The long Easter weekend is the perfect excuse to get the whole family together for a big meal with all the trimmings, and if that’s your plan then we have a couple of really good options for you.

Our beef foreribs are the perfect centrepiece, and a really impressive cut of beef to serve for a special occasion.
Taken from British beef, we take a rib of beef and age it for at least 14 days, and then supply it to you with the rib bones left in. We leave the bones in for presentation but also for taste; cooking on the bone helps the meat to stay moist and also adds flavour.
We only remove the chine bone, which is the bone that connects the rib bones. This means the beef will be easy to carve if you just cut in between the ribs.
Our largest forerib weighs around 5kg and has 5 rib bones, and will serve 12 people comfortably. However, we also have smaller-sized joints with 3 or 2 bones if you’re cooking for a smaller crowd.

We love beef but for a great-value roast that’s packed with flavour it’s hard to beat gammon.
Our boneless joints of gammon are available in a choice of two sizes; 1kg to serve 6, or 1.5kg to serve 8.
Our gammon is made with pork from free-range British pigs, which is cured to give it a delicious savoury saltiness.
There’s no need to soak it before cooking, although you can do if you don’t want your gammon too salty. Just cover it in cold water overnight then leave to dry before cooking as normal.

And once you’ve got the food planned you need to sort out the drinks! Wine is a given with dinner, but to really impress your guests how about serving them cocktails? Over at thebar.com they’ve put together some suggestions for Easter-friendly cocktails, from the classic mojito to a very seasonal Easter Flip - to view their guide just click here.

Whichever meat you decide on, please make sure we have your order before midnight on Tuesday 11^th April, as our last deliveries before Easter are being made on Thursday 13^th April.

For more information please see:
British Beef Foreribs
British Gammon Joints

5^th April 2017

This week it’s the annual event we’re sure you’ve all been counting down to – British Pie Week!

Pie week was originally started by the ready-made pastry company Jus-Rol back in 2007 as a marketing ploy. But because we all love pie so much it’s caught on and is now a popular event for the foodie world. It’s basically just a great excuse to eat pie and share our favourite pie recipes!

Pie is a true Great British comfort food, and this time of year is perfect to celebrate it. While it’s chilly and wet outside there’s nothing quite like a hot pie and piles of mash to warm you up at the end of the day.

It’s been ten years since the first pie week and now everyone from national newspapers to top restaurants are getting in on the fun.

Jus-Rol have carried out a survey and found that 75% of people eat pie at least once a month, so if you’re one of the 25% now is the time to join the rest of us!

If you’re planning on cooking a pie this week may we suggest this recipe by Delia Smith for a cracking Steak and Kidney pie.
Or if you’re looking for a vegetarian option – we can’t help you with that, sorry.

Our pies are made for us in the Kent countryside by Kentish Mayde.
They use top quality ingredients, locally sourced where possible, and the pies are generously filled. There’s nothing worse than a half filled pie and these are far from it – there’s filling right up to the crust, so there’s no awkward empty space when you cut into it.

Our pies come in a variety of fillings – try the classic Steak and Kidney, or something a bit more unusual with Steak and Stilton.
There are two sizes to choose from, either the Family size which will feed 4, or Medium pies which will serve 1 or 2, depending on your appetite!

This week in honour of British Pie Week we’re taking 20% off the price of our pies, so the larger Family pies are now £6.16, and the smaller Medium version is £2.80.

This offer is only running until this Sunday the 12^th March though, so don’t miss out!

For more information please see:
Keevils’ Pie Range

6^th March 2017

One of the highlights of our culinary calendar happens on the 25^th January every year – it’s Burns Night.

Burns Night was originally a celebration of the life and work of the poet Robert Burns, and has now become almost a Scottish national day, and is more widely-celebrated than St Andrew’s Day.

Robert Burns was born in 1759 into a poor Ayrshire farming family, and he soon discovered a talent for poetry and song writing.
He wrote much of his work in his local Scottish dialect, and this was unusual but very popular, especially in his homeland.

Burns had quite a tangled love life and wrote extensively about his women, and also about his country; he was a fiercely proud Scot and his love for Scotland was clear.

He was very patriotic and believed in returning power to the people, and wrote in support of the American and French revolutions – and this won him favour amongst Scottish nationalists at home. He was also seen as a hero by the Communist regime in Russia where he even appeared on a series of Russian stamps.

Burns’ best known work is probably Auld Lang Syne, which is traditionally sung as the clock finishes chiming midnight on New Year’s Eve. He wrote it as a poem, and it was later set to the tune of an old Scottish folk song.

Burns Night is held every year on the 25^th January, which was Robbie Burns’ birthday. The first was held by a group of his friends in 1801, 5 years after his death. They gathered and ate traditional Scottish food, read some of his poems, and raised a glass of whisky to their friend.

The popularity of Burns Night spread throughout Scotland as a way to celebrate one of their most famous sons in a typically Scottish way. This has become so popular now that even non-Scots like to get in on the fun.

During a traditional Burns Supper the cooked haggis will be brought in to the room of diners, whilst a piper plays the bagpipes. The haggis is set down in front of the host, who recites Burns’ poem ‘Address to a Haggis’.
The host cuts the haggis from end-to-end with a large knife, and then a whisky toast is raised to the haggis.
The haggis is served with ‘neeps and tatties’ (turnips and potatoes), and after the meal there are speeches about Burns and a selection of his works will be read.
At the end of night all guests join hands in a circle and sing Auld Lang Syne to end the evening.

If you're planning on hosting your own Burns Night, or you’d just like a smaller haggis to try yourself at home, take a look at our range of Macsween Haggis, which is traditionally made in Edinburgh and comes in a range of sizes from 450g to 3.6kg. The smaller sizes can be easily microwaved so it makes a very quick and easy meal.

To order haggis for your Burns Night please see:
Our Haggis range

To find out more about Robert Burns please see:
www.robertburns.org

10^th January 2017

Our last Christmas orders have now been prepared, packed and are with our couriers.

Your order will be with you tomorrow, and you should have received an email from us with your tracking number. To track your parcel, just click on the link in the email we sent you, or visit https://apc-overnight.com/receiving-a-parcel/tracking and enter the tracking number and your postcode.

If for any reason you haven't received your tracking email and you'd like to chase your delivery, just give us a call on 020 7236 1888 and we can look into it for you. If our lines are busy, you can call APC on 020 8960 2222 and just tell them you're waiting for a delivery from Keevil and Keevil, and they'll be able to track the progress of your delivery from your postcode.

All orders this week are being sent on a pre-12:00 morning service, so you should receive it in the morning.

However, there are such a huge number of deliveries being made that it may well reach you in the early afternoon - we're really sorry if this is the case for you.

All turkeys, geese, gammons and salt beef delivered from 20th December will have expiry dates of at least the 26th or later, and everything received on the 22nd and 23rd will expire after Boxing Day, so you've no worries about whether things will last for Christmas.

If you do need to contact us, we're here until 4pm on the 23rd, and then back at 9am on the 28th so please rings us then, or email us outside of those hours at [email protected]

We hope you all have a very Happy Christmas, and thank you for ordering your Christmas meats from Keevil and Keevil this year.

23rd December 2016

We’re delivering right up until the 23^rd December this year, but we’re getting full for our days closest to Christmas.
We’ve run out of room on the sleigh for the 23^rd and 22^nd, so the last delivery date we can take your orders for now is the 21^st.

Rest assured all Christmas meat delivered to you on the 21^st December will have ‘best before’ dates of the 26^th or later. And in fact all turkeys and geese that are delivered after the 12^th will be dated for after Christmas – so don’t worry about them going off before the big day.

We have a wide range of meats to choose from for Christmas, whether you fancy a traditional Christmas turkey or goose, or if you want to be a bit different with an impressive piece of Beef to start your own traditions.

Our three-bird and six-bird roasts are always very popular, but because they’re hand-made to order we have to finalise numbers on Monday 12^th December, so we must have your order by then if you want one of these very luxurious roasts.

For everything else, we must have your order by Midnight on Sunday 18^th December to guarantee delivery before Christmas – but of course the sooner you order the better, as the 20^th and 21^st are filling up now as well.

And once you’ve placed your order for your Christmas meats you can sit back and relax - and maybe track where Santa is right now.

If you're still deciding what to buy for the last people on your list, if they’re into their food you could always order them something from us, and we can deliver straight to their door or send them a gift voucher by email. Job done!

All orders delivered from 1^st to 30^th December will be sent on a pre-12 service, and will be with you before midday on the day of your choice.
Due to very high delivery volumes your delivery may be with you in the early afternoon – however we are using the morning service and so the majority of orders will be delivered early in the day.

For more information please see:
Christmas Meat Range
Three-Bird Roasts
Christmas Turkeys

10th December 2016

Turkey is the traditional meat to eat at Christmas, but it wasn’t always this way.
As recently as the 1950’s, turkey was a luxury that few could afford, and goose was the more commonly eaten Christmas meat.

Turkeys were brought to the UK for the first time less than 500 years ago, when the first produce began to arrive back in England from America.
Henry VIII was the first monarch to eat turkey at Christmas, and until then most people had enjoyed goose, capon and boar – or even peacock and swan for the very rich!

However, due to better refrigeration and increased turkey numbers bringing the prices down, turkey is now the most popular choice for Christmas dinner.

There are in fact so many turkeys to choose from it can be a daunting task! If you’re looking to buy a turkey for Christmas we would advise you to buy a Bronze or Black-feathered variety. These are slow-growing, and are renowned for having a fuller flavour and keeping more moist than their white-feathered cousins.
Also, always choose a free-range bird if possible as they will have led a stress-free, happy and very natural life, with their welfare paramount.

Turkey is prone to drying out if overcooked and it is a difficult task to cook the bird through properly and avoid very dry meat.
We recommend covering in butter, including putting it under the skin over the breasts, covering with rashers of streaky bacon, and wrapping in foil for most of the cooking time.

Once your Christmas turkey is cooked, remove it from the oven, cover and leave to rest for around 30 minutes, as this will allow the juices to settle and go back into the meat to help keep it moist.

You can order a turkey online from Keevil and Keevil for delivery right up until 23^rd December. As turkey is officially classed as game it has a much longer shelf life than chicken or duck, and all turkeys delivered from 13^th December will have a best before date of Boxing Day or later.

Our turkeys are free-range Bronze-feathered and from Surrey. We pride ourselves on the welfare standards that our turkeys are reared under, and think you won’t find a better bird to serve on Christmas Day.

For more information please see:
Keevils’ Bronze Turkeys

1st December 2016

Thanksgiving is traditionally celebrated in the USA on the fourth Thursday in November, when families come together to spend time with each other, and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner. This year, Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 24^th November.

The centrepiece of a Thanksgiving meal will almost always be Turkey, accompanied by various side dishes, usually including mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and stuffing – followed by pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving is a celebration which goes back to the time of the Pilgrim Fathers, the original European settlers who landed on the East coast of the USA in the 1600s. They were very religious and regularly had periods of giving thanks to God, sometimes for a successful harvest, or a victory in battle, and these celebrations involved several days of praying and feasting. However, they celebrated the harvest festival every autumn and the annual celebration was started.

Thanksgiving was officially recognised by President George Washington when he made a proclamation in 1789 that every 26^th of November should be devoted to giving thanks to God for the peaceful country that the United States had become.

This new custom was adopted slightly differently across the country, and various states would celebrate their Thanksgiving on different days, to fit in with local customs and holidays.

In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln passed a further law which confirmed the last Thursday in November as a national day.
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
And since then Thanksgiving has been an official American holiday.

Although in the UK we celebrate harvest festival to a certain extent in schools and churches, it has never caught on as a major holiday in the way that Thanksgiving has in the USA.

However, if you’re an American overseas, you can still celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK. Our free-range turkeys are now in stock and can be delivered to your door on the 24^th, or maybe the day before so you have time to prepare it for the big day.

The part of Thanksgiving that has caught on in the UK is the day that follows – Black Friday! The day after Thanksgiving most US retailers offer large reductions in a major sale that kicks off the Christmas shopping season. Here at Keevils we like to get in on the fun, so keep an eye out next Friday when we will have very special one-day-only offers with big discounts.

To order your Turkey for Thanksgiving please click here to take a look at our Free-Range Turkeys.

10th November 2016

If you’re stuck for ideas for Christmas presents for your clients or suppliers this year we can help you out – with our Corporate Christmas Gift service.

We have long-standing relationships with several large companies who use us to deliver meat hampers to their customers all year round, but especially at Christmas.

Because we deliver across the whole of mainland UK we are unrestricted in the areas we can deliver your gifts to, so whether you have suppliers in Scotland or clients in Cornwall that you’d like to send a meat hamper to, we can help.

We're now just 2 months away from Christmas Day, and if you’re struggling to find Christmas gift ideas for your clients, a delivery of Keevils’ meat is impressive as well as very fitting for the festive season.

We have a long heritage and a reputation for excellence, and a delivery of our meats – fresh from Smithfield Market, delivered to your clients’ doors – is sure to show them just how much you value them.

All corporate meat boxes are sent in fully insulated boxes and delivered by courier on a pre-12 delivery service, so the recipient will be impressed by the quality of the products and the chilled state it arrives in.

We can deliver several individual packages to the same address if you want to treat, for example, the directors of a single company; or we can send out identical orders to a number of addresses so all of your clients get the same Christmas present.

We’re happy to tailor our meat boxes to your demands and can also include items of your branded merchandise, and we can produce personalised messages to be sent with the hamper so that the recipient doesn’t see the invoice.

To find out more, or to ask about pricing or delivery dates, please email us at Customer Services

For more information please see:
Meat Boxes
Christmas Meat Range

25th October 2016

We may just be getting into October and still feeling very Autumnal, and we don’t want to panic you, but there are just 10 weeks until Christmas!

The biggest dinner of the year for many of us, Christmas is unlike any other day of the year in the amount of planning and expense that goes into the food.

Whether you want a traditional Christmas turkey or goose, or you want to try something a bit different this year, it doesn’t hurt to plan early. This is especially true if you are looking to order your Christmas dinner online and have it delivered! The delivery slots closest to Christmas will book up quickly so if you need to place an order, the old saying is true: the sooner the better.

We sell only English free-range turkeys and geese as we believe they are simply better tasting.

If you want a Christmas turkey delivered to your door; you can't go wrong with our bronze turkeys, which are the breed with black feathers. The difference between white and bronze turkey is that the Bronze is renowned for having more breast meat than its white-feathered cousin, and the meat stays moister when cooked. No more boring, dry turkey meat!

Our geese are from East Anglia, and are reared on small farms where they live in small flocks, and are left to grow and fatten naturally with no additional hormones or supplements.

Our Capon are French, which is purely for the reason that it is illegal to produce them in the UK. Free-range and with their diet topped-up with corn, our capon are bred especially for Christmas and are only available for delivery on the 22^nd and 23^rd December.

This year we are again partnering with our friends at Adlington in Warwickshire, and will be stocking their 3-Bird Roasts and their huge 6-Bird Roast, as well. Also known as a Turducken, each 3-Bird Roast contains 3 different free-range birds, with the bones removed and placed inside one another, with Sage & Caramelised Onion sausage meat between the layers for extra flavour. The Adlington roasts make a very impressive Christmas dinner, and for £65 for a Duck, Guinea Fowl and Turkey roast to feed 8, they aren’t too expensive, either.

Whichever meat you decide to have with your Christmas dinner, make sure you order it from Keevil and Keevil. We are the oldest butcher on Smithfield’s and have a reputation of over 160 years built on trust and reliability. We won’t let you down!

For more information please see:
Buy Christmas Meats Online
Buy Turkey Online
Buy Goose Online

14th October 2016

The 1^st of October brings the start of pheasant season, and we now have plenty in stock which have been brought in from shoots across England; but mainly Yorkshire.

Pheasant is the largest of the British wild game birds and has a mild flavour that makes it perfect for anyone who is new to eating game. Some wild birds –especially grouse - can taste quite strong, and might put off a novice trying game for the first time. We always recommend pheasant as a good place to start.

Pheasant is 100% wild and the birds are free to roam as they please, and can cover large distances. Because of this they don’t carry much fat and are naturally very lean. Although the lower fat means pheasant is a healthy choice, it can lead to the meat drying out whilst cooking. To keep pheasant moist we recommend either braising it in stock, or roasting with a piece of bacon or pancetta over the breast to keep the moisture in.
Coutryside magazine The Field have put together their 10 best pheasant recipes and there's a great selection of ideas there.

The shooting times for wild birds are legally restricted, because this allows time for the bird population to recover and build up again before the shoots begin again the next year.

British game season starts on the 12^th of August when Grouse becomes available, and then gets busier as more birds are allowed to be hunted. Partridge and Mallard were added to the menu from 1^st September, and now with pheasant we’re in full swing.

The pheasant season will run now until the 1^st February when it will be the last of the birds’ seasons to end. We will have fresh pheasant in stock until the middle of February, and then we will have a small amount of frozen birds, but no more fresh until the new season starts next October.

All of our game birds are available to buy in person from our shop on Smithfield Market, in central London. However, Smithfield’s opening hours are unusual because we open the shop at 1am and close at 8am. If this is a little too early for you, we also offer an online ordering service and we can deliver to your door, right across the UK.

For more information please see:
Order Pheasant online
Wild game birds

3rd October 2016

The Game season started 4 weeks ago on the Glorious Twelfth, when the annual Grouse shooting season began on the 12th of August.
We have seen a steady stream of orders ever since, and last week on the 1st September, the next two birds also became available.

Partridge is the most common of the wild game birds in Britain, and because of this it is also the most affordable.
There are 2 types of Partridge – the Red Leg and the Grey Leg.
The Red Leg is the more well-known type, while the Grey Leg is much less common and therefore a lot more expensive.
We stock the Red Leg, and we were sold out on pre-orders even before the first delivery from the moors in Yorkshire.
The partridge is by far our biggest-selling wild game bird, and from now until the season ends at the end of January we’ll have high demand for them.
One of the reasons that partridge are so popular is the flavour. They are mildly flavoured in comparison to other wild game, especially grouse, and this makes them ideal for a first taste of game, of for those who aren’t keen on it.
Another reason for their enormous popularity also has to be the price. At just £5 each, a partridge won’t break the bank.
Each Red leg Partridge serves one person, and is an ideal size to serve roasted whole on a dish, which makes a very grand meal.

If you're struggling to find a recipe for your partridge, countryside magazine The Field has put together their 10 best partridge recipes here. There's more to partridge than just roasting!

Wild Ducks are also now in season, and the largest of the wild ducks in the UK is the Mallard.
Mallard males have green heads, and are a very familiar sight in Britain. The female is brown all over, and less distinctive, although just as widespread.
Mallard are large for a game bird, and are the perfect size for sharing, for an impressive and romantic dinner for two.

On the 1st of October, the final of the main 4 game birds will come into season – the Pheasant.
As with the other birds, Keevils will have them in stock right form the beginning of the season, and we will be able to deliver fresh across the UK.

For more information please see:
Game Birds
Partridge
Mallard
Grouse

1st September 2016

Today is the Glorious Twelfth of August – the official start of the British game season, and one of the busiest days of the hunting year.

The many estates across the country which are home to wild grouse will be full of hunts right from daybreak, in search of the first bird of the season. Many connoisseurs are keen to eat grouse on the very first day it becomes available, and there is a rivalry among game-keepers to supply the first birds, and a race to get it back to the restaurants to be cooked and have the honour of serving the first grouse of the year.

Despite the rush to get the first grouse of the season, it is widely accepted that the birds’ flavour improves after being hung and dry-aged for a few days, much the same as the way beef matures.

Grouse is a very distinctive deep red, almost purple in colour, and this is matched by the intensely gamey, rich flavour of the meat.

The Red Grouse that are the most commonly eaten are unique to the British Isles, and this makes them particularly attractive as a celebration of British traditions.

Although not a large bird – we recommend serving 1 grouse each per adult serving – the meat is so flavoursome that it is perfectly sized. Traditionally roasted and served with bread sauce and game chips; there’s a great recipe for roast grouse here, courtesy of Tom Kitchin for the Countryside Alliance.

The grouse season lasts until 10^th December, and after then it is illegal to hunt grouse in the UK. This is in line with the start of the grouse breeding season, and it allows the population to grow again.

From now on we’ll see more game coming into season – next we’ll have Partridge and Mallard from 1^st September, and the on 1^st October Woodcock and Pheasant on 1st October.

By 1^st February the Game season comes to an end, and then we have to wait until 12^th August next year to do it all again!

Keevil and Keevil are the oldest game dealer in London, and we work closely with several shoots across the country to ensure a reliable supply of game for our customers.

Our Grouse are from Yorkshire, and we will have them available for delivery from Tuesday 16^th August onwards.

As the season progresses we will stock all game as it comes into season, and will sell it oven-ready , so you don’t need to do any fiddly preparation work when it arrives – although we do recommend placing a piece of streaky bacon across the top of the breast during cooking to keep the meat moist and prevent it drying out.

For more information please see:
Buy Grouse
Our full range of Wild Game

12th August 2016