Butchers

[Rhone1998]

In two tries now, the ground beef from Harvey's Meats at Union Market has made my homemade versions the closest I've been able to get to the best hamburgers I've been served in restaurants (e.g., the black label burger at Minetta Tavern).  Today it was straight out of the display case, unlabelled but I believe 85/15.  The burger I made, with nothing but the loosely packed meat, last-minute salt and pepper on the outside only, and pan-seared, was very good. The time before, I asked specifically for them to put together an 80/20 mixture for me, which they did graciously and quickly.  Prepared the same way.  Awesome.

[silentbob]

Is there a better option within a 10-15 minute radius of the Whole Foods in Kentlands or the Wegman's in Germantown?  Not looking for anything special, just standard cuts of beef, pork, and lamb (or their bones).  And how easy is it to develop a rapport with the butchers at these types of places if you're going only, say, once every few weeks at most?

[goodeats]

Is there a better option within a 10-15 minute radius of the Whole Foods in Kentlands or the Wegman's in Germantown?  Not looking for anything special, just standard cuts of beef, pork, and lamb (or their bones).  And how easy is it to develop a rapport with the butchers at these types of places if you're going only, say, once every few weeks at most?

Are there nearby farms like South Mountain? Google maps showed a butcher shop in Mt. Airy.

[Poivrot Farci]

For example, and this may be a bridge too far, boned and rolled calf head.

So, looking for an uncommonly good butcher shop with a good, old-fashioned butcher. Do they still exist?

In my experience, the USDA will not allow a calf or steer to leave the slaughterhouse with skin still attached to the head (probably out of paranoid fantasies and the consequences of having virtually all beef coming from filthy CAFO's)  and if the animal is killed with a bolt, the cheeks can not be harvested for fear of bone fragments.  That is why you will never find a proper tète de veau -if you are into that.

There little to no demand for uncommonly good butchers or shops.  Most consumers buy center/loin cuts from supermarkets that don't require more than a band saw and a myopic woodsman who traded in their ax.

[silentbob]

Are there nearby farms like South Mountain? Google maps showed a butcher shop in Mt. Airy.

Thanks.  I should've been more precise in my question.  Germantown is about the northern edge of where I'd be willing to drive so anything beyond that is a bit far.  We love South Mountain but only go there when visiting friends in Frederick.

[weezy]

Was noodling around in Fairfax today and stopped the at shopping center at Pickett Street & LRT where the Giant used to be, now Ross.  Wandered thru the shopping strip to see what was there, and checked out the butcher shop "The Meat Place."  They say they can get anything in with 48 hours notice in the way of game meats.  Nothing looked particularly impressive except some rockfish filets ($22/lb), enormous slabs of fishmeat.  Made me wonder how big the original fish was.  It was mid afternoon and a lot of the meat was looking a bit dry on the edges, the individual trays weren't covered in plastic wrap.  The porterhouses had some very nice marbling on them (I think $27/lb).  Cowboy ribeyes didn't look as marbled but also looked a lot fresher cut ($17/lb).  A lot of different sauced beef tips available.   They have some deli stuff, all Boar's Head.  There's also a fair selection of grilling & other sauces from Stonewall Kitchen and Mc....?  McCutcheon, maybe?  And a selection of frozen fresh pastas and a few other things.

At any rate, I wasn't buying meat this afternoon because I had other stops to make and no cooler with me, so I can't speak to the overall quality, but it seemed more like a chain than a fill-a-need local butcher shop.

[Ilaine]

The Organic Butcher in McLean excites me. A few weeks ago, after we got our Excalibur dehydrator, we went there for jerky suitable meat. A very nice man, lots of facial hair and head hair, explained to me that it is best to call ahead because the meat needs to be partially frozen to properly slice thinly. He did hand slice a couple of pounds of bavette, but it was ever so uneven. Excellent jerky, though. So, today I called ahead and will pick up tomorrow. These guys love meat as I do. All organic and grass fed.

Haven't asked for tète de veau because I forgot about it.

So nice to know people who love and sell excellent meat. If you are going to eat an animal, eat an animal treated with respect.

Edited to add, got a couple of ribeyes, inch and a half thick, and husband grilled them using the reverse sear, bring the meat to temperature on the cool side of the grill, finish it on the hot side.  Wow, those steaks are good!  Best steaks I ever had.