Farmers Market: the Butcher

This is where I was headed the day I took the photos in the last post; our local Farmers Market.  It was too early for much local produce to be in, but there are lots of things to buy, nonetheless.

 Mrs. Nell is now the matriarch of the family that owns the only remaining butcher shop at Market.  When I had my tea stand here, fifteen years ago, there were two butchers.  The Nells' shop is now into its fourth generation offerings meats and meat products.  All the family shows up to help, including the teenagers. 

The gentleman she is sharing a laugh with is John B, an architect in town.  He's working on the renovations to the carriage house at the Warehime-Myers Mansion, which will eventually house a gift shop, our library and research center and my new office.

I think these are free to dog owners, because there was no price tag to be found.  Mostly beef leg bones, there are a few pork legs in there, as well.  I considered picking one up the next time I was in, until I realized they were mostly gristle and sinew, which dogs go crazy over, but probably not so good for soup, or a pot of beans.  I'll have to ask Mrs. Nell.

 They sell everything but the moo, the squeal, the gobble-gobble and the cock-a-doodle-doo.  Freshly cut the day before.  Made me wish I had brought my wallet with me.

These are seriously dry, salt-cured ham steaks, the kind you should soak in successive cold-water baths before cooking.  My Dad used to refer to this as shoe-leather ham, but he loved it.  Also called country ham.  In our house, the drippings from a fried slice of this would become red-eye gravy: remove the ham, discard all but about a quarter cup of the drippings, then add a cup or so of hot coffee, and be sure to scrape all the fond off the bottom.  Best served over steaming grits.

There are more pics from the butcher shop, but I'm trying to keep these posts short.

Next up: the Baker.
(C) 2012, M C McLemore