News…

World Steak Challenge Winner

Congratulations to our steak supplier John Gilmour Butchers who were recently awarded two gold medals in the 2021 World Steak Challenge, an international competition featuring some of the best butchers and beef producers across the world.

The World Steak Challenge is an international competition, featuring some of the best butchers and beef producers across the world – it is truly a certification of excellence judged by the finest chefs and industry members across the globe. Each steak is judged on various technical criteria – appearance, aroma, colour, marbling, tenderness, flavour, and succulence.

The steaks that they entered came from an Aberdeen Angus heifer. This individual animal has been taken grass-fed for the majority of its life on the amazing Kirkton farm by the Bell family. Kirkton is located in the picturesque Borders of Scotland. It has been ‘finished’ for the last 4 months on a mixture of silage, spent grains left after the malting process (draff).

They also fed this animal an additive of red seaweed (Asparagopsis taxiformis) which can reduce methane emissions from cattle by 80%. The heifer itself was UTM (under thirty months), which is why the texture of the beef is so fine. This individual animal’s breeding can be directly traced back to a bull (Belhaven Ecurie Ecosse) that John Gilmour himself bred in his world famous Belhaven Aberdeen Angus herd.

Congratulations again from the team at ABB

Sustainability

The quality and sustainability of the beef and indeed all food we serve to our customers is important to the team at Alston, so we always endeavour to recycle, cut waste and save energy as much as we can.

• Our beef comes from sustainable farms, just down the road in the Scottish Borders
• We use local suppliers where possible including our family Butcher, John Gilmour
• Careful stock management and holding practices has reduced our food waste to almost zero
• We reuse certain food products/peelings as garnishes where possible
• We work closely with Network Rail and recycle all our glass, cardboard and general waste.
• Reduce printed material, but when it’s required always use recyclable paper
• We use refillable spray bottles, sanitiser and hand wash throughout the unit.
• Energy saving lightbulbs are used in the bar & restaurant.
• Equipment turned off when not in use where possible
• Maintaining equipment; all equipment is maintained to the best of our ability and where possible will be repaired rather than replaced.
• Our straws are made from recycled materials and only given out to customers upon request.

Plate up for Glasgow

Alston took part in  Plate up for Glasgow, which is a campaign that aimed to highlight the issue of food waste and its impact on climate change.

Our chefs have always been focused on reducing food waste and they have created an additional “sustainable” starter that will be available from 12 October – 12 November.

Diamond steak starter with potato skin bhaji and coriander stem chutney

This dish is particularly low waste since  the Diamond cut is a relatively new cut of beef, not normally known to customers. It has beautiful subtle flavours and when treated and cooked well, this steak resembles a fillet or single muscle rump.
The potato skins are left over from the mash within our a la carte menu while the coriander stems come from coriander used in garnishes.

Climate positive gin cocktails

The bar team have created a few cocktails using Nadar Gin, which harnesses the power of nature and science to create this world first spirit. With a carbon footprint of -1.54 kg CO2e per 700ml bottle, Nàdar Gin is at the forefront of fighting climate change and biodiversity loss, the biggest challenges humankind has ever faced.

We are also recycling coffee grounds from our neighbour, Gordon St Coffee, as well as orange slices & peels (that would be discarded by most) to create a unique syrup used in a number of our cocktails… details to follow

Quality Meat Scotland

Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and Meat Promotion Wales / Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) have collated some interesting facts and figures for you so click here to find out more