Also known as the ‘caveman diet’, paleo eating aims to go back to basics and eat as our ancestors would have done originally, in the days before processed foods and refined sugar.
Focussing on eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, with nuts, seeds and only the highest quality fish and meat, the paleo diet is a nutritious and healthy choice, and has much in common with the recent clean eating trends.
The theory behind the paleo diet is that our digestive systems were developed to eat the foods that were readily available to hunter-gatherers in prehistoric times, and that we haven’t evolved very much since then.
By removing unnatural and processed foods from their diet, many paleo followers report having more energy, feeling less sluggish and also losing weight.
Medical studies have suggested that a paleo lifestyle can also help lower blood sugar and reduce the risk of heart disease.
Unlike other diets, paleo is more of a lifestyle choice, so there is no calorie control or weighing foods required. This makes it more relaxed and less regimented, although it can make eating out a challenge.
An easy way of working out if a food fits into the paleo diet is by thinking whether it was available 1000s of years ago to our earliest ancestors. So for example, dairy products, bread and processed meats such as bacon aren’t allowed, as well as root vegetables which weren’t eaten by early man.
For paleo inspiration we asked food journalist (and paleo follower) Jo Romero to put together a tasty dish using Keevils’ products.
Jo suffered from IBS and psoriasis for years but after starting a paleo diet her symptoms disappeared and she’s now in top health!
Using our lamb mince Jo cooked up delicious stuffed courgettes, the perfect easy, tasty lunch, full of veggies and low on carbs.
For more information please see:
Jo Romero’s blog
Buy lamb mince online
6th September 2017
read full articleWe are the oldest Smithfield Market butchers but as well as selling meat, we’re always looking for new and exciting ways of dressing up our dinners and making our meats even better.
We stock a wide choice of sauces that go with meat perfectly, and we’re constantly looking to build on the range.
Our latest additions come courtesy of our good friends over at Eat 17 in Walthamstow, inventors and producers of our new obsession – Bacon Jam.
Eat 17 was initially (and still is) a store and restaurant set up to serve the discerning residents of East London.
In the kitchen they came up with an idea to combine crispy bacon with onion jam, and use it to top their burgers. Customers loved it and wanted to buy it separately to use at home and the rest, as they say, is history.
We stock three variants – the original Bacon Jam, Chilli Bacon Jam, and Chorizo Jam.
The chilli version has a pleasant kick at the end, and the chorizo jam is a deep and really savoury flavour that we love.
Bacon Jam is of course perfect in a burger in place of relish or ketchup, but can be used in loads of other ways, too.
Stir it simply through cooked pasta for a quick and easy supper; bake it twisted in puff pastry to make savoury pastries; add a spoonful to soups or stews; serve with cheeses instead of chutney.
Or just serve it spread on crusty bread – simple and yet so good!
The Chorizo Jam is really good with seafood and is great served on the side with any type of grilled fish and with scallops particularly.
If you run out of ideas, Eat 17 have put together their own Bacon Jam Cookbook which is packed with really clever and delicious recipe ideas, all using our new favourite product.
Take a look and add some to your next order, if you love bacon this is the perfect sauce for you!
For more information please see:
Bacon Jam
Chilli Bacon Jam
Chorizo Jam
1st August 2017
read full articleWe are always being asked to source various products, some more unusual than others, but the one thing we are consistently asked for is top quality British Beef.
We are therefore absolutely thrilled to let you know about our newest beef, which is taken from pasture-fed Red Ruby cattle.
Red Ruby are a traditional British breed, originating from Devon, and they have distinctive red coats which grow long and quite curly in the colder months, then shed down to a sleeker covering in the Summer.
They are very hardy and are happy to live outside almost all year round, only being brought inside when the weather is particularly extreme.
Red Ruby are smaller and more docile than most other breeds, which means that they aren’t the animal of choice for farmers looking to turn a fast profit by producing huge carcasses. Instead they are more suited to producers who are passionate about a quality product, reared traditionally and using all natural methods.
Our Red Ruby are from the Chapman Herd, a herd of 150 cattle who are farmed close to Sarratt in Hertfordshire, right on the edge of the beautiful Chiltern Hills, and just 26 miles from us here at Smithfield.
They are reared in mixed-age groups which is how they would live in a natural herd, and this helps to maintain their levels of contentment, and lower stress levels.
They feed only on what they forage, which is a mixture of wild grasses, clover, and herbs, and they're never given cereals or soya to supplement them. Even in Winter when the pastures are less bountiful, the haylage that the Chapman Herd feed on will have been made from those same fields earlier in the year.
They are Animal Welfare Approved, and certified members of the Pasture Fed Livestock Association which means they have been independently verified as 100% pasture fed.
Pasture-fed beef has been proven to be lower in saturated fat and higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, CLA and vitamins B and E than grain and soya fed beef - plus it tastes better, too.
Pasture-fed and grass-fed are very similar, however pasture has much more of a variety of plants, rather than just grass, so is a more nourishing and natural diet.
Allowing the pastures to develop fully has a knock-on effect to the other wildlife. The insect and bird populations living alongside the Chapman Herd are also flourishing because of the diversity in the plant life.
After slaughter, our Red Ruby is left to dry-age for 28 days before being cut into portions, and this allows the meat to tenderise, and the flavour to mature and develop.
On each pack of steaks you’ll find a QR code, just scan it with a smartphone (or enter the label code here) and it will tell you all the information about where your steak came from, including the details of the exact animal and farmer that produced it.
We truly believe our Red Ruby beef is the best available, and we guarantee you will enjoy it – or your money back.
For more information please see:
Red Ruby Beef
7th July 2017
read full articleWe are very proud and excited to introduce you to our new supplier of buffalo steaks: Broughton Water Buffalo.
Broughton Farm is just outside the pretty village of Stockbridge in Hampshire.
It’s in the Test Valley, a gorgeous area right in the middle of three officially designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Cranbourne Chase, the North Wessex Downs, and the South Downs National Park).
With rolling hills, natural streams, and stunning views in every direction, this is the English countryside at its very finest.
Broughton Farm itself spreads over 500 acres, and farmer Nick has been breeding buffalo there for 14 years.
He uses only completely natural farming methods, meaning no fertilisers or chemicals are used at all on the farm, and the 250 buffalo that live there are left to roam their huge pastures amongst wild grasses and flowers that are left waist-height to mimic their natural habitat.
The buffalo are never given any additional feed than what grows on the farm, and they aren’t given hormones or antibiotics, either.
This very natural life is how farming was done 100s of years ago, and is really clear in the resulting meat that the buffalo produce.
To help drain the soil at Broughton, Nick has planted Lucerne, which is in the same plant family as clover. It has high levels of protein and fibre and the buffalo love to eat it, and its long roots can grow up to 15 metres in length, helping with soil drainage. It also means the plants still survive even during dry periods because the long roots can reach water far below the surface.
The buffalo are slaughtered very close to the farm, so their transport time is minimal, which is of course better for the animals as they have less stress to deal with.
The meat is left to hang and dry-age for 21 days which helps tenderise the meat and also allows the flavour to develop. After hanging, the meat is portioned and then frozen in vacuum-sealed packs.
Freezing the steaks is the best way to preserve them at their best, and when you receive them you can easily put them in the freezer if you don’t want to eat them straight away.
Buffalo itself is a very lean meat, similar to beef but with a more robust flavour – delicate but with a full, rich taste that beef just doesn’t have.
You can order Broughton buffalo steaks online individually, or buy a Buffalo Selection box containing one of each steak, and this way you also save 15% on the individual prices.
We know our buffalo is good – and we are really happy to let you know that our Buffalo Sirloin steaks have been shortlisted as Best British Meat in the 2017 Great British Food Awards.
The winners will be announced in September, and we are confident Broughton will come out on top!
For more information please see:
Buffalo Steaks
Buffalo Steak Selection Box
Great British Food Awards 2017
19th June 2017
read full article
Father’s Day this year is on Sunday 18th June, and if you haven’t bought your Dad a present yet you really need to start thinking about it!
Dads always tend to do worse on Father’s Day than Mums do on Mother’s Day. In fact, research shows that we spend on average a third more on Mother’s Day presents than on the male equivalent.
This is terrible – those poor Dads!
We think it’s about time this was put right, and if you’re struggling for ideas on what Father’s Day present to buy the top man in your life, we have a great idea!
We all know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? Well it’s just the same when that man is your Dad.
Our new Breakfast Box is a brilliant combination of our favourite breakfast items, including our superb new Breakfast Sauce, made by our friends at Salubrious Sauces.
All you need to add are eggs, beans, maybe a tomato or two, and mushrooms (if you’re that way inclined).
Breakfast Sauce is somewhere between tomato ketchup and brown sauce; it’s fruity, tangy, with a mild spicy kick. It’s fantastic with a fry-up and finally settles that age-old debate “red or brown?”.
Also included in the Breakfast Box is a large pack of 18 of our ever-popular Cumberland Sauces, taken from prime British pork shoulder, mixed with black and white pepper.
Around 30 slices of premium Dry-Cured smoked Back Bacon from Norfolk, and one of our delicious traditional Irish Black Pudding Sticks.
So that’s breakfast all round, with plenty for everyone.
(We find the best presents are the ones that you get to share!).
Don’t forget – it isn’t just your Dad that needs to be treated on Father’s Day! What about your Grandad, Step Dad, Father-in-law, and even the father of your children. They all deserve a day of being spoilt, too.
Order the Breakfast Box online for delivery to your choice of UK mainland address.
Place your order by Midnight on Wednesday 14th June to guarantee delivery before Father’s Day 18th June.
For more information please see:
Breakfast Box
Breakfast Sauce
12th June 2017
read full articleWe love bacon. OK, it isn’t the healthiest option but we just can’t help ourselves when we hear the sizzle and smell the smoky aroma of our favourite meaty treat!
Back bacon is cut from the loin, the same part of the pig that pork chops and loin steaks come from, while streaky bacon is taken from the belly.
Back bacon is the leaner type of bacon, and it has a layer of fat down one side which can be easily removed if you prefer.
Streaky bacon is fattier and this makes it perfect for wrapping around chicken breasts or your Christmas turkey to keep them moist during cooking. We also love streaky bacon served the American way – cooked until really crispy and piled on top of pancakes with lashings of maple syrup.
At Keevils we have a few types of bacon, and there’s something for everyone.
Our large Big Value packs weigh a hefty 2.3kg each, and contain plenty of bacon to keep you going for a while. The Big Value Back Bacon packs contain at least 50 slices, and the Big Value Streaky Bacon packs have around 90 slices. Enough for the largest family, or the biggest bacon fan!
Our Big Value packs of bacon are wet-cured, which means they are left in big vats of brine to cure. Although the wet cure is a mix of water and salt, the bacon doesn’t have extra water pumped into it like some cheap bacon does, so it won’t shrink when you cook it.
Our Big Value bacon is available to order online and you can choose for it to be smoked, unsmoked, or sweetcure. Smoked and unsmoked speak for themselves, while sweetcure is not as common, but completely delicious. We take out a little of the salt used in curing and replace it with sugar for a sweeter flavour, it really works!
We also sell Dry-Cured Bacon, which again is available as back or streaky bacon, smoked or unsmoked. The Dry-Cured Bacon comes in a smaller pack, weighing 1.5kg, however you’ll still get around 30 slices of back bacon, or 50 slices of streaky.
In a dry-cure, the sides of pork are covered in a dry mix of salt and sugar, and then left to cure. No water is used at all in the curing process, and this is a more traditional method which takes longer than wet-curing but leads to a higher quality product which will crisp up beautifully.
If you’re as bacon-crazy as us you might be interested in these bacon-scented candles we found online. Sure to set a romantic mood.
And if you really LOVE bacon, why on Earth would you want minty-fresh breath when you can be bacon-fresh?! Yes, you can buy bacon toothpaste. Bit much..?
For more information please see:
Keevils’ Bacon range
Big Value Bacon Packs
Dry-Cured Bacon
5th June 2017
read full articleSummer is probably our butchers’ favourite time of year and there are two reasons for that.
First of all, because they work overnight and finish around 9am, they’re free for the rest of the day to go home and make the most of the sunshine while the rest of us are sweating our way through the working day indoors. We’ve been seeing quite a few red faces turning up for work in the last few days!
But also, hot weather brings out the caveman in the best of us, and as our butchers have access to great quality meat which is perfect for cooking on the barbecue, they're all a dab hand with the barbie. They all come into work and exchange stories of what meats they’ve cooked the previous day, and new inventive ways of preparing them.
Recently we launched a new range of BBQ rubs and sauces which are handmade in Georgia by award-winning pitmaster Ryan Lane.
Lane’s products are 100% natural, with no nasty MSG or preservatives, and they're also gluten free.
Our butchers have tried them all, and tried different combinations of them, and it’s safe to say we are massive Lane’s BBQ fans.
As it’s a long bank holiday weekend this week, we’d love for you to try Lane’s products too, and we think you’ll love them as much as we do.
We’ve put together some packs of meat with Lane’s rubs and sauces – just cover the meat with the Lane’s and grill away to your hearts' content!
Pork Ribs & Lane’s Kinda Sweet Sauce – contains two full 1kg racks of pork ribs and a 400ml bottle of Lane’s delicious sweet and tangy barbecue sauce. Meaty ribs with a moreish glaze, this is a barbecue staple with a difference.
Price if bought separately £25.50 - NOW £17.85 - SAVE 30%
Ribeye Steak & Lane’s Signature Rub – contains two 8oz Ribeye steaks taken from free-range British cattle, plus a 130g jar of Lane’s most versatile rub. Lightly oil the steaks and generously season with rub, before barbecuing as you normally would. The rub adds a delicate savoury crust with a mild spice, and it helps keep the steak moist and succulent.
Price if bought separately £18.50 - NOW £14.80 - SAVE 20%
Chicken Wings & Lane’s One Legged Sauce – contains 5kg of British chicken wings, with 3 bones, so slightly larger than are sometimes available. One Legged sauce is a smoky, spicy variation of a Buffalo sauce, and it’s perfect with our meaty chicken wings. Douse the wings in sauce before cooking and you’re in for a treat!
Price if bought separately £17.50 - NOW £14.00 - SAVE 20%
Please order by Midnight on Wednesday 24th May to make sure we can deliver to you before the bank holiday weekend. Then all you need to do is sit back and hope for sunshine!
For more information please see:
Pork Ribs & Lane’s Kinda Sweet Sauce
Ribeye Steak & Lane’s Signature Rub
Chicken Wings & Lane’s One Legged Sauce
22nd May 2017
read full articleWhen you buy meat online from us we try to delivery as quickly as we possibly can, so the day after you place your meat order we prepare and pack your box, and then deliver it the following day.
That means you're able to receive your delivery less than 48 hours after placing it.
Of course, if you’re ordering for a special occasion or you want your order for a specific date, you can also choose a delivery date further in advance, up to 3 months ahead.
Our delivery charges have been set for some time at £7.95 for standard delivery – but all that has changed!
Because we decided our delivery charges were just too high, and so we’ve now lowered them.
From now on, our standard delivery charge is £5, and delivery is still free on orders over £75. Saturday deliveries are £20, which drops to £15 on orders over £75, and is free when you spend £150 or more.
When you receive your delivery we don’t need to get a signature if there’s somewhere safe to leave the box, so if you want to leave instructions for the driver to leave in a porch or shed, or with a neighbour, just let us know.
We also offer a click and collect service from our Smithfield store, so if you live or work locally in the Farringdon area you can pop in and collect your order.
Because we’re on Smithfield Market, our butchers start very early in the morning and all leave to go home by 9am, so we know coming in to buy from the market can be a pain and mean you need to set your alarm specially! However if you’ve ordered in advance we can put your order in our fridges and so it’ll be ready for you to collect later in the day.
Our shop is at 218 Central Markets, in the old Poultry Market, and we’re a 10 minute walk from either Farringdon or Barbican tube stations.
For more information please see:
Delivery information
15th May 2017
read full articleWe’re big garlic fans and we put it in pretty much everything we cook, but have you ever heard of black garlic?
Black Garlic isn’t a special variety of garlic, it’s made by taking regular white garlic and cooking it really slowly at varying temperatures, until it turns black in colour and the texture is so soft that it can easily be squashed between two fingers.
Cooking the garlic mellows the flavour, and black garlic has a mild, savoury taste very similar to balsamic vinegar, and it has none of the pungency of normal, uncooked garlic.
However it retains all of the vitamins and minerals of raw garlic, including vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin C, manganese, selenium, phosphorous, calcium, potassium, iron and copper.
Black garlic adds depth to dishes, and gives them a punch of extra flavour. We love adding a few chopped cloves to our normal Bolognese; it makes it really rich and unctuous.
For a tasty meal that looks very cheffy and impressive, simply cook some spaghetti and stir in finely sliced black garlic and good quality olive oil. We know of a chef that charges £14 for this in his restaurant!
Another very indulgent way of enjoying black garlic is also very simple – chop a couple of cloves and stir into scrambled eggs as they're cooking. It adds richness and flavour, and makes a very decadent breakfast or brunch. Best enjoyed with smoked salmon!
Our black garlic is made by Balsajo in South West London, and has been a labour of love for company founder Katy, who discovered black garlic through a friend and then worked out how to produce it herself after much trial and error!
Luckily for us she mastered the process and we’re excited to now be stocking her black garlic in store and online.
There are loads of other recipes on the Balsajo website if you’d like any more inspiration.
For more information please see:
Buy Black Garlic
11th May 2017
read full articleWe have been working with Feefo since last Summer, when they began collecting reviews from our customers.
The real benefit of this kind of independent feedback is that you can rely on it to be honest because it’s collected by a separate company and we have no way of influencing the results!
We send Feefo over information on of all our orders, including your name and details of the products you ordered and when they were delivered.
Then a few days after delivery Feefo get in touch with you direct and ask you to rate the service we provided, and the products themselves.
It’s easy to leave a rating out of 5 stars, and you can write a more detailed review if you want to.
Because it’s very quick to do and so helpful to other customers, we really hope you’ll leave a review of your Keevils order!
We’ve been delighted with the results of our customer feedback so far, and we’ve currently received 339 reviews on our service and scored 99% overall.
We strive to provide the best service, and we pride ourselves on the fact that the customer service we give really sets us apart from other butchers, so it’s wonderful to know that our customers agree.
To say thank you for taking the time to leave a review, each month we pick one Feefo reviewer as a winner of a £100 gift voucher to use on a Keevils order.
The winner is chosen at random from everyone who’s written a review in the month, and it doesn’t even matter if it was positive or negative feedback, everyone is eligible to win.
So please, leave your feedback when you receive the email from Feefo. Not only does it help us, it might mean you’ll get your next order free!
For more information please see:
Keevil and Keevil on Feefo
3rd May 2017
read full articleIf you love sauce with your food but you’re bored of tomato ketchup then we may have just the thing for you.
We’re constantly on the look-out for new products that we think our customers will love, and the general rule we use is that if we like them, our customers will too.
When we heard about Aphrodite’s ketchup we were intrigued, because the main ingredient is pomegranate molasses, a very little-used ingredient and something we hadn’t come across in a sauce before.
The owner of the company, Aphrodite (AKA Dixie) is a Professional Cookery graduate of Westminster Kingsway College who was also a finalist on Channel 4’s ‘The Taste’.
One morning while contemplating what she could slather on her bacon and egg sandwich, Dixie discovered pomegranate molasses, her favourite Middle Eastern ingredient, in the cupboard. She mixed it with Turkish tomato puree salça and a blend of spices, and in doing so she unknowingly made her first batch of Pomegranate Ketchup.
After months of tweaking and improving the recipe, Pomegranate Ketchup was born. Late in 2015, Dixie and her partner Will built a kitchen in an East London railway arch and began to produce and sell their delicious Ketchup.
Pomegranate ketchup is sweet but has a very subtle underlying spice. We see it as somewhere between ketchup and relish, and serve it with basically everything.
It goes particularly well with grilled meats, and rich meats like duck and lamb.
It’s also an excellent glaze to use in cooking, just brush it on your choice of meat before grilling, for a sweet and sticky finish.
Dixie has put together a selection of recipe ideas using pomegranate ketchup, just click here to view them.
We really hope you’ll enjoy Aphrodite’s Pomegranate Ketchup as much as we do.
As ever , if you see any products you’d like us to feature, or if there’s something you aren’t able to find in the shops anymore that you used to buy – please let us know and we’ll do our best to source it for you.
For more information please see:
Aphrodite’s Pomegranate Ketchup
20th April 2017
read full articleWe love to barbecue, and we cannot explain how excited we are now the weather’s finally starting to warm up and outdoor cooking season is so close.
Cooking over coals (or gas!) really brings out our inner caveman and it’s just a much more rewarding way of cooking than almost anything else.
Here in the UK we’re far behind the BBQ game as it is in the USA, and most barbecues we get invited to are based around burgers and sausages, grilled until they’re over-done and crunchy.
There’s so much more to barbecue than this!
Because of our love of barbecuing we wanted to bring you something special and help to raise your BBQ to the next level.
And therefore - may we introduce you to Lane’s BBQ Rubs and Sauces.
Ryan Lane is an award-winning pitmaster from Bethlehem in Georgia, where barbecuing is a way of life. Ryan was making rubs and sauces for himself, but because he had so much interest in them from friends, family, and rival pitmasters, he set up his own company to make and distribute them.
Lane’s rubs are made from all natural, dry ingredients, with seasoning and spices in various mixes to give your meat of choice a massive punch of flavour.
They’re gluten free, with no added preservatives or MSG.
And they’re so easy to use; just take your meat out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking, lightly oil and coat generously in your choice of rub, then cook as normal.
The rub adds flavour and also helps the meat stay moist and tender, as it forms a delicious crust on the outside, keeping the moisture inside where you want it.
Our favourite rub is probably the classic Signature – it’s a savoury blend with a hint of ancho chilli for a mild kick of heat.
Sweet Heat has more spice, and if you’re feeling brave SPF53 is the hottest rub that Lane’s make.
Lane’s also have a range of sauces, and we’re proud to say we stock all of them.
Sorta White is mayonnaise-based with subtle spices, and Kinda Sweet is like the best BBQ sauce you’ve ever tried – but better!
One-Legged Chicken sauce is a fiery, smoky sauce that is perfect slathered on chicken wings before cooking.
We’re confident you’ll love Lane’s as much as we do, and all orders placed in April and May will come with a sample pack of Lane’s Signature rub so you can try it yourself. Each sample pack is enough for 2-4 chicken breasts depending how seasoned you like them. Just lightly oil the chicken, toss it in the rub until the chicken’s covered, and either roast for 30 minutes or cook on the BBQ.
These Rubs will change how you barbecue forever!
We are delighted to be the sole UK importer and distributor of the full range of Lane’s rubs and sauces, and we hope you will be as impressed with them as we are.
If you're looking for inspiration on cooking with your Lane's rubs, take a look at their Instagram page which is regularly updates with dishes cooked by Ryan Lane and others using his rubs.
For more information please see:
Lane’s BBQ Rubs and Sauces
10th April 2017
read full article
