Here's the first in a series of posts about the farmers, butchers, wholesalers, cheesemakers, dairies, and other folks from whom we order our products, in their own words. See anything for sale from these wholesalers that you don't spot on the shelf? We can order it. Know a better place to get something you like to eat? We are always on the lookout to establish new sources. If it's better, cheaper, or nearer, let us know. First we'll talk about the department about which customers are perhaps the most particular and inquisitive: meat.
Bella Bella Gourmet Foods sends us duck legs and breasts and fat, plus tasty whole chickens (heads and feet included). You can special order game birds, foie gras, just about anything from the class Avians. Our regular delivery of chicken legs and breasts (and, potentially, other parts) comes from Misty Knoll Farms in New Haven, Vermont. We can order whole chickens and turkeys from there, too. Misty Knoll's chickens tend to run a little larger, and more expensive, and headless.
Those Misty Knoll chickens come to us courtesy Vermont Quality Meats of Rutland, VT, who also sell us bacon and sausages from Vermont Smoke and Cure and beef and pork from PT Farms, whose hamburger is relatively inexpensive and has earned rave reviews from all who taste it. Perusing the VQM availability sheet you might notice that they offer many primal cuts and whole animals, as much of their business is with restaurants and butchers. At the store this has earned them the nickname "Vermont Quantity Meats." Jesting aside, should you need a whole brisket, or a crown roast, or a whole goat, we/they have you covered.
Our third regular meat provider is North Hollow Farm, who send us every imaginable cut of all grass-fed beef, plus lots of great pork. Their website contains a lot of information and links about grass-fed meat, plus good specifics about how the farm is run and the animals are kept, just as their packages are very specific about the origin of every cut of meat.
This is something we like a lot at the Sherman. It is our goal to bring you good food without the hocus-pocus. By informing people about where their dinner comes from, how it's grown or made, what's in it, who does it where and how, why it costs what it does, even how and when it's ordered and delivered and why it is or isn't in stock, we improve the food system at large: more clear and accurate information will always favor the job well done, the quality product, the more healthful foodstuff, and ultimately the consumer and the entire food economy.
Stay tuned to this blog for the next installment of Where Did This Come From. For any and all inquiries about meat sourcing, special orders, recipes, or anything else, call or visit Laurel at the shop and she will hook you up!!
-matt
