lets get back to basics... starting with the butcher

frugal_shopper_2

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is caul. This is something you will only get in a butchers not a supermarket and even then you may have to give advance notice as not all butchers will keep caul fat in stock.
Caul may also be known as apron or lace.

It's typically used to wrap faggots and crepinettes however it is also extremely useful for making self basting roasts.
When you get it you will need to soak it in tepid water for a few minutes to make it easier to handle without tearing, some people like to trim off the thicker strands but that is not essential for roasts as any unmelted fat can be brushed off after it's cooked.
Once it has been soaked it is opened up into a sheet it is wrapped around the joint of meat or the chicken, turkey, pheasant, whatever else you are cooking. The advantage caul has over wrapping in bacon to keep something moist, juicy and flavourful is that the caul dissolves completely during cooking basting the roast as it does so but disappearing in time for you to get a nice crispy skin on a chicken or turkey.

This is what caul looks like:


This shows before & after photos of it used on a turkey (they didn't trim off the thicker strands so there is some fat to brush off after the turkey is cooked).
http://www.bobbyjayonfood.com/2012/11/wrapping-turkey-in-caul-fat.html

ferretkeeper

As scary as it is, the horse meat scandal has forced us to examine what we are eating and how we cannot trust anything a label on mass produced food says anymore, the supply chain is endless. We have to hear it from, dare I say it, the horse's mouth. Sorry, couldn't avoid that!

I'm pretty biased, I'm a very small scale producer of free range, outdoor reared, rare breed pork. I love my animals and want to give them the best life I can - in return I get the best meat I've ever tasted, not least because I can eat it with a clear conscience and it hasn't been all round the world.

I tried offering my produce to local butchers and they refused, preferring to buy direct form the abattoir. I use the same abattoir and I realised they will buy any pink pigs that come through the door.

I also know local famers who want to make a quick buck. They buy young pigs at market for pennies, feed them the lowest quality pig food, random supermarket waste, and indeed illegal kitchen waste from pubs etc. Proper pig food is damned expensive and my local feed merchants almost think I'm a mug for giving my pigs exclusively good quality food, how can I make any money out of it, why don't I want to save as much as possible?

So my point is that you should not just use a local butcher but ask if they know the farm the meat came from. I do wonder if they will tell the truth but at this moment in time they'd be mad to lie to us like the big boys have been doing. I think it would be a huge selling point for them if they did know the farmers and advertised as such. I welcome visitors to the farm to see my animals, in fact most of my customers met the pigs that provided the meat they've eaten.

It may not always be possible to buy local, as one person says, if they live in an arable farming part of the country it will be difficult to get local meat. But you'd be surprised at the number of little producers out there like me, only known to their friends and family, until now that is!

I have to thank the person who mentioned the Big Barn. I will be adding myself on asap. Its higher package even offers a good deal on overnight couriers, making it cost effective for me to sell my produce mail order, and therefore it becomes accessible to people who don't have a good butcher or even a pig farm down the road.

For the wannabe farmer without the time or land I (and many others) will rear an animal for you; get together with another family and go halves on a pig. You can meet it, get photos and updates and finally specify your butchery requirements; if you want bacon or sausages etc etc or if you want several smaller joints instead of one big leg or shoulder I can do that. It's amazing to see how excited people were about my pigs, the anticipation of a freezer load of pork and the great meals coming their way.

For the person buying half a lamb, ask the farmer what cuts you'll get and what to do with them, they'll know!

I have priced my produce to match supermarkets best lines, I don't feel able to price any higher despite having much better meat and complete traceability; many people still aren't able to afford more even though we now know how bad supermarket meat could be.

One tip if you buy from the "farm gate" go for half a pig or whatever animal. It's better for the farmer to sell like that, less faffing, so you'll get a better price than for individual joints of meat. You'll get the best cuts at good prices plus lots of the cheaper and largely unseen parts of the animal for a real bargain. I put recipes in for some of those as a starting point, HFW's River Cottage Meat Book is great too.

Good luck to everyone trying something new!:A

gailey_2

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Just notice our thread is in the weekly email:eek::beer::beer::beer:

THANK YOU!!!!!

I was wondering if anyone with some good pointers could start a 'back to basics' thread on using a traditional fishmonger next...as I must admit this does scare me:cool: as we dont eat much fish

Good fishmongers eve trickier mines miles away have seen a fish van deliver here normally find morrsions fishcounter the best.

As im in a large city we have many butchers but not many near me.

butcher 1 looks grim
butcher 2expensive and grumpy.

so now looking butchers counter at local farm shop-all locally sourced and free range
Going to attend farmers market and try nearby village butcher.

Many of city centre ones are halal and cater for that type of diet however have noticed the more multicultural areas the fruit and veg shops, asian supermarket and their bucthers opene really late.

So possibly good option for people who work in the week.

MysteryMe

Are you sure your rare breed pork is not actually ferret?

gailey_2

Saw this in guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2013/feb/19/how-buy-better-meat

This is one im planning to try he sells few places but all locally sourced west country and nearest farm shop with butchers counter 3miles from me:)

http://www.jonthorners.co.uk/where-to-buy

Heres another one near me within 3miles found by googling

http://www.buxtonbutchers.co.uk/about-us.asp

both are very sure on provenance.

I did use a mobile bucther from a van they were lovley guys but brought in from smithfeilds meat market, did no free range and dident feel could really tell me where its from but was labelled as british, feel sad as shopped with them for some time its the meat traders at market I dont trust.

We decided as family to go part time vegetarian and buy better meat.

Like anywhere there will be good and bad butchers.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

oooooo another piggie keeper, hi ferret keeper:beer:

Our land has a public footpath running past our piggies, so they are on show to anyone walking past, some of the regulars talk and stroke them every day, and said even though they can see how they are being reared and kept etc, they couldnt eat the meat, as they knew the pigs....

thanks for the info on the coul:beer: I have seen it on joints of beef, and around faggots, but i didnt think of using it for poultry...

will see if I can get some..

How much should I expect to pay for it?

Arbuckle

We have a fabulous butcher in the village (Neil Richards, Lambourn, Berks) who is normally good for a giggle and a decent chat up line. He knows where his meat comes from and also does sausages and other bits.

Can be packed most days but worth a look if you are trekking down the M4

A friend of mine has piggies too! I love piggies and piggy babies, not necessarily the new mums though as they can be dangerous! They had a 'man' visiting the other week who was the size of a house, tusks and all!

frugal_shopper_2

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

thanks for the info on the coul:beer: I have seen it on joints of beef, and around faggots, but i didnt think of using it for poultry...

will see if I can get some..

How much should I expect to pay for it?

Nothing if you ask for your own back when you take your pigs to the abbotoir, saying that you could probably persuade them to fill a bucket with it for you while you were there. The bulk of it goes for rendering into lard or turning into pet food so it's separated out but not valued that highly.

At a butchers it depends whether it is a stock item or not if they use it themselves but don't normally sell it they will often give you a bit free when you are buying other items. Some places sell it as a speciality item & charge as much as £20 per kg :eek:. Personally I have never paid more than £2 per kg for it but I always get it from butchers who have it around anyway if someone had to order it in specially for you I suspect the price would be a bit higher.

Pork caul is the most common but lamb or beef caul is equally effective.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

thanks frugal:beer:

not due to take any piggies to abotoir soon, so will ask butcher,

When i do take the pigs, Do you know how much I would get from one pig?

How would I store it, and how long would it keep? could I freeze it?

When we get our pigs back, we dont have the heads back, they did ask if we wanted then but hubby didnt like the idea, ( all new to this,so didnt want them back just incase it upset us:rotfl:) plus we didnt know what to do with the, same as the trotters..

vasseur

Thanks so much cooltrikerchick for starting this thread (and thanks to all the other posters and their tips). I have been thinking of buying meat at the butcher for a while now and this has spurred me on. We are quite fortunate in that there are a few decent butchers in this area so I will start this weekend.

I can also recommend the Dairy Cookbook for advice and I've used a lot of the recipes in my copy (An 'updated edition for the 90s' :rotfl:)

I'm sure I remember running in and out of the meat hanging hanging up in the butchers when I was a child (I'm 40 now) when queuing up with my mum (or did I dream that????)