What’s the difference between purchasing meat from a grocery store or a butcher shop? Quite a lot! Piccinini Bros, our butcher shop in New York City, is a local business that sources high-quality meats from farms that use ethical, humane practices to raise their animals, which inherently makes the meat better for you than supermarket meat. However, that’s not the only reason why butcher shop meat is better. Below, we share our top reasons why shopping at your local butcher shop is healthier than your typical mass-produced grocery store cuts:
Freshness Straight from the Source
Supermarkets are part of a massive supply chain that mass-produces meat from large-scale, corporate farms. It takes significant time to transport meat to individual retail chains, and there’s no way to know how long your meat has been in transit by the time it reaches store shelves. When you choose a butcher shop like Piccinini Bros in New York City, our meat is the freshest on the market. We partner with individual suppliers, such as family-owned farms that have been raising high-quality meat for decades. Meat from these farms arrives in our shop daily, so you know you’re getting the freshest meat available. Without the drawn-out processing and transport process, you can get meat that goes from farm to our butcher case in just a day or two.
Less Processing
For most supermarkets, getting meat from farm to supermarket can take several weeks, accounting for the time it takes for it to be processed, packaged, and transported thousands of miles across the country. Each step decreases the meat’s freshness and overall quality by the time it reaches your table. Factory-farmed meat is often vacuum-sealed and treated with a mixture of gases and preservatives to keep it artificially bright red or pink, even though the meat is days or even weeks old. This process can make you think the supermarket meat is fresher than it actually is. When you choose a local New York City butcher shop like Piccinini Bros, your meat travels as direct a route as possible from the farm to the shop. It’s then placed in our butcher case or delivered straight to you. This process can take between 24 and 48 hours, and we have fresh meat arriving daily.
Humanely Raised Means Better Nutritional Value
How an animal is raised significantly impacts its flavor and health benefits. Animals raised on large factory farms for mass-scale consumption are often pumped with antibiotics and hormones to prevent disease and are fed high-fat diets to keep them plump while restricting movement. This produces meat that’s filled with preservatives and extra fat, diminishing its overall health benefits. Meat that’s raised in a low-stress environment is naturally more tender and flavorful. These practices also allow the animal to mature naturally, which produces healthier meat. We work closely with our suppliers and build relationships with the farmers, so we know exactly how our meat is raised and processed.
Superb Quality
When you choose a butcher shop in New York City over a supermarket, each cut is inspected for the butcher’s case, ensuring the highest possible quality. Our meat experts hand-select it using the same cutting and selecting techniques for over 100 years. It’s the same quality that the finest restaurants in New York have trusted. When you select meat from Piccinini Bros, you know you’re getting the highest-quality available. Not only is our meat USDA Prime-certified, we have a USDA inspector on-site daily to ensure each cut adheres to these high standards.
Complete Customization
Want to remove the fat cap from a steak to reduce its fat content? Need a piece deboned? Looking for something that you know you can’t find in a supermarket? When you purchase meat from a local butcher shop, we can custom-cut your piece to your exact specifications, including fat content, thickness, and trim. Butcher shops also have a wide selection of rare cuts, like goat and guanciale, that you won’t find in grocery stores. We regularly stock alternatives to red meat, such as veal, turkey, and other poultry. We can also source rare game like bison and rabbit that you won’t find in grocery stores. It may be a special order, but we will definitely try to find it for you.
Piccinini Bros: Artisanal Butcher Shop in New York City With Over 100 Years of History
For more than a century, New Yorkers have trusted Piccinini Bros to deliver the authentic experience of the premier butcher shop in New York City. Located in Hell's Kitchen, we offer a diverse selection of poultry, beef, veal, lamb, pork, and specialty cuts, so you can get fresh, healthy meat when you want it. With convenient ordering options like online, in-store, and by phone, getting your cut is always easy. We also deliver throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Westchester, Queens, and Long Island. When your order is ready, you can swing by for curbside pickup or schedule next-day home delivery. Place your order online or call us at 212-246-8277 today!
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