AIBU to confront the butcher?

[pinkflamingo12]

I'm aware this is a bit of a strange question, but I wanted to get outside opinions before i jump in with two feet on this issue

Over the last couple of weeks myself and DH have had my in-laws round for sunday lunch. Both times i cooked a beef and onion pie for the main course. I thought it would be a showstopper but for some reason both pies have smelled like wee and i was really confused as to why?

The first time it happened i presumed DH has bought a dodgy onion from the supermarket but when it happened the second time i knew that couldnt be the case as we had shopped for ingredients at a completely different, more upmarket, supermarket (under the impression that the onions were causing the wee smell). However, both times i used beef i had got from the same butcher. I can't help but think that, if it isnt the onions which are causing my pies to smell like wee, it must be the beef.

So basically, i was wondering should i confront the butcher? I dont want to upset or offend him, i just need him to know that the beef he sold me was unsavoury. What if myself, DH or even my in-laws had become ill after eating it? What if someone else has become ill from eating it?

i'm not sure if i should go back to his shop and tell him that the beef he sold me smells like wee when cooked or if i should leave a review on facebook so that others are aware of his dodgy meat and avoid the shop so they dont get ill, as the wee smell might be cause by bacteria?

i would really appreciate any advice you lovely people have! Thank you in advance

I have to ask, Pink how did the stinky pies taste?

Not that the smell of wee would enhance the appetite, but am interested if it affected the taste.

For the record, I'm a pescatarian so unlikly to actually eat pee-pee-pie anytime soon regardless of the smell or taste

@MrTrebus I love a good mince and onion pie, minus the piss though.

My husband thinks lamb smells of piss when it cooks. Sure it wasn't lamb mince?

however i still feel i should make the issue known to the butcher as it could still be his beef?

Until you have tried it with other meat, he isnt going to care and ignore you. Assuming its something you are doing.

On a serious note ...

One of our go to dishes is pasta bake. For some reason, a year ago, we were both tucking in, and almost simultaneously said to each other "can you smell washing up liquid ?". Turned out we both thought we could. It was very faint, but definite.

Time passes, a few weeks later - same thing ...

As an experiment we changed dish - no smell.

A few weeks later - original dish, washing up liquid smell again.

The dish was a ceramic square on, and the glaze was slightly crazed.

An overnight soakin homebrew sanitiser (www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipment/wilko-cleaner-and-steriliser-100g/invt/0022658) and the problem went and hasn't returned.

At a guess at some stage we must have soaked the dish in soapy water overnight. Complete waste of money. Overnight soaking in plain water is just as effective (with less risk of niffs).

Of course if it turns out your dish is to blame, I'd love to know what you managed to do to get that smell in there.

To answer your AIBU, maybe some research to eliminate or incriminate before ???

Have you been buying your meat from Hilary Briss?

Try meat from somewhere else first before u confront him

@Cockacidal "special stuff"

Butcher here

As a rule we don't piss in mince as by that time the meat doesn't need further tenderising. I mean you could if you really wanted to but I think that's probably something that is best done at home with a ziplock food bag. When we (butchers) use urine to break down a nice filet, it's usually an overnight process.

I have a friend who once threw some poo at an owl and although it's not entirely the same I thought I'd best mention it.

I'm still laughing at you going to a more upmarket supermarket for your onions

I'm not a butcher but I thought it best to mention I think apple and black currant squash smells like wee. I can't have it in the house at all. Does anyone besides you think the beef smells like wee?

Butcher here.

We piss in the mince to try and persuade the tight arse pie makers to buy steak.

might not actually be a butcher

FILwas a Butcher here

Throwing poo at an owl will tenderise it, but will also make it taste of poo thus making it useless for owl and onion pies, and only good for VIPoo demonstrations.

HTH

Am I the only one thinking how odd it is that OP cooked her inlaws a beef pie that smelled like wee.....and then on another, very soon visit, cooked the exact same recipe that also smelled like wee?
Like, it didn't occur you to roast a chicken, or make anything other than pissy pie?

OP, I don't think you can come back from this. Not once, but twice, in swift succession, have you cooked your FIL pissy pies, and tried to pass them off as a "showstopper" (mince pie - really?). Your PIL now know what you really feel about them

On the off-chance you genuinely thought pissy mince pie was a showstopper, I reckon you should go for the aforementioned owl pie. But don't blame MN if your PILs never darken your table again

Was it ground meat? There could be offal in it. Or maybe it's just a bad recipe. Try cooking something else using the same beer and see how it smells. Even better just boil a bit so you know that it is definitely the beef.

I bought some steaks from Muscle Food. They were as usual quite delicious...until I cooked some flat iron steaks I think they were called. OMG they smelled and tasted like wee, vile. I googled and it was a known thing. Muscle Foods changed them for something else

This thread makes me happy to be a vegetarian !

hot why?

I eat meat and its never smelled like wee.

My MIL is coming for dinner tomorrow and I don't particularly like her.....where is this butcher OP?

How anyone would willingly eat filtration organs (liver, kidney) is beyond me.

How anyone would willingly eat the flesh of another sentient being is beyond me.

"Food processors will sometimes treat meat products with ammonia to kill bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. Ammonia is not listed on these food labels because it is a processing agent and not an ingredient of the food. This can affect the taste and smell of food, but it is not considered a health concern after the Food and Drug Administration found that ammonia is safe to be used this way."

Found this on an American website, but its not news to me. I mentioned it upthread. Why am I the only one who knows this? Eh? concerned head tilt

@MrsJames Agreed, though I did used to eat meat many years ago so I know how disassociation works. Even then I wouldn't have ingested any kind of internal organs, especially those filtering out toxins.

Oh, the vegans are here. Why would you come into a thread about butchers, @MrsJamesAspey?!

So glad I opened this thread. Got nothing helpful to add, just that I am trying with laughter!