Local Meats and Gourmet Butcher:

OUR MEAT, OUR BUTCHER

Understanding Meat

It’s become more apparent lately that our factory system, has produced cheap meat from industrial farms that is untraceable, ethically tainted of dubious quality, tasteless, and unhealthy. Over 80% of meat and poultry that is mass produced for cheap consumption falls under this category and requires radical reform.

“Recent books on the subject such as “The River Cottage Meat” book, by Hugh Fearnley -Whittingstall and the best selling “Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan outline these problems in depth.”

At Green Top Market we have made a conscious decision to do something about this by modeling our butcher shop on old fashioned European Meats Markets where whole carcasses where displayed in their window and whose butchers could provide salient information about their meat and where and how the animals were raised. We were fortunate to find and hire a master butcher with over 30 years of experience who shares our dedication.

Today a master butcher is a rarity. Unlike the majority of “supermarket butchers” who can only slice a few cuts of meat, the master butcher must be familiar with the animal’s intricate anatomy and possess the considerable skill to carve an entire carcass, be it lamb, beef or hog and be capable of offering important information on how to prepare any cut.

We are also fortunate to be living in a community that affords us the ability to source quality hormone free beef, pork, lamb and poultry from small local farms that take time and pride in raising their animals in conditions conducive to best husbandry. Their animals are hormone free, grass fed, and finished on locally grown hay, soy beans, corn and root crops instead of conventional mass produced pellet grains.

The difference in these local produced meats is apparent in the color, texture and taste of the meat we sell at Green Top Market.

Our gourmet butcher Cole Ward is a true artisan, bringing 30 years of meat cutting experience at several of Americas finest meat markets to the table. He is a master cutter, sausage maker and devoted to local, all natural grass fed meat, game and poultry.

Cole will gladly share his knowledge and help you appreciate rare cuts and advise you as to which are best for grilling, braising or roasting. No questions will go unanswered.

“Local meat is something to be savored and never squandered!” – exclaims Ward.