Demise of the butcher

[Matt Deckard]

I was at Wal-Mart and.. well I'm happy with the fact that they're selling Mexican Coca-Cola with real sugar here in Rosemead CA.

I'm am however dissapointed in how Wal-Mart pumps its meat full of water to ad weight and in tern remove flavor. Used to be you would go to the market and see packaged meat which was from cuts by butchers in the back room. The meat was from a hunk of cow or pig and it it was exactly what you thought it would be... unaltered from when the animal died.

If you look closely at Wal-Mart's meat packaging you will notice in fine print somewhere on the label that it says "enhanced with 10% solution". Sometimes more solution or sometimes less... this means that when they pack the meat to look as though it was butchered in the back, they literally impregnate the meat with water. When you cook the meat it shrinks. You'll notice the packages are less bloody and more sweaty. The flavor is watered down as the oils have been replaced by water. Anywho, from now on I think I'll be heading to Brystol Farms or the local market. I frefer to pay for meat that will not shrink when you cook it.

What do you guys and gals think?

 

[LocktownDog]

My wife's best friend is a meatcutter at the local grocery. They buy high-quantity at a very low cost and no quality control is really done. The gal spends 12 hours a day just cutting and wrapping steaks or grinding burger. The idea is speed, not presentation. Somehow it really comes through in the flavor ... or lack thereof. Luckily, my brother in law helps to run a nearby pig. I get a lot of really nice organic pork at cost. I only have to pay for the butchering labor.

I've found that the best store-bought meat can be found at the latino meat markets. Not only is it full of flavor and processed very little, but you'll find cuts that can't be hunted down anywhere else.

Richard

 

[Nashoba]

This has always bothered me too! When I was a kid I remember going with my mom to the fish market and the butcher. If there was a special cut she wanted she would ask for it and it would be cut to order. At Passover it was the only place she could readily get a lamb shank bone without having to hunt for it. At the fish market she used to pick the ones she wanted from the tank and the fishmonger would catch, kill and clean it for her right there. The fish market is still there but the butcher is long gone.
I've found that there are a few places where I can still find quality meats. Surprisingly the Commissary on base is one of them. The butcher is really friendly, they do the cutting on site, no 'solution' added and if you want a special cut you just ring the bell and they come out of the back and are happy to help. The only other places I've found that I still like are Publix for the same reasons as the commissary and whole foods / wild oats. Problem with Whole Foods is that they're so danged expensive. But if I'm looking for something unusual or a game meat that's where I go.
I find it dissapointing that quality has been replaced by quantity and speed. It makes me sad.

 

[Feng_Li]

One of the biggest obstacles to small, local producers is the FDA regulations, especially the use of "approved" slaughter facilities. The cost of FDA certification is orders of magnitude greater than the small producer can ever hope to sell, so he is barred from selling retail.

There are ways around this, most of which involve the customer purchasing the animal (or a share of it) while it is still alive. The rules are different when you wish to slaughter your own animal for your own consumption, much like when you hunt.

But I think it's worth the hassle for the vastly superior quality, and I think the laws are severely unbalanced with industrial agriculture in mind. I'll take homegrown over Certified Organic anyday.

 

[Roger]

Unless it's canned or boxed already, I wouldn't buy anything that is purportedly "fresh meat". Wal-Mart, Target etc. buy that prepackaged meat from the Mid-West where it's trucked in. The water is to act like a preservative, I presume.??????? Anyway, try to get freshly cut meat.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

I shop at Stater Brothers and always get good, quality meat there. There's also an honest to goodness butcher not far from me - Ustin's Meats. New owners as of eight years ago, but the meat is of the same good quality.



Lee

 

[Rooster]

I raise or buy my meet on the hoof and take it to a butcher. he kills it and dresses it and packages it and calls me when it's ready for me to pick up. Great eats.
I butcher my own chickens, rabbits and deer. We rarely buy meat from the grocer.

 

[Roger]

You're a regular Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett.

 

[cookie]

I was at Wal-Mart and.. well I'm happy with the fact that they're selling Mexican Coca-Cola with real sugar here in Rosemead CA.

I'm am however dissapointed in how Wal-Mart pumps its meat full of water to ad weight and in tern remove flavor. Used to be you would go to the market and see packaged meat which was from cuts by butchers in the back room. The meat was from a hunk of cow or pig and it it was exactly what you thought it would be... unaltered from when the animal died.

If you look closely at Wal-Mart's meat packaging you will notice in fine print somewhere on the label that it says "enhanced with 10% solution". Sometimes more solution or sometimes less... this means that when they pack the meat to look as though it was butchered in the back, they literally impregnate the meat with water. When you cook the meat it shrinks. You'll notice the packages are less bloody and more sweaty. The flavor is watered down as the oils have been replaced by water. Anywho, from now on I think I'll be heading to Brystol Farms or the local market. I frefer to pay for meat that will not shrink when you cook it.

What do you guys and gals think?

Matt small but important point about sweetening. US manufacturers use fructose from corn for artificial sweetening and the latest mail is that they believe it is causing obesity more so than sucrose used by non-USA manufacturers.

The other thing in US restaurants is use of tenderizers (like MSG) on cheap meat in many cheaper steak houses which makes poor cuts taste like top quality until you have the raging thirst and nightmares at 3AM!

 

[panamag8or]

Matt small but important point about sweetening. US manufacturers use fructose from corn for artificial sweetening and the latest mail is that they believe it is causing obesity more so than sucrose used by non-USA manufacturers.

The other thing in US restaurants is use of tenderizers (like MSG) on cheap meat in many cheaper steak houses which makes poor cuts taste like top quality until you have the raging thirst and nightmares at 3AM!

The bit about corn syrup also applies to his remark about Mexican Coke, which, by the way, makes me extremely jealous that he can find it in the grocery store.:rage:

 

[Lady Day]

I raise or buy my meet on the hoof and take it to a butcher. he kills it and dresses it and packages it and calls me when it's ready for me to pick up. Great eats.
I butcher my own chickens, rabbits and deer. We rarely buy meat from the grocer.

As it should be done.

But Mr. Deckard, where have you been? Thats been happinging to processed meat for years! One reason I gave it up. Too much non meat in the meat, too much worring about its shelf life.

LD

 

[MrNewportCustom]

The bit about corn syrup also applies to his remark about Mexican Coke, which, by the way, makes me extremely jealous that he can find it in the grocery store.:rage:

Here in California, it's extremely easy to find Mexican Coke. The guys I work with bring it in all the time . . . in glass bottles, no less! I've bought it off the lunch wagon on many occasions, too.


Lee

 

[Matt Noir]

My great grandfather was a butcher at a small shop he owned in Bayonne, NJ. I remember going there as a small child (back in the early 70's) and I loved being there with him.

Being a butcher is a true lost art form. Nothing was as good as having him bring home dinner wrapped in the white paper and ready for my grandma Jennie to cook for us.

Regards,

Matt

 

[bolthead]

Sad But True....

Matt small but important point about sweetening. US manufacturers use fructose from corn for artificial sweetening and the latest mail is that they believe it is causing obesity more so than sucrose used by non-USA manufacturers.

The other thing in US restaurants is use of tenderizers (like MSG) on cheap meat in many cheaper steak houses which makes poor cuts taste like top quality until you have the raging thirst and nightmares at 3AM!

This is so true....sad, but true.

 

[Smithy]

Back home in NZ, I went to the butcher virtually everyday. You can't beat meat from a good butcher. He would hang meats correctly and you could order in anything you wanted. Plus he'd always know what was best for what you were making. And this particular one did the best British style pork sausages I've ever tasted (boy I miss Devilled Sausages!)

Here in Norway unfortunately, butchers aren't nearly as widespread so it's usually down to the supermarket. They're not too bad as they have a butchery in there but it's not the same as the good old local butcher.

If you have one nearby, use it. Far, far better quality.

 

[Air Boss]

Commisary and Wegmans

The commisary is great! Cusotmer service is still alive, they will custom cut meat and poultry, special order, etc.I try to shop there monthly (the closest one is at work, more than 1 hour away).

The other place I like to buy meat is a small private chain called Wegmans. Shopping at Wegmans is more of an experience than a chore. Organic produce, freash baked goods, quality everywhere - and the deli; to die for! Alas, the closest Wegmans is about 45 miles away and with gas over $3 a gallon I don't get there as often as I would like.

 

[Starius]

I still remember a local butcher shop in my home down when I was a kid. I would go in there with my dad, we raised hogs and had some butchered locally for ourselves. Its funny, some of those memories that linger.... I vividly remember always being cold back in the refrigerated area where they did the cutting - and then being too hot when I walked back outside into the summer air. Keep in mind, my home town had a population of about 700 and it was so common for most small rural towns to have their own butcher shop.

Now they're mostly all long gone, even in many rural areas. It really is sad to see them go. We do have one pretty decent butcher shop left about 40 minutes away from here. I don't know if they will specific cuts that you request though, thats the kind of service I particularly want to see again. But the stuff they offer in the shop is good none the less. Certainly better than anything you'll find in the larger retail chains. I'm glad I noticed this thread, its reminded me to go back there again sometime soon.

 

[Twitch]

Matt in So. Cal. you'll need to go to a meat market like my wife does for better meat. It's cut the way you ask for it and since I cook it I've happily found that there is almost no shrinkage or melted fat in the pan if it is fried for example.

Fortunately or unfortunately depenting on one's point of view, meat markets are mostly Hispanic owned-operated. It's ironic that this country once had meat markets and they mostly went away for super markets and their medocre meat selection. It took Hispanic immigrants to basically go "Yuck! You call this meat? Boy does this area need butchers and meat markets!"

Free enterprise and consumer selection is bringing back the meat market!

 

[Lincsong]

Up in this burg there's a couple meat market's, not to mention the Mexican and Chinese supermarkets. The Mexican supermarkets have good selections. The Chinese supermarkets have a good selection, but the Mexican markets are better.

 

[Dr Doran]

Two of my best friends are butchers although one is now a produce (fruit and vegetable) guy in a small store (less mess) and the other is the fish department manager at one of the two Whole Foods in San Francisco. I worked in an organic grocery store for over a decade. I wouldn't shop at a place like that now because the prices are too high; what we do have in Berkeley is the most remarkable grocery store I have ever seen, Berkeley Bowl, which has both organic and non-organic items and everything from every possible ethnic cuisine. And everything is cheap; their markup is small compared to an organic store (at my store, we charged $2 for things we bought for $1). Their produce department is huge and carries things like heirloom tomatoes and much much more exotic stuff. They have a huge meat counter and (some) real butchers behind it. One of the advantages with free range and organic meats is that these were usually raised on smaller farms where more care was paid to the animals. This is a big deal for more than moral reasons -- chickens in small pens will be filthier and more disease ridden in general than ones that are allowed to run around more freely. My ultimate goal is certainly to raise goats and such, or to make friends with people who do. I am not sure if I could kill them if I had been raising them as a semi-pet; I'd have to see.