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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:
SoMuchToBits · 10/12/2009 22:59

No, I love my local butcher. Go there every week. The meat is very good quality, much better than the supermarket (we don't have a Waitrose near here, which might be ok).

And I am quite happy to say "A piece of pork for roasting please, about 2 adults and a Jonathan's-worth" and he will know how much I need.

Can't recommend him enough!

LadyThompson · 11/12/2009 07:20

Oh blow, I thought this was going to be a thread about unused butcher's blocks as the MN headline is 'Butcher's Block' - are you afraid of yours? I was about to tell you all how mine is covered in fluff and bottles of improbable liqueurs.

Don't use a butcher, I'm a veggie.

HeffaMerryChristmas · 11/12/2009 08:06

Our local butcher is really friendly. I bought a freezer pack of 5 different joints from him once and because I couldn't carry it home with the buggy, he offered to deliver it himself on his way home which was very lovely of him.

Unfortunately the meat isn't that great. The joints were good, but his mince is awful. Really gristly, even DH wouldn't eat it (I've never before known DH to leave meat of any kind). As a result I tend to go to Waitrose more often because it's fairly consistent and quite tasty.

There are some really fab farmer's markets and local butchers down here though so it's quite easy to get good local meat, just a shame that the only butcher I can walk to isn't that good.

Spacehoppa · 11/12/2009 09:08

Butchers are not scary and some independents are excellant-but I think we have all done the-'I'm in a hurry let's get everything at the supermarket thing too.' Lets face it some of those have butchers too...

GentleOtter · 11/12/2009 09:13

Why is it so difficult to get mutton these days?
There is plenty of lamb but there is nothing better than an Irish stew with a piece of good mutton. It tastes far better than lamb.

JeffVadar · 11/12/2009 09:27

When we still lived in London we used to go to a wonderful butchers in the North End Road every Saturday morning, and we would buy what we wanted for the whole week. There was always a massive queue, but as they seemed to have about 300 people working there, you never had to wait that long.

Down here in Cornwall we have a good selection of butchers, so I am spoilt for choice.

The most exotically named cut I bought recently was something called box heater, also a slow-cook cut. I also partial to oxtail, and a bit of skirt .

Loujalou · 11/12/2009 09:36

I live in s village with a butcher but its so expensive we don't go there. Its super well kept animals and they charge a premium. We have a farmers market where we try to get our meat.

The butcher is lovely though and have been known to go in for bones for stock and he doesn't charge me. That reminds me....

duchesse · 11/12/2009 09:55

Otter- I buy a whole mutton or hogget every so often from my friend's flock- they're organically reared and hand picked for transfer to the abattoir two by two in a kind of sick take on Noah's ark. The abattoir never has mutton labels so everything always comes back labelled as lamb, from which I assume that there is so little mutton going through the abattoir that it's not worth their while ordering any labels. Maybe that's why it's hard to find. I suggest that everyone who wants mutton keep asking their butcher for it (and it makes a fantastic long slow roast or stew or tagine) and eventually the message will get through that there is demand for it.

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 11/12/2009 10:00

We get mutton from these people sometimes - their meat is absolutely top.
OMG I've just noticed there is a joint of mutton called 'skank end'. Do you know, I really think the butchers should get together and rename the bits of animals so they sound more appetising, like the kiwi fruit growers did with their Chinese gooseberry.

zazen · 11/12/2009 13:43

Here's a fun interactive game!
Find the cow pieces
A bit like stick the tail on the donkey..
Don't get your Brisket mixed with your Porterhouse

Chulita · 11/12/2009 14:00

We had a fantastic butcher's in Gloucester, best sausages in all of Albion I reckon. The local one here just doesn't cut it - he's friendly but his meat isn't the same. [sigh] If anyone lives near Gloucester I can recommend a good one
They used to intimidate me but I'm so gormless I just say "I want a juicy steak without any bones that doesn't cost more than £xx" or "I fancy lamb but I have no idea how to cook it" they always come up trumps!

Kathyis12feethighandbites · 11/12/2009 14:16

Love the game Zazen!

cheltenhamgal · 11/12/2009 15:27

Hi Chulita, I live in Cheltenham which butchers was it in Gloucester ?

mrsshackleton · 11/12/2009 15:40

I think it's such a British thing to be afraid of the butcher/greengrocer/fishmonger, we're such a shy race the idea of anything involving actually communicating with another person terrifies us. Much easier to go to a supermarket and not even have to make eye contact with the cashier.

Mind you, the other day I asked the butcher to joint a chicken for me and he was a bit huffy, which really irritated me. Someone suggested I should have tipped him for this service but what kind of tip would be suitable and surely the point of going to a butchers is to have that extra service. Plus it took him all of 10 seconds to do it after I stuck to my guns

Chulita · 11/12/2009 15:59

Nick Brown's in Churchdown His sausages are to die for

Chulita · 11/12/2009 16:00

Sorry Longlevens (Innsworth Lane) only been 2 months ...

SexyDomesticatedDad · 11/12/2009 18:26

Our local butcher is so local I can look out the window and see if the shop is still open. Tend to get our most of the week from him - good name too - A. Hiscock . Often have a chat about what we like to cook and different ways - even if they weigh something up and it costs too much they are quite happy to cut some off but usually end up buying a bit more (but we are good at using up leftovers) - we work out the cost per meal not the actual cost. Crimbo is great too - order just what we wnat and they can keep it fresher in the big cold rooms. Will get some some special stuff in too if we ask - yep its not cheap as chips but you get what you pay for and if you go for the right seasonal stuff and mix up cheaper cuts with good stuff it ain't so bad. Sausages and the old Purton pasties are great too. Need to keep our local buthers in jobs.

wildfig · 11/12/2009 18:36

I love my helpful, knowledgeable local butcher, as does everyone else in the Ledbury area apparently - at Christmas, the queue to pick up meat from their shop is so long that they let local charity fundraisers sell mince pies and mulled wine outside, and they raise a fortune. V festive and jolly, and possibly the best kind of advertising they could hope for.

AxisofEvil · 11/12/2009 18:48

I do shop at a local butchers sometimes but went off them when we had this conversation:

Me - Could I ask where your chickens come from? [chickens had no labelling so could be anything from free range organic to battery farmed for all I knew]

Butcher - Other chickens

[two butchers both probably in their 50s start sniggering at how stupid my middle-class question was and how clever the response was]

me - come on, you know that's not what I meant

butcher - yeah well they're looked after, OK

Which given I live in a solidly liberal middle class area is something of an odd attitude to take to your customers. I'm quite robust but for many people that could feel pretty humiliating. Needless to say I don't buy chicken from there.

pollmeister · 11/12/2009 19:01

The only butcher's near me is a Halal one. I was a bit 'scared' of it at first. But the chickens taste better than Tescos and they do mutton and nice lamb and chop stuff up for you and always wave and shout "Hello" to my DD and know her name and give her sweets.
They do sell some scary looking things like black tongues and unidentifiable offal.
No sausages though.

Earthstar · 11/12/2009 20:04

I just discovered our local butchers and I am intrigued because it sell sstuff you can't get in Waitrose ( which is where I usually shop).

Their chipolatas and steaky bacon are better than Prince Charles's stuff at Waitrose and this week I am trying out Oxtail.

For future weeks I have rabbit and partridge and pigeon lined up to try.

I think the butcher is slightly more expensive than Waitrose free range organic...and I doubt it is organic or free range, either, but it's nice to be able to experiment with different stuff and also nice to shop locally.

It scares me too still - have only been in twice so far!!!

feralgirl · 11/12/2009 20:08

My butcher is HOT

Sometimes I get a bit flustered and forget to ask for exactly what I want but mostly I do what I can to (a) keep him talking and (b) ask for a joint which he'll have to butcher especially for me so that I can ogle his cleaver action.

Also their meat is local, free range and about 30% cheaper than the supermarket equivalent.

poguemahone · 11/12/2009 20:26

I used to meet a lot of butchers in my old job. A lot of the 'old-fashioned' or 'humble' cuts are cheap and sublime if cooked properly (usually slowly). What's more, margins on these for the butchers are often very good, so the butcher should be happy to sell you these and tell you what to do with them. Make a boeuf en daube with some cheap-as-chips beef rib trim and you'll thank me for it...

disneystar1 · 11/12/2009 22:06

i still use the butcher and greengrocer as opposed to tesco etc....

i meal plan and get what i need

i always ask for £5 of stewing steak , or how much is 4 chops and if too much what would be cheaper, i find the butchers friendly and happy to help.

whomovedmychocolate · 11/12/2009 23:01

We have possibly the most expensive butcher in the world down the road from us. He makes Harrod's look like Asda and while the meat is good, it's not that good IYSWIM.

And I used to go there all the time but I got fed up of paying 300% of the price elsewhere for something that really was about on a par with Waitrose meat.

And they are really snooty too! They see you come in and carry on with what they are doing rather than helping you even when you purposefully approach their counter.

It's like shopping in Miss Selfridge, but with sausages.