such parks had largely gone out of fashion and the breed struggled to survive until 1973 when the Rare Breeds Survival Trust was formed and chose the White Park as its logo. From around 60 animals left in the breed at that time, the numbers have grown so that there are now more than 750 adult breeding cows. The breed is classed as "Minority" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

The White Park is distinguished in looks – large white animals with black points on their muzzle, ears, eye-rims and feet. The elegant wide-spreading horns are usually black-tipped. They have excellent foraging ability and longevity are also notable. The cows breed until they are typically 12 to 16 years old, though some breed up to more than 20 years of age.

White Park beef is lean, tasty, well marbled and it cooks beautifully. As usual our beef is dry aged on the bone to ensure you get the natural juices produced are full of flavour. White Park is best cooked at a slightly lower temperature, over a longer period of time than modern beef breeds. The meat is much sought after and sold by name in top restaurants and sold at a premium in these establishments.

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