Blue Rock Butchers

[Gary/Gaynor]

actually MIke we sometimes do but didn't bother when Blue Rock was open. The only tim ewe Super Market meat is on our way to our apartment once we have landed to stock up on supplies.
Gaynor

[EMM]

This is a real pity we always bought meat from here, our turkey at christmas, ham. pork ( great crackiing ) lamb shanks, various types of sausages etc.
We would use the market but where can we get these types of cut.

[blue]

I must be the only one who preferred it when the portuguese butcher had it. I know with Blue Rock it was nice to have familiar cuts of meat & it was always beautifully displayed but I didn't think much of the beef it always seemed to have a strange flavour & his 'english gammon ham' was just dreadful, tasteless & watery, & his bangers weren't up to much either.

[Barry]

Anyone know where I can find ribeye steak anywhere near Carvoeiro?
Must agree with you though, blue, when the Portuguese help started making the sausages, they all had a strange taste to them. Think he added his own Portuguese style ingredients.

[Bruce Wallis]

Why do you want to find "English cuts" and "English sausages"??

To me the whole essence of going out to Portugal is to embrace the Portuguese way.
I try the various cuts available, OK it's a learning process, but have also had some nice surprises. One is that most of the Brazilian is pampas grass fed, and as long as it is hung, is actually a better flavour than most english beef.
I LIKE portuguese sausages...they contain a major ingredient that most english sausages seem to lack......PORK! Not filler, not ground up ears, skin, fat and intestines, but identifiable meat!

The only thing I miss is lamb. You can find it, but it is relatively expensive.

I may be out of step, but I preferred the butchers in the market to Blue Rock

[DVBRO]

Must agree with you 100% Bruce. Why come at all if you just want British Food. The food here is fabulous, no chemicals or pesticides. Just go to the markets, the selection is great and the vendors so helpful, even though they don't speak much English. If you are really desperate, one can nearly buy every thing her that is available in the U.K if you are prepared to pay a substantial amount more for it. I personally found Blue Rock very expensive when I visited once and the meat was stale.

[Ellie]

When we lived in Algarve I really liked the Portuguese food /diet and I became nice and slim there as it is a healthier one than what we are accustomed to in the UK (Portuguese mostly grilled fish and meat, which I love and lots of fresh veg and fruit)....
but a word of warning! I have read that the Portuguese diet is quite high in salt and that there is quite a high rate of strokes in the country.
But I suppose in comparison we have a more fatty diet in the UK.

Mind you, at the moment I would give anything to be having the grilled BBQ fish & the salads that our carpentry lads used to cook for us

I suppose when we lived there I never really missed Brit food at all....although Hub used to bring back Cheddar cheese and some sausages after he visited his father in UK.
But I did find the German sausages almost as good as ours and usually bought those.

I love the chicken and eggs in Algarve...they always seems so fresh and the eggs have lovely orange yolks......when Im hols there I usually have boiled egg with toasted fingers to dip in them for breakfast.. yummy

[martin]

well if he has closed, it will be of no surprise as I spoke to him a few weeks ago, he said that he liked portugal until he opened a business here....in recent times he seems to have been hounded and hindered by our local paper-clip jobsworths who seem rather than helping business which with rising unemployment you think they would be doing, but of course not - instead they just lurve to go around dishing out fines...eg he told me he had his uk car siezed which cost him 5000 euros to get back... a fine of 2500 euros for his fridge seals plus other things as well

so if it is closed then it is a shame, a shame on Portugal.

[SJ & RE]

I too prefered the Market butcher and their sausages I really love. I miss them being back i the UK, but roll on after we leave the farm and return to Lyme Regis. Onvce settled we will be out for a mega holiday and I can get my sausages from the market, bread from there too or from the little shop near the best breckie place for Richard. My lovely custard tarts that I miss, however we do have a Portugese cafe in Chard where I can obtain them. Last time was when L.J kindly got me some when my back was so bad when she came for a visit. OH and a glorious bottle of my favourite tipple, Port.
So to the question in hand, as I said it all looked good at Blue Rock, however we never partook,we were awaiting the Portugese butcher there, getting us some black pork which never materialised. With that we decided to stay with the market butcher who never let us down.

[aussie]

Does the market butcher do sirloin steak and what is the portugese word for this cut

[EMM]

well if he has closed, it will be of no surprise as I spoke to him a few weeks ago, he said that he liked portugal until he opened a business here....in recent times he seems to have been hounded and hindered by our local paper-clip jobsworths who seem rather than helping business which with rising unemployment you think they would be doing, but of course not - instead they just lurve to go around dishing out fines...eg he told me he had his uk car siezed which cost him 5000 euros to get back... a fine of 2500 euros for his fridge seals plus other things as well

so if it is closed then it is a shame, a shame on Portugal.

I don,t care if its portugal or outer mongolia any food outlet must conform to health regulations.

If the fridge seals were defective then of course he has no complaint.
As for his car if he was one of the many UK car owners who abuse the laws in Portugal driving, uninsured, un taxed , no mot
then I have no sympathy.

[kappa]

sirloin in portuguese is "vazia" and every local market should have it.

[Mike,Chislehurst]

Thanks Kappa, what's the word for rump steak please.

[Barry]

It's alcatra, Mike, but for some reason seems less available that vazia. The Portugues butcher their meat differently to the British, probably due to different traditional cooking methods. From our observations it is mainly sliced thinly, as is turkey breast and pork "bifana", or chopped up small for stewing. This is why it can be difficult to find a typical British roasting joint. The butchers in Intermarche are now used to us asking for the meat as a piece, not chopped into little bits.

[blue]

Actually I think the Blue Rock improved when the little portuguese guy was running it & he was very helpful. I think the South African guy's 'english' sausages were very strange.

The same old comments come up every time english foods are talked about on this forum, "why do you want to eat english food when you live in a foreign country?" Dear Lord! It doesn't take much imagination to work out why, because variety is the spice of life, for the same reason that when we lived in England we ate Indian, Italian, Chinese, French, Middle Eastern, German, Danish, Portuguese, etc., foods. We eat Portuguese food 90% of the time if we fancy the occasional plate of bangers & mash with yorkshire pudding & onion gravy why the hell shouldn't we have it just because we live in Portugal.

Actually the Portuguese have one of the worst rates of heart disease in Europe according to an article on the news a little while ago, on the coast of the Algarve they may have a healthier diet but inland & in Northern Portugal they have a very fatty, salty diet. The country stews & grilled meats are usually swimming in fat.