Chances are you might not know where the local butcher is in your neighborhood. Chances are, some of you don't even have a local butcher. But as more and more small, local butcher shops begin opening that's gong to change. And there's reason enough to seek them out.
Florence Fabricant recently wrote a piece for The New York Times that explored why you should buy meat from your local butcher. In short, her point was that you'll save money and eat well from cuts of meat you simply can't find at your mainstream market.
Fabricant notes, "Buying some pork or most other meats is not as simple or as cheap as picking out an apple. Do not tweet your friends for advice; consult the butcher." You miss out on a lot by strolling into the grocery store and picking up a styrofoam tray of meat in the sense that your serving sizes are really based on how the meat will be trimmed, and how you plan to cook the meat determines the cut. You need a moment to chat. Then of course, if what you're looking for isn't available, the butcher can offer the perfect alternative.
Butchers will also de-bone cuts of meat for you and, as Fabricant notes, many will even go so far as stuffing, rolling, and tying a roast with a customer's breadcrumbs they brought in from home. "How many home cooks can handle a length of butcher's string as deftly, quickly and neatly as the person behind the meat counter?"
Take your recipe up to the butcher counter and talk to them about it if you don't already. From personal experience, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Not only do they "do meat" all day long but most genuinely love to talk about it. And in the all-in-one supermarkets that many of us frequent today, it's nice to have an excuse to pause for just a moment inbetween the dairy and produce aisles.
Related: Curious Cook: Tips for Getting to Know Your Butcher
(Images: Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan and Flickr member Stu Spivack licensed under Creative Commons)
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In Argentina, where I'm from, most people buy their meat from the butchers. Of course, we are famous (or were) for it. It's a MUST to have a good relationship with your butcher. He will give you the best cuts (not always the best price compare to supermarkets), but their knowledge is priceless.
I've been wanting to find a good butcher in my area (Jersey City)... anyone have some suggestions? Right now we plan to get some in Ohio at Thanksgiving from my childhood butcher... But we would like to find one for either everyday meats or a place where we can buy a whole cow (with a few friends of course... because who has a freezer big enough for that anymore??)
I buy from the only kosher butcher on the west coast of florida...I'm lucky to live in his town. it doesn't save me money--kosher meat is very expensive, especially when there's no competition. but I do value my relationship with him!
Here in London (and the rest of the UK?) the butcher knows no more about the meat than anyone else in the store. Luckily, in my area there is a great family-owned butcher. So much cheaper and better. Plus, he knows where everything came from! He is so good that my friends come from miles away just to avoid the grocery store!
Is there a website that lists local butchers? I don't think I've ever seen a shop like that in the metro DC area.
@feasby05 there are a few on Central in the heights and two shops in Hoboken. Just google "butcher 07030" or "butcher 07307". Good luck.
I love my butchers. There are quite a few butcher shops in town but I have two favorites. One is my local butcher up the street, very traditional and no-nonsense and there's one incredible organic butcher that is a bit of a trek but totally worth going out of the way for. And both businesses are really knowledgeable about all things meaty. They've been excellent with helping me figure out the best cut for a dish or which cut might be a more economical substitute.
My first experience with a local butcher was about six months ago when I visited a chicken butcher's stand at my farmer's market. He was very helpful; he answered all of my questions and made suggestions based on what I had been looking for. I was even more impressed when I returned the following week and he not only remembered my name, but asked me how my dish was!
Since I've started going to local butchers, the quality of the meat I eat has improved (organic, fresher than pre-packaged), my cooking has improved thanks to all the advice I've been getting, I'm confident that these animals were treated humanely, and I'm supporting my local economy!
Where I live, I'm lucky to have a few quality butchers, but none are on my usual route to or from work (and the public transit here leaves something to be desired).
Instead, I've developed a relationship with the butchers in my supermarket and I love them. My store will cut, bread, and marinate for free, which I really appreciate. I just put my order in when I walk into the store and pick it up before I pay.
I live in Los Angeles and we have a several great butchers and even some grocery stores with trained butchers. But fish, ack, that is much harder to find.
I love my butchers. We have two of them, one local and one a little further afield. They both have excellent meat, the sort of meat you cannot find in the grocery story.
Our local butcher stocks only local meat. The cows live only about 5 miles away from the store; they have a happy stress-free life, are grass-fed and hormone-free. The resulting beef is amazing.
Ditto for the eggs and chickens. They too are raised locally, and are free-range. The eggs are so fresh that I can actually make a proper poached egg without a runny egg white! And the chicken tastes meaty, and is not wet and soggy like supermarket chicken, but nice and dry like the chicken I used to buy in Europe.
They also carry goat cheese from a local supplier -- the goats reside in my village too.
We love being locovores (even the cheddar they stock is local)!
The other butcher has more exotic stuff and amazing prepared foods, and so is well worth a special trip. (His mother makes the very best pierogies I have ever tasted, with a light delicate dough).
Oh, and there is a third butcher we love too -- he's the best sausage maker in town, and wins all the prizes.
Supermarket meat just can't compete...
I'm lucky in that there are several farmer's markets near me (in Sacramento) that have local, organic beef and chicken (sadly, no pork) and freshly caught seafood of all types from the bay area. If I want something I can't get at the farmer's market - I go to the Orangevale Meat Market which is simply beyond fabulous. As a matter of fact I'm going there later today to order my turkey!
My parents had a butcher open up near their home in Georgia. They went in one day and asked if he had locally sourced or organic meats. He said he didn't carry it because he didn't feel there was a market for it (they lived near several rather wealthy neighborhoods). The shop was closed within a year.