I totally disagree... I have been cooking my roast chicken in the same way for the last 15 yrs or so, therefore the only thing that changes in the taste of the finished dish is the quality of the meat, and let me tell you that the difference is astonishing, even comparing your run-of-the-mill M&S organic chicken (which is not exactly a poulet de bresse...yum yum...) with a local one...

Probably the best meat you get in switzerland, also animal protection wise there are some organic farmers selling meat directly for a reasonable price.

I love the imported lamb fillets from new sealand and ostrich steacks from South Africa, it is good quality meat and as expensive as chicken fillet.

Do you have details for these?

Here the magic words to type into google: Landwirte verkaufen Fleisch ab Hof

There you go:

http://www.fleischabhof.ch/

And I second that, my family always bought large quantities directly from the farm, the quality was absolutely superb, just put everything in the freezer immediately.

OK this is the thread that caught my eye in the 1st place and made me join this forum

My experience is that if you want to buy direct from farms etc its a local thing, when you are driving out in the wonderful Swiss country side you see signs by farms.

If you live in a city and don't drive in the country side, go to the market eg: Winterthur on Tuesday and Friday mornings, there you can buy anything from horse, rabbits & organic beef.

I find the blue packets in coop to be good for the price and also the meat in question has had a "happy life" The green packets are full organic.

Me personally, I buy lamb (12CHF per KG) direct from a farmer in one piece and butcher it myself, I also buy wild venison and pork from the local hunters and do the same (12CFH per KG = venison & 8CHF per KG = pork)

We had some great organic veal chops from coop last night and they were half price, you will find half price goods in all coops when the sell by date is near the end, this is a great way to save money.

Hope all the above helps, any more questions just ask.

I'm fairly certain the meat at, e.g. Oerlikon market, isn't cheaper than supermarkets. It's almost certainly better quality, but it's not a way to save money.

I am sorry I must have misunderstood the thread, I was not making price comparisons between markets and supermarkets

Of course better quality usually means higher price, you can save money with some of the tips I put in my post though

The markets are just "normal" price, but at the farms you usually buy large quantities of pork/beef or different cuts, the average price is around 20.- to 25.-/kg for excellent bio beef, I don't think you can get anything near that price at Coop/Migros.

but how much of a cow do you need to buy to get that price? Buying in bulk is certainly cheaper, but then you have a whole new set of problems once it come to store it...

Yeah, admittedly, we had a large freezer in our cellar, so we'd store the 1/4 cow or whatever it was there. You can also buy smaller quantities but it'd still amount to several kg I think. But a big freezer at a constantly low temperature is a must if you want to store meat for a while.

I am laughing again now Walter Thanks one needs to laugh!

Yeah you need a big freezer which I have or you can split it up with some mates.

The Venison I buy from hunters usually weighs around 25KG its not that much when you think about it.

is it really? damn, you learn something new every day

anywhere around ZH that you can suggest?

that is very swiss - my MIL also "splits a cow " with her friends - and freezes it..also with game animals...i remember i went down to the huge freezer in the cellar and saw all these packaged "body parts" i have to admit it freaked me out a bit, now i know it's normal

Laughing more now thanks

I am going in with a group to purchase a steer from an organic farmer, but I am pretty sure the farm sells also by the kilo. I cannot yet report on the quality of the meat, as it has not yet been butchered, but I am certainly looking forward to a freezer full of organic beef!

http://www.meilibeef.ch/

Not really no, as I'm from Luzern and therefore wouldn't trust meat from Zürich.

I'm not eating any food you prepare. Call yourself a cook. More like a charlatan.

(not that I'd be invited anyway)

cheeky sod...

yeah, that's why i use a lot of spices, to disguise the sweet scent of decomposition...

It's worth noting that you can age beef much longer than most people think, though obviously this will depend on having the right kind of storage and a taste for that kind of flavour.

As an example, Carnevino in Las Vegas, dry ages some beef for eleven months! Extreme aged beef has been a bit fashionable over the last couple of years.