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

Spiggle

nigelpm wrote: »

Well it's always a balance between convenience, cost and quality. Like I said I'll give it a try and report back but I''m certainly not of the opinion that Supermarket = crap quality and Butcher = good quality.

I agree about the balance. But I have to agree to disagree that, in terms of fresh meat, supertmarket comes nowhere close to butcher meat. However, it does depend on having a good butcher available too.

I haven't eaten supermarket meat for years now but my OH does and he does all the cooking. The other day he made a spag bol which I normally love. When I was struggling to eat my plateful, I commented that this wasn't good mince and maybe the quality was going down. At that point he laughed out loud and said there was no fooling me! He'd used plastic wrapped mince that he'd bought from the Co-op and frozen in the month before!

Maybe I'm sensitive but I truly can taste the difference - not just in flavour but also texture which is hugely important to me.

Good luck with your trial, it will be interesting to see your results.

All the best,
Spiggle

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

@Nigelpm I think one can have crap local butchers and superb meat at the supermarket. It's all a question of finding the meat and knowing a good thing when you find it regardless of provence.
Personally i think a return to the local Butchers is well overdue and I for one need 'lesson's. I feel my Supermarket habit has deskilled me as far as discovering locally sourced organic or non organic but fully traceable fully flavoured decent meat.

Fire_Fox

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Charcuterie-French-Pork-Cookery-Grigson/dp/1902304888
This is the book that introduced me to Chou Farcie or Pork sausage mixture in cabbage leaves amongst other things.
As far a fat is concerned every good meat dish needs a certain amount of marbling for tenderness and flavour. This is why I wince when I see Good Food Magazine go on about LEAN meat etc because the flavour has gone out of it.
The above book is just an example of a cookbook that is fully into the appreciation of meat whatever it is.
From a gourmet/budget gourmet/foodie perspective you can learn how to lower fat levels for health without compromising on that all important taste.

I wonder if that depends on the quality of the meat itself and how you prepare it? I can't stand dry or tasteless meat so rarely eat chicken breast or turkey breast even if roasted with the skin or prepared by a chef, and I prefer to have a sauce on or with all meat. But even small lumps of fat or gristle in my food make me cringe so I generally buy lean cuts.

I just had local pork tenderloin from the butcher and it was very tender and tasty, hugely better than when I had it from the supermarket a couple of years back. I think the difference was both in the quality of the meat itself AND how I cooked it - this time a combination of pan frying and steaming, last time quite possibly it was parcelled up in the oven and overcooked.

Often have corn fed or free range chicken legs and almost always remove the skin and very carefully trim any visible fat, but then I slow cook so the flavour comes out of the bone which the meat is falling away from. :drool:

suki1964

nigelpm wrote: »

Why should people need to know this?

The whole point of progress is that people don't need to know how to do everything. Generally people accept that it's more efficient for everyone to be skilled in different areas.

I have no interest in buying an animal, killing it and eating it. I'd much rather pay a premium and let someone else do it for me.

And this is how pork and horse turns up in beef meat products

suki1964

nigelpm wrote: »

I suppose the other observation I'd make is if I want good quality bacon as I sometimes do I'll just buy a good bacon joint from Tesco's or Sainsbury's and slice it up myself.

Why would buying bacon from a Butcher's be any better than this?
Most of the discussion I've seen centres around the less common cuts of meat and I agree Butcher's are great for these but to the ordinary public who just want 8 rashers of bacon or a joint of Beef with their weekly shop - why go to a special butchers and queue?

Unless people are educated in animal husbandry, rearing, slaughtering and butchering they are open to buying something they weren't ecpecting

When you say premium brands, what do you mean? To me buying the finest bacon means diddly squat if that bacon comes from a pig bred in holland. Or that chicken fillet came from Sri Lanka.

The one thing about finding a good butcher is reputation. He cannot be caught selling what he shouldn't be. To survive he has to sell a premium product at an acceptable price

Good trades man survive, cowboys fail. Supermarkets have enough of the market to survive and so will rise this latest scare out and carry on as before

ash28

nigelpm wrote: »

I suppose the other observation I'd make is if I want good quality bacon as I sometimes do I'll just buy a good bacon joint from Tesco's or Sainsbury's and slice it up myself.

Why would buying bacon from a Butcher's be any better than this?
Most of the discussion I've seen centres around the less common cuts of meat and I agree Butcher's are great for these but to the ordinary public who just want 8 rashers of bacon or a joint of Beef with their weekly shop - why go to a special butchers and queue?

I used to buy my bacon in the supermarket, in late 2010 we moved to a new house in a different area and became rural as opposed to urban. A trip to the supermarket is not quite so effortless as it used to be.

One weekend I was caught short on the bacon front and decided to use a local village shop to buy bacon - we had visitors, we don't often have bacon ourselves. When I got there I found they sold a locally produced bacon and although it was vacuum packed it had been bred, cured and sliced just down the road.

I decided to give it a shot - the price was very little different to the supermarket bacon. First of all it was a different colour to the mass produced bacon (a bit worrying) - much richer looking. They sold cuts you rarely see in the supermarket - I bought collar because it was about the cheapest. I was a bit worried about what I was getting - I really don't like "piggy" tasting bacon or pork if you know what I mean.

When cooking it - apart from anything else there was no white froth that comes from the water in a lot of mass produced bacon and enough fat came out of the bacon to be able to fry the eggs.

It was bloody lovely - I've not bought supermarket bacon since.

lindseykim13

Well we picked up our lamb today from the farm shop, very nice place and busy too. Will be visiting again i'm sure!
This is what we got






got the bag of bones on the hob already




weighed in at almost 20kg so for £99 i don't think it was too bad. £4.95ish a kg which includes the bones and fat but i'm using those so not complaining.


Now has anyone got some tips on the best way to cook the belly, and what i can do with the fat and kidneys? As those are the bits i'm not sure of lol

suki1964

Belly of lamb is all fat really so needs long slow cooking. You can stuff it with stuffing of choice bur still long long slow roasting

The lambs kidneys I'd put with beef for streak and kidney. Lamb kidneys are not so strong as pig. Or else devil them and serve on toast

COOLTRIKERCHICK

that was a really good deal on the lamb,

Think I should have taken a pic of our whole lamb, ours was all vac packed and labelled, its all in the freezer now.

We don't like kidneys so the ones that came in our lamb boxes will be given to the cats...

Fire_Fox

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

We don't like kidneys so the ones that came in our lamb boxes will be given to the cats...

Your kitties are going to be in heaven!