Tag Archives: grilling

Snout to Tail: The Delights of Ground Meat

Freshly Ground Meat

Developed as way to utilize scraps of meat that occur as butchers broke down animals in search of the best cuts, ground meat is an essential part of the ‘snout to tail’ philosophy of whole animal butchery. And that philosophy is essential to the Italian culture of meat eating. Why is this relevant you might ask? Because of our new favorite addition to our butcher counter: a meat grinder! And while ground meat sometimes sounds gross, sometimes even looks gross, rest assured, there are a lot of benefits to having freshly ground meat.

For starters–let’s be real. Most the ground meat you have in the ordinary grocery store is, more or less, mystery meat. You won’t find a soul in the meat department of those stores that knows when the meat was ground, let alone what cut of beef it is. And that mystery gets even harder to solve when you move past the ground beef into the ground pork, the veal, and so-on. First and foremost, having our own grinder will mean that all of our meat is as fresh as can be, and the beef we use is the same quality, dry-aged local black angus as our steaks that you’ve come to know and love.

With that quality and freshness in mind, the possibilities become seemingly endless. Looking for the perfect beef to make your famous burgers? We’re happy to grind you whatever you need to order. And for those of you still looking to find your favorite, come try one of our creations! This past weekend we had two special patties: one made with sun-dried tomato paste and one with ‘nduja, a spicy spreadable salami. They were awesome! Now that the weather is getting warmer and grilling season is upon us we are going to have burgers in the case regularly so make sure you stop by to get some.

Meatballs

But burger patties aren’t the only way ground meat can be used! The original way Italians would make use of ground meat, typically pork, was as sausages–which are essentially the same thing as a burger, just stuffed into a casing. Having a meat grinder in the case puts us one step closer to making our own sausages and I couldn’t be more excited. If you ask me, a sausage thrown on the grill, or on the skillet is one of life’s simplest pleasures.

The biggest takeaway from all this is that freshly ground meat is one of the most versatile things you can cook with. Whether you press it into a patty, stuff it into a casing, or cook it up in a pasta sauce, there’s no doubt that it will be delicious. Come visit us–we’re happy to get you whatever you need.

 

Scott Weiss
Scott Weiss

The delights of ground meat Read more

Developed as way to utilize scraps of meat that occur as butchers broke down animals in search of the best cuts, ground ...

Bring on Grilling Season

I haven’t written much about my recent trip to Italy yet. There’s quite simply too much to say, if I wanted to convey how much I saw and learned on this expedition. Instead, I’ll focus on a single simple experience: watching a steak being cooked. Driving to Norcia, the walled town in southern Umbria famed for its excellent cured pork and as the home of some heady saints (Saint Benedict of Nursia and his sister Saint Scholastica), Chef Simone, informed me of a plan to stop for dinner on the way back north. But for now, we headed on to Norcia. This town was swimming in little butcher shops. Mostly selling the local cured pork and wild boar products, norcineria. The prosciutto here was so well-balanced: nutty, sweet, salty, that I was ready to write the USDA and complain about their importation requirements right then and there. And it sure didn’t help that we were trying this in a little restaurant on the main piazza in the shadow of St. Benedict and his church. I could go on and on, but we’ll save that for another time.

Hanging Sausages

After leaving the dizzying array of hanging cured meats behind us, we headed to the mountainside town where dinner was on the agenda. There certainly wasn’t much to this town, a few cafes and restaurants, with a truffle museum being the only real tourist attraction. The restaurant destination was a little osteria that felt more like a basement than a restaurant. Vaulted stone sealing, maybe ten tables, and a raging fireplace. Flanking the fireplace, a table with a whole prosciutto, sliced only by hand, made by the chef from pigs he raised himself. Above that, links of his dried sausage. This was the definition of comfortable.

For our main course, we ordered a steak, rare. To cook it, he brought out a little metal grill, placed in front of the fire and started moving the hot coals underneath it. Before too long, there was a massive steak sizzling right there in front of us. I was beside myself. Here I am, on an Italian mountainside, watching my steak being grilled right in front of me: on the floor of the restaurant. And unsurprisingly, looking at glowing hot coals, my mind wandered and I remembered all the times we grilled growing up.

Sizzling Steak

Fortunately for me, with this memory in mind, it’s starting to warm up here. What I mean to say is, it is almost time for us to start grilling too. We may not be able to cook up a steak right in our fireplaces, but we sure can cook on the open flame. At the Via Umbria meat counter, we’re ready. Having seen this steak transformed from raw meat into delicious dinner right in front of me, I think we should translate that experience to our own backyards. Whether it’s a prime cut that you’ve heard of: the ribeye, the New York strip, the fiorentina, or an off cut you may never have tried before: the hanger, the bavette, teres major, let’s throw that beef over some hot coals (or gas flame, if that’s what’s available). I’ll likely never have that experience again, coming immediately from one of the meat capitals of the world to fireplace-cooked steak; but we can make something just as delicious in our own backyards. So come on down, get a steak. Bring on grilling season!

Scott Weiss
Scott Weiss

Let’s throw that beef over some hot coals Read more

I haven’t written much about my recent trip to Italy yet. There’s quite simply too much to say, if I wanted to ...