National Butchers' Week is dedicated to championing butchers and their craft, at the beginning of March each year. This week gives us the opportunity to celebrate the craft we have proudly kept at the heart of Donald Russell for over 50 years. National Butchers' week is also the perfect time to learn about, and try new cuts recommended by the experts behind the craft.
Build your own Meat Box for £30 from a selection of beef, lamb and pork lines, including our Great Taste Award-winning 97% Pork Sausages and customer favourite Beef Rib Trim. Simply select 2 beef, 2 lamb and 2 pork lines to build your own restaurant-quality box and save up to £36.
QUALITY
At Donald Russell, quality is at the heart of everything we do. Our Butchers are highly trained through sight, touch and even smell to understand when each cut is at the peak of quality and maturation. It is through this highly skilled craftmanship that our products are produced to a standard that is akin to that found in some of the world's best restaurants. We have a highly-skilled Chef and an expert Quality Assurance Team to ensure this.
CRAFTSMANSHIP
These products are prepared from scratch using traditional butchery methods. We prepare from prime cuts of meat trimming to the highest of specifications before cutting the final product to size.
We have a wide range of show-stopping products at Donald Russell that we make here in our butchery in Inverurie, including all our burgers & sausages. We ensure to use the finest quality ingredients which are carefully crafted by a team with a wealth of experience.
HERITAGE
The Butcher that started it all, championing the craft of Butchery and producing/delivering the very best to the world's best restaurants and doors of discerning customers across the UK. Proud to be based in the small but vibrant village of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire in the picturesque Scottish countryside, we bring the best of Scottish produce to the customers across the country, championing our suppliers alongside our own established methods.
Centre Cut Fillet Steak
Our Centre Cut Fillet Steaks are cut by hand, from a lesser used muscle, and matured for at least 28 days, in our Aberdeenshire butchery, to give them their award-winning tenderness with the finest taste.
Ribeye Steak
Our award-winning Ribeye Steaks are traditionally prepared and matured here in Aberdeenshire. Due to the generous marbling and fat content of this cut, our Ribeye Steaks pack a big hit of intensely rich, beefy flavour.
Traditional Rump Steak
Our Traditional Rump Steaks are cut by hand in our Aberdeenshire butchery and matured for at least 35 days. Due to the area these Steaks are cut from and thin layer of fat around the edge, to enhance the flavour when cooked, these steaks are packed full of robust flavour.
Sirloin Steak
As the muscle in the Sirloin area is quite active, Sirloin Steaks are typically leaner with subtle marbling. Our Sirloin Steaks are hand-prepared and traditionally matured, in our Aberdeenshire butchery, for at least 28 days to give them an award-winning balance of tenderness and notably rich, meaty flavour.
Mark
Master Butcher
Ravin
Butcher
Irvine
Butcher
Dave
Head of Butchery
We're passionate about the traditional skills of craft butchery and passing them on to the next generation. Even with all the advances in technology which make the job easier, it's essential to have an expert touch, what we call the 'Butcher's eye'. We work with all of our apprentices to make sure that this is passed on along with the skills and techniques needed to do the job.
There are a lot of skills a Butcher needs, but if we had to choose the most important, it would be hand-eye coordination. Hand-eye coordination is an essential skill for Butchers, as it enables them to work quickly and efficiently with a sharp knife without risking injury.
In addition to hand-eye coordination, depth perception is also a crucial skill. This allows them to estimate precisely how much meat to cut. This way they can reduce waste and make each cut visually pleasing.
At Donald Russell, we don’t just cut and sell meat, we own the whole process. We control the buying, aging, cutting, packaging and selling, in order to allow us to bring you the best quality meat from our butchery to your dinner table.
Our uncompromising commitment to quality means that only around 50% of the beef available to buy is of a high enough standard for us to even consider it. Even if it's within that 50%, our expert Butchers will reject anything they feel isn't perfect. This quality control happens all the way through the process. Anything that's not good enough for the finest Chefs isn't good enough for our customers.
You might think fresher is better, but when it comes to meat, the aging process is crucial. It transforms the good cuts into great ones. Aging refers to the time that the meat is stored under controlled conditions to improve its tenderness, texture, and flavour.
Anyone who has tasted a properly aged steak can attest to the remarkable difference. Aging allows for the development of complex flavours and unique aromas that you simply won’t find in fresh meat.
