So how about if we told you that one of our award-winning craft butchers has found a way to improve even further on this traditional method, practised for centuries. Sean Kelly of Kelly’s of Newport has found a way to add even more deeply intense tastes, succulent texture, and melting tenderness to his beef.

Sean is well known for creating premium products, winning many medal honours for his home-produced black puddings. This month, he now proudly presents Kelly’s Sirloin Steak in Suet, Aged for 56 Days. Yes, you did read that correctly! Two whole months of ageing, to give the ultimate tender and deeply flavourful steak, created with time, love, care, historical methods, and superlative butchering skills. Sean’s beef comes from his own and local herds, processed at his small abattoir at the shop in Newport. From here, it is dry-aged in the usual way by hanging on the bone for 28 days. After that, things get really interesting! The sirloin is then brought to a specific temperature, before being carefully laid in a deep golden pool of melted dripping made from prime Irish beef suet

It’s then chilled, so the suet sets and encloses the steak in a thick protective layer. Here it will remain, encased in a completely airtight chrysalis of beautiful natural suet, for a further 28 days, when the magic will happen! This method allows the beef to age without any deterioration. No salt is used, so there is no dehydration of the meat or impairment of taste.

When the ageing time is up and the suet shell is carefully cracked open, a gourmet treasure lies within. Get ready for a melt-in-the-mouth piece of sirloin steak, which when cooked has a myriad of complex flavours. This is a gourmet experience if ever there was one!

What’s more, the suet is also useful for frying your steak to preference –  and making fantastic roast potatoes to go with it. Nothing goes to waste, as heritage and tradition are respected in this unique and highly prized product.

There are limited stocks of Kelly’s Sirloin in Suet available this festive season. If you’re drooling already, as we most certainly are, make sure to visit their review page here, where you can find out more about the Mayo-based butcher shop.