Dick Dasterdly

Proper English style butchers.
Spanish butchers, bakers and candlestick makers just don't do it for me.

megmet

Yes that's what I miss most too!
As we have a bakery a hundred yards down the road we foolishly thought we could have fresh bread every morning....how wrong could we be, I suppose if you enjoy eating cardboard then you could describe their bread as below average.
As for butchers here, well around us all you can buy from them is pork.....we really miss delicious well hung British beef and those wonderful Lancashire Black Puddings , the Spanish ones just don't compare!
Yes I know we can go down to the coast to the Iceland shop, but even that's not the same as a British butcher who knows what he's doing with the meat!

Rosemary

It is a shame that you cannot find good bread, in our small town we have eleven bakers all within five minutes walking distance and they nearly all make UK bread taste like crap except of course the small artisan bakers that charge a fortune. The best bread I ever had was from a small bakers in Bexhill but when he put the price up to one pound per loaf I gave up buying it. That was in 1984.

Graham

HBG

Since I live in probably the biggest expat area in Spain, every British shop is represented here. British butchers are two a penny, provide great quality just like back home and you need to be a lottery winner to shop in them.

Proper German bakers beat all the opposition, ironically the nearest one is run by a Brit, but he keeps it quiet.

We usually walk right past the Brit shops on our way to Mercadona.

Domino

The Spanish have plenty of butchers - and usually look to me like a UK butcher back in the 1930's, little to no hygiene and located in backstreets.
However, they do need to understand about different cuts etc, so I can get bacon instead of the rubbish they serve up, and SAUSAGES ! !
tried explaining the difference once but gave up.

Cany anyone from the North of the country say if they get more beef (where they breed it) than we do down south.

Is there a North\South divide in Spain as in the UK ? ? ?

megmet

Why should the Spanish butcher be expected to cut the meat to the British way of doing it?
The Spanish cook in a different way to what we are used to, they don't tend to go for the roast dinners that Brit's like so much... so therefore the beast is sectioned in a different fashion.
I know it's difficult to work out what the cuts are sometimes, my husband is a retired butcher and even he doesn't always know... but just asking the question often gives you a clue.

Yes they do get more beef in the north according to our northern Spanish friends! You can find it in many of the 'British' butchers on the Costa del Sol, they mostly buy it in from there and not from Britain!

Mercadona also sell the sort of bacon you prefer, it's cut a bit thin for my liking but it's loin cut, just like you would buy in the UK.

Domino

thanks Meg, but managed to pick up a leaflet showing the Spanish cuts which is a real help.
Spanish meat is still heavily cured from the days when they didn't have refrigerators and their economy is based on buying the evening meal on the way home. Spices are an old way of disguising a piece of meat that is old or a little tough.

As I am 80km from the coast I have to have what the locals have and on most occaisons it serves me just fine, its good quality, cooks well and tastes fine. Just sometimes hanker for that little bit of variety and not such heavy spicing.

An animal has give its life for you to eat that meat, please do it the honour of not spoiling it with sauces and spices.

megmet

I know what you mean, we are 40km from the coast and another 7km from our nearest town. It's either eat nothing but the pork sold in our locality or as we do...make the trip down to the coast once a month and stock up on what we can't buy here.
When I go back to England for a short visit later this year I'll no doubt feel overwhelmed by the choice on offer!

I agree about the sauces and spices....I much prefer natural.

jimenato

As do we.

paintermujer

Yes. I always talk about meat being messed with.If you look hard enough it is there... and of course you can always ask for your cut in a butchers.I have finally found skirt meat for pasties and very lovely it is too.

No different than any english cow.

Domino

thats why I never go for an Asian meal, would rather have fish & chips than tikka massala or whatever it is. They all taste the same just some are stronger than others, can't see how you can fill up a menu card with that.

I have had to sit with and work with (English) people who STINK of the stuff, so I know they are wearing last night's clothes and haven't brushed their teeth..... Find it only slightly more offputting than cigarette soaked clothes and breath.
Funny that all they can talk about is the curry - never about what was swimming in it. Ruins the taste buds

Don't get me wrong, spices of which salt and pepper are included, can add a little something to a meal, but in strict moderation and the right place. I don't ever add salt and pepper to a meal as a matter of course - proper cooking should allow you to taste all the different elements of the meal, in the same way as the wine with the meal should be treated as one of those elements.

someone once thought I was joking when i said that potatoes can have different tastes

sorry guys & gals - rant over ! !

jimenato

That's reminded me - a decent Indian restaurant would be a very good find.

Although I do know one place you can get a good curry

megmet

Like you I really don't see the point in curry....it could be dog meat in there and they would never know! Of course it's a throwback to the empire days when the meat was so rancid they had to use something to cover it up.....not a lot changed there then.
Some friends from England recently stayed with us for a week, he has a long standing and quite bad problem with reflux, he's also a great fan of curry and spices which I've kept telling him to leave alone.
It was no surprise to me that in the week with us he didn't have a single problem, but the only spice served was a little black pepper....
I did say...I told you so!

Yes you are right about potatoes they do indeed have different tastes, that's something my husband doesn't believe....but then he is a smoker!

Domino

neither the OH nor I have ever smoked. When abt 14 i asked my father if i cud "have a go" (both parents were heavy smokers) had one mouthful and beat the 4min mile to the toilet and violently sick.
had an entitlement to 200 duty free a month but used to (illegally) sell my coupons.
living in a navy messdeck with 40 others who smoked meant you and clothing could smell even when freshly washed.

glad ur friend left healthy - bet he went back to his old ways.

just finished a book on the 1500's where it was said that the fresh meat and bread went to the top table, the older stuff went to lower tables, the really old stale stuff to the staff. various spices were a way of life for extending the life of food.

megmet

I see you're a night owl... just like me!