Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Our pasties are selling Buckfast... Busy butcher’s bid to meat demand
A BUTCHER peddling popular pasties with a secret ingredient is getting orders from as far away as Scotland.
Simon Dowey of Dowey’s Butchers in Lurgan, Co Armagh, said they launched their new range of Buckfast-based delicacies just last week.
But they have been so busy trying to keep up with demand he may soon have to roll out his sleeping bag in the shop so he can keep the ovens going overnight.
The pasties are on sale in the family butchers for £3 – or two for a fiver – but they take a few days to make.
Simon told the Mirror: “We have had requests from Scotland.
“We’re just trying to figure out how we can send it over as it’s a fragile product.
“We launched just before the weekend as we were doing some development in the kitchen.
“Now we’re trying to ramp up production to keep up with demand as we are getting so many orders – we’re going to have to work on that one this morning.” And he added that people have no idea of the work that goes on “behind the scenes” to create each fortified wine masterpiece.
Simon said: “We don’t just open a box and it’s there – we make everything ourselves on the premises.
“I am working from about 7am in the morning to 7pm at night six days a week. I’ve a number of staff helping me, but it’s the personal touch.
“I could see the sleeping bag coming out just to get the Buckfast pasties out.” The third generation of Dowey butchers, Simon said he joined his father in the shop after university. And he said the family business – open since 1936 – still doesn’t have a name for its new recipe. But he’s hoping you can help him with that. He added: “Lurgan Champagne Pasty is one idea but we’d like to see some other suggestions.”
You can tell Dowey’s what you think on their Facebook page.