Perpetual Ruminations

They Sold My Fat!

We have been purchasing fresh meat from the local meat market for a few years. The price has been competitive, but the quality has been much better. The only exception has been their ground beef, which tends to be slightly cheaper than that found in grocery stores.

But all good things must come to an end, and this seems to be true with the local meat market. It started last fall when they began construction to add on. Almost as soon as construction began, prices increased. But getting good, fresh meat was still worth spending a little more.

Then, we purchased a chuck roll (a cut sourced from the shoulder region of the cow). Normally, we butcher these into a few roasts, some strips, some stew meat, and the rest we grind into hamburger. This time, however, it wasn't local beef, and it was very tough; too tough to eat. So, today I ended up grinding all of it into hamburger.

We also purchase fresh beef fat that we render into tallow for cooking. I had stopped in last week to purchase ten pounds, but they didn't have any on hand. They said they would have more in a day or two, and wanted to know if I wanted to have them hold some for me. "Yes."

The guy took down my name and phone number and said he'd call when they had some ready. He did, too. He called yesterday and said they had ten pounds set aside for me. I asked if I could wait until today to pick it up, and he said that would be fine. So, today I drove in to pick it up. But when I asked for the beef fat, I was told they didn't have any left.

I pointed out that I had been called and told they were setting ten pounds aside for me. The guy looked at the board full of notes and asked for my name. He looked at the notes, found my order, and went and looked in the back. He returned empty-handed and informed me that someone had sold mine.

I was a bit disgruntled and told him so. After all, it's very cold out today, I had driven in specifically to pick it up after being called, and had wasted my time. He didn't even apologize; he just asked if there was anything else he could do for me.

My wife and I had discussed ordering a quarter beef from this store, so I asked him if I did order a quarter beef, would I get it all, or would someone sell it? He said, "It has happened."

I did notice tubs of tallow in the cooler by the door as I was leaving; one-pound containers for $12.99.