During my stay in Duras I made three trips to the butcher. I also went to the Carrefour market, but I didn't buy any meats there as having a neighborhood butcher shop is such a rare treat in the 21st century, I was excited to take advantage of the opportunity.
My first trip I bought different types of house-made charcuterie like rillettes de poulet and pate' de lapin, both of which were excellent.
My second visit was on a Sunday morning and they were featuring a lot of different roasts, perfect for a fall day. I picked up a delicious stuffed veal roast which I put in the oven with carrots, turnips and thyme. The roast was stuffed with a sausage mixture that had an herbaceous and shallot flavor. It was moist and filled the house with an other-worldly aroma for a day. We ate it for two meals and still had enough for sandwiches a third day.
On a chilly Friday night I needed an excuse to get the oven going so I walked down to the butcher to find an aporopriate dinner for a weekend night. In the lighted case was a pan of stuffed small chickens--larger than Cornish game hens. I'm not really sure what you'd call them. They were boned and tied and topped with local dried plums. The sign said 9.50€, which I assumed to mean for each chicken, but when I ordered them, the butcher weighed them and I ended up paying just 5.50€ for the two. I roasted them with a head of cauliflower and discovered upon eating that they were stuffed with a pork sausage mixture. Again, delicious and so incredibly cheap.
I went to Dave's yesterday. I stood at the meat section for a while hoping that some creative preparation of organically raised and minimally processed meat would just show up ready to be put into my oven. It didn't happen.
I miss Monsieur and Madame Evard of Duras. I miss butcher shops.
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