A mouth-watering pork fillet en croute crafted by Weymss Bay butcher, Mearns T McCaskie has been named the best pork product in Scotland.

The tasty pastry has won the coveted Diamond accolade in the Scottish Craft Butchers Specially Selected Pork Products Awards 2019, marking it out as the best of its type in the country.

The awards, which were launched in October, complement Quality Meat Scotland's Specially Selected Pork campaign which is due to launch next week and highlights the versatility, tastiness and health benefits of pork.

Delighted owner Nigel Ovens – who runs the popular Shore Road butchers with his wife and mother – said he was "thrilled" to see his own recipe judged so highly by the industry and his peers.

"I'm immensely proud of this achievement," he said. "These awards are a real testing ground for butchers' products and to come out as the best in Scotland is an absolute thrill."

The national winner comprises Specially Selected Pork fillet sitting on a bed of black pudding, with a cream cheese/mushroom combination, all topped with parma ham and encased in pastry.

"As bacon curers, we have a lot of pork fillets and it is good to create products where this prime cut can be used to advantage," said Nigel. "This oven-ready pork fillet en croute makes life simple for the customer as it just has to be cooked in the oven and is ready to serve."

McCaskies, which is a member of the Scotch Butchers Club, was one of around 60 butchers from across Scotland that submitted a wide variety of handcrafted products which were judged blind in one of the industry's most keenly contested awards.