Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with butcher

Butcher knife" or "Butcher's knife?

AAAAAThatsFiveAs — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:09:37 -0800

[EnglishFilter]: "Butcher knife" or "Butcher's knife?" I'm looking over a poetry manuscript and came across the lines:

“Pierre, get up here with your butcher’s knife.
We’re having frog’s legs for hors d’oeuvres tonight!”

Is there any convention regarding butcher/butcher's?

A quick Google yields 81,500 results for the possessive and 340,000 for the non-possessive. FWIW, the Wikipedia entry on the object is the non-possessive.

Thanks, Hive!

Help me self-catering a large party in central London

ninebelow — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:19:36 -0800

Help me self-catering a large party in central London I am organising a party for a hundred people in Holborn which will include lunch. Catering companies for events are very expensive and their per head prices don't really match my budget. So the idea is to provide a cold self-service buffet. I will be making some stuff myself (with help) but mostly I will be buying in and hopefully by going directly will get better quality for a lower price. Before starting the legwork I thought I would ask you nice people if you had any suggestions for suppliers for:

1) Meat: Whole hams, large cold pies (like pork and pickle or game), etc.

2) Fish: Whole poached salmon.

3) Carbs: I can't really be bothered making an industrial vat of potato salad so this is the sort of thing I would pay a deli or caterer for.

So any recommendations for good local butchers, fishmongers (I know they are unlikely to provide cooked fish but you never know), delis or caterers who will deliver and nothing more? There is minimal refridgeration at the venue and I won't be able to collect on the day.

Grill pan gift suggestions for newlyweds

grouse — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:20:02 -0800

I'm going to get my friends a grill pan for their wedding. What should I get and what should go with it? My friends like barbecue and meat, so I thought about getting a little patio grill. I called their apartment's management office and they said no way. So instead my idea is to get a grill pan.

They have a lot of other Calaphon Contemporary nonstick stuff on their registry, so I was going to go with that unless you have better suggestions. What are your suggestions for size and model? I see Cook's Illustrated did a roundup, but not being a subscriber I can't see the results. I figured a small one would be fine—assuming they aren't going to have big parties, they aren't going to wish for one of those unwieldy double-size ones, right?

Then the question is what to go with it. One route would be to get some accessories like some nice tongs and a cookbook (suggestions welcome). Maybe an oversized container of kosher salt (I know they would get a kick out of this since she is converting to Judaism). Even with all that it's probably not as big a gift as I wanted to send them so I would probably want to add another small-medium item. Suggestions welcome.

Another idea would be to buy some steaks. Are mail-order providers like Omaha Steaks worth it? If so, recommendations are welcome! Or maybe I should try to arrange something with a local butcher or store instead (they live in Houston). While I usually hate gift cards, I think life is a bit crazy there right now so I was thinking I would get them a gift card so they can use it whenever they want. On the other hand, the mail-order steaks are frozen anyway, so maybe I should just send them now.

I'm looking to spend about $100 overall, which is why it will probably be either steaks or accessories. I'd prefer to ship (and unless I buy before the wedding tomorrow that is my only option). Amazon Prime options are also preferred cause I can ship them fast for free.

Your general advice welcome.

Where's the beef?

jeffamaphone — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:35:38 -0800

Please recommend a butcher or meat market where I can get 100% grass fed organic meats in the Bay Area. We don't eat meat often, but when we do, we'd like to eat the best.

Ideally I'd like one stop shopping for the best tasting, freshest, most local, most organically raised beef, chicken, lamb, and pork. It is very important to me that the animals have been fed their proper, natural diets they evolved eating.

Other animals, such as Ostrich, Alligator, Frog, etc. a bonus.

I live on the Peninsula, so I'd love for it to be somewhere between San Carlos and San Jose, but I will travel for the best meat.

Wurst in Houston, TX.

halogen — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:43:02 -0800

Where can I buy authentic German Weisswurst (or any other sausage that would go well with homemade soft pretzels) in Houston, TX? I live in the Museum District and will have access to a car after 6pm, but I'd prefer not to have to leave the loop.

Help me be Butcher Bill, but without the whole killing people thing.

Ghidorah — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:00:35 -0800

Career-change filter: What can I do to become a butcher? Complications and qualifications inside. The other day, I came across this Times article about chefs butchering their own meat, and it got me thinking. I love cooking. I'm pretty good at most aspects of it, and I've done some large scale food prep/service (doing Thanksgiving for 50 people at a bar, running a food tent at a city festival), and I'm seriously (not just mid-life crises-y) interested in becoming a butcher. A butcher as in having, if possible, my own butcher shop, the kind of place where people would come to get the cuts they wanted (even the exotic stuff) because I could tell them where that meat came from, and how it was raised kind of stuff.

Here's the catch. I live in Japan. I'm extremely doubtful that I could do this here (I imagine there are other problems aside from getting Japanese people to trust a gaijin). Would I need to come back to the States to learn the trade?

Is it even a good idea? I mean, I know the economy is tanking, and people will be going to wal-mart rather than my hypothetical store for quite a while. Still, are there places that could use, or aren't saturated with small scale butchers?

Would being 32 be a barrier to entry? Am I too old to learn this stuff now?

Any and all advice is welcome. Let me know if I'm being a fool, but do so gently.

Minneapolis meat advice. Butcher recommendations & meat related questions.

rdurbin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:22:48 -0800

I am an ex-vegetarian (7 years) that is looking for some STEAK related advice. 1. I live in South Minneapolis (near Richfield). Does anyone have a butcher recommendation in that area? I just had a bad experience with Cub foods with some salmon so I am looking for some reasonably priced alternatives.

2. Does it make sense to freeze steaks or can you notice a big difference when they are frozen/thawed?

3. What cuts of beef would you recommend for someone that likes filet mingon (t-bone freaks me out)?

What's the name of the French pig ad?

Etta Hollis — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:45:03 -0800

Looking for the name and/or pictures of a classic French advert with a pig. There was at least one in Paris on Rue d'Alesia around Christmas. My friend explained the ads were something that that was classic and everyone knew about. The Paris example had just a cartoon of a pig and something to the effect "Don't cry little pig, you're going to _____ (name of Butcher/store)"

Here is a similar example, just more violent.

Merci.

Pork poster en français?

rorycberger — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 22:59:57 -0800

Where can I buy a pig poster like they have in french butcher shops? I'm looking for a poster approximately like these plates, preferably with the primal cuts identified in french. I want one that is nice enough looking to hang on my wall, not totally utilitarian like this one. Oh yeah, a beef one would be cool too. Thanks in advance.

Knowledgeable meat cutter, needs I.

kid_twist — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:19:32 -0800

Where can I find a quality butcher? I recently am in charge of a small grassfed angus operation in central Ohio. It's my dad's operation, now in my inept control. We currently have our beef processed at a tiny local processor. I want to look into having the beef dry-aged.
Problems: I live in a rural county about an hour from the nearest urban center (Columbus). I have only enough demand to need 3-4 beef processed each month. My customers currently have the option to have their beef cut to whatever specification they demand.

I understand that dry aging makes for better meat and would like to have someone who knows tell me what they can about why or why not I could get it done.

Looking for Kosher Butcher around Silver Spring, MD

seinfeld — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 05:36:19 -0800

Having recently moved to downtown Silver Spring, I am looking for a kosher butcher in the area. I rely mostly on public transportation to get around, but I do have access to a car. +1 for any suggestions relating to kosher restaurants and kosher food markets, as well. Thanks!

Help identify this mystery meat.

electroboy — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 06:15:37 -0800

[MeatFilter] What is the American equivalent of a cut of beef known as punta de anca in Spanish or picañha in Brasilian Portugese? So, the new engineer in our office is from Colombia and rhapsodizes about this particular cut of beef. He says it's a triangular/pyrimidal shaped cut, with a thick layer of fat on one side. It's prepared by skewering, coating with salt and grilled over high heat. Any ideas? The closest I could find was some sort of rump roast.

How much meat is there on a cow?

barbelith — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 10:18:20 -0800

How many steaks (or how much meat) is there on a cow and how long would it take you to eat at the rate of one meal a day? In this old article about a man who wears hats made out of lamb fetuses, someone justifies the killing by saying that if you ate a steak every day for a year that you'd be killing many cows. My thinking is that probably this would constitute very few cows and that his argument is ludicrous and fallacious. But I need your help to conclusively prove that the random guy in some old article is basically talking rubbish.