Fresh Meat

I am planning to make a Crispy Chinese Roast Pork Belly in a couple of days, so in order to get the proper cut of meat, a trip to our local butcher was in order.

Carne Bellingham is a relatively new craft butcher in town that specializes in farm fresh meat from the Pacific Northwest. Pork belly is a boneless cut of fatty meat from the belly of the pig and is popular in Asian cuisines. Carne had a nice succulent piece that was just the perfect size for my needs.

I have many fond memories of accompanying my mom to the local German butcher shop in the town in New Jersey where I grew up. The wooden floors were lightly coated with sawdust, there were 3-4 men behind the counter wearing crisp, white aprons (only lightly stained) and the paper hats once so prevalent among food workers. My mom would point out a cut of meat, and I would watch through the glass as the butcher opened the case and carefully reached into the display to pull out the meat, perhaps several fat pork chops. He would carefully lay the meat on the scale, turning it over, allowing my mom to examine it, he would inquire how our family was doing, then they'd discuss the merits of the meat, a few cooking tips, the price, and then it might be trimmed of fat and then wrapped in white paper.

Today's process was the same. Here is my choice of pork belly going onto the scale. Tomorrow it will be prepped and marinated overnight, ready for the oven on Thursday.