General Discussion

I was buying pork steak at the local stand alone butcher shop last week and I got a chuck roast for $7.79 a pound while all the stores were higher. I put it in the slow cooker on low but it was one of the worst roasts I ever had. Horribly stringy and so tough you couldn't chew through even the smallest bite. I had to toss the roast and just have the vegetables.

Usually that butcher is OK but lately I'm having my doubts. I wanted smoked pork shanks and he said he could order them in. So he called when they came in and I went in great anticipation. Instead of shanks he ordered hocks sliced like a disc about an inch or so thick. They were even labeled from his supplier as hocks. I told the lady behind the counter that's not the same as a shank. She went in the back to tell him and she came back out and said "He said it's the same meat." Obviously I'm checking out different butcher shops. It ticked me off that he would do that. He had hocks when I was in the first time. All he did was order more hocks. My money will spend elsewhere. Imagine if you told the butcher you wanted a rolled pork roast and he tried to hand you a shoulder roast and then saying "it's the same meat." It's kind of like an argument I had some time ago about chicken soup. I like to use necks and the person I was speaking to said they just use wings and breast meat. They said there was no difference because "it's all chicken". My way is more effort to get the bones after cooking but the taste is better to me using the darker meat. I guess some people load up on the spices and other flavors so they can't tell a difference. I like to taste the meat rather than a ton of spices.