Veal bones, where art thou?
Since reading Michael Ruhlman's "Elements of Cooking" I have become obsessed with making veal stock. But my search for veal shanks, knuckles and breasts has turned up fruitless; they're either impossible to find or impossibly expensive. The only thing Whole Foods had was meaty shanks for $15/lb and the high-end butcher had the same for $19/lb. With 10 lbs of veal bones, that's some expensive stock! Has anyone had any luck finding these items at a reasonable price? What's your secret?
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9 Comments:
This is where a "relationship" with your butcher comes in. Back in the day when we had different stores for different foods, this type of relationship was the norm but now with everything under one roof, it's hard to get to know that guy in the hair net, zoning out over a meat saw.
You might talk to your local Sam's Club or Costco butcher... (?) They will get big quantities of items and may hold some aside for you.
If you do still have a small family-style butcher near you, I suggest you go shake hands sometime soon.
chiff0nade at 3:25PM on 02/05/08
if you have an asian grocery store in your area, i suggest checking it out. you can find all kinds of back end and parts of animal for very little money.
french tart at 3:44PM on 02/05/08
Yes, both comments above are right. You will have much less luck at a supermarket. You need to find yourself a good old fashioned butcher.
seyo at 4:30PM on 02/05/08
Yeah, I've tried the local Asian and Bosnian grocers in the area. I've also tried calling the local mom-n-pops places and even an organic farmer. It seems nobody touches veal these days. I've been trying to work some restaurant connections too, but that's a little more slow going.
slogger at 5:36PM on 02/05/08
I just googled "veal bones" and this was the first hit:
http://www.snooksbutcher.com/product_detail.php?cid=151&product_id=224
$2.99 / lb !
seyo at 5:45PM on 02/05/08
and Fresh Direct has them too, even cheaper:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:CBr-EFHTAfUJ:www.freshdirect.com/product.jsp%3FproductId%3Dvprt_bones%26catId%3Dvspbn%26trk%3Dsnav+veal+bones&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us&client=firefox-a
seyo at 5:47PM on 02/05/08
I get mine at the Shop Rite. They are very cheap and they make my red sauce very tasty.
JerzeeTomato at 4:40AM on 02/06/08
You know, this topic always kills me. Americans eat almost no veal, yet they want veal bones for French stocks dirt cheap. Doesn't work that way. Can't have cheap bones without eating what was on them.
Buying veal is an adventure, to say the least, and buying veal that was humanely raised is even more of one - not really worth it, IMHO, because it's scandalously expensive and while good, not THAT good.
So what to do? Use beef or pork bones (or venison or wild boar, which is what I do), and make do with a demi-glace or a stock with a stronger flavor, or pay up. Kind of a Hobson's choice.
HunterAnglerGardenerCook at 12:58PM on 02/06/08
I had the same problem procuring veal bones. Finally found a market, after numerous phone calls and visits, that realized I was serious.
http://www.kitchensaremonkeybusiness.com/search?q=dem+bones
It takes persistence.
rosiehawthorne at 9:00PM on 09/07/08