Lewis of Sunningdale specialise in what is free-range, organic, humanely-reared, fresh, seasonal and, where possible, local. Just as we are certain our animals are cared for throughout their lives, so we ensure that when the time comes to slaughter, the process is as compassionate, swift and stress-free as possible.

We pride ourselves in providing superb, award-winning meat: Grass fed Scottish beef; succulent steak, tender lamb reared from British breeds suited to local conditions; prize-winning venison, wild game, welfare-kind veal and organic chickens, bred for a free-range, open air life; pork that is traditionally reared and selected to meet our high standards by a family-run farm in Surrey, dedicated like us to the traditional approach; sustainable fish and seafood together with our in-house produced 'Homemade Gourmet Dishes', nationally acclaimed sausages and BBQ specialties.

From Sunday roast to boeuf bourguignon, beef has been a favourite for generations. But which cut should you choose? Our guide gives you the low-down, from neck to rump via all the bits in between, and suggests the best method of cooking for each.

The Cuts

Beef is first divided into primal cuts. These are basic sections from which steaks and other subdivisions are cut. When looking at the diagram below note that the closer to the middle back, the more tender the meat is. Since the animal's legs and neck muscles do the most work, they are the toughest; the meat becomes progressively more tender as distance from "hoof and horn" increases.

Brisket

This cheaper cut from the belly of the animal can be bought with or without bones as a joint for slow-roasting, or for stewing and casseroling as cubes or mince.

Chuck or Blade

Taken from the shoulder, this cut is similar to neck, but can also be bought as a roasting joint. As this joint isn't as tender as other cuts of beef, it needs slow-roasting to achieve best results. Steaks and diced meat from the chuck are ideal for casseroles, or even braising. Chuck meat is leaner than neck, which makes it ideal for people who are watching their fat intake, but might not want to pay for premium cuts.

Flank

Sometimes called thick flank or thin flank, depending on the thickness of the meat, determined by which part of the animal it comes from. The flank is quite lean and is generally useful for casseroles and curries or for slow-roasting. It needs to retain the moisture that would be lost in quick-roasting.

Forerib

Taken from the back of the animal, forerib is a useful roasting cut. Sometimes, the ends of the bones are cut off to make a separate joint. You may wish to buy a forerib joint boned and rolled, so that stuffing and carving is easier. Although more tender than some of the cheaper cuts, the forerib still needs cooking for longer than premium joints. It's a mid-priced cut.

Neck Or Clod

The meat from the neck of beef contains quite a large amount of fat and isn't as tender as the premium cuts. This makes it ideal for slow-cooking. Neck can be bought as steaks or ready-diced, which is perfect for casseroles and stews. Price-wise, the cut is relatively cheap, so it's possible to buy more meat than you need if you wish to take the time to trim the fat further.

Ribs

Taken from the side of beef, ribs can be bought on the bone or as a boned-and-rolled joint. Similar to sirloin, but not as tender, the ribs make an ideal, mid-priced roasting joint.

Rump

Rump is similar to sirloin, but slightly less tender, so it's a little cheaper. The steak cuts are generally lean, but do require more care when cooking.

Shin

The shin of beef is from the front leg and the leg cut is from the hind limb. Both are cheaper cuts as they contain quite a large amount of connective tissue. However, this makes them ideal for stews and casseroles as it melts down during the long, slow cooking and gives extra flavour to the sauce. You could make stock from the shin or leg if the bone is left in the joint. The joint can be slow-roasted.

Sirloin

Sirloin is the premium cut of beef, which costs quite a bit more per kilo than some other cuts, but is more tender, so will taste better with less cooking. Sirloin can be bought as a joint for roasting, on the bone or boned and rolled. Fillets are often removed from the roasting joints, and are then sold separately as steak. Fillet steaks are also the premium steak cut from beef. Sirloin can tolerate high temperatures, which makes it ideal for grilling and frying as steaks or oven-roasting as a joint.

Topside & Silverside

Two separate cuts of slightly different quality. Topside is similar to rump and can be roasted as a boneless joint. It's not quite as tender as sirloin, so can't stand high temperatures as well, but if treated with care, will provide an excellent roast. Silverside is a coarser cut of beef than topside and doesn't roast as well. It's often used for making boiled beef dishes or mince. However, there are no bones in silverside which means that it provides a great deal of meat per kilo.

Cooking Beef

The method of cooking beef is largely determined by the cut of beef to be cooked. For example, tender (and generally more expensive) cuts of meat benefit from fast, high-heat cooking while tough cuts benefit from a slower and longer cooking method.

Dry Heat Cooking Methods

Tender cuts of beef from the loin and rib are best cooked via dry cooking methods, such as grilling, broiling, roasting, and sautéing.

• Grilling: Grilling is characterized by cooking the beef over a high heat source; generally in excess of 650° F. This leads to searing of the surface of the beef, which creates a flavourful crust.

• Broiling: Broiling is similar to grilling, except where grilling is usually performed outdoors with the heat source under the beef, broiling is usually performed in an oven with the heat source above the beef.

• Roasting: Roasting is a particularly British way of cooking meat which produces the iconic British dish - Roast beef. British roasting is very similar to American broiling, although the heating is from hot air and the meat is cooked all around. Little if any liquid is added. The liquid produced during cooking is decanted from the fat and usually made into a gravy to serve with the sliced beef.

Moist Heat Cooking Methods

Tougher cuts of beef from the round, brisket, flank, plate, shank, and chuck are best cooked by moist heat cooking methods, such as braising, pot-roasting, and stewing. (Some of the tougher cuts may be prepared by dry heat methods given they are tenderised first with a marinade).

• Stewing: Stewing involves immersing the entire cut of beef in a liquid.

• Braising: Braising involves cooking meats, covered, with small amounts of liquids (usually seasoned or flavoured). Unlike stewing, meat cooked via braising is not fully immersed in liquid.

Believe it or not, pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world, providing about 38 percent of daily meat protein intake worldwide. And this despite any religious restrictions on the consumption of pork and the prominence of red meat (beef and lamb) in the 'west'. Pork consumption has been rising for thirty years, both in actual terms and in terms of meat-market share but who can blame us all given it's such a flavoursome cut.

Pork may be cooked from fresh meat or cured over time. Cured meat products include ham and bacon. The carcass may be utilised in many different ways for fresh meat cuts, with the popularity of certain cuts and certain carcass proportions varying worldwide.

Fresh meat

Most of the carcass can be used to produce fresh meat and in the case of a suckling pig the whole body of a young pig ranging in age from two to six weeks is roasted.

Cuts of Pork

Head

This can be used to make brawn, stocks and soups. After boiling the ears can be fried or baked and eaten separately.

Spare Rib Roast/Spare Rib Joint /Blade Shoulder

This is the shoulder and contains the shoulder blade. It can be boned out and rolled up as a roasting joint, or cured as "collar bacon". Not to be confused with the rack of spare ribs from the front belly.

Hand

This can be cured on the bone to make a ham, or used in sausages.

Loin

This can be cured to give back bacon. The loin and belly can be cured together to give a side of bacon. The loin can also be divided up into roasting joints and pork chops.

Belly

The belly, although a fattier meat, can be used for steaks or diced stir-fry meat. Belly pork may be rolled for roasting or cut for streaky bacon.

Legs/Hams

Although any cut of pork can be cured, technically speaking only the back leg is entitled to be called a ham. Legs and shoulders, when used fresh, are usually cut bone-in for roasting, or leg steaks can be cut from the bone.

Trotters

Both the front and hind trotters can be cooked and eaten, as can the tail.

Pork ribs

Taken from the pig's ribs and the meat surrounding the bones.

Some think that roast leg of lamb with mint sauce can't be beaten but in fact there are plenty of other cuts to try and we bet you'd enjoy them just as much. Follow our handy guide to find out how to choose the best quality, the different cuts available and our opinion as the best way to cook each.

Choosing the best

Recognising good-quality lamb is as important as choosing the right cut. When buying lamb, choose our the leanest cuts with firm, creamy-white fat. The colour and flavour of the flesh will vary depending on where the sheep are raised, whether lowlands or hillside or, for the famous pré-salé French lamb, salt marshes. Look for pale pink flesh for a very young lamb, to a light or dark red. As well as pale-coloured flesh, a blue tinge in the knuckle bones indicates that the animal is young.

Breast

This cut is one of the cheapest from lamb, similar in price to scrag end, but is quite versatile. It can be roasted on the bone, which results in a crispy skin. However, if the skin is removed for the joint to be rolled, it must be done properly or the tucked-in pieces will be undercooked. Obviously, any of our qualified butchers at Lewis of Sunningdale will be able to do this easily for you. When breast is boned and rolled, it can also be stuffed with the filling of your choice.

Alternatively, Lewis of Sunningdale will provide tender strips of breast which are ideal for barbecues. Well-trimmed meat from this cut is also used for mince, burgers or kebabs.

Chump

Chump is used mostly for chops or, with the bone removed, steaks. They're ideal for grilling or barbecuing. However, it's wise to check how much bone you're getting in the chop as the bone is significantly larger towards the front end of the chump area. It's also possible to buy larger cuts of chump which can be used as a roasting joint for one or two people.

Leg

This cut of lamb is probably the most versatile, although it's also one of the most expensive, especially when bought as steaks. Leg of lamb makes a very good roast joint, or it can be split into two smaller pieces - the fillet at the top of the leg and the shank towards the foot. The end of the shank is particularly tasty if eaten straight after cooking, rather than left to cool.

If we've removed the bone for you, the leg of lamb can be treated in much the same way as topside or silverside of beef, including being cut into lean steaks. Leg steaks with the bone left in are often called middle leg.

Loin

The loin of lamb is in fact two cuts: best end of neck towards the front of the animal and loin (sometimes known as middle loin or double loin) towards the rear. Loin can be relatively expensive, depending on the level of trimming done by the butcher.

As both cuts come from the back, they yield cutlets which can be grilled in the same way as chops. Best-end cutlets are slightly less juicy than loin chops. In fact, T-bone style chops are also cut from the loin. Further trimming leaves the chops as noisettes - small lamb steaks.

The roast most associated with best-end is the rack of lamb or guard of honour, named because of the effect of the ribs lined up before serving. Bought in this way, the joint can be quite tricky to carve, but we're happy to 'chine' the joint (take the back bone out to leave easily separable cutlets) or to French trim the meat by also removing the skin.

A more expensive - but much easier to carve - alternative is to buy the loin boned and rolled.

Scrag

Also known as scrag end or neck end, scrag is one of the cheaper cuts of lamb, from the upper part of the neck. This area does not yield large joints of meat and what's produced is often more fatty than other cuts. Consequently, scrag end meat is usually chopped or diced and used in stews and casseroles, although scrag end from new season lamb (in April or May) can be used for a fine, relatively inexpensive roast joint.

Shoulder

Shoulder is one of the traditional roasting joints, although it's often sold as two separate joints: blade and knuckle, with different major bones and therefore different serving cuts. Today, the knuckle bone itself is becoming more popular as a distinct cut because it's full of flavour when casseroled and served straight away.

Shoulder is relatively costly as a lamb cut, even more so if you buy it boned and rolled (with the loose skin tucked back to make a neat parcel). The price undoubtedly represents the quality of the meat from this cut and the amount of work poor Paul has to put in to the preparation!

Our chickens are reared in total freedom by Freemans of Newent, where they enjoy a natural diet, and live to twice the age of most modern chickens. This freedom to roam gives them a well-toned bite, and a delicious flavour, just like chicken used to taste. With so many conflicting and contradictory opinions concerning the definition of free-range we believe the best way to assure that you get a premium free range chicken is, of course, either to buy a Lewis of Sunningdale white chicken or use the following advice which contains some useful advice to consider before selecting and purchasing your chicken:

Skin

The skin should show good colour which will be more yellow in the summer and autumn when the grass is good. A grazing chicken will eat plenty of grass and will get colouring from the keratin that the grass contains. There may be blemishes on the skin from the plucking procedure, although these will not affect the taste. The legs should be well skinned and of good colour. The presence of dark discolouration on the hock is, contrary to popular opinion, no indication of the system by which the bird was reared. These hock "burns" are caused by the fact that the birds do not perch but sit on the ground. Mud can stick to the skin and cause this discolouration which has no adverse effect for the chicken. The mistake made by some is to associate this with lameness, hock "burn" does not cause lameness but a lame bird will get chronic hock "burn" as it spends all the time on its hock. When a chicken is grown too fast the bones will not develop quickly enough to support its weight and they will collapse onto their hocks. Growing the birds more slowly allows the bones to develop at the right pace to keep up with weight gain.

Shape

Have a good look at the shape of the bird. If it is similar to the mass produced birds in having a huge breast and underdeveloped legs then the odds are it has done very little walking. Huge breasted birds are usually a sign of a pellet fed shed bird and should be avoided, good birds have a well developed leg and firm well finished breast that is no more than slightly heart shaped definitely not oval and hiding the wings.

Fat

The bird should have a taught firm feeling and not soft and floppy. Over fat birds are softer to touch and fat can be seen under the breast skin, some fat is necessary to facilitate cooking but excess is a waste. Internal fat is harder to judge as a bird can carry gut fat without being too fat. Usually, the larger a bird is the more fat it will carry.

Lewis of Sunningdale's game is wild, natural and free range with a distinctive flavour making it a great alternative to beef, pork, lamb and chicken. And, as it's low in cholesterol and high in protein game is one of the healthiest meats available today. For example, venison, with its brilliant taste and extra lean meat, is perfect for anyone on a low fat diet. We welcome back the long awaited venison season and look forward to re-discovering the joys of cooking with venison: venison cutlets with beetroot purée; slow-cooked venison casserole with chestnuts and quince or venison and mushroom pie, or venison sausages with mashed potato - perfect for chilly autumn nights.

Venison is a healthy meat, very low in fat and extremely nutritious: it has twice as much iron as beef and lamb, is easily digested and full of essential omega 3 fatty acids. It's a great source of protein containing minimal calories and what's more, it really is absolutely delicious.

As the popularity of game meat is growing with cooks and chefs alike, supplies are becoming widely available, so keep a look out for the tempting selection of ready-to-cook game at Lewis of Sunningdale. And, although the game season is quite short, more and more frozen meat is available for all year round convenience so favourite recipes can be stored in the freezer for future use.

Gone are the days when pheasants and venison were kept for special dinner parties. Whatever the occasion you'll find a great game recipe more than fits the bill.

The classic way of cooking game birds is to roast them in the oven and serve with game chips but with the availability of handy ready to cook portions they are just as good in casseroles, pies, pates, soups and sausages. Try cubed venison for a healthy yet hearty casserole or minced venison for a burger with a difference. Our low fat venison & red wine sausages make a convenient and great tasting mid week meal which the children will love and for a curry with a twist, look out for Tandoori Pheasant. With a vivid imagination the choice is virtually endless.

The secret of a good sausage is defined as much by what you leave out as it is by what you put in: Lewis of Sunningdale abhor the poor ingredients, fillers and additives in industrially manufactured sausages. Our nationally acclaimed gourmet sausages are all handmade by our in-house sausage maker (yep, that'll be Alex!) to traditional and exacting recipes and are made with pure, natural casings. Needless to say they are packed full of free-range GM-free meat. The simple proof is three-fold: the first in the fact that their size doesn't change during cooking showing their lack of fat, water and 'false filling', the second purely in the taste and the third in that there's never any left when you want one!

Our current range includes House Specials, House Chipolatas, Venison & Red Wine, Beef, Guinness & Horseradish, Chicken & Turkey, Gluten Free Pork, the fiery (nay, infamous!) Texas Terrors, Chicken & Turkey Chipolatas, Boerewors, Pork & Apple, Lamb & Mint and Duck, Orange & Cranberry. The taste and quality mean these are simple sausages you can serve with pride.

Oh, and our burgers, too, are renowned for their taste and high meat content. As an example, our House Special Burgers are made using 100% Scottish Aberdeen Angus beef, precisely blended with onions, cracked black pepper and a splash of Worcester Sauce. Simple. Fantastic.