A butcher can explain to you how to cook different types of meat
When I was a boy I used to watch my father discuss different meat joints with the butcher every Saturday morning.
A butcher can explain to you how to cook different types of meat and recommend the best cut for the dish you have in mind. Certain cuts of meat are best for stewing or braising as in dishes like my Beef and Guinness Stew – and that kind of advice is invaluable. A good butcher enjoys sharing his knowledge with you and the more knowledge you have about meat, the better you’ll be at cooking it.
A good butcher will always hang his meat, especially his beef, and this hanging process allows the meat to tenderise and develop flavour.
When I was a boy, raw meat was a deep purple colour rather than bright red because it had been hung and aged. Recipes such as my Fillet Steak with Mushrooms taste even better when made with a piece of well-hung beef steak, rather than a bright red steak that hasn’t been aged.
A good layer of fat on beef was another thing that I was taught to look for when I started working as a young man. Marbling – where the fat is spread through the meat – is also important as it keeps the meat tender, moist and flavourful. Nowadays, it’s hard to find well-hung, marbled meat with a good coating of fat, which is why I always shop for meat at an old-fashioned butchers.
