Ulster Grocer

Artisan food producer or ‘food hero’ does not really begin to describe Pat O’Doherty

He’s a butcher, farmer and environmentalist, dedicated to traditional animal husbandry and meat processing methods to create natural, wholesome, healthy, flavoursome foods from animals that have lived as close as is possible in this day and age to how nature intended.

The O’Doherty family has owned O’Doherty’s Fine Meats on Belmore Street in Enniskillen since 1957, though there has been a butcher’s on the premises since the 1920s. Pat had completed a degree in environmental science and was working towards his PhD in satellite technology/energy conservation when his father James inspired his son to come into the business with his big ideas to drive it forward. Pat is now the man at the helm and, while the family has always held firm beliefs in traditional farming and processing methods, Pat now shines as a beacon for these values in the modern age of mass production and artificial intervention to speed up the process of getting food from farm gate to consumer plate.

This belief is epitomised by the Fermanagh Black Bacon created by Pat that has brought the award-winning butcher to a new level of acclaim, heralded as a ‘food hero’ by the likes of food icons such as Hugh Fernley Whittingstall, Rick Stein and Gary Rhodes, while his production methods have featured on Country File and, most recently, on Jimmy’s Food Heroes programme in August. Irish chef Richard Corrigan of the Michelin starred Lindsay House restaurant in London used Pat’s Fermanagh Black Bacon in his main course as a finalist in The Great British Menu 2007, while Noel McMeel of Lough Erne Golf Resort featured his black pudding on his menu as a contender in this year’s competition.

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