Electric City Butcher wouldn’t be in the position it is today without our curious & inquisitive guests. As traditional animal husbandry & meat production has fallen out of fashion it’s vitally important that people know & understand the reasons we do the things we do at ECB. Read on below to learn more about every aspect of our humble butcher shop & let us know what topics you’re interested in learning about in the future.
Dear Friends of ECB,
After months of discussion, Steve, Richard, and I have decided to permanently close Electric City Butcher’s Santa Ana location. Our last day of operation will be February 25, 2023. Rest assured; ECB is not going away. Like Noma, there will be a reincarnation. Electric City Butcher will continue sales with our online partners, and will continue to operate our sister store, Graze and Gather Meats in Claremont, CA
Resist the urge. Fight it with every ounce of your being. Don’t do it buddy. Don’t ask us to make you a turducken.
Yes, I’m talking about that culinary Thanksgiving unicorn, that El Dorado of poultry, the mythical roasting orgy that is a chicken stuffed into a duck, stuffed into a turkey.
On this Earth Day, I thought I would take a moment to highlight the real warriors for a healthier ag biz. Our friendly farmers and ranchers are doing the real work, one pasture, one animal, one incredibly long day at a time. Today, I celebrate the efforts of these men and women who are trying to change the way we enjoy meat, for the better.
One of the least talked about casualties of COVID has been the loss of interest in cooking.
It’s no surprise that the Pandemic has forced us all to start cooking more. In fact, more than half of us (55%) are eating at home more often now than when the pandemic began, according to these guys.
Yet, despite all the sourdough bread making, cookie circles, homemade cocktails, and other retro Americana culinary activities experiencing a quarantine-inspired renaissance, some 65% of Americans are simply tired of cooking. And another 55% have said it’s left them feeling “fatigued.”
The Sophie’s choice of carnivores. I’ve bought more delicious, custom-cut, responsibly raised meat than I can possibly eat this week from my favorite neighborhood butcher, Electric City Butcher. Do I take the risk of it going bad, or can I put it in the freezer and hope for the best?
Ireland is a country with beef on the brain. Home to some of the earliest archaeological evidence of cattle domestication in Europe, The country is littered with cattle references. Even the Gaelic word for road comes from the word for cow. Medieval Irish poems and songs are chock full of references to cow goddesses, cattle rustling, and wealth measured in beef.
During holidays like Valentine’s Day, we get asked the same question. What is your BEST steak! It’s like asking me which of my three kids is my favorite.
There isn’t a right answer.
However, I do own a butcher shop. I sell meat to pay my mortgage. And that 100% Grass Fed, Grass-Finished Lost Coast Ribeye is not my progeny. So, you better believe I answer that question with a smile and a conviction that sells meat. That’s my job.
Anybody else notice it’s getting chilly out? It’s suddenly become stew weather, so why not dust off a recipe for one of the most famous braises of all, ossobuco.
Simple, decadent, satisfying, ossobuco is a fantastic example of culinary alchemy, taking a tough, lean, ordinary cut of beef, and—through low and slow cooking—turning it into a moist, debaucherous show-stopper of a main course.
ECB’s first Guest Blog Post comes from Arturo Peredo at Porch.com
"When it comes to delicious snacks, jerky is one of the most popular choices out there. With most of us spending more time at home, you can discover how to make almost anything from scratch if you put your mind to it. Thanks to its high protein and mineral content, jerky is not only tasty, but it’s also a healthy alternative to some other snacks."
Eeven if you’re a novice, you probably know that American Barbecue originated in the South. And no matter how you spell it, BBQ, Bar-B-Q, barbeque, barbecue has such an irrevocable union with the Fourth of July, that it could never be torn asunder. Right? But did you know that African Americans have more to do with meat roasting being the activity of choice on our Nation’s birthday than any other community.
Our little neighborhood butcher shop has been open for five year now, and we’ve seen a lot of guests walk through our doors. Our favorite guests have lots of questions, mostly because it’s the first time they’ve ever been to a butcher shop. I thought I’d share some of the most common questions we get to help those of you thinking about coming to ECB for the first time.
As a result, I haven’t met a farm kid I didn’t wish was one of my own. They are some of the best-educated, self-aware, tenacious, fearless, down to earth, opinionated, maybe a little stubborn young people I’ve ever come across. If this generation of young agriculturalists reflects the future of farming—or society at large—we are in good hands folks.
If you’re looking to catch up on your reading during COVID, here are a few books and resources we found interesting. Check ‘em out!
It may not come as a surprise that with all the concerns folks have had about the food system and supply these days, we’ve been getting a lot of requests for entire animal purchases, what we call “on the hoof.” This is something we’ve done for our guests since we opened our doors five years ago, but because of all the requests in the last few weeks, I thought I’d share some pointers.
The biggest bottleneck in the meat supply these days, is processing. That’s the word we use for slaughtering, portioning, and packaging meat. For 90% of the meat sold in the US, this is done in one of a handful of USDA-inspected facilities somewhere in Nebraska, Minnesota, or Iowa. The shortage isn’t a lack of farmers. There are plenty of cattle, pork, and chicken roaming the country.
The Coronavirus Pandemic has changed so many things about life at Electric City Butcher, and it is difficult, and sometimes hurts, to squint my eyes looking back on what things were like just a few months ago. So it probably comes as no surprise, that COVID collateral damage included Top Carnivore. I can’t believe it’s been more than two months since I’ve written a post.
Last week we received a ton of questions from our guests about the Reverse Sear technique to perfectly brown your favorite cut of meat without over-cooking. We asked Chef Michael to put down his thoughts on the style that he uses nearly exclusively to cook the perfect steak, chop, & more these days.
There’s a lot of confusion when it comes to lamb steaks, or are they chops? Step into a butcher shop or grocery store, and you might find a blade chop, leg steak, lollipop or saddle chop. Have I already got you confused? But not every lamb steak is created equal. ...they come from different parts of the animal with very different textures, flavors, cooking techniques, and pricing.
It’s shocking how much baggage lamb has as a protein, especially in the United States. Sometimes I feel like I’m the official Lambassador in our shop, spouting to anyone who will listen, the virtues of our fantastic 100% grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free Emigh Lamb. So here is a small attempt at dispelling a few of the worst myths about my favorite protein.
In the US, Lamb are typically born and raised in the fields on pasture and fodder for about six months. At that point, they’re shipped to a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) or “feedlot” that looks much like the Harris Ranch facility in Coalinga I wrote about last year. Animals are corralled in mud pins, sometimes with shade sometimes without, and “finished” for 30 to 45 days.
Today, sheep—or lamb as we commonly refer to it in the grocery store—is still a favorite in the Middle East, Iceland, New Zealand and Australia. At Le Paturage, the butcher shop I visited last summer in Puyricard, France, lamb accounts for almost half of sales. However, in the US, and even at Electric City Butcher, lamb is not all that popular.
What I love about farmers is that they’re just so damned practical. Just when I think I’ve got things figured out, and my dogma down, some farmer comes along and schools me in how logic, nature and, history can challenge all our assumptions.
Modern day grass-fed ranchers are not your run of the mill luddites resisting progress. Grass-fed beef is a tough business. Less than 5% of the market, it’s expensive to raise, complicated to manage, and hard to process. It would be a lot easier to raise cattle for nine months on the same pasture, and then sell them to a feedlot. But Seth has chosen a different path.
I’m still not used to retail life around the holidays. I feel a little like I’ve been aboard the Millennium Falcon for the last six week, Hyperspacing (if that’s a verb) from planet to planet of work, family, and friends, just holding on tight so I don’t fly right through a holiday Turkey, or bounce to close to a Christmas present.
Anyone else remember Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and the “how people made things,” segments? Fred and Mr. McFeely narrating, me snacking on a PB&J with the crusts cut off, the jazz piano twinkling in the background, as folks hypnotically pressed trumpet after trumpet, inflated countless toy balls, or cut tofu into buoyant cubes. Soon after Y2K, Mr. Rogers and his popular segments were gone. The “offshoring” movement was well underway.
A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed White Oak Pastures’ Will Harris, and got things straight from the horse’s (or dare I say steer’s) mouth. You can learn more about Will and his beautiful Georgian regenerative farm in last week’s post, but suffice it to say, he’s got plenty of grass-fed street cred. The largest grass-finished beef rancher in the country, Will is also one of the...
Will Harris, of WhiteOak Pastures, knows this reality firsthand. His ranch is in Bluffton, Georgia—population 100—one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states in the Union. As Will likes to say, 15 years ago, all you could buy in Bluffton was a postage stamp.
The cause was a collapse of the small family-owned farm that predominated this part of Georgia.
With everything going on for the holidays, sometimes we forget that Thanksgiving is all about being with family and reflecting on what we are thankful for.
At ECB, we’re a big family made up of butchers, ranchers, farmers, restaurateurs, small business owners, and changemakers. So, I thought it would be fun to ask our family to share what they are thankful for this holiday season.
Just in time for Turkey Day, I thought I’d highlight some of the top tips from the last several weeks of turkey talk.
1. Turkey Wranglers: My favorite bit of Turkey Americana has to be the Gobbler Gaucho of the 19th century. The job of the Turkey Drover, as they were known back in the day, was to herd sometimes thousands of birds across America’s Great Plains and get them to market.
There’s a lot of confusion when it comes to lamb steaks, or are they chops? Step into a butcher shop or grocery store, and you might find a blade chop, leg steak, lollipop or saddle chop. Have I already got you confused? But not every lamb steak is created equal. ...they come from different parts of the animal with very different textures, flavors, cooking techniques, and pricing.