Call me unobservant. I thought the Village Butcher in Oak Bay had closed a couple of years ago. I turned up to buy bacon (proper bacon, British-style rashers with the little medallion of meat, not the streak rashers beloved in North America) to find no-one there. Right behind the (old) Blethering Place, this little shop of awesome sausages, bacon and prepared meats had disappeared.
I wasn't a regular, but when I did want top quality meat, I went there. And it was gone.
Except, as the rest of Victoria probably knows, it just moved to the 2000 block of Oak Bay Avenue into premises twice the size, and twice as busy. As I discovered today with a quick web search and prompting by the brunette of my acquaintance.
Piles of fresh meat in three counter displays. Sausages of all types, herbed, unherbed, fancy or plain.. Fresh ground turkey mince, spatulas ready to serve as much or as little as you need. A chicken ready for my Christmas feast (now in the freezer). Then the beef section. I want to do another long run, so I can deserve one of the rib eye steaks. You can see into the back where the butchers had a pig head, remains of a carcass being carved up for various dishes. Okay, not for the vegetarian or faint hearted, but it's great to see where the meat is prepared. Another butcher was out front slicing up something else for the display cases.
The aim, apart from the chicken, was to get the ingredients for pie. When someone offers pie, I immediately think of meat pie. Thick gravy, juicy pieces of meat, piping hot, covered with a crust. So when I realize they mean fruit pie, often served cold with ice cream, I feel this ever so slight let down. Not because I don't like apple pie a la mode, but I love a good meat pie, and my expectations have to be readjusted from savoury to sweet.
I hope for steak and kidney pie, or chicken and mushroom pie with white sauce, or a luscious vegetable pie, baked into a short crust. Instead, the person offering means a tart cherry pie, drizzled with icing, or a sugar coated peach pie with lattice work pastry. Both made with love, but a different sort of love.
Just a little oddity of culture expectations. At least, I think the default is savoury pie in the UK and sweet pie in North America.
Anyways, the butcher sold us some Andouille Beef sausage, and a pound of bright red beef stewing steak. The staff was so chatty and helpful to us, and laughed when I mentioned I thought they'd closed (oh no, we moved two years ago!).
So we have the ingredients, ready to cook up a fresh pie for just after Christmas. And, no, I don't think we will be sharing.
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