Meat, meat cuts and meat products

BroomBurner

Does anyone know where in Dublin (North preferably) sells the following:

Venison
Short ribs (beef)
Sausage skin

I've tried our local butchers and they would have to order in. The short ribs in particular are difficult though as most of the meat will be taken off for other cuts, but I'd still like to get a hold of some!
Also, they can only get hold of synthetic sausage skin, but I'm looking for more natural materials.

Any advice appreciated!

noby

I get natural sausage casings from England, if that's any good to you.
I presume you're trying butchers that make their own sausages?

admiralofthefleet

o mahony meats in coolock

BroomBurner

noby wrote: »

I get natural sausage casings from England, if that's any good to you.
I presume you're trying butchers that make their own sausages?

Our butcher doesn't make their own sausages but can get casings from his supplier. He said that natural casings had to be used that day and couldn't be stored for any length of time, which sounded a little off.

Do you mind me asking where you get the casings from, and how long they take to reach here?

Minder

Natural casings are preserved in salt and last a long time. When you get some, the salt needs to be rinsed off, so cut the length you need then steep them in clean water for 30 minutes before rinsing water through them.

Two other points I found when trying to make sausages - watch the casings if you are rinsing in the sink - then can be sucked down the plug hole very easily. The other is that the sausage meat is very difficult to use if kept in the fridge overnight. I would recommend mincing the meat and making the sausages in one go - I made a batch of mince then couldn't finish making the sausages - the following day, the meat was unworkable - even after several hours at room temperature.

Try sausagemaking.org for casings from UK.

noby

Minder's right about the casings - kept in brime they have a long shelflife.


sausagemaking.org is a good site, but you might get caught on their delivery charge if you're only buying small items (unless it has changed recently). Try http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk for a cheaper alternative.


Actually, Minder, I'm surprised you found the cold sausage meat unworkable. When I'm making up the sausage filling I use iced water, and have the cubed meat as cold as possible before mincing, so it's usually pretty cold when stuffing.

muckety

You can get venison direct from a supplier online here:-
http://www.venisonfarmdirect.ie/index.html

BroomBurner

Thanks everyone for your replies and links. Will check out that venison supplier aswell.

A couple of other points that have come up recently is that our local butchers don't do anything organic, which is a bit of a disappointment. I know it's more expensive, but I'd still prefer it if my meat enjoyed life before I enjoyed it. Organic beef and pork, in particular, are fairly difficult to get hold off (well, at least they are in Balbriggan)

The other one is that it's really hard to get steak tartar or carpachio (I know I've spelled that wrong) in Ireland, anyone good recommendations on restaurants that include these? Will it become a regular occurance?

noby

BroomBurner wrote: »

A couple of other points that have come up recently is that our local butchers don't do anything organic, which is a bit of a disappointment. I know it's more expensive, but I'd still prefer it if my meat enjoyed life before I enjoyed it.

Your 'meat' can enjoy life without being organic, of course.

BroomBurner

noby wrote: »

Your 'meat' can enjoy life without being organic, of course.

Yeah, but I'd prefer it if they weren't injected full of unknown chemicals and hormones and fed an unnatural diet. Call me crazy, but I do try to keep my ingestion of synthetic chemicals that I know nothing about to a bare minimum.

Edit: apologies in advance of a possible double post

noby

Yes but there are 'free-range' livestock out there that are treated well, but just not certified organic, which can be a prohibitive step to some producers.

olaola

Organic does not necessarily mean Free Range!

noby

olaola wrote: »

Organic does not necessarily mean Free Range!

True. I guess that was the wrong phrase to use. My point is, though, that non-organic does not always equal battery, or "injected full of unknown chemicals and hormones and fed an unnatural diet".

olaola

noby wrote: »

True. I guess that was the wrong phrase to use. My point is, though, that non-organic does not always equal battery, or "injected full of unknown chemicals and hormones and fed an unnatural diet".

They aren't "injected full of unknown chemicals and hormones and fed an unnatural diet". They are given inoculations and known hormones and fed a high yield diet in accordance to EU regulations.

noby

Again I'm only quoting the OP, who seems to think that organic is the be all and end all of good produce.

BroomBurner

noby wrote: »

Again I'm only quoting the OP, who seems to think that organic is the be all and end all of good produce.

Jesus, talk about jumping down my neck for no reason. I never said it was the be all and end all, I just said that that was what I was looking for.

What's the deal with attacking someone just because they happen to want the option to eat organic and/or free-range meat?

noby

I'm not jumping down anyone's neck - read the thread again.

I replied to your post expressing disappointment at your local butcher not stocking organic produce by saying "Your 'meat' can enjoy life without being organic, of course. " Your reply to this implied, to me, that anything non-organic is pumped full of chemicals.

I'm not attacking anyone, but now you're mentioning "organic and/or free-range meat" which is exactly what I was trying, badly in hindsight, to get at.
So apologies if the impression is I was attacking, but I was just trying to make the point for non-organic good produce.