“With reguler bacon 30% water is added so when you fry regular bacon you will notice that it shrinks, with our bacon it won’t! It’s like a steak the size does not change” says Pat O’Neill
We produce bacon, streaky bacon, bacon lardons, ham fillets, bacon loins, sausages, pudding & bacon jam. We have won the great taste awards for our streaky bacon.
This is where the bacon is sliced and packed in to catering packs. We remove the oxygen & vacuum pack the bacon. We bring the bacon down to minus 6 degrees to slice; you can’t slice meat unless it is at a low temperature because the meat will tear.
Every bacon supplier starts off with the exact same product a pork loin. What we do differently & what makes us stand out is we cure the bacon with the juices from the meat. It’s like a steak instead of pumping the bacon with 30% water we actually lose the water. All of the meats are kept at 2 degrees.
We have a smoker where we smoke our meat. Our smoked streaky bacon is delicious.
Why did you set up your own company?
I was working for a company and they had started to try dry curing. I was very interested in it so I left them to go and do it myself. I started on small scale by bringing the dry cure bacon to farmers markets and the business built up from there. People really liked my product and the market was a great place to get feedback. Customers would buy it one week and come back the next week to say this is brilliant it’s so different and delicious.
We employ 10 people here and we have 2 vans on the road.
Breakfast is a very important meal in a hotel. It is the last meal you have before leaving the hotel.
I think buying local & supplying local is very important these days and people appreciate this.
We have been supplying to Ferrycarrig Hotel for 8 years. Tony Carty (Head Chef Ferrycarrig Hotel) is fantastic for using local producers around Wexford. The best thing about staying local is if the Ferrycarrig Hotel is running low on bacon we can deliver bacon within an hour this is a huge advantage.
‘‘Here in Ferrycarrig Hotel and Reeds Restaurant we are delighted to be working with fantastic local producers around Wexford delivering great food from great people. With our unique location we guarantee a superb experience at Reeds restaurant where perfect taste flows’’ Derek Coyne (General Manager Ferrycarrig Hotel)