The butcher
I’m finally starting to feel at home in Edinburgh. One of the things that makes me feel at home is getting to know the people who work in the shops I frequent, like my friendly neighbourhood butcher.
I’m kind of a meat snob. Being in the vet med, I’ve worked on lots of farms and have studied meat production and food hygiene, so I fancy myself slightly more educated about meat than the average consumer. I’m also a stickler for really good food, and I am willing to make sacrifices in my budget to afford it.
My butcher, who has a shop just around the corner, has great meat. He sources all of his beef from Scotland, which means the cattle have good welfare and the meat is clean and fresh. It’s not organic, but I’d rather buy from him than buy the stale, packaged stuff from Tesco that is labeled organic. The special thing about my butcher’s meat is that is tastes so good- it’s moist and flavourful and delicious. I absolutely love his sausages- they don’t ooze fat like the supermarket sausages, and they’re just so tasty!
And did I mention he’s friendly?
I stopped in this morning to get some mince for a BBQ, and Mr. Butcher promptly asked me what I was listening to on my iPod. This lead to a comparison between my iPod and his, and a recap of last night’s Coldplay concert on the BBC. Mr. Butcher likes his music, that’s for sure. He was telling me about his new iPod, and how many albums he has on it, and what his favourites are. It was great, I felt so homey.
(And the burgers? They turned out a-mazing. Recipe here.)