[rawfeeding] Re: How to Speak "Butcher"?

"Dayna Dreger" <dld842@...> wrote:
am having one heck of a time finding meaty meat. I need to
> find myself a good small-town butcher and would be willing to make a
> bit of a trip if I could stock up with good items for a reasonable
> price.
*****
IMO a butcher is not likely to have what you want unless he's
actually cutting his own meat. Not just unpacking what the meat
trucks deliver. All too often these days, a retail butcher is a meat
clerk who happens to own the store. However, if you can find a
custom butcher--the kind that processes Joe Farmer's own livestock
for him--you'll be able to talk trim and cut-offs there as well. A
second option is a processor that sells cut-offs and trim. If what
you need is beef meat, then trim is fine, and you only have to ask
for trim.

If you go to a retail butcher you will pay for not only the critter
parts but also labor and overhead. If you buy from a custom butcher
who's already billed Joe Farmer for processing, you almost certainly
will get off cheap because what you pay is "found money" for the
butcher; backdoor money. Same holds true with a processor.

I recently found what was called a "pork
> leg roast shank end" for a wonderful price, basically the hip joint
> and part of the upper leg of a pig with masses upon masses of meat
on
> it. I want something like that but maybe in beef or sheep or goat or
> something other than pork or chicken. What cuts do I ask for? What
> words do I use to make a butcher understand what I am asking for?
*****
You're not likely to find a beef bone that's a. slathered with meat,
b. affordable and c. edible. For sheer edible volume at a good
price, pork wins hams down. So again, I recommend you ask for trim.
(Not bone "dust" that is bone and fat with maybe a smidgeon of meat.)

Anything goat or lamb is gonna cost, from a retail butcher. What you
might find are lamb shanks, legs, chops, ribs (rack, riblets, trimmed
breast) at startling prices. No organs, no trim. Unless the butcher
cuts meat himself, he will almost certainly buy specific body parts
by the case, pre-wrapped, weighed and boxes. I doubt you'll find
goat anything unless you shop at an ethnic market or you special
order (which often can be done but not for less than two bucks a
pound).

If you go to a custom butcher or a processor and ask for leftovers
and trim for your dogs, you'll probably not be saying anything new
and dangerous--these sources are more likely aware of where their
trim goes. You already know what happens when you ask a "plain old"
butcher.

> Please, fill in the blank ...
>
> "Hello! I would like a ___________."
*****
...couple pounds of the cheapest boneless meat you have available.
...list of what I can order through you."
...name of a custom butcher. Do you do custom work?"
...look into your waste barrel.
...source for meat trim and cut-offs. Do you know of a processor?"
...job here so I can take my work home with me."

IMO you should also be sussing out meat wholesalers, ethnic markets,
farmers markets, hobby or club breeders, and local farmers. Perhaps
a monthly trip to the city may be justified by what you find there?
Chris O

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