Some of you might recall some previous threads where i shared meat cut charts in different languages and talked about slow cooked shredded BBQ Beef and searching for a source for beef brisket to make that and real corned beef.
Well today I found it, along with boneless beef ribs, real T-Bone steaks and bone in beef ribeye (both aged and standard)
The company is a 140 year old commercial butcher that also runs a retail shop at each location. I found the one in that Villeneuve commercial area just off of the motorway after leaving Hornbach and following some interesting looking signs that peeked my curiosity.
They have a huge assortment of cuts of Beef, Port, Lamb, and others like Swiss sausages and cured meat, duck, some seafood (all frozen) and even Frog Legs. The majority of the meats are fresh any in cryovac bulk packs such as entire filet. You can see the sides of beef hanging in the cold locker.
The butcher who helped me with the brisket said they do the butchering and portioning out into the cyrovac packs, which are all their own labeling. They do sell the aged/non-aged steaks individually cryovaced.
Prices - Well for the steaks you're paying Swiss prices but it's some of the best cuts I've seen in a long time, we will see if they cook and eat as good as they look but for sure they won't be worse than what I've found so far in CH. If you're ok with doing your own cutting and portioning I saw the whole filets, blocks of Parisian ribeyes and flank steaks at decent prices (for CH that is).
The brisket - 16kg for 66CHF, he gave me a discount for buying the whole pack.
Now comes a slow cooked BBQ brisket for Thursdays poker night, oh yeah
No thanks I was just the enjoying the passion for the meat...plus...I do not play poker very well...I was aiming for the bbq ð which you actually realised
Excellent! So what is the brisket called then? I used bouilli and it turned out really well for my purposes. I couldn't find what cut bouilli was. If it's just generic "meat to boil" it's possible that if I get it again it might be a different cut.
The vacuum packs are great because it wet ages the meat. But it sounds like this butcher is aging his beef.
I found something that looked like boneless pork ribs at the Coop the other day. It was called "fricasse" or something very similar.
Have no idea how to play poker..... But I'm usually hunger on Thursdays....
Cool, been looking for brisket and chuck steak today. Not so easy when you don't know the words, and you're not really sure where exactly the cuts come from on the animal :-)
Can't believe you managed to get meat in switzerland for 4CHF a kilo....normally even the bones cost twice that :-D
I can't thank you enough for this info. I've been looking for a good brisket source and this is close to me. I'm smoking one as well next week, first time trying a brisket in a Weber SM (I've always braised then before). Price is right and it's seems properly cut as well from your description. I was going to go to Aligro instead but Suter sounds like a better option (I'm familiar with their meats from wholesale channels).
I have a brisket from a local vache d'Hérens I bought as a quarter with friends in the freezer but I don't want to risk smoking it as I don't know how fatty it is. I think I'll braise that one instead.
How long did it take you to smoke a brisket that large? Did you do it at 110° or higher?
Last Q: does the brisket cut they sell include the flat and the point? I think I've seen it called the 'pointe' in shops, but I've been a bit confused by the Swiss bouilli cuts.
Thanks in advance for your help, your posts are superb. You're very welcome to look me up for a beer if you're visiting Verbier.
Nice little shop, super friendly and helpful butchers.
I asked a bunch of questions for the future, and was happy to know I could get a whole bone-in porc butt (rôti de cou de porc) to make pulled pork with.
He special ordered me a whole brisket to smoke, but somewhere along the line there was some confusion and I ended up with a very large cut with the deckle still on it (the fat between the ribs and the meat, which is always removed from a packer's brisket) and some other rib meat connected. It wasn't suitable for the smoker so I trimmed it down and braised it. It was Simmental cattle, and he said he could get Angus as well, but I'm not going to attempt this again with them and will try to find a butcher who can get me the proper cut. It was decent tasting but not as good as N. American or English briskets I've made.
I've been to Molard in GE with requests for other international cuts and they were always able to help; I'll report back to give an update.
It looks like you can order by phone and Internet, but doesn't seem to be a walk-in shop. I'd call to make sure.
The meat is good, but standard Swiss commercial quality. I think if you want aged beef or specialty breeds you'd have to go through a proper butcher or a small producer who caters to the niche market.
I asked about it a year ago, they seemed to be able to. I know they have relationships with some small producers, and they do age their beef well.
I wouldn't attempt to smoke a brisket with a kettle, but carefully done you can get good results with ribs and pulled pork.
I've been braising English briskets a friend brings over but my supply is drying up! I'd really like to get a sure source, so if I get to Molard in the near future I will give you a heads up.