Is anyone else afraid of their local butcher?

[Dorothyredboots]

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?

this is the downside of living in a rural idyll...

My shed is now the kids art studio Aitch. It's full of glitter and playdough. Sorry!

I was scared of the local butcher. I just felt daft and lacking in all meat-related knowledge.

bah

I quite fancy going to the butcher's in a nearby town. It is var popular and I can imagine myself asking for pork shops and stewing steak there.

right I've only read page1 but brisket was a speciality of mine so here's what I do.
In a deep casserole dish put a layer of mixed root veg-carrots,parsnips, swede,turnip,[potatoes-optional],onions etc. and mixed herbs,salt and pepper.Put the joint on top and pack it all round with more veg[on top too].Then put the lid on[seal it with a flour and water paste] and roast in a slow oven for at least 4 hours.It is really delicious and very very tender.My dc loved it.

Ooh yes, we do that too pranma and it is just fab.

Our current fave is lamb shoulder (about £6 for a joint big enough for 4 people), seasoned then just roasted in a low oven (100 degrees-ish) for about 5-6 hours. Melty, crispy, fatty, goodness; perfect for a winter's eve.

I'm a veggie, so I just plead ignorance and they usually take pity on me.

I find it helps if I tell them what I want to do with it and how many people it's for.

My local butcher was featured on the hairy bikers show recently .

My butcher loves me.

Tip :

Spend three consecutive weeks ordering expensive stuff - then roll out the queries.

Seriously though, ours is wonderful - if yours isn't, try another one. Go there regularly enough, and they'll look after you. Mine (a die hard Scot) even cut a lamb to English standard cuts for me on request - fairly remarkable, this far north of the border.

I got off to a wobbly start with our local butcher when we moved up to scotland by asking for chicken - how was I to know that you have to go to a Fish Shop for chicken up here! I thought he was joking. He must be old skool though, as I've since found another butcher that does sell chicken.

OUr local butchers are fab. DH ordered meat for Xmas last year including a fillet of beef. I went with DS to collect, when I said who I was they said "Oh we've all been waiting for you to come in" Inwardly cringing I smiled mentally preparing myself to hear some eccentric but embarrassing story about my DH ( a not infrequent feeling). The piece he had ordered worked out at £120 !!! They were v kind and happilly cut to alot smaller size

Dorothy - I know exactly what you mean as I'm much the same myself (always used to leave meat-buying to the OH!) I finally summoned up the courage to start asking questions while on maternity leave, since it seemed rather rude not to say anything when the shop was empty except for him, me, a baby and a loudly inquisitive toddler... Since then my confidence has rocketed and we've had some much more interesting meals (I've even done lamb shank, despite not generally being a fan of lamb, and it's rather nice!)

The thing to remember is that almost everyone enjoys showing off how much they know - your butcher is unlikely to be an exception. Also, people who sell stuff for a living (the ones who are successful anyway) tend to enjoy talking to people. Unless they're really busy of course. He's probably itching for an opportunity to suggest things to you - so you'll be doing him a favour.

I suggest that you work out what you want to say beforehand (eg. you've got a few friends coming over and want to make something a bit special but not too expensive), pick a time when the butcher won't be too busy and try it. It could be the start of a beautiful friendship

Good luck!

I once offended the staff at a fishmonger - I meant to ask (as the books on how to do shopping told me) what they'd got today that was nicest and freshest, but it came out as 'What have you got that's fresh?' The woman said 'I assure you all our fish is fresh' in a very huffy way.

I think now I am more confident I would just raise a sceptical eyebrow at that - I have since learnt that when food shops are very snobby the best thing is to pretend you are distinctly unimpressed.
If anyone knows the cheese shop in Cambridge, they are notorious for being excellent but snooty in there. An ex-boyfriend of mine who was American and kind of guileless and naive once went in there and said loudly 'I can't believe they've only got two Cheddars - a cheese shop in New York would have about 10!' They grovelled to him after that.

my butcher is hilarious "Morning bonny lass!" at the top of his voice. Although I do understand why people are a bit scared....I asked for a leg of lamb boned and butterflied and then went on to say "it wants to feed 6 people" and they were quick to say "you cant specify a size on a boned, butterflied leg, it will be the weight it is"....I did feel a bit daft...

I love my local butcher:

1. you can buy chicken carcasses for about 50p for stock
2. you can buy whole chickens with giblets
3. you can get seasonal stuff and unusual cuts
4. you get advice on quantities, recipes and a bit of chat
5. the Christmas queue is the most hilarious thing ever, loads of incredibly middle class people braying competitively on how well they know the butcher, how long they've shopped there, how they know his wife / kids / dogs, when he introduced his credit card machine etc etc etc None of that in Sainsburys!

I love the fact that this thread is still going. DP has often ribbed me about my hatred of going to the butcher!

I am not alone!

maybe this needs to be printed out and sent anonymously to all butchers to have, well, a butchers at?