GQ Magazine June 2008
'Use your head - go to a proper butcher for the best meat,' says Heston Blumenthal
BLUMENTHAL's GQ MAGAZINE COLUMN: LOCAL HEROES - JACK O'SHEA
For the choicest of chops, only neighbourhood butchers make the cut, says Heston Blumenthal
You can never underestimate the value of a good butcher. If you have one in your town or village, do yourself a favour and check it out. Nine times out of ten, it will be better than the supermarket. I'm not saying the likes of Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's are terrible, but if you buy a 21-day-old steak from them it might not be the best piece of meat for what you want. It depends on the breed, the feed, where the animals were reared, where they were slaughtered... all these things can impact on the meat.
Take a butcher such as my friend Jack O'Shea (11 Montpelier Street, London SW7. 020-7581 7771, www.jackoshea.com). He really cares about meat, where it comes from, all the variables, because it is his reputation on the line. As a result, the farms know what he wants, what he expects, and he gets the best of the best. Supermarkets can't compete. They buy in bulk and the scale alone means their quality will vary.
When it comes to local suppliers, who knows them better than the butcher? If a farmer works in small quantities but to a very high standard, he's no use to the big chains because he doesn't generate enough produce.
Now throw in this scenario: you are looking for some meat for a recipe and it specifies rib of beef, so you go to the supermarket and that's what you buy. But if you go to a decent butcher, he might look at what meat he's had delivered and suggest a better cut. Of course, there are bad ones, and if you go to a butcher rather than a supermarket you'll probably pay more. But think about this: if you have a local butcher, the chances are he has been there for years and comes from generations of butchers. His business has survived because he provides a better service and better produce than the supermarket. If he didn't he'd be out of a job.
And you can't get a higher recommendation than that.
