Seamus Bracken’s award-winning butchers on the Lynn Road, Mullingar, has yet more reason to celebrate after taking gold in the All Ireland Cook Off 2016.
By Claire Corrigan
Seamus Bracken, who has been 26 years in business, has long been passionate about providing top-class products and service to his many loyal customers from when he first started out on his own in Clonmore in the industrial estate in 1990.
His staff, who have been with him, since the start, are equally as passionate and are always on hand to offer friendly expert advice on how to create the perfect meal.
Seamus, who has two daughters, Louise and Laura, said his love of butchery and cooking came after taking a job at a local shop when he was still at school. “I got my first job at 14 in a butcher shop part-time to get a few pound- pocket money was scarce at the time. I was glad of the job and I liked it.”
The Kinnegad native, whose father and grandfather were both tailors, worked in the butcher department at Tescos for eight years later got a job in Tullamore working for an independent butcher. “After that I decided I didn’t want to work for other people and moved into Mullingar and I decided to open my own business.”
Seamus has a great love of cooking myself and is more than happy to give customers tips on how to cook the perfect dish. “We tell them how to cook the meat and if we give them ideas on different meals they might like to do. If they’re having dinner for two or 20, we can cater for all that.”
“We have really good staff too. I have three men working here with me for the last twenty years and they have great experience, and I couldn’t have done it without them,” he added
Seamus entered the first stage of the cooking competition at the Agricultural Show in Mullingar before progressing on to the big final at the Clogher Valley Show in Tyrone.
He said he had a great reaction to the steak dish he served up in his hometown. “The judges said the steak was really well cooked. We added a lot of special touches to the dish too, like homemade chips and a lovely potato rosti. We also had some onion and courgette. We used the courgette for the gravy too, which people were mad about. Someone asked me could he keep the gravy and when it was all gone, he asked if he could scrape the pot so to me that was a good sign!”
Although first prize went to another Mullingar cook, Seamus placed very high in the competition, and after another entrant pulled out of the finals in Tyrone, he was approached about taking part on the day.
“For the final we had an hour to cook a dish and we were all given the same ingredients, which included a whole chicken, rapeseed oil, two slices of bread, onion, potatoes, chicken, beef stock and wine. ”
For his dish, Coq Au Vin (a classic French chicken dish), Seamus wasted none of the ingredients supplied. “Some people may only use the chicken fillet but I use every bit of the chicken and I use it in making the stock too. The judges said that I had used the ingredients well to make a french classic dish and they were very impressed that I used up everything. It’s a skill that I would have got from my mother because she was very thrifty in her cooking. She was a really good cook and she taught me and my six sisters to cook. They are all amazing cooks. I had a twin brother, Stephen, who died over twenty years ago and I found out afterwards that he used to cook the dish a lot.”
Seamus, whose brother Joe who owns Bracken’s Bar in Kinnegad, said that, on occasion, he has even cooked for his customers at their home. “We had a raffle in the shop and the prize was that we would go to someone’s house and cook for six people which I did. I don’t mind if someone wants me to go and cook something for them in their house. It’s no problem.”
Seamus said the store is different from the supermarkets in that they can prepare the meat to the satisfaction of the customer. “We cut the meat to your preference, whereas, with supermarkets, you just get what they have available on the shelf. People are eating healthier and want lean meat, which has become very popular. We work with the gyms in town and they help promote us too. You can get meat at a lot of places but if you want to walk in and get what you want, we can get it for you and make burgers whatever way you want them right there and then.”
