Meat

My Best pal called to see me today, sad to think that there won't be many more times he calls to see me this year. I think he will be going home for good before the end of October.
 As usual we put the world to rights, well we think we could do better than those in charge anyway. What surprises us is just how wasteful people are today. Not just today but over the last 25 years. To economise is a word that most people under 50 don't seem to understand at all. They think they do but unfortunately have no ideas how to cut down on expense.
 I told him about one incident that happened over 25 years ago. I used to visit my Mother once a week in the winter months after my Father died in 1975. I guess this happend around 1984.
  We used to call in at a local butcher's shop which was on the private housing estate. He gradually found out that I was also in business so used to talk about things that fellow businessmen would understand. He took us into his preparation room where he  made his sausages, pork pies and hams etc. He told me that each Thursday he went to the local Cattle Market to bid on anything that took his eye. There was an Abattoir nearby so when the aminals were sold, they were then sent to the abbatoir and once suitably prepared were delivered to his shop. He told me that beef was always left to hang for at least two weeks. Generally I didn't go to Grantham on a Thursday. However once it was unavoidable. We called in as usual and a retired Butcher was there. He knew my Mother but addressed her by Mrs. My Mother called him by his christian name. He asked us what we would like and my Mother asked for  Best End of Lamb. Now more commonly known as Crown Roast. This started him off talking about when he was a young butchers boy. He said he had to cycle to a big house  quite a way in the country which had a long driveway. He told us that a titled Lady lived there and he always went there with fear and dread. He said that he had to use the tradesman entrance but when he went there the Lady informed the person answering the door to tell him to goto the main front door. He had to doff his cap and call her My Lady. He told us that when it was the cut of lamb that we asked for she told him exactly how she wanted it and that he would personally take it to her for inspection and if it was not as she asked, it would be refused and he told us he would be in trouble.
 What he did next was a surprise. He just told us that he would do the lamb the same way as the Lady of the House  requested. He proceeded  to skin the lamb then remove all the fat he could see then cut the bones to about half the size of what you would normally get. Finally he weighed the lamb and informed us how much it was and gave it to us. It certainly looked fantastic. We thanked him and left. When we got home I just said to my Mother that this was value for money as we did not pay for the skin, fat and much of the bones. My Mother looked at me and grinned. She hadn't given it a thought.
 By the way, the best end of neck of lamb was beautiful. We never did tell the Butcher what his part time assistant did for us with the meat. More soon.