Meat Market

 

 

 

I really should take more photos of daily life here. Things I take for granted still catch visitors by surprise.

Pork is by far the most popular meat here in China. I'm not that keen on it so I don't buy it very often. Additionally, we have many Muslim friends and students who don't eat pork, so we don't have it in our home that often. I must admit, though, that bacon is a weakness!

At any rate, we eat a lot of chicken. However, I've been trying to increase our natural iron intake so I started to buy beef more often. There's one particular beef seller that I like to go to. He's a member of the Dongxiang minority group (see http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-dongxiang.htm) and he and his wife have always treated me well. I can choose my meat and he trims the fat off for me or grinds it for me, depending upon how I'm going to use it. I've discovered that his grinder doesn't make the meat very fine and that it tends to be "grisley" so as of late, I just buy the roast. I cook it in a crock pot and go from there.

Last week was the first time I got there early enough to see his selection of bones for soup stock! They are HUGE! The local Muslim restaurants buy them for their stock.