Dales Traditional Butchers – April 2010

It came as quite a surprise that the unlikely combination of Pork and Caramel proved to be a great success when filled into a sausage skin. What's more it was real surprise that the competition to devise the sweet and savoury sausage ended up being won by a Cumbria butcher.

Dales butchers is situated in the picturesque village of Kirkby Lonsdale. Their beef comes from Malham in the Yorkshire Dales, Lamb from nearby Lupton and Pork from Ulverston in the Lake District. Dales use the services of both Macintyre Meats' Hawes newly built abattoir and Airey's abattoir, High Newton retaining the local tag to their meat.

The producer of the Pork and Caramel Sausage, Mark Duckworth of Dales Traditional Butchers is one of four Scottish Craft Butchers in England. He received a prize of £500 for his recipe which has now been distributed to every Scottish Craft Butcher.

Mark said:- “I was stunned to find out that I had won the top prize in a Scottish competition but knew that the blend would probably go down well.”

Sausages and pies are a huge part of Dales butchers trade – up to 60% claimed Mark:- “I have been making sausages since I was 13 years old and I have won the National Beef Sausage Championship in the past so we know how to make good sausages.”

Mark trained to be a butcher in Blackburn at Duncan Hayes, Heywoods, Blackburn Market and at Blackpool College. In November 1999 he took on the Dales business and, since they had been trading successfully for 100 years, he kept the name. Ten years on Mark and his wife Vicky who also works in the shop, have invested in new Smeva cabinets and they have just installed new Avery scales.

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