Fresh from the successful opening of the Jack o’Shea Chophouse in central Brussels, Jack o’Shea, one of Europe’s leading butchers will be opening his third store in Uccle, Brussels.
In many ways, the opening of this store is a tribute to André Slabbinck, a famous poultry butcher who died tragically last July when a car hit him and his partner Nadège as they were about to ride their motorcycle. It was a tragic story that shocked the Belgian and particularly the Brussels gastronomic community, because Slabbinck was considered to be one of the best Belgian artisans in gastronomy and a master when it came to poultry.
When I met Jack o’Shea, a 10th generation butcher, a few days ago at the Chophouse (read the interview tomorrow) he told me that he wanted to pay tribute to André Slabbinck with the opening of his third shop in Brussels.
“It was a tragic story. With this butcher shop, I want to reinstate his exceptional range of poultry products and in a way pay tribute to him. We will of course also have our organic beef, lamb and pork, but we will showcase Slabbinck’s poultry. We want to then be able to spread this knowledge to all our butcher shops,” Jack told Food and Wine Gazette.
The shop, which has been closed since the tragic accident in July, should be opening next month.
In this interview, Jack o’Shea speaks about his philosophy of nose to tail cooking and says this was the reason that inspired him to set-up the Chophouse, one of Brussels most-awaited restaurant launch in months. “I’ve always loved cutting and selling meat. But ultimately you never have control over what happens to the meat when it leaves your business. The ultimate position would be to have my own restaurant and control how the meat goes out and make sure that it is cooked to perfection or as good as it can be.”
But what he is interested in, in particular, is to use it as a vehicle to completely eliminate food waste. Already known for his different cuts of meat, Jack o’Shea said the restaurant enabled him to have a vehicle whereby he could use all the different parts of the beef and ensure that nothing goes to waste.”
Don’t miss our interview with Jack o’Shea tomorrow.
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