CATE DEVINE
FOOD WRITER
Salami, pastramis and bresaola are delicacies usually associated with Italy, though high-end Scottish charcuterie, made with locally reared venison, organic pork, wild boar and even mutton by innovative artisan producers, has recently entered the field.
Now, however, the stakes are set to be raised even higher with the launch of the first-ever Scottish Wagyu salami, bresaola and pastrami. It is made with famously marbled beef offcuts of Wangus, the prized Wagyu/Aberdeen Angus crossbreed cattle raised in Perthshire. At around £12 per 100g in shops it will be around three times the price of supermarket charcuterie, and double that of most Scottish artisan ranges. For chefs, the per-kilo price will range from £60 to £220 a kilo. Plans are already underway for the world launch of pure Wagyu bresaola and salt beef, which would be at least three times that price and which breeder Martine Chapman describes as “mindblowing”.
Highland Wagyu Charcuterie is the brainchild of Mohsin Al-Tajir, son of the billionaire Highland Spring owner Mohammed Madhi Al-Tajir, and his wife Martine Chapman, who in 2012 returned from Dubai to begin a new life as breeders of the highly pampered cattle whose beef is prized the world over for its marbling, which gives it a soft texture and intense flavour. They now have the largest herd of full-blood Wagyu in the UK. They also have an Aberdeen Angus and pedigree Shorthorn cross-breeding programme in place. Following the recent acquisition of award-winning Aberdeen Angus herd at neighbouring Netherton Farm, the pair now own 1600 head of cattle and are on track to have the largest pedigree herd in the world.
Wagyu are more expensive to breed than indigenous beef cattle because they are slaughtered at three years old instead of the usual two, as they only start to marble at two years. They consume large quantities of silage feed, barley-based concentrate and powdered organic Shetland seaweed to increase fertility and encourage a healthy, warm coat.
To protect them from unnecessary stress and fractures, the animals – which are fine-boned and have an unusually high meat-to-bone ratio – are kept in airy sheds that are Zen-like in their peacefulness.
Trade customers for the pure Wagyu beef – slaughtered at the ScotBeef abattoir in Bridge of Allan – have included double Michelin star London chefs Sat Bains and Helene Darroze at The Connaught; Edinburgh Michelin star chef Tom Kitchin, James Petrie of the Gordon Ramsay Group, Adam Handling at the Caxton and a range of international private clients prepared to pay around £150 a kilo for prime cuts, or £8000 for a full blood carcass – six times the price of commercial beef.
The Al Tajirs hope they will be as excited about the new charcuterie as they are about the prime beef.
Retail is a new departure for them. At the Royal Highland Show in June they sold 1000 vacuum-packed Wangus steaks at £20 each, half the price and thickness of the normal steaks to make them more affordable, and to help introduce the public to their unique attributes. They also sold out of the Wangus Cote de Boeuf steaks at £220 each.
The new charcuterie, made with topside, silverside and chuck, has not gone on retail sale yet, though it can be sampled at No16 Deli in Bridge of Allan, where owner Mark Heirs, a former chef, has also made the world’s first Wangus Scotch Pies at £5 a pop.
“We are very excited about our new charcuterie, which is made in our London distribution plant Highland Wagyu Beef,” said Martine Chapman. “The range is ongoing and we are trying out different cuts. It is a great way to taste our beef.”
The next new product to hit the market will be Wagyu beef dripping, for the poshest chips on earth.
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