Buying from a butcher

Roz_V

Bex,

Pearsons in Hillsborough is supposed to be excellent and locally sourced - might be a bit out of your way though. Funk's is also good for Pork (especially hot pork sandwiches with apple sauce and stuffing :drool: ) but again in Hillsboro'...

thriftlady_2

VickyA wrote:

Then again, there are some rogues out there and I know that we're incredibly lucky to have these excellent shops on our doorstep. If they can't tell you where it's from, then it's probably not worth going in.
.

That's good advice

scuzz

We get a lot of our meat from the butcher at a farm we go to. The meat is much better quality, you can select which cuts you want and they'll do any carving that needs doing. eg if you need a joint butterflied.

Love butchers, and fishmongers for that matter:T

christineperseus

Rowan wrote:

How does Costco compare to a local butchers shop for quality?

Costco is SUPER meat!
and very good value

Dumyat

we have a local butcher. have to say it does work out a bit dearer, but the meat tastes so much better. he usually has a special on...and its usually good value. so I tend to cook round that. last week the special was on minced beef.

angeluk69_2

My local butcher closed down:mad: without notice and I have realised it is because he is opening a new bigger shop just down the road from me.....YAY!!!!!!:beer:

When I first saw it was closed I was really annoyed, they are ture professionals, butchers.
Manya time I have gone in said 'I want to try something a bit different, what do you recommend?' and they have come up with so many suggestions.

I have gone in and told them what ingredients I have in my cupboards and they have suggested some greta meals, and advised me on different ways to cook.

You can even inspect the meat and tell the butcher (well my one anyway) if it is ok or not. I have asked for stewing mince and been known to ask him to find the most marbled meat he can:p . I am really cheeky tho'

Not enough people use butchers these days and this is why they are a dying breed, but they really are worth any extra (if any) money that you have to pay.

My best advice is, go and have a chat with your butcher, like everyone else has said ask for number of people or ask for suggestions on portion sizes. If you really want to test a butcher, ask for suggestions on what to do with a certain cut of meat (like shin) and try the recipe. If it works then you know you can go back and trust your butcher.

Just remember....

:T SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUTCHER:T

lollyred1

after watching whistleblower i have decided to get all meat from butchers etc, but slightly duanted by this as never used one before, our they more expensive? Whats the best sort of things to go for. Any advice will be very welcome as just had baby and want to try saving money whilst eating better

Icemaiden

If I'm honest I tried several butchers before deciding on the final one I now use. I didn't really have a clue, so started off by looking in the window a few times on passing, then went in and had a good look round, bought some sausages to try, and then took it from there. Word of mouth is a good one to follow, how busy is the shop, is it clean. As far as buying the meat, I usually asked for the quantity I require i.e 10 x sausages, £5.00 in money joint of beef, 6x slices bacon or tell the butcher what your cooking so they can recommend a cut thats suitable. It take a bit of getting use to but once you find a good butcher it soons becomes the norm.

Oh, and it taste wonderful

HTH
Ice
x

tripled

I shop in the butchers fairly often. It is far more convinient for me than the supermarkets because, being single, it is the only place where I can buy small quantities (ie 1 chicken breast, 3 sausages, 2 rashers of bacon, etc). I have generally found prices to be comparable to those of the supermarket, in fact it works out cheaper for me as I never have any wastage like I do from the supermarkets.

Most butchers will stock all the cuts they have in the supermarket, if not more.

It is also a fine sight getting a rasher of bacon out the pan which is a similar size to the one that went in, rather than looking shrivelled up and skanky looking. More taste too

yellowmonkey

Hi.
Thanks for this thread as i have been wondering the same thing. Will watch with interest and pluck up the courage to step onto the sawdust floor.

ym