Entraña
A shopping adventure with Mr and Mrs Pig Flyin last weekend led us to Uruguayan butchery, Joe Papandrea in Bossley Park. We'd made our way there on recommendation of friends, who'd rejoiced when they finally found the South American cuts of meat they'd been missing from home.
Joe Papandrea Wholesale Quality Meats
The Bossley Park Shopping Complex is a strip of shops fronted with dedicated parking, a set-up you often see in large towns. There's a hairdresser, a real estate agent and a cake shop (unfortunately closed by the time we arrive), but we're most interested in Joe Papandrea, a large wholesale butchery that sits next to the continental supermarket next door.
Meat display
The refrigerated meat display is set up in a huge L-shape, stacked neatly with trays of fresh meat, each clearly labelled and priced. In amongst the lamb kebabs, sirloin steaks and Joe's own award-winning sausages, are cuts of meat typically used in Uruguayan cooking. Entraña (pictured at top) is a skirt steak, appreciated for its thick layer of fat that crisps when barbecued.
Vacio
Pig Flyin's eyes light up at the sight of the vacio, a whole flank that includes a layer of fat.
A whole flank of goodness
Vacio is usually cooked whole on the barbecue, the fat melting to give juiciness and flavour. Pig Flyin snaps it up, his eyes glinting at the promises it holds.
Asado
There's plenty of meat on offer, including asado short ribs, rabbit and morcilla blood sausages.
Morcilla sausages
The morcilla blood sausages come from Rodriguez Brothers in Yagoona but here we find the sweet version in addition to the savoury kind. The sweet sausages come with plump sultanas, reminding me of the Moroccan lamb sausages from Tender Value Meats. I've been having the sweet version for dinner and find the sultanas mask the flavour of blood, however I prefer the savoury version, which is gutsier (boom tish) in flavour, and has the crumbly texture I enjoy.
Fresh rabbit
Bossley Park General Store
I love that we all wordlessly walk to the Bossley Park General Store next door. There is nothing on our shopping list, but we are happy to browse the aisles, seeing what's on offer and what we can justify putting in our basket.
Deli meats
The deli section is a bonanza of cheeses, prosciutto and smallgoods. One of everything, please.
Effervescente al limone, black beans and palm hearts
We spend our time cruising the aisles which are dotted with unusual South American, Italian and other Continental products.
The jars of effervescente al limone look very pretty. At first I think it's instant lemonade until we read the label and realise it's the Italian version of Eno antacid!
Hamburger and hotdog sauces, and habanero chile sauce
Herdez salsa verde, whole chipotles and salsa casera
Yerba mate tea, which is often drunk from a hollow gourd
A whole aisle of pasta
Bacalau salted cod $16.99/kg
Quince jam $6.99/kg
Olive bar
Duck eggs on special
Fresh free range duck eggs, au naturel
Arancia candita orange peel, cedro candito cedar peel and ciliegie candite glace cherries
Chocolate hazelnut nut spreads
Forget the overpriced gourmet purveyors - it's much more fun to go local and get everything for a fraction of the price.
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Joe Papandrea Wholesale Quality Meats
Bossley Park Shopping Complex
53-59 Mimosa Road, Bossley Park, Sydney
(corner of Quarry Road)
Tel: +61 (02) 9610 0099
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 7am-6pm
Saturday to Sunday and public holidays 7am-2pm
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Bossley Park General Store
Bossley Park Shopping Complex
53-59 Mimosa Road, Bossley Park, Sydney
(corner of Quarry Road)
Tel: +61 (02) 9610 7669
Opening hours:
Monday to Sunday 7am-7pm
Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Rodriguez Brothers, YagoonaTender Value Meats, Hornsby
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Congratulations to Luissa who has won the VIP tickets to Taste of Sydney. The lucky runners-up are Winston, Tweety, Anne, Min Ai and Shazza who have each won general admission passes to the festival. Check your email or facebook account for details.
I'm with you on the savoury version of blood sausages. The sultanas don't sound right to me. Some very cheap cuts there!
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't that far away I'd go this weekend to stock my pantry and fridge.
ReplyDeleteWell said about getting this kind of produce from local places. I'm so excited to know that there is a South American butcher in Sydney! Thanks for providing some great info yet again Helen!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a find Helen...that general store looks amazing! :)
ReplyDeletebadoom tish! ahahaha
ReplyDeleteOooo - I'm loving the look of the deli section in the General Store. Olives. Mmmm.
ReplyDeletethis is where we shop too! our locals! best butcher in town. they do the best rib eye steaks as well.
ReplyDeleteand the deli. really good breads and fresh deli meats. yummm!!
Wouldn't mind getting my hands on a some vacio, already thinking about how I could BBQ it.
ReplyDeleteOoh very interesting! My husband LOVES asado and morcilla - I think he'll need to visit that butcher :D
ReplyDeleteI love going into local independent grocery stores to see what's different from my local, last night I wandered through the Bondi IGA and found a packet of Hobnobs! Okay, little things excite me too!
ReplyDeleteThat's really cheap for duck eggs!
ReplyDeleteI've never though I'd find Yerba Mate in Australia. I'm really happy and surprised.
ReplyDeleteGuilherme
Uruguayan we are one of the most migration species for nature. The uruguayan cut of beef are special and make you meat cook perfect.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
http://kitchenvoyage.blogspot.com/
I love discovering new grocery stores, although my boyfriend doesn't get quite so pleased when he is with me..
ReplyDeleteNice! That's my classmate's dad's butchery! Cool that they're getting the recognition! :)
ReplyDeletei rang em and they also sell my favorite cut Chinchulines and Mollejas yum yum.
ReplyDelete