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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:
PheasantPlucker · 03/12/2009 16:28

Thank you. I shall indeed don my headscarf and gravy my legs and buy some! (Do I need a slow cooker, or can I just bung it in the oven a a casserole?)

I might sing like Gracie Fields as I walk in, too!

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 03/12/2009 16:29

Edam - my mum was too. She would go in and say 'What can I get my husband for dinner?' and he would sell her a bit of meat and tell her what veg to do with it and how to cook them.
The problem she has now is that the butcher has not caught up with the fact that she is not broke any more and she'll go in and he'll say 'I've got a nice bit of I've been saving for you', then she'll have to buy it to avoid hurting his feelings when really she wanted steak.

Bonsoir · 03/12/2009 16:29

Mme La Bouchère is on the till at my local butcher's shop. And it closes midday for lunch from 1 until 4. And is open on Sunday morning and does roasts to order for collection at 12.30.

Original poster
Dorothyredboots · 03/12/2009 16:30

You are encouraging me to address my - ahem- difficulties. Perhaps this will be my New Year resolution - get to grips with butcher!

OP posts:
Kathyis12feethighandbites · 03/12/2009 16:31

@ Bonsoir.
And just think, she has to do it all in French!

WouldYouCouldYouWithAGoat · 03/12/2009 16:31

just look at the label of whatever it is you buy in the supermarket and ask for that

Bonsoir · 03/12/2009 16:33

It's positively medieval-type female slavery, if you ask me . She never gets to see her children because the butcher's shop hours and school hours are totally out of sync...

thedollshouse · 03/12/2009 16:39

I am afraid of my local butcher because of the cost, very good quality but you really do need to take out a mortgage to shop there.

Once I realised that I had forgotten to get anything in for dinner and really didn't fancy trekking to the supermarket in the rain so walked across to the local butcher. Chose a lamb casserole, I'm useless on weights so just asked for enough to feed 2 adults. It cost £26 .

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 03/12/2009 16:39

I'm scared 'cos its not pre-packed and I therefore have no idea how much it will cost. I was put off by a trip to the butchers 10 years ago, I only wanted a steak for my tea. Was some form of beef and it cost me nearly £5. This was 10 years ago and I was

SolosScrapingUpForXmas · 03/12/2009 16:43

I can't stand the smell of a butchers shop...

carocaro · 03/12/2009 16:46

A while back I bought £22 of braising steak and I asked them to cube it for me, and he huffed and tutted and told me it would take ages and just stood there. They were not busy, I said it that I thought it was part of the service, again he just stood there, so I just left and said I would go to another butchers!

ImSoNotTelling · 03/12/2009 16:51

I braved the local butchers recently. I asked for some chicken and asked is it free range. He barked "It's FINE" at me. I haven't been back.

Lilymaid · 03/12/2009 16:52

I've got a lovely butcher at our local farm shop. Not only does he have an excellent range of high quality meat, he is quite happy to serve you with small amounts of cheap stuff and will trim/cut just as you want. The meat is definitely better than at Waitrose (the only supermarket where I'd be happy to buy meat)and no more expensive.

Bonsoir · 03/12/2009 16:54

The free-range poultry in my supermarket is infinitely better and cheaper than the free-range poultry in my butcher's - and it has a sell-by date on the packet.

I shop around... the butcher is better for some things.

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 03/12/2009 17:01

Which supermarket do you get nice chickens from? Got a free range, taste the difference one from Sainsbury and it tasted of nothing.

Bonsoir · 03/12/2009 17:08

Monoprix! I'm in France. But you can get great chicken in Waitrose, which is where I shop when I stay with my parents in the UK.

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 03/12/2009 17:11

We've found not that much to choose between the poultry at our butcher's and the better ones at Sainsburys. The butcher's poultry isn't local either - comes from Norfolk and we're in Yorkshire. OTOH when we get one from Loose Birds of Harome at the farmers' market it's noticeably better.

Bonsoir · 03/12/2009 17:13

OK, inspired by this thread I am going to brave the elements and pop to the butcher for a large veal chop for supper .

CybilLiberty · 03/12/2009 17:15

thats a really funny thread title

PheasantPlucker · 03/12/2009 17:20

a bit Sweeny Todd?!

ABetaDad · 03/12/2009 17:53

Kathyis12feethighandbites - you are right.

I come from a farming background and frankly a lot of so called 'local' butchers are taking people for a ride as are the so called 'farmers markets' which are nothing of the sort. It became a bit of a lifestyle thing in the 1990s and 2000s because people very rightly wanted better quality food but there are people working in the food industry who are all too ready to take advantage of the ignorance of people. It is not the farmers I might add.

At the end of he day. Its what it tastes like that counts and I buy from Sainsbury and it is pretty good what we get and it gets delivered free. My parents buy from Sainsbury too even though my Dad used to rear grass fed Aberdeen Angus cattle so knows a good piece of beef when it is still walking round the field.

I have bought organic in M&S and from our friends who are organic farmers and both are very expensive and the taste is not discernably different from well cared for and well prepared non-organic meat.

If you an find a good local butcher who really does a good job and really does buy good local meat at the local market from selected local farmers then do support them but most of them are just buying from the same abatoirs/wholesalers and ultimately the same farmers as the supermarkets but mostly charging a lot more.

Meat is a commodity, pure and simple. It has a price and quality that all butchers know. The way to make a lot of money is by passing off ordinary meat as something special. Every butcher knows that too.

Just because a butcher is local does not mean they are better than a supermarket. Take care, ask questions, be discerning, do not be fobbed off. Walk away if not satisfied you are getting good value for the money you are prepare to spend.

ABetaDad · 03/12/2009 17:57

Oh and if they are charging a premium then they should prepare it just the way you want it - not the way they got it delivered to the shop from the wholesaler with minimal effort from them.

heartofgold · 03/12/2009 17:59

in what way are farmers markets nothing of the sort abd?

heartofgold · 03/12/2009 18:00

sorry forgot a vital there...

edam · 03/12/2009 18:03

Speaking of Sweeney Todd, does anyone wonder why they insist on putting family butcher on the shop signs? I always want to go in and ask, how much to do mine?

ABetaDad, the village butchers I was talking about takes all its meat from the local farms, via the local slaughterhouse.

Elsewhere in the country, my Italian BIL swears none of the supermarkets do decent meat - he has an arrangement with a local farmer and buys half a cow every six months...

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