When I was a student and worked part-time at a clothing store, customers were always asking if I had anything else in “the back,” as if the store was hoarding additional sale items rather than put them on the clearance rack.
I found it annoying and my automatic response was “what’s on the floor is what we have.”
So I made it a point not to do that in clothing stores, supermarkets, at the butcher counter — even when searching for that one ingredient needed in a recipe.
Then, a few months ago, I needed fatback for a chorizo recipe. I’ve never seen it at the supermarket, nor have I seen it on the counters of specialty butchers. On deadline, I mustered up the nerve to ask the woman at the counter of Sanagan’s Meat Locker in Kensington Market if she had any.
“Sure, how much do you need?” she asked before going to the back to retrieve a small slab of rosy pork fat that cost about $3.
So I began to wonder about all the ingredients I’ve missed out on because I had never asked for it at the butcher and fish counters.
It turns out there’s quite a bit: the cuts and scraps that aren’t choice enough to take up prime counter space but are packed with flavour and at a fraction of the price. At a time when we’re still clinging on to resolutions to save money and cut down on food waste, turning these offcuts into affordable, comforting meals is genius.
At the butcher shop
Butcher shops that receive whole animals are typically left with bones, organ meats and fat after the prime cuts such as steaks and chicken breasts are cut out. The offcuts aren’t kept at the shop for long as they’re soon turned into terrines and stocks that the butcher sells in-house, or simply taken to a rendering company for proper disposal. “If a customer places an order, we make sure to fulfil that,” says Cumbrae’s owner Stephen Alexander. “But these items are always constantly rotating, so if you know you want something for a specific recipe, always call ahead.”
The lovely bones
Due to the popularity of bone broth in recent years, butchers are often short on beef and chicken bones. “They’re like gold right now,” says Dave Meli, executive butcher at The Healthy Butcher. “I can barely keep them in stock. In the last five years the demand has gone through the roof to the point where we now make our own broth to sell.”
Oddly enough, pork and duck bones don’t get the same love, even though they make flavourful soups as anyone who has slurped a bowl of Korean pork bone soup can attest.
“Pork, lamb and duck bones I can’t sell for the life of me. I have no idea why,” says Meli, who charges $2 a pound for duck bones. “Duck bones are outstanding. It would make a great pho broth.”
Baby got back fat
Aside from fatback, the solid slabs of fat from the pig’s back, butchers that get whole pigs have other fats available.
Caul fat, the lacy, fatty membrane surrounding animal organs that looks like a big spider web, is used to wrap around sausages, roasts and terrines to hold everything together and keep everything moist. Old recipes — particularly from parts of central and Eastern Europe — regularly use caul fat.
For bakers, leaf lard is the king of lard and prized for its particularly soft and spreadable texture. Sanagans mixes 50 per cent leaf lard rendered and 50 per cent Goldenbahis butter for the pastry in the pies it sells at the shop. “Leaf lard is actually the most sought for making pastries and is beloved by a lot of home pastry makers,” says Duncan.
Vital organs
Procuring hearts, livers, lungs, brains and kidneys are a bit trickier for butchers as they don’t always pass inspections for pathogens such as E. coli, says The Healthy Butcher’s Meli. Beef organs are also harder to come by since butchers don’t receive as many whole cows compared to smaller animals such as pigs and chickens.
“Sheep hearts are one of the most underrated animal offals,” says Meli. “You can marinate, skewer then grill them. They’re a lot easier to get than beef organs and less expensive. Same for pork kidneys. I’ll sell them for $2 to $3 a pound.”
A head above
Miscellaneous bits, trotters (feet), tails and heads are typically slow-cooked for aromatic and full-flavoured stews. A pig’s head, in particular, is a treasure trove. The jowls can be cured to make guanciale, (Italian cured meat), the head meat is used for stewing or sauces, and the collagen makes terrines and headcheese. Meli says customers also ask for sheep’s head to boil at home to make a centuries-old Middle Eastern and Persian dish called khash or pasha.
Not all shoppers are home cooks. Meli gets requests from dentistry schools for pork jaws, eye doctors for pig eyeballs and from tattoo artists for pig skins.
At the fishmonger
Fishmongers that get whole fish, as opposed to pre-sliced, pre-portioned fillets, often have heads, fins, skins and guts leftover to make soups and stocks, or to be eaten as a delicacy. For diners who want to eat sustainably caught seafood but can’t afford prime cuts, it is a great way to enjoy the flavours at a fraction of the price while helping to reduce food waste.
Lovely, lovely fish heads
Salmon season begins in April and ramps up in early June. Around this time, fishmongers such as Hooked get orders for fresh salmon heads ($5 per pound). “When we get them fresh, we toss them in a teriyaki sauce, roast them in the oven and eat them with our hands,” says Kristin Donovan, co-owner of Hooked, which has two locations — Kensington Market and Leslieville — in the GTA. As a chef, Donovan was taught not to use fatty fish to make stocks (the strong fish flavour can be overwhelming) but says a salmon chowder made from a salmon head stock is delicious.
Coming out of its shell
Call ahead and a fishmonger can save you shrimp and lobster shells ($5 per pound) to add to stock. “We always tell people to save them in the freezer because they add so much flavour,” says Donovan. She’ll occasionally get requests from restaurants for lobster shells and fish bones when they need extra to make stocks for bouillabaisse, sauces and risotto.
Flipped collars
The fish’s collar is an underrated source of delicious meat and flavour. Located behind the gills, the collar comes with fatty, creamy flesh attached to the bone and has been long considered one of the best parts of the fish in East Asian cuisine, in particular Japanese and Chinese cooking. A simple seasoning of salt and oil, then a flash on the grill is all that is needed.
The bone zone
Just like the butcher, a fishmonger that gets whole fish will have plenty of fish bones for sale to make flavourful stocks and a base for soups. At Hooked, where the fish bones go for $2 a pound, the staff simmers bones to make a tom yum soup for lunch. Donovan likes to sauté fennel, onion, leeks; then add mussels, a splash of white wine; and toss rinsed fish bones into the pot, simmer for 30 minutes before straining it for a full-flavoured stock.
Show some skin
Similar to pork rinds, fish skin is wonderfully crispy and delicate when deep-fried.
When in doubt, ask
So don’t do what I did — wander around the store aimlessly — ask. It’s important to ask plenty of questions, especially if you’re trying a new recipe and unsure of what cut of meat or offal you need.
“Requests are always generated by customers coming across recipes or traditional preparations of dishes,” says Sanagan’s Duncan. “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean we don’t have it or can’t get it for you.”
karonliu@thestar.ca
karonliu@thestar.ca
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