A Forfar farmer is set to turn the tables on Far Eastern Wagyu with the first export of Native Angus beef to Hong Kong’s top food hall.
A ribye cut of rare Native Angus, grass-fed and beautifully marbled, from Geordie Soutar of Dunlouise farm.
When the meat from a two-year-old Forfar-raised native black Angus steer named Jipsey Wallace - raised by Geordie and Julia Soutar of Dunlouise Farm in Angus - went on sale this week at Hong Kong’s upmarket city’super food hall, gastronomers in the Far East got a rare bite of Scotland for the first time anywhere in the world (apart perhaps from Edinburgh, where a small tasting event was held last year in the St James Quarter).
At city’super a choice of various cuts of Native Angus beef - including steaks, flank for stir-fry, and even beef sashimi - are set to be displayed alongside the world-famous grain-fed Wagyu beef originally from the Far East, which is widely celebrated for its fatty marbling and melt-in-the-mouth texture.
I think this is a fascinating development even if you’re not necessarily into agriculture, farming and even consuming beef. Original Native Angus a new-to-market Scottish product that has crystal-clear provenance, is more environmentally sustainable, and it also meets a growing movement away from grain-fed meat, especially with the soaring price of imported grain for animal feed. Apart from that, I like the idea that it’s going head-to-head (or horn-to-horn) with the world-famous and expensive Wagyu (pictured left), which is fed on grain.
Unlike the better-known and ubiquitous Aberdeen Angus, Native Angus contains no imported bloodlines, is finished only on grass as opposed to grain, and is descended from the original 19th century breed native to Banff and Angus in the 1830s. By contrast Aberdeen Angus is one of the most famous beef breeds, developed originally from the slow- maturing, black, horned cattle of Forfarshire (now the county of Angus) which were crossed with other breeds.
The Angus was widely exported during the 20th century and there are large populations of the breed abroad particularly in the U.S.A, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South America. Many of these animals have been imported into the UK and widely used - thus endangering the original Angus population.
In fact the entire Native Angus breed was facing wipe-out until 1995, when Geordie Soutar of Dunlouise farm in Angus saved it from extinction.
Geordie Soutar, who recently received an MBE for his efforts in keeping and maintaining a global genetic pool of Native Angus, said: “This is a new venture for us and I think it is absolutely tremendous. So far we’ve been very hi-tech, exporting semen and live breeding animals in our bid to establish the blueprint of the breed.
“But this is pretty unique because it’s the first time the meat from a steer with full Native Angus pedigree will have been exported and go straight to retail.
“It’s not supermarket beef; this is a premium retail product more expensive than normal meat. The beast has never left the farm in its life and has never eaten cereal. It’s healthy beef that ticks all the right boxes in terms of clear provenance and environmental benefits as well as fantastic flavour.
“Jipsey Wallace is bred slightly fatter with more marbling as is beef sold in Asia. I would think at dity’super they will probably sell it as thin slivers or cubes to be served with rice. It will be very interesting to see the reaction in Hong Kong. If the feedback is positive we have two more steers in the pipeline to send.
“It tickles me to think that we’re now sending Native Angus beef to Wagyu country.”
Andrew Duff of MacDuff speciality meat wholesalers in Wishaw, who sold the Native Angus beef to city’super via a Scottish food exporter to Asia, said: “This is a really significant move, the next step of a truly grassroots movement.
“It is another key moment in the breed’s regeneration and resurgence. It means that the original Scottish bloodlines are coming into a major emerging global market.”
Jipsey Wallace with Forfar farmer Geordie Soutar MBE and his wife Julia.
ENDS