Sam's Butcher Shop (Round 3)

322 N. Main Street
Moscow, PA 18444
(570) 842-7392
Website

As you may already know, I frequent an online meat delivery service (samsbutchershop.com) based out of Northeastern PA and every once in a while, Sam the butcher hooks me up with some new products to try out.

This holiday season, he's got whole smoked ducks, smoked hams (bone-in), smoked salmon, smoked kielbasa rings, smoked breakfast sausage links and rendered duck fat by the pound. I received my package neatly wrapped just in time for my post-Thanksgiving turkey hangover blues.

The extra bonus was seeing the duck fat right on top, a nice surprise to get the unpacking started. Since the duck was number one coming out of the box, it was to be my first victim on my smoked meat journey last week.

Weighing in at just under 3 lbs. after its smoking, this beautiful bird was ready for some serious slicing and pulling. At this size, the meat could probably feed 3-4 people as a main course, but for me, it fed just 2 of us for one meal. I shouldn't have to explain my oversize appetite by now...

Slicing into the breast was like slicing through butter. Just look at the color and the tender meat encased in the glossy layer of fat just beneath the golden skin. A perfectly smoked specimen.

I couldn't help my craving for Peking duck when I began the breakdown and so I proceeded with my plans for a high heat dry fry on the pulled meat and I'd glaze it with my homemade orange-soy-ginger sauce. (I know it's not "Peking" in the traditional sense, but for my purposes, it works.)

After hitting the wok with some grapeseed oil for a bit of crisping up, I added my mixture of fresh squeezed orange juice (& microplaned peel), soy sauce, mirin, sugar, sriracha and hoisin to coat and let it caramelize on the shredded duck for a few minutes before serving over rice and stir-fried veggies.

It was incredible. The texture of the duck held up through my secondary cooking process and its flavor was an amazing blend of smoky, sweet and spicy with the most delicious bits of crisped ends for added complexity.

Second out of the box was the smoked ham, and this was another thing of beauty right off the bat.

It had the perfectly smoked finish, with the deep pink interior and the penetrating outer glaze. It smelled so good, I couldn't wait to try it and was eating every other slice while preparing for my grilled ham & cheese sandwiches.

It was smooth, silky and melted like butter in my mouth; sweet and salty with a smack of smoke.

It was incredible on white bread with yellow Cooper Sharp melting through the layers. One of my more simple indulgences.

With most of the leftover meat, I had planned on making split pea & ham soup (jumping off of Ina Garten's recipe) so I chopped it up into smaller, spoon size pieces. I used the bone to flavor my stock while the dry peas simmered for about 60 minutes, pulled it out and then added the ham to warm up in the soup for another 20 minutes.

I recommend letting the soup cool for at least an hour and then warming up again, the flavors improve ten-fold if you give it the extra time. The ham is crucial to a split pea soup recipe in my mind and Sam's ham is some of the best I've had. Even after my soup was full of ham, I still had a pile left and decided to make ham salad for my lunches.

I minced it up (just over 2 cups) and mixed it with 2 chopped hard boiled eggs; 3 diced celery stalks; 1/4 of a sweet onion, minced; 1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley; 2-3 heaping tbsp. mayo; 1 tbsp. dijon; 1 tbsp. sweet relish; 1 tsp. hoagie spread; and salt & pepper.

Crisp, delicious and refreshing. Well, as refreshing as ham can be. The ham is well worth it, considering I made 3 very diverse meals that lasted me nearly a whole week! And when I ran out, I decided to have breakfast for dinner with Sam's b-fast sausages.

They were like smoked mini kielbasas with some early morning flavor. I sliced them in half lengthwise and got a good sear in some butter and served them over crispy hash browns and topped with cheesy scramble. What a delight.

Breakfast for dinner is too often forgotten, so my parting advice is do it more than you should and you will be happier for it. And hit Sam's Butcher Shop up for all of your BFD needs.

Sam's Butcher Shop | MEATSRAVAGANZA GIVEAWAY! *CONTEST CLOSED*

[FREE shipping on 8lbs. if you mention this post!!!]
322 N. Main Street
Moscow, PA 18444
(570) 842-7392
Website

***UPDATE, APRIL 15, 12:30PM***
NEW WIENER ANNOUNCED!

We did not hear from CT in time, so we randomly generated another winner!

TJGersh - please email PhillyPhoodie.com@gmail.com to work out the details!

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April 9, 2014
WINNER ANNOUNCED! Email me at PhillyPhoodie.com@gmail.com to work out the details! Thank you for playing everyone and look for another contest coming soon! If CT doesn't contact by 12pm EST on 4/14/14, we will draw an alternate winner.

If you read the review of Sam's Butcher Shop, you know it's no joke. Rather than tease you with pictures of meat, Sam's has offered a prize of shipped meat for the newest (and hottest!) Philly Phoodie contest. 4lbs, your choice, shipped to the winner selected at random who leaves a comment on this post with their favorite type of meat. Whether it's smoked, cured, raw, poultry, beef, etc. Just let us know what you love, and be sure to check back on Wednesday to see if you won. See below for official details and become Sam's newest, most satisfied customer!

Contest details:
When: Start-Friday, April 4, 2014 at posting. End- 4/9/14 12pm EST. 
What: 4 pounds of your choice of meat from Sam The Butcher shipped to your door.
How: Leave a comment on your favorite meat product, and be sure to email your contact info or check back on Wednesday to see if you win! Comment within the parameters set forth, subject to my sole discretion. Winner to be chosen at random. 
Who: Anyone can enter, but to be eligible for the prize you must have an address within the parameters of Sam's shipping radius ( those in a 1-day radius which covers NY, NJ, CT, DE, MD, Eastern half of PA, and DC Metro Area (includes parts of VA and WV).  Again, eligibility for shipping  is subject to Sam's discretion in conjunction with Philly Phoodie. 

Sam's Butcher Shop

322 N. Main Street
Moscow, PA 18444
(570) 842-7392
Website

Back in the cold and lonely days of March 2014, I received a warm and fuzzy email from a fellow by the name of "Sam The Butcher". His message was riddled with words like "smoked sausages, kielbasa, andouille, two types of bacon, pork shoulder, porchetta, pulled pork, and old fashioned smoked hams," and I knew my winter gloom was about to seriously improve.

Sam is an 'artisan meat processor specializing in smoked and cured meats,' and his shop is located north of the city, closer to the Poconos, but he does not have a storefront. In other words, all of his sales are done via the internet at www.samsbutchershop.net, and like magic, the delicious meat products are then shipped to your front door. Sam offered to let me try a sampling of his artisan meats on a Wednesday (of course I couldn't say no) and then Thursday morning I was greeted with a compact Styrofoam cooler packed full of beautifully wrapped butcher paper presents.

All of his items come already cooked/smoked/cured, so everything is ready to go on arrival. My care package was a selection of those mouthwatering items Sam had mentioned a week before, which was A LOT, so I figured that a meat-tasting party was in order. I called over my closest, most meat-appreciative friends and got to work on the spread. First things first, I decided to put out the ready-to-eat finger foods for some light snacking.

These are the smoked kielbasa sticks, AKA gourmet slim jims. Who doesn't love a good snap in every bite of the old meat stick? I know I sure do. They were a mild variety, with a decidedly kielbasa flavor. Firm and salty, these boys are smoked for four (4) hours with cherry wood, which adds to their reddish color.

Next sampler was the smoked andouille: a Cajun sausage loaded with spices and ingredients including ancho chile powder, garlic, red pepper and gumbo filé; they are also smoked for 4 hours using cherry.

These dark and luscious little coins hit you with a powerful heat, a low and smoky ancho flavor that sneaks up on you moments after chewing through the savory meat.

Definitely a good one for a cracker, mustard and cheddar platter. Think of it as a fancier, more flavorful version of ring bologna - a refined version with a grown up heat. I'd serve these at every party on my appetizer plate, and will surely be stocking up for Memorial Day. Did someone say Father's Day presents?

After the first course of room temperature light bites, it was time to fire up the flat top for some more serious meat prep. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I can't speak highly enough of the Blackstone 36" griddle station. I'm talking game changer. I purchased one back in the summer of '13 and my life will never be the same again. Seriously.

It's a free standing, propane-fired griddle, so you can do your manly things outside, make a mess, and your wife will be none the wiser. But she WILL swoon when you decide to have hibachi night for her friends. But back to the matter at hand. First up, I threw on some of the smoked kielbasa grillers: a skinless (no casing) version of kielbasa that is more finely ground than the original and ideal for sandwiches.

In addition to the meats in casings, Sam also offers his version of porchetta: an Italian version of pulled pork seasoned with garlic, dill, and pepper. Traditionally the pork is rolled with herbs and seasonings inside, roasted and then sliced to serve. (I know it looks strange in a Ziploc bag, but see below and watch this stuff transform.)

The only way to cook the grillers is split down the middle and face down on a greased skillet. You could 'grill' them over open fire, but I much prefer a buttery browning via the Maillard reaction, giving the meat a richly caramelized surface. Delicious.

It turns out I have a lot of meat-centric friends, so I had to maximize the meat-to-person ratio by cutting the grillers into pieces for all to enjoy. Multiple times.

And boy, did we! All it takes is a little hot and sweet mustard and a simple saltine vessel to serve these up. Smoky with a mild spice to it, these kielbasas are a winner. Of course, if I had more of them (or fewer friends), we'd be eating them whole on a Liscio's roll with spicy mustard and maybe some cheddar or kraut.

The porchetta also browns nicely on a lightly greased skillet - just look at how beautiful it is.

The dill and garlic melt into the tender pork, and again, getting some of the caramelization on the pulled bits is key to making the flavors pop. Rich with the flavor of fresh herbs, I would serve this porchetta time and time again to my closest friends and family - they don't need to know that it came in a box through the mail, nor will they ever find out...

Porchetta is frequently served on a roll with fixin's, as you would find a traditional roast pork style sandwich, but sometimes just tasting the meat on its own is all you need.

Next item to hit the griddle is the BBQ pork: pork shoulder that is coated with a barbecue rub, smoked over cherry wood for twelve hours and then pulled. This came the same way as the porchetta, tightly packed into an air tight bag, and as soon as it hit the flat top, I could tell it was going to be another success.

You could hit it with some of your favorite barbecue sauce, but it doesn't even need it. The meat is tender, moist and full of BBQ flavor on its own. It had a mild spice, but was mostly smoky and sweet – we were literally grabbing it by the handful off the communal tasting plate.

That was all I could handle for the 'tasting' party (it was getting dark and I was ready for some drinking), so I put the remaining two products away for another day's meal. Fast forward 2 days, I decided on some BLTs for dinner to make the most of the 2 packages marked "buckboard bacon" and "keilbasa bacon."

Much to my surprise, they weren't what I had in mind when thinking "bacon." It turns out that Sam (to quote the butcher himself) 'uses the pork shoulder to make bacon rather than the pork belly, which is used to make slab bacon. His pork shoulder bacons have less than a third of the fat of slab bacon but with the same crispiness and flavor. They are also not as dry as Canadian Bacon.'

I still chose to go the BLT route and pulled out my cast iron skillet to fry up some ham. Above is the buckboard bacon: shoulder that's marinaded in molasses which imparts a dark brown color and sweet flavor. And below is the smoked kielbasa bacon: made with the pork shoulder and flavored with kielbasa seasoning. It pretty much speaks for itself.

These are also ready to eat right out of the package. The buckboard reminded me of a honey baked ham, sweet and crispy outer rim with a smooth and salty interior with fat that just melted on my tongue. Delicious. The kielbasa 'bacon' was more like a smoked bologna that definitely tasted like kielbasa.

What's not to love about fried bologna?

Throw it on some white bread with mayo, lettuce, tomato and a little bit of mustard hitting the meat and voilá! You have yourself a healthy fried ham sandwich!

Many thanks to Sam for opening my eyes to the joys of mail-order cured and smoked meats. His prices are completely affordable for such a high quality product and this dude is legit. If only mail-order brides could be as reliable...

Check back Friday for Sam's MEATSRAVAGANZA GIVEAWAY!