Meat shopping in Europe

[scrumtiousruckingBBQ]

Hello all,
Just moved to Belgium with the military and am having a hard time finding quality beef. I’m shopping almost exclusively at Carrefour, but their cuts of beef are all very very lean and so far everything I’ve cooked has been a bit chewy.

Anyone here have advice on where to shop for meat? What are the odds of finding US beef here?

I have a butcher down the street that I was finally able to check out the other day. Unfortunately, beyond the language barrier, he also had strange cuts of meat! Any advice on European cuts of beef or pork I should try out? Or ways to describe things like brisket, St. Louis style ribs, or pork butt to a butcher so he could make those cuts for me?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[JckDanls 07]

Showing the butcher pictures is probably going to be your best bet... Maybe using your phone/computer to type out what you want to tell him and then translate it to their language ..

 

[chilerelleno]

Use a detailed Pic that shows where the cuts come from.
There are excellent online resources.
Same goes for instant text translation.

 

[chef k-dude]

Have you met any other ex-pats there that may have some shopping experience? I dont know Belgium or their foods or markets. The text translation might get you some laughs...not always accurate crossing over languages but they will likely realize its not you busting up the sentences. I've had a French dude get a good laugh with this. When he re-translated what I wrote using Google or whatever back to me it was pretty funny.

Butchering can vary a lot. Even in the U.S. there are cuts of beef you dont find on the east coast/west coast respectively. I think they are trying to discourage people from beef in Europe so maybe they purposely sell tough cuts to encourage that

 

[jcam222]

This doesn't directly answer your question but I found it super interesting. It's shows the primal cuts on the cow in various parts of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_of_beef