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Original poster

Is anyone else afraid of their local butcher?

141 replies

Dorothyredboots · 03/12/2009 15:56

I'm a good cook and know my foodstuffs. I'm quite a sensible, well educated person on the whole, but get me in the butchers shop and I seem to go to pieces. I'm always hearing the TV chefs banging on about ask your butcher to bone stuff, get stuff for you, tell you where stuff comes from. I just can't seem to assert myself and slink off with 500g mince and a pork pie. Am I the only one who goes to the supermarket for meat, not through choice, but in desperation?

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 03/12/2009 16:01

I am not scared of my local butcher. He's very nice. I do feel a bit reluctant to go but that's only because the queue tends to be out of the door and down the street

Meat worth the wait though and would never hesitate to ask advice.

Get yourself a new butcher I think...

purpleturtle · 03/12/2009 16:05

I think we've lost the art of proper food shopping. I know what you mean Dorothy. I'm the same with fishmongers too. I have found that I end up paying more than I wanted to/can afford, because I'm too intimidated to say, "Could you just take a piece off, please?" and then never go back.

Supermarkets have made it far too easy to buy by price, rather than quantity.

Scorps · 03/12/2009 16:06

Orm - our butchers is like that too. I even know where the cows live!

They are very funny in there though, i bought beef fillet steak to make DH Beef Welly with and they asked if he was worth it

AppleyDapply · 03/12/2009 16:06

I really like my local butcher - he's very cheery and always gives the DC lollies when we go in so they love him loads! I was a bit apprehensive yesterday when I went in to order a 3 bird roast for xmas dinner (not on the list of things that you can order) but he was only to happy to help.

SpringyDingDongMerrilyOnHigh · 03/12/2009 16:07

I'd not go to a butcher's at all because I'd feel like a child playing at being a grown up. That's even sillier

colditz · 03/12/2009 16:09

I think you have to remind yourself that they can only sell you what you ask for. So you need to be specific and ask for eg 500 grams of chicken thighs, would you mind skinning them for me please? And a leg of lamb, take the bone out please but I'd like to keep it for the dog. Or 500g of pollack - head end please, I want a nice thick piece. Would you whip the skin off that please?

I live in a very foody market town, so am not affraid to ask for my rabbit to be gutted and jointed!

Tillyscoutsmum · 03/12/2009 16:10

I'm not sure afraid is the right word - but I'm definitely intimidated by them. Up until recently, I've always bought pre packed supermarket stuff so I have been able to clearly see amounts, prices, cooking instructions etc., so it does feel a bit weird going to the butcher.

I bought some lamb shanks from them last week and nearly dropped through the floor when he told me the price At that point, its too late to put them back I suppose.

PheasantPlucker · 03/12/2009 16:11

Ours is really nice, with queues out into the street. They give cooking tips too, and sell tasty sauces. It feels quite 'old fashioned' going to a butchers somehow. I love it. I feel a desire to do my hair in a 1940s roll, and ask for 'brisket'

Poledra · 03/12/2009 16:11

I love my local butcher - they're very helpful and not all worried about you not knowing exactly what you want. I sometimes tell them what I want to cook, and they tell me the best cut of meat to use for it. And they will put a new edge on my knives for me too

OrmIrian · 03/12/2009 16:11

Oh the price can be a bit of a shocker tilly I agree. Which is why I don't buy all of it from there - wish I could. But it is also why I am not afraid to ask for advice and for the meat to be prepared as I wish.

colditz · 03/12/2009 16:12

I enjoy asking for a pound of shin. It makes me feel all 1940s

WouldYouCouldYouWithAGoat · 03/12/2009 16:12

i would rather eat less meat and get it all from the butcher.

louii · 03/12/2009 16:15

I always ask the butcher daft questions, he gives good advice on how to cook whatever i buy, suggests easy sauces etc to make.

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 03/12/2009 16:17

Purpleturtle - nothing wrong with saying 'I'd like about a fiver's worth of stewing steak' or whatever. A lot of their customers will be old people who have to watch their pennies so they'll be used to it.

Also, tell them what you want it for - I often have no idea about quantities so I say 'to feed two people, one of them has a large appetite'!

Lamb shanks have cost a bomb for a good few years now but foodie writers still go on about them as a cheap cut - it really annoys me!

OrmIrian · 03/12/2009 16:18

Brisket? Who mentioned brisket?? Now that is good value and bloody goregous.

CMOTdibbler · 03/12/2009 16:18

We used to go to a totally fabulous butcher on a community farm - you could see the cows etc out of the window, and they listed the ear tag numbers of the meat in the shop that week.

Now we go to a butcher who is lovely and v helpful, and are just graduating to buying half a sheep. Takes me back to my youth and my dads eclectic take on butchery, as he cuts everything to suit his taste, not conventional cuts

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 03/12/2009 16:18

I like asking for scrag end of neck.

PheasantPlucker · 03/12/2009 16:19

Me, OrmIrian, but what is it????? What do you do with it?

OrmIrian · 03/12/2009 16:21

Tis a bit of cow. Not sure which bit, but it comes in a joint which is too touch to roast but can be slow-cooked or braised.

OrmIrian · 03/12/2009 16:22

tough not touch!

ShinyAndNew · 03/12/2009 16:23

It's a sort of beef, that is apparently very,very nice when you cook it correctly. I did not, however, cook it properly

It needs very, very slow cooking, apparently. And I can't remember if MIL mentioned something about gravy too.

edam · 03/12/2009 16:26

Ask the butcher's advice - they love sharing their knowledge. My mother swears she was taught to cook by the village butcher.

Ours is lovely, always waves to ds as I'm passing. But I leave the meat shopping to dh - as I'm veggie it turns my stomach. Am afraid the nice butcher must think I'm terribly rude!

Bonsoir · 03/12/2009 16:26

Gosh no, I'm not at all afraid of my local butcher and I am a very demanding customer! My butcher does fabulous veal and I require that the butcher himself, not his underlings, cut my escalopes, as he is the only one who has his skills honed to a sufficient degree of perfection .

Hassled · 03/12/2009 16:27

Butchers are nice, jolly folk on the whole IME. I ask ridiculous questions - like what part of a lamb is the shank - and they just humour me. And I ask for things like "3 and a half rump steaks please" (the half being for DS3) and they just shrug and get on with it.

moonmother · 03/12/2009 16:27

When we moved here, we went in one week and bought a beef joint for Sunday lunch off our butcher.

The next week we bought a chicken for Sunday and some rump steak.

By the next week we bought all our meat from him.

One week, we'd been out and hadn't had time to get to the butchers, so went and bought a Beef Joint from Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range. We could taste the difference and have never bought meat anywhere since.

Pete(butcher) is great, last week I had no idea what to get for Dinner, went in and he gave me 3-4 different ideas,lol. I can buy 2 or 3 sausages in different flavours off him.

And his steak is to die for- I used to only eat steak very well done, his is so yummy i ate it medium rare last week.

My advice is bite the bullet, go in and ask their advice about cuts etc, if they are good butchers, they'll be happy to answers any questions you have, and be happy to advise you.

As for price, OK my meat bill is a little extra (usually £15-£20 a week) but the quality and taste makes it well worth it.