At Feather & Bone we have a lot of great products, some of them I’m pretty excited about, and then there are some, like the beef from José Gordón, that I almost can’t believe we were able to secure.

In the middle of last year, a small contingent from Feather & Bone was invited to rural Spain to meet some very special (and very large) cows. The invitation came from their... owner? host? friend? José Gordón. José has a special bond with his cattle. Part of the reason for this is the long time he has had to spend with each one. José shuns the idea that tender beef must come from young cattle, his cows live happily on his farm for up to 15 years. In those years he cares for and gets to know his beasts, and through generations of experience, he can detect the optimum window for slaughter.

We met José on his weather-beaten farmland outside the tiny village of Jimenez de Jamuz three hours drive from Madrid, and were all too quickly in amongst the cattle. These cows are huge! Twice the size of the lazy loafers in Sai Kung, each beast weighing in at around 1,400kg and seven feet tall, with huge horns wider than our hire car. José collects rare and old breeds, saddened by the homogeneousness of the modern meat market dominated by fatty, fast-growing breeds. In order to see variety in flavour, José rears ancient breeds which are rugged and hardy and able to withstand the famously arid conditions of the Iberian plateau and importantly, represent the genetic variety José seeks.

After narrowly escaping a clotheslining at the horns of a particularly friendly steer, we retired to the restaurant to see for ourselves the effect that this unconventional animal husbandry has. It was there that I sampled what is unquestionably the best beef I’ve ever tasted. The way that a fine leg of Jamon Iberico celebrates the pinnacle of fine quality pork, El Capicho’s beef leaves all others for dead.

So, fast forward a year or so and after much tactful negotiation, the first shipment of José’s beef arrived and we are finally able to share this incredible product with our guests at Feather & Bone restaurants. We have no doubt you’ll be just as impressed as we were.

~ Mark Chan, Director of Operations, Feather & Bone