COMMENT supermarkets really know what they’re selling. Dead meat
The horse meat scandal has forced us to really think about where our food actually comes from WORDS ALAN COCHRANE, ILLUSTRATION STEPHEN DAY
many old-fashioned butchers’ shops are now doing a roaring trade. People need to have confi dence in what they’re buying and dealing with a man, in ever-so slightly blood-stained white overalls and a blue and white striped apron, who appears to know what he’s talking about, gives them that confi dence. Never has the old injunction of caveat emptor
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been more appropriate. But the essential problem here is that the average buyer cannot really beware when he or she usually doesn’t have a clue what they’re buying when it comes to meat – be it beef, lamb, pork, veal or, for that matter, horse. Supermarkets are getting the blame and
rightly so, because it is clear that they haven’t been particular enough about what they’ve been selling to the public. However, it is also the case that the almost total ignorance amongst the public about buying, cooking and eating meat has contributed to the scandal. It appears to be the case that it is proc-
essed meat that has allowed unscrupulous traders to make money out of this igno- rance. But I reckon that we meat-eaters should equip ourselves to combat
better their excesses. We should
start asking questions and begin demanding some precise answers. My wife reckons that on the basis
of some school summer holidays spent working in a butchers’ shop, I can be a bit of a bore about meat (as well as many other things, she’d probably add). But I do like to know what I’m buying. Unfortunately, not a lot of so-called butchers in
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ith Britain, not to mention the whole of Europe, still agog over the horse meat scandal it is no surprise that
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For instance, when I challenged one young man, wearing the appropriate uniform of a butcher in one of our larger supermarkets, why labels marked ‘roasting joint’ were stuck on cheap cuts like brisket and silverside, he admitted that he’d never, ever roasted brisket … or any other cut of meat for that matter. He wasn’t a butcher, and the outfi t he wears is primarily designed to con the customer. Perhaps the biggest diffi culty is one of the
most popular purchases: mince. What is it? There are any number of variations, all looking roughly the same. And then there’s the ‘economy’ varie- ties of mince now offered by many of the bigger supermarkets. Oh sure, if you read the small print you can just about work out the fat content but unless I’m very much mistaken there’s no proper defi nition of what’s contained in what is, in reality, Scotland’s ‘other’ national dish.
Butcher boy Then there’s that stuff called ‘stewing steak’,
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Alan Cochrane is the Daily Telegraph’s Scottish Editor
sometimes called ‘braising steak’ or maybe ‘stewing beef’ or even just ‘stew’. What is it, exactly? And it’s not just those dressed up as butchers in supermarkets who don’t know the answer. I asked one such, only this time in one of Edinburgh’s poshest butchers’ establish- ment, and he said: ‘It’s stewing steak.’ I said: ‘I can see that from the ticket, but what cut is it?’ To this he replied: ‘It’s for stewing.’ It was clear that we were getting nowhere with this line of questioning, so I asked to speak to his boss, who was a proper butcher, and who told me it was shoulder steak, which was just what I wanted and which I reckon is the best cut for casseroles, stews and pies. Ditto, that stuff labelled ‘thin cut steak’ or
just ‘steak’. What is it? Another mystery. Let’s have much clearer labelling about the
various cuts of meat, as well as guidance about how to cook them. But we, the public, really need to better educate ourselves about meat; the horsey scandal has proved that we can’t really trust anyone else to do it. For myself, I loved those days in the butch-
er’s, in spite of all the cuts and nicks that still decorate both my hands (there was often quite a bit of my blood in the sausages, if
truth be told). My speciality was potted hough – absolutely delicious stuff that can still be bought in better butchers. I bought a couple of pots recently in Ander- son’s in Broughty Ferry and when I offered a neighbour to choose between one pot of this marvellous hough or one of expensive foie gras as a reward for looking after our cats, I was extremely relieved that he chose the foie gras.
Bon appétit!
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