A Prime Butcher and His Brisket

WooDoggies

<p />A few of you have been asking about one of the prime butchers whose shop is a couple of miles down the road from me.
He is Steve Henretty of Henretty's Custom Cut Prime Meats. [p]Here he is with one of his briskets ........ he's a fine fella and I'm truly fortunate to have him nearby.[p]The beef is prime angus, raised in Lancaster Co. PA, and dry aged at least 3 weeks. It arrives fresh, he cuts to order and it's never frozen.[p]The following photos are of the trimming process..... you have to see this guy with a knife to really appreciate how quickly he works and how simple he makes the cutting look.[p]Steve started off with a whole brisket with the ribs still attached.
It weighed in at just under 20 lbs.[p][p]
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[p][p]And finished up at 10 lbs.[p]
I asked him if he'd ship these. He said, "Sure! I'll ship these and anything else in the shop."
One of his big items is jumbo lump crab cakes.... he makes about a 1,000 a week, sells them to the locals, restaurants and ships all over the country.
The price he quoted me today for prime brisket is $5.99 per lb trimmed. He will ship unfrozen overnight in dry ice.[p]Custom prime butchers are a dying breed........ and as rare as hen's teeth.[p]He's pretty much a one man show so if you folks who've been asking me about Steve are really serious, give him a call at 302-239-4915 and he'll set you up![p]Large Friday Beers All Around,
John[p]

BluesnBBQ

Does he always work without gloves?

Nature Boy

BluesnBBQ,
You didn't see Rocky wearin' gloves when he punched up that carcass in the meat locker purty good. eh?
Hee
Chris

BluesnBBQ

Nature Boy,[p]I wouldn't buy meat from Rocky.

JSlot

If you are worried about a butcher's hands touching your meat, you should really thing about not eating it any more. LOL. [p]Frosty Ones!
Jim

Smokey

WooDoggies,[p]You are a Doggie for not sharing until now! [p]That look GREAT. Me thinks I needs to place an order "right quick"![p]Smokey

Nature Boy

BluesnBBQ,
LOL
I'd buy meat from Steve without a blink. I am sure, being the pro that he is, that he is well aware of the health dept. requirements and that he takes safe food handling very seriously. My guess is his hands and utensils were very clean before he performed this operation, and were cleaned again before he went on to his next task.
Brisket looks damn good dudn't it?
Chris

jwitheld

WooDoggies,
in that first picture it looks like he is holding a child

Pakak

This has made me squeamish in the past but watch the Food Network. Very few of the chefs wear gloves while handling food. I'll betcha that happens all the time in restaurants (someone may correct me here). What ya don't know can't hurt ya (or cause you to worry, that is).

mad max beyond eggdome

dawg. . .really, really nice post. . .[p]how are those crab cakes?? as good as the dizzy tsunami ones we've done up??. .. [p]again, thanks for posting that. . .i had no idea what the larger piece the brisket came from looks like. . .

Bamabob

Wow, so that's what a $60 prime brisket looks like. I don't think I've seen one any prettier. [p]I wish I had a butcher like him locally. I'm thinking overnight shipping would tack on at least another $50. Oh well, I can dream and drool.

BluesnBBQ

Nature Boy,[p]Yeah, you're probably right. And the brisket does look damn good. I wonder if the Laurel Meat Market sells them. I buy handcut NY Strips from them. And I'm pretty sure they wear gloves when they cut them.

Pakak

Oh, and BTW - do you wear gloves when having guests? Just wondering.

Char-Woody

Beautifully done John...never saw one better illustrated.
Tip of the beer glass to ya..
C~W

BluesnBBQ

Pakak,[p]No, but I don't work in the food service industry.

Unknown

WooDoggies, HOLY COW...Uh...from the looks of it that may just have been a Holy Cow...sure looks good anyway.

Unknown

Pakak, you know that's the first thing that came to my mind, i.e. I don't wear no gloves and if'n anybody don't want to eat what I fix then, to heck wid em, I'll eat my dang self.

Smokin Bob

I grew up working in restaurants and rarely if ever wore gloves. It's tough to be precise when you are wearing gloves. Even in the white tablecloth atmosphere we didn't wear them.

Cornfed

WooDoggies,[p]I may have to get one of these. I think they may be too nice to cook, though. I think I may just end up taking one in as a friend. I'd even let the prime brisket control the remote, which is a big deal in my apartment...[p]Later,
Cornfed

Unknown

Chet,
You'll eat yourself?[p]Pete

Rumrunner

WooDoggies, I like his first name already [p]Keep him around.[p]Rum

WooDoggies

BluesnBBQ,[p]He normally works nude but I asked him to wear clothes for the shoot.[p]If you're concerned about that, he's probably not your man.[p]John[p][p]

WooDoggies

Thanks max...... his crab cakes are out of this world and authentic for this area....... this area being the headwaters of the Chesapeake, where folks take their crabcakes very seriously.
He uses jumbo lump, no filler and they're made fresh daily..... ooh la la.[p][p]

WooDoggies

BamaBob,[p]Next time you're stopping through where PA and DE and MD meet...... he'll set you up right.[p]John

WooDoggies

Thanks Fred, a nod and a swig in your direction yonder way in cattle country.[p]John[p]

WooDoggies

Cornstalk dude, they're good but not that good...... besides, they're terrible conversationalists and they'll hog the remote, drink all of your beer, trash your crib and create a stink with the neigbors.[p]Best just to cook em.[p]
hee!

BBQfan1

BluesnBBQ,
I had heard that cross-contamination in a commercial kitchen is often greater in those where 'sanitary' gloves are utilized. The reason being that it gives a false 'sense of sanitation'. Distractedly wipe your brow, or worse, the sweat under your nose with your hand and you know you just did that by the resulting moisture; with a sanitary glove there is not the sensory evidence (wet hands). Same if you have poultry juices on the knife handle and grab it with your bare hands. Your hand will recognize the slipperiness; a glove may not, and you may proceed to handle something else, thus cross contamination.
I think one use, single action/single product handling benefits from using the gloves for sure. In the commercial applications, I'm not so certain you aren't often lulled into these false senses of security.
Qfan

UnConundrum

WooDoggies,[p]What's his address.... I may be up for a field trip

WooDoggies

UnConundrum,[p]721 Ace Memorial Drive (Wellington Plaza)
Hockessin, DE 19707 [p]Give him a call a few days in advance. His meat is shipped from the big locker in Lancaster on Tues. and Thurs.
He's closed Sun. and Mon.
Let me know when you come down.... I'll take you to one of the local Mexican restaurants.[p]John

Illinifan

WooDoggies,We live on the southern edge of an Amish
settlement. They have a slaughter house
, and they always have fresh pork and beef. In our area
nothing is better than this meat! They use a generator
for their freezers and lites. I guess this makes it legal
as they have no phone nor electricity.