I know what you’re thinking: ‘Daaaaaaaamn, that looks delicious – I wonder if it tasted as good as it looked?’ The answer is… yes. In fact it tasted even better. 

I’m going to put my hands up now and admit that, until last year, I only bought supermarket meat. Then OH and I made the decision (bolstered by the horse meat scandal!) to pay a bit more, and shop at our local butcher instead. 

The difference in taste and quality was immediately obvious and – surprisingly – it didn’t end up costing us much more. So I was curious to see how COUNTRY VALLEY FOODS’ meat compared. 

Country Valley Foods is an online wholesale butcher based in the north-east of England that supplies caterers and restaurants throughout the UK. Luckily for us regular folk, they also fill domestic orders, delivering restaurant quality meat straight to your door – like the amazing Grand Reserve French Trim Rack of Lamb you can see above. 

OH and I opted for the eight-rib rack, which cost a very reasonable £10.62. We’d never cooked rack of lamb before, so we kept it simple by roasting with a bit of olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary. We were a bit nervous about overcooking it, but with the help of our trusty THERMAPEN, it was roasted to perfection. 

And it really was perfect: the meat was so juicy and full of flavour, and so soft it was practically dissolving in our mouths. We also tried a pork loin roast. I’ve always found supermarket pork to be dry and chewy, but this one was beautifully soft and moist, with deliciously crunchy crackling.

We’d definitely order from Country Valley Foods again. 


• our yummy Country Valley goodies were provided for review