An Aberdeen-Angus bull strutted his stuff down Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens earlier this week to promote the upcoming World Angus Forum, which comes to Scotland later this year.
Retties ACDC, from Richard and Carol Rettie’s Retties herd near Alloa, paid a visit to the capital alongside celebrity chef Jak O’Donnell of The Sisters restaurants in Glasgow’s Jordanhill and Kelvingrove.
Accompanied by Mrs Rettie, the young bull’s city trip also marked the launch of a new competition being run by the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
Students at Scottish catering colleges are being invited to enter the Aberdeen-Angus Scotch Beef Award to be in with a chance of winning a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Dubai to work with acclaimed Scottish chef Tristin Farmer. A further two finalists will receive work experience with Jak O’Donnell at her Glasgow restaurants.
Entrants will be tasked with devising a main course dish featuring Aberdeen-Angus Scotch Beef as the main ingredient, as well as two Aberdeen-Angus Scotch Beef canapes using mystery ingredients.
The canape dishes from the three finalists will be served at the World Angus Forum’s gala dinner at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh on June 26.
Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society chief executive, Johnny Mackey, said: “This competition will allow entrants to showcase the quality of the beef at the same time as demonstrating their flair, imagination and ingenuity.”
QMS head of communications, Carol McLaren, said: “We hope this initiative will help to inspire our chefs of the future about top quality Scotch Beef as well as improving their understanding of the quality assurance, high standards of animal welfare and stockmanship skills behind it. Our sincere thanks go to Tristin and Jak for all their support.”