Oedslach - The taste of yesteryear

We dubbed the finest, choicest cut of meat we have Oedslach®, as an ode to my father and our craft. It’s a taste that brings back memories... A taste you simply have to try.

When I was a child, my brother and I would sometimes play hide-and-seek in my parents’ butcher’s shop. And yes, sometimes we’d hide in the fridge, among the carcasses. We’d breathe in the smell of meat ageing in a refrigerator full of cork, cement and wood . That refrigerator had been used as an ageing cabinet for more than twenty years, which lent a unique flavour to the meat that was carefully selected based on its colour, concentration of fat, age, breed, etc.:

In those days, we used to slaughter one cow a month, always at the end of the month. I’d hear my father’s customers order some ‘oedslach’, which means ‘old slaughtered’ in our dialect. My father took pride in selecting the meat himself and ageing it according to his tried-and-tested method. It was the best meat I ever had the privilege of tasting.

Now, all these years later, our old refrigerator is long gone, but if I close my eyes I can still recall the taste and smell of those days.

Ever since, I’ve worked to teach myself the art of ageing meat, through trial and error . Today, I can confidently call myself one of its pioneers. The memory of the taste and smell of Oedslach still prompts me to keep finetuning the ageing process. We’ve developed a four-week acclimatisation programme during which we carefully adjust the temperature, humidity and ventilation; this has allowed me to recapture an all but forgotten moment in gastronomic history.

Oedslach® is a heartfelt ode to my father and our craft. You can purchase Oedslach® in our shops or from our online store.