Eat Proper Meat with Bristol's newest butchers, Meat Box
Posted on: 21 Nov 2017Meat Box opened earlier this month, filling the final two containers of Cargo 2. The name of the butcher behind Meat Box, Luke Hasell, will be familiar to many Bristolians as being part of Eat Drink Bristol and Valley Fest. What many may not know is that he is also an award-winning farmer on a mission to get people to ‘Eat. Proper. Meat.’, the tagline of Meat Box.
Luke said, "Meat Box is all about ethically sourced meat, that's traceable and damn tasty to boot. We will be able to provide that last-minute outdoor reared pork chop for your dinner or a hand cut and rolled organic joint for Sunday lunch or a Christmas ham like you've never tasted.
“Meat Box is just that a small but perfectly formed butchers in a box. We'll be sourcing the best pasture fed, outdoor reared and organic meat alongside charcuterie and hams from Bristol and Somerset's finest. You'll be able to choose your cuts from the cold store, which has a window to Wapping Wharf."
The Meat box team know the provenance of all of their meat, and will be happy to tell you where it all comes from. For example, the organic lamb comes from Yeo Valley Farm, the Chew Valley organic beef comes from Luke's own farm and the free-range goose or duck comes from Castlemead Poultry.
To celebrate the opening of Meat Box, 365 Bristol were invited to choose some meat to try. I went along to Meat Box and had a chat with Rachel about the various meats on offer. I don’t have an oven at the moment, so she was able to advise me which cuts could be cooked in other ways. I went for lamb chops and a beef brisket.
I cooked the brisket in the slow cooker, with seasoning and chilli spices (my personal preference is for a lot of smoked paprika, but you can tailor it to your own tastes, or use a spice mix), passata and onions. Rachel’s advice was to cook it for a long time on a low heat, so I used the low temperature setting, and cooked the beef for around 12 hours..jpg "365 Bristol | Meat Box | beef brisket")
While the rice was cooking, I took the beef joint from the cooker, removed the string and pulled the beef apart with two forks. I then added it back into the slow cooker and mixed it in with the sauce. I added some more chilli flakes, and then served it on top of the rice with sour cream and cheese.
Over the next couple of days, we also made enchiladas and had nachos, and there was still enough chilli left to go in the freezer. The brisket we had was around £16 and made around 8 – 10 good portions, and could be stretched further if you added veg to the mix too. The meat was incredibly tasty; definitely the best chilli I’ve made to date.
The other dish I made was a really simple; I cooked the lamb chops on a cast iron griddle and served them with garlic butter spinach and crushed new potatoes fried in more garlic. I’d not cooked lamb chops before so I was nervous that I might over cook them, but they came out beautifully. Again, the meat was absolutely delicious. We couldn’t resist picking up the chops to make sure we’d nibbled off every last morsel.
It was a great experience to be able to talk about where the meat came from, which meat would be best for what I needed, and to get some tips on cooking it. Meat Box are already gearing up for Christmas, so they’ve opened at the perfect time for us all to think about looking outside of the supermarket for our Christmas meat. Meat Box can order in whatever meat takes your fancy, whether it’s traditional turkey, beef, lamb, goose or duck... and the all important trimmings like pigs in blankets, goose fat for perfect roasties and a ham for Boxing Day. Meat Box are taking orders now with a £20 deposit.
The Meat Box team can also help you select the right size of joint so whilst there is enough for dinner and leftovers, you won’t be eating it for weeks to come. They will be delivering throughout Bristol and the Chew Valley from Wed 20th through to Saturday 23rd, and will do their best to cover Clevedon, Portishead, Keynsham, Westbury on Trym and Gloucestershire if there’s a need, so get in touch!
Meat Box are open 10am to 5.30pm on Wednesday and Thursday, 10am to 6pm on Friday and Saturday, and from 10am to 4pm on Sunday. They are closed on Monday and Tuesday. You can find Meat Box at Unit 24, Cargo 2, Museum Street, Bristol, BS1 6ZA and email them on hello@meatboxbristol.co.uk and their website is www.meatboxbristol.co.uk
Meat Box exterior shot photo credit, Jon Craig. Rib of beef, Meat Box. All other photos, Sarah Starling.
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Sarah is a writer and blogger, as well as running workshops and teaching. Her passions are food and travel, and you can follow her on Instagram at YesStarling and find her website at www.yesstarling.com .
