S. Worthen | Weblog

Weeks ago, saffronjan asked me where there were good butchers in the city. At the time, I had no idea, but I had every good intention of sending her the gist of whatever Toronto Life recommended, since they're usually good about that sort of thing. Now, however, thanks to a guided tour of St. Lawrence market provided by lemur_catta and chickenfeet2003, I can recommend the market enthusiastically. The downside is that it's not particularly close to the person who needs it.


Meanwhile, for centralish-westish Toronto, Toronto Life recommends the Bloor Meat Market (way west at 2283 Bloor West), Cumbrae's Naturally Raised Fine Meats (481 Church at Wellesley), Grace Meat Market (644 College St. at Grace), Happy Meat Market (340 Spadina at Dundas), Nicola's Choice Meats (298 Eglington W at Avenue), Talho e Salsicharia Rui Gomes (713 College at Grace), and the Kensington Market staple St. Andrew Poultry (17 St. Andrew St.).

Meat is not something I know a great deal about; rather, I don't know a great deal about buying it. How do you recognize good meat? I can buy and cook meat (although usually I delegate meat-cooking to C. - he's good at it these days). But how can you recognize a good piece of meat by looking, shy of buying things which smell fresh?

In Halifax, I ordered an assorted game entrée for dinner one night: red deer, caribou, quail, and game sausage. The red deer was tasty, a bit watery, but would make a good staple meat. The caribou was rich, full of flavor, delicious, a treat.

*****

I was very sorry to hear that Julia Child died on Friday.