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| - When I heard that the supposed-trustworthy chain supermarkets are pumping saline solution into chicken and other meat products to add plumpness and retain shelf freshness, I decided to endure a little inconvenience and start buying most meat products from a highly-reputable real butcher shop in the city.
Hence after some experimentation with M&M and Urban Butcher (many shortcuts and not a qualified active butcher is to be found in those retail stores!), I found Better Butcher.
After pointedly talking to the Randy (owner) and his staff, I decided to order 30 bone-in chicken thighs for a big pot of specialty Indian curry, and didn't regret it. Curious thing, as I de-skinned them, I thought, 'how small these thighs are.' But when organic chickens are free range and not pumped with chemicals and salt, little wonder.
A few months later I did it again, and same results. We thoroughly enjoyed those thighs for flavour and texture, as we no longer had a hard time cutting into stiff bloated meat.
Along the way, we've purchased hand-made sausages, beef and pork cuts, and all were great eating.
And most recently (June 2018), I bought a 1.5" thick T-bone bordering on porterhouse tenderloin size, and ensuring that it was seared properly on all sides sans spiced rub to a great-looking medium rare, and with fried onions, mushrooms and whole garlic cloves on the side, yummy! Tender, delicious, amazing! Next time some buttered fried zucchini will join the chorus...
And what else is cool about a local butcher shop is that when we want to special-order anything, all you gotta do is ask.
It's a bad thing when we no longer can trust the giants of the grocery industry, but it's the truth. Pays to have a friend who works in the meat department of one of them who has led me to very few better products from time to time, but overall, I am somewhat spooked, because the tricks they play on the public are nothing new, and getting worse. Oh, they will label things with the latest fad, yes, but I think that the biggest injections of 'free radical' toxins come from within the practices of the industry itself.
So please check out the committed friendly staff at The Better Butcher, and be pleasantly rewarded...
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