Fun While It Lasted

The good news is that the Park Slope shop has opened and it looks great. Smells great too, thanks to the rotisserie chickens in the window. If the rush of early customers is any indication, it's going to be a very popular destination, and deservedly so.

The bad news, at least for me, is that I will no longer be writing for the Butcher's Case. Too many other projects, not enough time, not enough resources, blah-blah-blah. The blog will now move over to the main Fleisher's site and will be presided over by Fleisher's co-owner Jessica Applestone. Have fun with it, Jess!

My thanks to everyone who's been reading over the past month -- it's been a fun little ride.

Park Slope Countdown

Click on photo for larger version

The Brooklyn shop is almost ready to go! From left to right, that's butcher Bryan Mayer (who'll be profiled in an upcoming blog post), butcher/manager Jason Fox (who was profiled two weeks ago), and Fleisher's co-owner Joshua Applestone.

We're set to open tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11am. See you there, yes? Yes!

But Can It Slice and Dice?

Fleisher's co-owner Jessica Applestone has a necklace with an unusual pendant: a miniature meat cleaver. In this video interview, she talks about how she got it, who made it, and the role of cleavers in today's butchery.

I have my own cleaver. It belonged to a longtime friend of my mother's, who was a vegetarian. I like to think that it's happy to be owned by a carnivore now, even though I don't use it that often. I'm not sure what caused all that pitting in the blade, but I like it -- looks extra-rustic, no?

One thing I love meat cleavers, including mine, is that they usually have a hole in the blade. So while all my other kitchen tools hang by their handles, my cleaver hangs by its blade, indicating its special status as a serious implement, not to be trifled with. And as you can see below, the standard cleaver hole is perfect if you happen to be making a necklace pendant.




Meanwhile, meat-related crime continues to spread. The latest trend: a rash of hog thefts. Can't make it up, people.

The Butchery Archives, Vol. 3

What's better than an old photo of a butcher? An old photo of a butcher in a top hat. Seriously, I'm gonna have to get Josh, Bryan, and the rest of the Fleisher's butchers to dress this way.

The photo, which is circa 1875, is from the International Center for Photography's "America and the Tin Type" collection. Special thanks to Kirsten Hively for bringing it to the Butcher's Case's attention.


Meanwhile, a few meaty notes to wrap up the week:

• Remember our Protein Police Blotter entry from last week? Reader Cort McMurray informs the Butcher's Case that several Texas men have been charged with stealing 6,000 lambs, valued at $1 million, from a feedlot. Meat crime: Everybody's doing it!

• I didn't think it was possible for me to find Michele Bachmann attractive, but I was wrong. Those shots were taken during a campaign stop she made at a packing house in Iowa. Not bad, Michele, but next time visit a farmer raising pastured beef!

• Remember, Brooklyn Beefsteak this Sunday. See you there.

Bite-Your-Tongue Tacos

Photo by Jennifer May

We like to use the term "nose-to-tail," meaning we use every part of the animal. But one of the least popular yet most delicious cuts we always want folks to bite is our tongue.

If you can't quite deal with the idea of eating sliced tongue, try this recipe for tongue tacos (which comes from The Butcher's Guide to Well-Raised Meat, by Fleisher's co-owners Joshua and Jessica Applestone and their co-auther Alexandra Zissu). Your dinner guests will rave and you’ll lap up the praise.

For the meat:
1 tongue (about 2½ pounds)
1 tablespoon salt

1. Rinse the tongue under cold water and make sure it is clean. Put the tongue in a large stockpot with enough room so that it doesn't touch the sides. Cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover the pot and reduce the heat to low to keep a good, solid simmer. Let simmer for 3 hours; the tongue is done when a sharp knife pierces it easily and the outer membrane looks ready to slide off.

2. Remove the tonge from the pot and let cool on a plate for about 15 minutes. It should be cool enough to touch but not so cold that the membrane sticks. Peel off the membrane and remove any rough bits from the underside of the tongue, using a sharp knife if necessary.

3. Put the tongue back in the stockpot, add the salt to the water, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and reduce heat to low to keep at a simmer. Simmer about 1 hour, until the meat is tender and can be pulled apart easily.

For the salsa verde:
1 pound fresh tomatillos (11 or 12), husked
2 to 3 jalapeño peppers, to taste
1 garlic clove, chopped
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ripe avocado, diced
½ cup finely chopped white onion
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Put the tomatillos, peppers, and garlic in a medium saucepan and add ½ cup of water. Set the pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, until the tomatillos are soft and have lost their vibrant green color, about 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid, and let the vegetables cool.

2. Transfer the cooled vegetables and liquid to a blender. Add the salt and puree on high speed until smooth. Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in the avocado, onion, and cilantro. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, then adjust the seasonings if needed.

Add the shredded meat to warm tortilla shells, top with a bit of the salsa verde, and garnish with some thinly sliced radishes. Serves 4 to 6.


Beefsteak Bargain: Remember Monday's post about the old New York tradition of the beefsteak? The organizers of this Sunday's Brooklyn Beefsteak event are offering a $5-per-ticket discount to readers of the Butcher's Case. Enter the code "SIRLOIN11" when purchasing your tickets.

Beef, Beer, Fun

What you see above is a classic New York beefsteak. In this context, the term "beefsteak" doesn't refer to the meat itself -- it refers to an event, an all-you-can-eat mass feed centering on meat and beer (as in "Are you attending the beefsteak tonight?" or "Let's throw a beefsteak!").

Beefsteaks became popular in New York in the late 1800s and flourished for several decades after that. Much of what we know about early beefsteaks comes from an article called "All You Can Hold for Five Bucks," written by the great New Yorker essayist Joseph Mitchell in 1939 (you can download the full article here). Beefsteaks were already on the decline by that point, and they'd disappeared from New York altogether by 1970 or so. Meanwhile, however, a parallel beefsteak scene had sprung up in northern New Jersey. Interestingly, the North Jersey folks had no idea that their beefsteak rituals originated in New York, and New York foodies who were lamenting the loss of the beefsteak didn't realize that beefsteaks were still being held just across the river. I wrote about all of this a few years ago in a New York Times article.

That article inspired a pair of young entrepreneurs, Derek Silverman and Andrew Dermont, who set out to revive the old New York tradition. The result is the Brooklyn Beefsteak, a series of events that Derek and Andrew have held at the Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn, roughly every six months, complete with all the beef you can eat, all the beer you can drink, a live band, contests, and more. Truly a raucous caucus. (You can see photos from one of last year's beefsteaks here.)

The next installment of the Brooklyn Beefsteak is this Sunday, Sept. 25. There are two seatings -- 1-4pm and 5-8pm. Tickets are available here. If you're serious about meat, it's the place to be this weekend.

Brooklyn Progress Report

A lot of work still has to take place between now and September 28th, opening day, but you can see all the pieces coming together at the Park Slope location. "It'll be tight, but we'll make it," says Garrett Roche, whose company, Garro Building Works, is the main contractor (that's him on the right with his main design man, Andy Palmer, on the left). Garrett, who grew up in Dublin, comes from a family of butchers, making him the perfect choice for the job.

The shop has that “old-timey butcher” feel already. The walls are covered in classic subway tiles, dark woods line the shelving, and the marble-topped cutting surfaces reflect the gleam from the brand-new tin ceiling.


The cases, which stretch from the very front of the shop to the back, stand empty now, just waiting to be filled with the remarkable cheese selection (curated by Anne Saxelby of Saxelby Cheesemongers), the assortment of deli meats (the Jewish-style salami makes a fantastic Sunday salami and egg scramble), and the wide array of pastured meats and organic chicken.

Protein Police Blotter

Maybe it's the economy, maybe there's something in the water, or maybe people just really love meat, but there's no getting around it: Meat theft and other meat-related crimes in America are on the rise. Check out this sampling from the 2011 meat police blotter:

• Feb. 4: Someone in Alabama makes off with a truck loaded with 41,350 pounds of ground hamburger, valued at $95,000.

• May 17: Three people are arrested for stealing pork shoulders, ribs, hamburger, and French bread from a California supermarket. (We'll cut them some slack regarding the bread -- man cannot live by stolen meat alone.)

• July 11: $400 worth of frozen beef, pork, and chicken is stolen from a delivery truck in Pennsylvania.

• Late July: Authorities in Texas launch a sting operation, dubbed Operation Meat Locker, and end up stopping a ring of criminals who've been stealing supermarket meat and reselling it local restaurants. (Further details here.)

• Aug. 29: A Pennsylvania man is arrested for trying to steal a rack of ribs in his pants -- for the second time in three months. (No word on whether the cops said, "Is that a slab of ribs in your pants, or are you just glad to see me?")

• Sept. 1: Two men walk into a Scranton supermarket and steal $500 worth of meat.

• Sept. 3: Thieves in Iowa make of with a truck loaded with 42,000 pounds of meat.

• Sept. 5: A Utah man is arrested for butchering a cow in his driveway. (Well, you can't expect him to do it on his front lawn, what with all the blood, right?)

• Sept. 8: An Illinois woman dies after injecting herself in the face with hot beef fat. Okay, so that isn't a crime (yet), but she was facing felony charges and other legal problems at the time.

The real crime, of course, is that most likely none of this meat was pastured, and all of it was raised unsafely and inhumanely. But meat doesn't have to be that way. For proof, come down to Fleisher's, and we'll show you what real meat is like. You'll have to pay for it, but we think you'll agree that it's a steal.

Meet the Butcher: Jason Fox

Photo by Lindsay Pugnali

Jason Fox will be the manager of the new Fleisher's shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He recently sat down with the Butcher's Case to talk about the new shop, his background in the food world, and his pick for the most underrated cut of meat.

The Butcher's Case: How did you decide to become a butcher?

Jason Fox: I have a history of working in the food industry. I worked in my grandfather's deli when I was growing up, and I was a food photographer and food stylist for several years. And the more I worked with food, the more I realized I wanted to open my own restaurant in Brooklyn. I wanted it to be nose-to-tail and seasonal, and I wanted to do my own butchering. I knew about Fleisher's, so last winter I took their eight-week butchery course and apprenticeship.

During that time, the restaurant plans fell through. I was talking to Josh [Applestone, Fleisher's co-owner] about it, and he said they were planning to open a shop in Park Slope, and he asked if I wanted to run it. I couldn't refuse an opportunity like that.

TBC: So when did you really know that you'd made the leap and you were doing what you were meant to do?

JF: I was driving home from Fleisher’s after cutting all day, literally still covered in blood, and instead of being disgusted I realized I really loved the smell.

TBC: You're going to be running the Brooklyn shop—which makes sense, because you already live in Brooklyn, right?

JF: Yes, I live in Bushwick. I’ve been commuting back and forth to Kingston, but after a long day of hauling and cutting meat, carrying rounds and arm chucks, you want to be in your own home. My boyfriend is in Brooklyn, my dogs are in Brooklyn, so it's worth the long trip back home. So, I'm looking forward to the commute from Bushwick to Park Slope. It should be much better!

TBC: It seems that everyone at Fleisher’s has a specialty. Some people focus on charcuterie or creating sausage recipes. What is your forté?

JF: People in the Slope tend to be very busy, so I've been working a lot in the kitchen with various cuts of meat to come up with new additions for our line of prepared foods. Cottage pie, meat loaf, meatballs, a sausage pie. The sausage pie was my biggest challenge, but I was able to marry the two textures (sausage and flaky pie crust) by creating a mustard béchamel. It’s delicious, and a recipe I’m really proud of, but there are going to many options to choose from.

TBC: Everyone on the Fleisher’s staff seems to have been a vegetarian at one time or another, too. What about you?

JF: I was a vegetarian for 16 years, but I really felt like I was missing out after awhile. I was doing a lot of cooking for other people and it was often meat-based, so I started to feel left out. I felt like I couldn’t be a good cook if I didn’t start to eat meat.

TBC: Let's talk a bit about the Brooklyn shop. If someone walks in, will they see you cutting meat, just like in the Kingston shop?

JF: Yes, that's the Fleisher's way, to work out in the open. You'll see us cutting every day for the case.

TBC: The Kingston shop is only open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. What about the Brooklyn shop?

JF: We'll be open every day except Monday.

TBC: Okay, lightning round questions: What's your favorite steak to eat?

JF: You can't beat a rib-eye. One rib-eye, an inch and a half thick, will feed two people. Personally, I like it very rare.

TBC: What's the most underrated or overlooked cut of meat?

JF: People tend to be scared of oxtails. But they're very affordable, they have a really beefy flavor, and they're easy to cook, because you just put them in the oven and braise them. If people would try them, I think they'd be surprised how good they are, and how simple they are to prepare.

TBC: Favorite ingredient?

JF: Stock, I use it in everything. We sell every kind at Fleisher’s—from lamb to duck.

TBC: Meal that you would make for your boyfriend after a fight?

JF: Lamb anything, potato anything—he’s Irish.

TBC: Favorite side dish?

JF: Roasted Brussels sprouts with Fleisher's bacon, made crispy in a cast-iron skillet. We are even growing Brussels sprouts in our garden, I love them so much.

TBC: Favorite type of customer?

JF: Little old ladies. They always know exactly what they want!

TBC: Favorite technique that you have learned at Fleisher’s?

JF: I didn’t know anything about the Jaccard meat tenderizer. It really does the trick for notoriously chewy steaks like London broils and flatirons. It has 48 flat blades, like little needles, that puncture the flesh and shorten the muscle fibers. It’s really eye-opening.

TBC: Anything to add?

JF: Just that I'm really excited about the new shop. We're going to have a really good time. We love what we do, and the mood in the shop will be very happy, very positive. I think people will notice it right away.

The Brooklyn branch of Fleisher's is scheduled to open on Sept. 22, at 192 Fifth Avenue, between Sackett and Union Streets.

The Butchery Archives, Vol. 2

Click on photo for larger version

Here's the latest in our Friday series of old butcher shop photos. This one shows an Irish meat market, circa 1901. Look how everything is arranged in perfect symmetry -- except the butchers themselves.

We'll have more vintage butchery photos and ephemera each Friday. If you have any material you'd like to contribute, send it here.

Aging: Wet vs. Dry

Photo by Flickr user Gary Grogan

By Paul Lukas

One question people often ask about Fleisher's beef -- and about beef in general -- is, "Is it aged?"

Much like beef grading, which we discussed last week, aging is a term that tends to intrigue people, even if they don't fully understand what it means. We'll provide a basic explanation of it here.

First, it's important to understand that beef can actually be too fresh. You wouldn't want to eat beef the same day it had been slaughtered. It would be, quite literally, a bloody mess. It would also be extremely tough (the carcass must pass through the rigor mortis stage).

So all beef is aged to some degree. Most of it is wet-aged, which means it has been sealed in a Cryovac bag -- usually for a week or two, sometimes longer. This helps break down the meat's connective tissue, making it more tender, although it does nothing much for the meat's flavor. Meanwhile, some of the blood drains from the meat, so the beef is literally sitting in a pool of its own bodily fluids. This liquid is called purge, because it will be discarded when the Cryovac bag is eventually opened. This is how virtually all supermarket beef is processed, and most conventional restaurant beef as well.

Then there's dry-aging, which involves storing the meat under precise climate-controlled conditions. The aging chamber can be as large as a sizable room or as small as a wall-mounted refrigerator case, but the key is that the meat is maintained under precise climate-controlled conditions -- low temperature, relatively high humidity, and fans to provide lots of air circulation. Much like wet-aging, dry-aging provides time for the meat's connective tissue to break down and tenderize. In addition, the exterior of the meat becomes covered with a light coating of mold and forms a tough, dark outer crust that will eventually be cut away (some packing or processing houses call this the scab).

Photo by Flickr user DeBragga
Inside, however, some of the beef's moisture is evaporating, which concentrates the meat's flavor in a way that people have variously described as earthy, musky, mineral-y, funky, or just beefy. It's a much more complex flavor than what you get with wet-aging -- all the more so if you start with the pastured beef Fleisher's sells, because pastured beef is always more flavorful to start with.

Our beef carcasses typically hang for a week at our slaughterhouse before being broken down into the primal sections -- the chuck, the rib, the loin, and the round -- from which we will eventually cut steaks, roasts, and so on. Then the primals are dry-aged at our shop for up to four weeks, depending on the cut. Our rib-eyes, New York strips, and sirloins get the longest time in our coolers, and both the taste and the price reflect their extended stay.

Dry-aging is expensive, because there can be significant loss of product during the aging process. Between the evaporation and the cutting away of the outer crust, beef can lose up to 25% of its weight by the time it's done aging and ready to sell. But once you taste one of our dry-aged steaks, you'll know it's worth it.

Ah, There’s the Rub

Photo by Jennifer May

From time to time the Butcher's Case will be featuring recipes from The Butcher's Guide to Well-Raised Meat, written by Fleisher's co-owners Joshua and Jessica Applestone. Today I want to start with a recipe that's versatile enough to appeal to virtually everyone reading this, no matter what kind of meat you like best: Fleisher's dry rub.

Although this rub is best known as the secret behind Fleisher's popular rotisserie chickens, it can also be applied to steaks, spareribs, roasts, or even seafood. Seriously, it pairs well with just about any protein, thanks in large part to the way the spicy paprika is offset by the herbaceous sage. Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup coarse salt
1/2 cup dried sage
1/3 cup garlic powder
1/4 cup onion flakes
1/4 cup paprika
3 tablespoons dried thyme
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, rubbing the sage, thyme, and oregano between your palms to crush them as you add them to the mixture. The mix will keep in an airtight container for up to six months. Shake or mix well before applying to chicken, beef, pork, or seafood. Makes 2 cups.

If you've never tried dry rubs before, give it a try. No matter what you like to cook, you'll find it packs more of a punch when you treat it with this rub.


Hamburger Helper: It's been a mixed bag lately for the Butcher's Case's favorite ballplayer, Texas Rangers pitcher Mark Hamburger. After pitching a perfect 1-2-3 inning in his big league debut last Wednesday, he lost his baseball virginity two nights later, getting roughed up for three runs in two innings. But then he recovered on Labor Day, tossing a scoreless inning. You can keep track of his game-by-game progress here.

Words to Live By

Photo and animation by Kirsten Hively, Project Neon

As the nation fires up its grills and smokers this Labor Day, the Butcher's Case hopes you'll find inspiration in the sign shown above. We like to think of it as a neon mantra.

Everyone have a great holiday. We'll have lots of full-length posts later this week.

The Butchery Archives, Vol. 1

Click on photo for larger version

We love old butcher shop photos. They tend to evoke the same sense of community and pride in one's craft that we strive for at Fleisher's (not to mention that the meat in the old photos was mostly grass-fed and all hormone- and antibiotic-free). This one, showing an old butcher named William Cohen, was submitted by one of our Kingston customers, who's one of William Cohen's descendants.

We'll be running more of these old photographs in the weeks to come. If you have some you'd like to share — regardless of whether you're related to the butcher in the photo — send them in. Or just bring them over to Fleisher's. It'll make our day.

Have a great Labor Day, everyone. We'll be back with more meatiness next week.

Making the Grade

Photo by Jennifer May

By Paul Lukas

Today we're going to address a question people frequently ask about Fleisher's: Is our beef Prime?

The short answer is no. But in order to understand the answer, you have to know what the question really means.

First things first: While all meat sold in this country must be inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture, it does not have to be USDA graded — that's an optional program. The big meat operators tend to have their meat graded, so they can use the top grades as marketing tools. Most of the Prime-graded beef goes to high-end steakhouses; the next two grades, Choice and Select, are what you typically find in supermarkets (although you'll almost never see a supermarket, or anyone else, bragging about Select-grade beef).

But here's the thing: The USDA grading system is primarily based on the amount of intramuscular fat, or marbling, in a beef carcass. The greater the marbling, the higher the grade. (You've probably heard about and maybe tasted Kobe or Wagyu beef, right? The reason it's so highly prized is that it has an insane amount of marbling — so much that it sometimes looks like fat streaked with meat, instead of the other way around.)

Now, if you're dealing with grain-fed, feedlot-raised steers — in other words, factory beef — marbling isn't a bad gauge of quality. A Prime-graded feedlot steak usually does taste better than a Select-graded one. And that's fine, as far as it goes.


Photo by Jennifer May
But we don't sell that kind of beef. Our steers eat grass and roam around in the pasture. They don't pack on as much fat as their grain-fed cousins, and then they work some of it off because they're outside, getting exercise. So if you look at the steaks in our display cases, you won't see a whole lot of marbling. That's why most producers of pasture-raised beef, ourselves included, don't bother with grading, because the grading system is designed to measure something our beef doesn't have, or even strive for. Subjecting one of our beef carcasses to USDA grading would be like judging a great author on the basis of his tennis game.

But that doesn't mean our beef doesn't taste every bit as good as Prime-graded beef. Frankly, we think it tastes a lot better. Pastured beef has a fuller, more complex flavor than grain-fed beef. Part of it is because of the animal's diet, and part of it is that you're actually tasting the meat, not the fat marbling. Try it for yourself — you'll see.

We understand that a lot of people instinctively look for marbling, and that even more people automatically perk up when they hear the word "Prime." But we're not out to sell Prime-graded beef; we're out to sell the best, most flavorful beef. We believe we're succeeding — and once you taste our beef, you'll know it too.

(One footnote: There's no relation between Prime-graded beef and the term prime rib, which is another term for a standing rib roast. Any grade of beef can be used for prime rib. In other words, you can make — and some restaurants definitely serve — Select-grade prime rib. Or course, you can also make prime rib from pastured beef, like ours. And it's the bomb.)




He had some extra mustard on that pitch: Baseball players sometimes refer to each other as "Meat" (as in "Nice hit, Meat" or "Great catch, Meat"). But as you can see above, things were meatier than usual last in last night's Rays/Rangers game, as Rangers pitcher Mark Hamburger made his major league debut. He is the first player named Hamburger ever to play in the big leagues, and he honored his namesake sandwich by pitching a perfect 1-2-3 inning in his first appearance. He is now the official Favorite Ballplayer of the Butcher's Case.

Incidentally, according to the all-time baseball player registry, there has never been a ballplayer named Frankfurter. At least not yet.

Greetings Fellow Carnivores

Photo by Flickr user CarbZombie

By Paul Lukas

Hi there — pleased to meat you.

Welcome to the Butcher's Case, the new blog for Fleisher's Grass-Fed & Organic Meats. As you may have heard, we'll soon be opening a new shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn. This blog will help our new neighbors in Brooklyn get familiar with what Fleisher's is all about, and it will also keep Fleisher's fans up to speed with what's going on at our flagship shop up in the Hudson Valley. Recipes, interviews, photos, videos — we plan to have all of that. We'll also be featuring lots of old-timey butchery photos and vintage meat collectibles, because we think that's fun. Basically, if it has to do with meat, butchery, and sustainable food practices, expect to see it here.

As the blog evolves and grows, we look forward to your input and feedback. Soon we'll be running a T-shirt design contest, fielding questions for an "Ask the Butcher" feature, and so on. But for now, tell us what you want, what you don't want, ask us questions, pick our brains. We look forward to becoming your friends, so don't be shy.

Many of you in Brooklyn have probably heard of Fleisher's, and some of you may have ordered from our delivery service. That's part of why we chose Park Slope for our first New York City shop — we already have lots of happy customers there. But whether you're already a fan of our meat or have never heard of us, you probably have some questions. We'll try to anticipate some of them here:

What exactly is Fleisher's?
Fleisher's Grass-Fed & Organic Meats is a butcher shop in Kingston, in New York's Hudson Valley, and soon in Park Slope too. We specialize in delicious pastured meats from animals raised safely and humanely on small, local, sustainable farms. We know all of our suppliers personally and have visited their farms ourselves, so we can absolutely assure you their animals were raised with no antibiotics or hormones, and on a strictly vegetarian diet. Our uncompromising approach to great meat has earned us a loyal following, and has also made us the supplier of choice for many of the New York area's top restaurants.

We believe in transparency. When you come into our shop, you'll see our butchers breaking down a lamb carcass, or cutting apart a loin of beef. Nothing is hidden, because we have nothing to hide. We also believe butchery is an important (and dying) trade, so we offer butchery classes for beginners to professionals. Ever bought meat at the Meat Hook in Williamsburg? Tom Mylan, who runs that shop, trained and apprenticed with us. (Not only that, but he gets his meat from us. So if you've shopped there, you're already a Fleisher's customer.)

We'll talk a lot more about our approach to meat — and to food in general — as this blog moves along. But if you want to get a sense of our philosophy, check out The Butcher's Guide to Well-Raised Meat, written by our founders and co-owners, Joshua and Jessica Applestone. It'll fit right in with those Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman books you've been reading.


Photo by Jennifer May
Where will be the Park Slope shop be located?
At 192 5th Avenue. That's between Sackett and Union, right next to Cog & Pearl and across the street from Bierkraft. We think it's a perfect spot, and we're extremely excited about becoming part of the Park Slope community.

When will you be opening?
September 22nd. We'll keep you posted here at the Butcher's Case as the date approaches.

What will you be selling?
The best beef, pork, lamb, and chicken you've ever tasted, for starters. A wide array of house-made sausages, too. We'll have turkeys during the holidays, and we occasionally get our hands on some duck, rabbit, and veal. We'll also have milk, eggs, and butter from local dairies, and a wonderful selection of cheeses.

We believe strongly in the "nose to tail" ethos. These animals have given their lives to put food on our tables, so we respect that sacrifice by using every bit of them. We love organ meats, like liver, heart, and kidneys, and can show you some great ways to cook it. Scraps that we can't use get sold as dog food. We even use our beef tallow to make Fleisher's soap! We try to waste as little as possible.

Will the meat you sell in Brooklyn be the same as what you sell in Kingston?
Yes. It will be the same product, from the same sources. Same high quality, same great taste. We've worked carefully with our suppliers, and they're ready to provide the increased amount of product that we'll need for the new store.

Is your beef 100% grass-fed?
Here in the northeast, with its cold winters, it's almost impossible to raise steers on a 100% grass diet year-round. We sometimes have 100% grass-fed beef available for sale, but most of our pastured steers do eat some local grain — usually corn — at some point in their lives. It's not a staple of their diets, but it's enough to help them get through the cold seasons when the grass isn't growing. Most folks think it produces better-tasting meat, since 100% grass-fed can have a strong, assertive flavor that isn't for everyone. We'll take a more detailed look at this topic in a future blog post.

Is your beef aged? Wet or dry?
All our beef is dry-aged in-house. The aging time ranges from one to four weeks, depending on the cut. This is another subject we'll look at in detail later on.


Photo by Flickr user CarbZombie
I already buy pastured, locally raised meat at the Food Co-Op. What do I need a butcher shop for?
We have a lot of respect for the Co-Op. But selling meat in shrink-wrapped Styrofoam trays, even if it's pastured or organic, doesn't sound very eco-friendly to us, and it's not a good way to feel connected to your food. It's just a supermarket experience with slightly better product. Can the Co-Op cut you a slightly thicker or thinner steak to order, right there on the spot? Can they custom-tie a pork roast for you or French a rack of lamb while you watch? Do they have an experienced, professional butcher on hand who you can talk to about recipes and portions? By all means, keep getting your produce and other items from the Co-Op. But we think we offer a lot more than they do when it comes to meat.

Who needs a butcher shop when I buy my meat at the farmers' market?
We love farmers' markets! But just because meat is being sold at the market, that doesn't automatically mean it was produced sustainably, safely, or humanely. Moreover, the meat you find at farmers' markets is almost always frozen. We believe — and we think you'll agree — that fresh meat is better.

What about you, the guy writing this — who are you?
I'm Paul Lukas, a longtime freelance journalist and Park Slope resident. I've written about food for a wide variety of publications (The New York Times, Gourmet, Saveur, New York Magazine, The New York Sun, Edible Brooklyn, Time Out New York, lots of others), and it would be fair to say I'm a meat geek. I collect old butchery charts, vintage recipe booklets with the word "Meat" in the title, and other meat ephemera. So writing for Fleisher's is a dream gig for me.

I've lived in the Slope since 1989, long enough to have seen one butcher shop after another close its doors. Liberty Meats, Berkeley Meats, Great Western — all gone. I'm excited to have a real butcher in the neighborhood once again. I'm even more excited that it's a butcher as committed to quality and integrity as Fleisher's.

Will you be working in the shop? Can you cut meat?
At the moment I'm still a butchery dilettante — long on meat enthusiasm, and a decent cook, but short on butchery skills. I've always wanted do something about that, so I recently took Fleisher's Butchery 101 course (you can see some photos I took here), and I'll be going back up to Kingston to learn more. If all goes well — in other words, if I don't lop off a finger — the progression my "personal butchery journey" may become an occasional feature here on the blog.

Hey, speaking of that, when will the next blog post be, and how often will you post?
We'll have two more posts this week, and then we expect to settle into a routine of posting about three times a week. I'll be writing most of the entries, but Fleisher's co-owner Jessica Applestone will be contributing as well. All of this will no doubt come into sharper focus as we move along.

For now, you can use the subscription fields at the top-right of this page to follow the site. You can also sign up for the Fleisher's e-mail list, and you can always follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Now, to close us out, here's Fleisher's founder and co-owner Joshua Applestone holding forth on a subject near and dear to our hearts (and probably yours too): How to cook the perfect steak. Enjoy — and then come buy that steak from us.