WEST Cork was well represented at the World Butchers’ Challenge by Leap man, Ger O’Callaghan.
Ger, who was part of a team of six master butchers, but the only Munster man on the team, described the international event as being ‘the Olympics of meat’.
The Irish national butchering team, which included Mark Williams, James Murphy, Paul Hamilton, James Etherson, and Bernadetta Murphy, was held in Paris last week.
Ger (back, second from left) with the Irish team of James Etherson, Mark Williams, Paul Hamilton, Bernadeta Murphy, and team captain Jim Murphy.
The 34-year-old confirmed to The Southern Star that the team have been placed in the top five and took the title for the world’s best chicken product for their Chicken Italiano.
Ger described how, over a three-and-a-half-hour period, the team had to break down a side of beef, a side of pork, a full lamb and five chickens and construct a dazzling fresh meat display utilising all of the meat and minimizing waste.
As part of the brief, he said their aim was to make the most products with the least amount of waste, which ties in with sustainability and getting the best deal from a carcass.‘It’s like a battle of the wits,’ he said. ‘Whatever you thought you knew about butchering is turned on its head!’
‘You are working with five of the best and the brightest minds in meat in the country, but you are up against 15 other teams with six world-class butchers each.
‘Basically, you are battling it out against 90 other butchers for the title of best butchers in the world,’ said Ger, who was also on the panel for the 2022 competition in Sacramento in California.
The Irish team finished fourth in the world in ’22 and also took the title of world’s best pork sausage.
Ger is no stranger to the medals podium having previously won Blas na nEireann awards in 2018 and 2019, as well as numerous awards for his burger and sausage products as part of competitions organised by the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland.
Previously, Ger was the head butcher at the Drinagh Eurospar in Skibbereen, but for the last three years he has been sharing his skills with up and coming butchers as the lead craft butchery instructor with the Cork Education and Training Board.
Ger takes his role in training apprentice butchers seriously. ‘I am responsible for training the next generation of butchers and that ties in pretty well because it keeps you sharp, and in the game,’ he said.
