Buying meat from the butchers

[Im a BusyBee]

My 'thing' to do for 2007 was to buy my meat from traditional butchers rather than supermarket-which i have done so far. Im going again later today but apart from kinda meat + veg dinners cant think of variations that the whole family will enjoy, suppose its cos i would have bought ready prepared meat products previously ie junk food almost. for example recently we've had toad in the hole, roast beef, chops, liver + bacon casserole, shepherds pie,chicken tonight all served with lots of different veg. But my teenagers are moaning and i need to find variation!

[Pea Pod]

How about chilli or chops with chinese or barbecue glace. Lasagne with a jacket and garlic bread.

[Donquixote]

Well done for using your local butcher! It's so much better to be able to see the meat properly before you buy it, and be able to ask the butcher for advice.
Try playing around with different cuts of meat...for example, shin beef. It's really cheap, but tastes wonderful. Use it in a beef bourgignon, maybe.
Trim and cube the shin beef, and place in a bowl with 2 bay leaves & 5 peppercorns. Add a dash of port and cover with red (pref. burgundy) wine. Leave for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight. Drain the beef, retaining the marinating liquid, but discard the peppercorns and bay. Seal the beef quickly in a little hot oil, and place to one side. Gently fry some sliced onions and a little garlic in 1/2 butter 1/2 olive oil until softened. Add thickly chopped carrots, whole button mushrooms, and celery. Saute for a few minutes then add the beef, a fresh bay leaf, freshly ground black pepper and a bouquet garni (thyme works particularly well. Add the marinating liquid, and a little more red wine to half-cover, and then beef stock to completely cover. Cover with a tight lid and allow to simmer on a very low heat on the stove, or in a moderate oven, for 3-4 hours. Beautiful...especially with creamy mash and cabbage! :o)

[Im a BusyBee]

both sound very good - do you have anymore recipes you could share Don? Thanks so much.

[Donquixote]

Sure! Depends what meat you're using...you should have a chat with your butcher and ask him/her what s/he recommends. The Bourgignon-type idea can be used in loads of different ways, it's just a meat stew, so try using Guinness instead of red wine, or using pork and cider. If you want to move away from the stews, try things like beef stroganoff (this is a little more expensive as it uses fillet steak):- Slice fillet steak into strips, fry briefly in melted butter to seal (only 2-3 mins) and set aside. In the same pan, melt a little more butter and gently fry finely sliced onions and mushrooms, without colouring. Turn up the heat and add a splash of white wine - allow to reduce to almost nothing, turn the heat right down, and add a carton of sour cream, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, salt & pepper. Stir together, add the steak to heat through for a minute, and a handful of chopped parsley just before serving. The whole thing only takes 10 minutes!

[KenR]

A few twists on the bog standard. Pork chops with some fresh ground black pepper or red pepper mustard on both sides then whang them under the grill and serve with potatoes and mange tout. Thick cut double loin chops (lamb) stabbed with slivers of garlic then grilled (or BBQ) and serve with hasselback potatoes. If in west Scotland then spiced beef ham - If not west scotland then approximate with very thin slices of Round/Heughbone/Popeseye/Rump and sprinkle generously on both sides with ground allspice and a touch of ground cinnemon then flash fry. Ask the butcher to mince some frying or stewing steak, wrap a small piece of Brie in a fresh basil leaf and make into burger (cheese in the middle obviously) with only the addition of S&P

[chinois]

If you havent had roast pork for a while, try a leg!
It is my current favourite meat.
Leg, not shoulder or loin. I was put off pork for a while bcos it wasnt tasting as good as i remembered - i've only just found out that it was probably bcos the stuff i was eating didnt have enough fat in it.
Having said that this roast pork leg i talk of (it comes rolled with string and skin/crackling most of the way around) was from sainsbury's. I have to say it was better than the loins from the butchers at double the price but i guess that's individual taste.