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Butcher Mohammad Hussan at the meat counter in Chalk Farm Morrisons |
A cut above the competition
Don Ryan had a pleasant surprise when he had to go (what he thought was) downmarket for his Sunday roast
THERE is universal agreement among foodies that local independent butchers are best for fresh meat and I wouldn’t disagree with that maxim.
It is also indisputable that the majority of us buy most of our meat from supermarkets.
So which is the best supermarket for a measure of animal protein?
Once upon a time, Marks & Spencer would have been the only name in the frame for such an accolade.
Recently they have fallen by the wayside and nowadays the obvious answer is Waitrose. After all, they have a butcher on site, a reputation for quality and high prices. They can afford to be the best.
This was my faithfully held opinion until a few weeks ago, when, unable to find a fore rib of beef on the bone for a last-minute Sunday roast in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s or M&S, I headed reluctantly for Morrisons in Chalk Farm Road.
The company have a reputation for cheap basic produce, and I expected a cut-price, low quality joint from the other side of the planet, demanding a ton of preparatory work and slow pot roasting to produce any kind of half decent flavour.
To my surprise, I found a fine strapping hunk of good-looking British beef, which – even when shoved unceremoniously into the oven and simply roasted in the traditional British manner – proved to be absolutely delicious and tender with lots of succulent beefy, meaty taste. It was also a huge hit with my fellow diners, one of whom wanted to know which local butcher supplied the meat.
Adam Coldwell, the deputy manager at Morrisons in Chalk Farm wasn’t a bit surprised when I congratulated him on the store’s excellent fore ribs . “All our meat [other then mince and offal] whether on a shelf or on top of our meat counter is cut in store and prepared by a trained Morrisons butcher,” he told me.
“The only reason we place meat in a tray and cover it with cling film is for easier handling and convenience. Otherwise we operate like a traditional butchers shop. If customers want only one chop or a joint trimmed or cut in a particular way, they only have to ask.”
Earlier this month, just before resigning as farming minister, Jane Kennedy opened Morrisons’ third UK meat processing plant while praising their policy of only selling British meat. The company now has the capacity to slaughter and process 90 per cent of all meat sold in their UK stores.
According to Roy Craven, Morrisons’ national meat specialist, the Sheffield-based supermarket chain buy their meat direct from the farmer. “We know all about our livestock and where it comes from,” he said. “We speak to farmers directly, we know their farms and we know the environment and even the fields the animals come from.”
Morrisons meat, it seems, is under expert supervision from the farm to the shopping bag.
I mentioned my Morrisons experience to a neighbour, with 21 years’ experience on the shop floor at Waitrose.
“I think you’ve got your wires crossed luv”, she chided.
“Morrisons meat is trussed up in clingfilm, it looks as if it has come into the store pre-packed. At Waitrose the locally butchered meat is available uncovered at the meat counter; it looks a lot better.”
Perhaps Waitrose meat is displayed better, but I’ve eaten meat from both stores and, for the moment anyway, I’m shopping at Morrisons.
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