This morning we made our annual trek to the country to pick up our quarter-share o’ beef, nicely cut and wrapped by the friendly small-town butcher our beef people use. I was worried that it wouldn’t all fit in our freezer (the hanging weight was 175 pounds, a bit more than we usually get), but we managed to make it fit. Barely.
Fortunately, we decided not to get our half-share of pork this year. By decided, I mean that we realized last night that pork season came and went without the usual e-mail from our pork person saying “Hey, if you want to get your ham on again this year, send in a deposit.” I’m kidding, of course. She never said “get your ham on.” She did always send out reminder e-mails, though.
Part of the fun of our yearly beef trek is picking up a few extra goodies. Since we’re porkless for 2012, we got a few ham hocks to add that little extra sumptin’ sumptin’ to hearty, comforting bean soups, and I grabbed a few packages of Chorizo sausages and brats (including one package of chicken + sundried tomato brats). Yum.
We also brought home something really special:
Yes, that’s liver and heart. And it’s for the DOG! When I told the butcher on the phone that we actually wanted organ meats this year (we’d always declined previously when offered), I swear he said “Ew.” And when I asked if they could grind them for us, he didn’t just say “No,” he said “NO! We don’t do that!” So our Cuisinart will have to suffice, again. (For the record, Jeff is the dog food chef. I have nothing against feeding Dug organ meats, but if I had to chop them up in my food processor, I would probably throw up.) We got one huge heart and a ton of liver. I guess no one wanted it.
I must say that Dug is very appreciative of this home cooking. He shows his appreciation mostly by drooling all over the kitchen floor while we’re lightly heating his dinner in the microwave. No, he’s not spoiled. Not at all. Big furry princess.