McGeoughs is a third-generation family butcher based in Oughterard, Co Galway. The family business has grown from the butcher shop serving local customers to a renowned supplier of premium meat products, mainly to top-tier hotels and restaurants in Ireland and abroad.

The company trades under the Connemara Fine Foods brand, with the aim of providing premium charcuterie products using the finest local ingredients. Eamonn McGeough, originally from Monaghan, moved to England in his 20s where he worked in a butcher shop on Edgeware Road, London. Fifteen years later, an advert in an Irish paper advertising a shop for sale in Ougherard, Co Galway, caught his interest. In 1986, the McGeough family relocated to the small village in the west of Ireland.

Masters degree

In 1990, Eamonn’s son James joined the business after spending six years studying for a masters degree in butchery in Germany. It was there he met his wife Christa.

Living in Germany allowed him to learn new ways of doing things. It gave him the confidence to experiment and develop new products, including award-winning air-dried and smoked meats and salamis.

From small beginnings, McGeoughs is now one of Ireland’s leading meat innovators. Its extensive range includes air-dried lamb, beef and pork, air-dried ham, salami, smoked and unsmoked sausages, dry-cured rashers, black and white puddings, and smoked pâté.

Justin McGeough, the third generation of the family to continue on the tradition, gave a tour of the impressive facilities. The wonderful display and array of meats and other locally sourced products ensures that the shop is always buzzing. And the range of different accents one hears at the counter is testament to how far people travel to shop at McGeoughs.

From the drying rooms, to the smokery, to the pristine cutting rooms, everything is done to perfection at the shop. The extent of the regulation and exacting requirements make certain that products are first class. The production workshop conforms to the highest EU regulations and has an export licence.

Justin explained that they are aiming at the top end of the market. Just as the Parma area of Italy has its ham and the Dordogne area of France its truffles, Connemara now has its own answer in the form of air-dried smoked lamb.

Air-dried lamb is produced in only a handful of countries throughout the world and appears in high-end hotels and restaurants worldwide. Adding that kind of value does not come without huge effort and commitment, involving long hours sourcing, processing and marketing the product.

The meats are cured or marinated in local herbs, garlic, juniper berries, mint, lemon, orange and cloves for over five weeks.

The meat is turned and massaged every day to ensure moisture and flavour in every slice. It is then hung in drying rooms for up to eight months. The temperature, humidity and air circulation in the drying rooms are closely regulated.

The meat is hung in special bags, allowing it to mature, similar to cheese making. At regular intervals it is individually pressed to remove moisture and shape the final product. In total, the meat has to be tended 67 times over the whole period of the process.

The smoking process

The next stage of the process involves smoking the product for anything from 12 to 24 hours. Beech chips, oak or turf are used to give the distinctive flavour to the meat.

The fuel is set alight and when the smoke levels are adequate, the meat is left hanging in the smokery to absorb the chosen flavour.

Finally, the meat is sliced and packed in specially designed packs.

Because these products are aimed at the high end of the market, the promotion and marketing has to be aimed at the high-profile chefs and restaurants.

Acknowledgements by such people are invaluable and McGeoughs has been lucky to have received rave reviews from some of the best. Bord Bia has been very helpful.

An example of this was where McGeoughs’ air-dried lamb was included in gourmet food hampers that were delivered to 69 Irish embassies all over the world, from Boston to Budapest, on St Patrick’s Day in 2012. It also featured at the Ryder Cup in the K Club in 2006.

McGeoughs has featured in food programmes on TV both here and in Britain and has won prestigious awards at both national and international level, including the gold star at the Internationale Vakwedstejt in Utrecht.

The achievements of the McGeough family show what can be done when a quality indigenous product is processed locally, adding real value and creating a brand that is recognised not just nationally but internationally as well.

It would seem a very natural progression that Connemara hill lamb should be exclusively used in the production of the air-dried lamb. At a time when hill sheep farming is struggling to provide a viable income, everyone involved at all stages of the production, processing and marketing process must work closely to maximise the take from what is a unique product from a world-famous landscape.

As the next generation, there has to be a future for Justin McGeough and the young farmers who will continue to farm hill sheep in Connemara. A sound foundation has been laid. With vision and commitment, the sky is the limit.