Cornish suppliers going the extra mile: The Cornwall Project's cull yaw
Dissatisfied about how old ewes were regarded as worthless, Matt Chatfield came up with the idea of cull yaw. Henry Coldstream chats to the man behind the meat which now features on some of the most exciting restaurant menus in the UK.
Cornish suppliers going the extra mile: The Cornwall Project's cull yaw
Dissatisfied about how old ewes were regarded as worthless, Matt Chatfield came up with the idea of cull yaw. Henry Coldstream chats to the man behind the meat which now features on some of the most exciting restaurant menus in the UK.
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ProducersBoasting one of the most varied landscapes in the whole of the UK, with farmers’ lush pastures sitting just moments away from the coast, it’s no surprise that there’s a huge amount of fantastic produce coming out of Cornwall. Although the climate and geography of the county have big parts to play in this, it’s also equally down to some truly remarkable and forward-thinking people. Suppliers like Kernowsashimi are pushing the boat out when it comes to providing the highest quality fish possible, while butchers like Philip Warren and his son Ian are making sure that Cornish meat has just as good a reputation. However, if there was ever a man on a mission to make sure that produce from the South West continues to be shouted about, it’s Matt Chatfield.
After spending time away from his family’s Devonshire farm working in London at a publisher, Matt decided to return home and set up The Cornwall Project. The aim was to drive interest in Cornish produce and help set up connections between suppliers and restaurants. Over the years he acted as a middleman between suppliers, including Philip Warren Butchers and top London restaurants such as Kiln, Brat and Bao. These connections he created between Cornwall and London are still strong today and Matt was even instrumental in helping Ian Warren set up his celebrated ‘On the Pass’ range of chef-inspired aged specialist cuts during lockdown. However, the past five years have seen Matt shift his focus back to the family farm, where he’s doing something pretty special with sheep.
‘About four years ago, I spent two years on a houseboat learning about farming by watching YouTube videos and I just got so obsessive,’ says Matt. ‘If I saw a farmer I liked, I’d phone them up and go and visit them around the country. One day, I was thinking about what the best meat in the world is, and for me, it’s Jamon Iberico. There’s a particular supplier who I think is the best, so I went out and met him three or four times to learn how he produces the meat. The Iberico pigs he rears are quite small and they walk around a huge amount for the first eighteen months of their lives without eating much at all. What this means is that the muscle is really worked which gives the meat its flavour. At twenty months old the pig weighs eighty kilos, then the acorns appear and within four months it has literally doubled in weight. So, once they’ve walked around lots, it’s important to get a good fat cover on them at the end but through the decent quality stuff that it eats.’
Inspired by what he’d learnt, Matt realised that the same logic could be applied to sheep as they have an active lifestyle involving lots of walking around. As a result, he began buying old ewes who had recently had lambs that were destined for the abattoir, and fattening them up on his pasture for at least six months. ‘These are sheep that would otherwise be dead,’ explains Matt. ‘Farmers look at their flocks and think ‘right you’ve weened your lambs, you’re no good to me’, so they get taken to market and traditionally go straight to the bottom of the food chain as dog food or kebabs. The sheep are really thin and not in good condition so they’re cheap, but I wanted to feed them up and give them a whole new layer of fat, just like the Iberico pigs.’
Matt calls his mutton ‘cull yaw’ (‘yaw’ being a name for a ewe that’s too old for breeding) and works with Cornish butcher Ian Warren to age it until it’s beautifully tender. He then sells it on to some of the best restaurants in the UK, including Lyle’s and Ikoyi. It could have been a tricky sell to chefs given the uniqueness of the product, but Matt had no such problems. ‘All the chefs I work with are essentially my mates because I met them when I first delivered to their restaurants, so they were always going to try it,’ he laughs. ‘When Jeremy Chan from Ikoyi first had it, he actually said that it already compared to jamon and wagyu and that was our first ever attempt.’
When it comes to pushing the boundaries in farming, Matt Chatfield is up there with the most innovative. His model provides an easy and affordable way of getting into livestock farming and allows the farmer to see quick profits in comparison to rearing cattle. That’s why other farmers around the UK have now, with Matt’s approval, begun buying old ewes of their own to fatten up. Meanwhile, he is now focused on seeing how much environmental good sheep can do whilst still putting flavour at the heart of his system.
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