I should mention that every single thing you see in the counter is made on site with the best of ingredients. The liverwurst is one of my favorites - it is made in the basement in a "bowl cutter" machine. They are pretty nifty to watch - it turns meat into an emulsification. That's also where they mix the meat for their hotdogs, bologne and other products. They then move the stuffing over to another machine to stuff.
Good to know about their liverwurst. I love that stuff on toast. About the over-salted ribs, I am going to mention it to them as I am hoping it was an anomaly as I would like to be able to enjoy them. I forgot to mention that I also bought beef braising ribs which were excellent.
I have bought kassler here, smoked pork chops, and have found them to be less salty than at the now defunct Sausage Kitchen, or at Brandt, which I visit whenever I am in TO. So I'm a bit surprised that their smoked ribs are so salty. The liverwurst is to die for.
Zym, are they actually butchers or meat cutters, like in the grocery stores? Also, do you know if I can order special cuts of meat that are not normally in their display cases such as sweetbreads or hangar steaks?
You might say I know their stuff - I was a butcher there for a while :-) Their stuff is top notch and the only reason I don't shop there regularly is that it is really out of the way for me.
We dropped in here last Saturday and bought a couple of things. We got a kilo of the most amazing double smoked bacon for the best price I have seen anywhere. At $16.99 a kilo the price can't be beat. What I really liked about the bacon was that I did not feel like I was having a salt lick. We really like it and have decided that it is worth the trip to Navan just for the bacon.
Alas, the same cannot be said for their smoked ribs. I could not eat them and even my husband, who is a big salt fan, gave up. So not so good. Next time we go out there I plan on mentioning it to them as I would so like to be able to buy edible smoked ribs.
The last item we bought was smoked chorizo. This I diced up, sautéd and used in scrambled eggs. This was good.
I'm a big fan. They have good stuff and great prices. Also European chocolate for cheap, and bread from the Portugese Bakery. Love their bacon. Worth the drive.
I was in there one Saturday during BBQ season, and a guy was asking for 5Kg of brisket with the fat cap on. The place went silent, and then someone asked, "How you going to cook it? Dry rub?"
I've been too lazy lately to slice my own bacon so have been buying it at work with the ridiculously low prices on it there. My wife cooked some tonight under the broiler - had never seen it done like that before. Came out perfectly! I'm going to have to buy more bacon now so I can get her to show me how to do it so I can make a video of it :-)
Bacon on sale right now #2 bacon buy 10 lbs for $27.50. I think til Saturday.
I picked up a slab of their once-smoked, uncooked bacon today to see how I stack up against the big boys :-) Theirs is extremely good, but my wife and I both prefer mine. One thing that really surprised me with theirs is how smoky it is - I love a good smoky flavour and do about 3 hours of smoke on my own bacon, but theirs was even smokier. Their double-smoked bacon must be insane!
I think the maple syrup in my cure makes the difference since I use quite a bit - thanks to monty's recipe. Mine is a bit saltier - my latest batch at least, which turned out a bit saltier than usual for some reason I'm not sure why. And I think my herb and spice mixture comes through better.
Given that this was about the same price as store bought bacon, I'm left wondering why anyone would ever buy the regular stuff. Sure it is not quite as good as mine, but that is splitting hairs because this is incredible bacon!
I got lucky - went out today to get a pork belly to make bacon and they had a fresh batch of blood pudding just made today! Get it while you can because they only make it every 2 or 3 months and it does not last long each time.
Just had it on a toasted bagel with dijon and it was incredible!
Oh man! Real blood sausage finally! $4.20 for 3 huge pieces is just an insane price. I vacuum sealed 2 of them and tossed them into the freezer, and dug right into the 3rd one. Unfortunately the only thing I have to compare it to is the big factory stuff, so it should be no surprise that this is far better than anything I've ever had before. Well worth it.
Oh man, I should have bought a much bigger slab of this stuff yesterday! I bought a tube about 4 inches long and as big around as a small mouth mason jar mouth, and it was only a buck fifty! And really yummy. Considering going back out today to stock up - I bet this stuff freezes great.
These are extremely crispy cukes in a really yummy brine. Every bit as good as my own home made dills. I usually have a bit more dill in mine but make no mistake, these are superb pickles.
zymurgist