Hiya all foodies out there,

does anyone know a good English (or English-speaking) butcher in Zurich?
I have nothing against Swiss ones, but I'm looking for some less-than-usual bits and bobs and because I think my German is not good enough at the moment I don't want any "lost in translation" misunderstandings over what I'd like...

Plus, does anyone know if and where I can find fresh or frozen foie gras in Zurich? Not terrine, pate or similar, I'm looking for the real thing. (NOTE: before anyone starts a groan-o-rama, I'm well aware of the issues surrounding the production of foie gras, if we want to have a discussion on animal welfare please let's do it in another thread - thanks)

Any help is much appreciated

Ta-ta

Your profile states you are Italian and that is your native language. Aren't you very much more likely to find an Italian-speaking butcher??

http://market.local.ch/de/d/Verschie...showTags=false

www.search.ch might give you more localised hits.

Caviar next on your list?

Wot, someone a bit like this Scottish Butcher in Zurich?
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Foie-gras is not English but French. The place to go in the Zurich area is :

www.lamaisonmichel.ch in Stäfa, who in their WEBsite emphasize that they have various sorts of genuine Foie-Gras

Surely that depends on the nationality of the duck or goose.
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If the nationality of the "victim" was British or Irish, the product will not be "Foie Gras" but of course "fat liver"

yeah, i might have known that prior to you pointing it out .. good link, thanks

unfortunately, Italian cuts of meat are different from English or French cuts, I'm used to English cuts and it would a lot easier for me to deal with them

Drive an hour east and you'll be in France.

If I'm not badly mistaken, Swiss cuts are different from English ones too, and I do not assume that a Swiss butcher who speaks English has to know the English cuts just because of his language skills. Of course, if those skills were acquired in the UK while working as a butcher there, matters may look different.

Moreover, since the different cuts involve large chunks of meat, I cannot quite imagine that a butcher can serve all your demands. You cannot just cut one or two slices out of a cow.

East ?

You are NOT mistaken at all. French cuts however are far closer to Swiss ones than to English ones, and so, this should not be a problem in case of Foie Gras. These cuts can cause problems in case of steaks and cotelettes and thelike. Particularily as for instance in Switzerland, things are cut away before selling them while they are not in the USA. Foie Gras at the other hand is a French specialty which ought to be treated the French way.

Hey guys
thanks all for the input, but can I clarify a couple of things?

Foie gras is french and there is no other way of making / producing / selling except in the traditional way.. there are no alternatives or different cuts

English, Italian and French cuts of meat are very different from each other (and not only because they have different names in different languages, they cut different muscles in different places). My OP asks for an English butcher (or, failing that, an English speaking butcher) 'cos he/she'll be more likely to be familiar with English cut or other particularity of English butchery that I'm after. In addition, if a butcher caters for an English speaking community, is more likely to cut the meat in the English way rather than the French one, hence me looking for one of those. this would increase the chance of the butcher having the English cuts available instead of having to make a custom job for them which may or may not be commercially viable for him unless, as Capt. Greybeard rightly pointed out, you buy half a cow in one go.

I hope this clarifies - thanks again you all for the replies

Oh Walter you underestimate the depths that the foie gras objectors will go to in order to replicate the delicious goodness..

I give you "humane foie gras" - nearly as good as the real thing and only twice the price.

and then I raise you the soap dodgers favourite "faux gras" ie vegatarian foie gras... mmmmn

Cheers


Jekyll

couldn't agree more... but then, none of these are actually foie gras

Well I get mine from the covered market hall in Mulhouse. There's a stand run by an old woman with a hunchback selling only poultry products from her own farm. Seeing her in action with a meat cleaver is an sight to behold...

You can freeze fresh foie gras so buying in bulk a couple of times a year is feasible.

I couldn't agree more. My post was on cuts only; I didn't even touch the foie gras topic. And my point was exactly the fact that cuts are not only a matter of terminology but of actually cutting the meat, and that not only on the level of a steak, cutlet or the like.

As you stated, you would need a butcher who caters for a whole community to get the right cuts, because the way cuts are done starts at the level of the very big chunks being removed from the animal. What's a piece of meat for one nation may go into three different cuts elsewhere. That's why I wrote that probably a (Swiss) butcher will not be able to cover your requirements. I mean, how many butchers are there in Switzerland who can dissect half an ox, say, the English way and sell most of the stuff to English speaking people?

__________________

"Lots of jokes about the My Pillow guy but ask yourself this: Does anyone know who Biden’s pillow guy is? We’re about to have a president who has no advisors from the pillow industry. Let that sink in." — Sarah Cooper

all i need is one..

Hi Walter

http://www.maison-canard.ch/
I've ordered from them and they are good, fast and delicious