Harts of Stur Kitchen Issue 6, spring & summer 2018 | Page 66

♥ Kitchen Classic
Harts Love
Butcher's
Stripe Apron
Y
ou can cook without an apron on of course
but it doesn’t feel quite right. It suggests
you’re not properly prepared to get to
grips with your food. Not ready to sink
your hands into the dough or fillet that fish
or pick up a searing hot pan. With your
clothes protected you’re ready to cook and
no other apron says you mean to roll up your sleeves and
get down to business like the classic Butcher’s Stripe.
As suited to a Michelin-starred chef reaching for the
liquid nitrogen as an actual butcher cutting you a rib eye
steak, it’s the professional choice for anyone proud to
prepare food. Rushbrookes have been making them for
170 years for the butchers in London’s Smithfield market.
The fabric is still made using a time honoured ‘discharge’
method to get bright white lines with sharp edges. No
wonder this apron won the Icon Award at the Excellence
in Housewares Awards 2017.
The tradition goes back even further though. The blue
and white striped apron is thought to originate around
1540 where it formed part of the uniform of The Butcher’s
Guild, an association of British butchers still in existence
today. Wearing the distinctive apron outside of the guild
was against the law.
The Butcher’s Stripe has stood for professionalism
for hundreds of years. Wearing the apron meant the
butcher had “earned his stripes”. Apprentices wore a
narrow pinstripe until they had passed their training.
Master butchers sported a broad striped apron if they had
progressed on their own or a broad and narrow stripe if
they had served an apprenticeship.
No such expertise is needed to buy one at Harts. Just a
desire to look smart and get stuck into your cooking. Blue
is the best colour to conceal stains too.
S E E +
S H O P
We have aprons and oven
gloves for all tastes.
www.hartsofstur.com
Dexam Rushbrookes Classic
Butcher’s Stripe Adult Apron
Navy
RRP: £21.00
Harts Price: £15.76
66
www.hartsofstur.com