I've been aware for quite some time that the UF Animal Sciences program includes a meat processing center and that they have a retail store (address and map at the link) to sell the meat they produce. They are only open on Fridays and only accept cash or check. I had heard, though, that the meat is of very high quality, very fresh and at reasonable prices.
Today was the day I finally made it there. I only dipped my toe a little into their wares, buying a rack of pork spareribs, a piece labeled "beef spareribs". some smoked sausage and a couple of ribeyes. The steaks appear to be about two inches thick at the thicker end. As you can see in the photo, the ribeyes appear to be well-marbled.
As I was paying, the fellow behind the register (who I'm pretty sure is the director of the program) informed me that more things are available early in their day. They open at 9 am and I was there around noon. I had really wanted to get a pork loin, but there were none. There also were no briskets. Oh well, that gives me things to look for on later trips. He did inform me, though, that the pork spareribs were "running around on the ground" on Wednesday morning, so you can't get any fresher than that.
Sadly, I just checked with my daughter and it won't work out to have a ribs and sausage event with them (and the grandbabies) this weekend, so into the freezer they go. Also sadly, my wife had recent oral surgery and is not a fan of steaks anyway, so I think I'll have to freeze the ribeyes as well.
I'll probably take two of the five smoke sausage links and put into a Portuguese soup with our CSA kale that I picked up today, so all is not lost.
Today was the day I finally made it there. I only dipped my toe a little into their wares, buying a rack of pork spareribs, a piece labeled "beef spareribs". some smoked sausage and a couple of ribeyes. The steaks appear to be about two inches thick at the thicker end. As you can see in the photo, the ribeyes appear to be well-marbled.
As I was paying, the fellow behind the register (who I'm pretty sure is the director of the program) informed me that more things are available early in their day. They open at 9 am and I was there around noon. I had really wanted to get a pork loin, but there were none. There also were no briskets. Oh well, that gives me things to look for on later trips. He did inform me, though, that the pork spareribs were "running around on the ground" on Wednesday morning, so you can't get any fresher than that.
Sadly, I just checked with my daughter and it won't work out to have a ribs and sausage event with them (and the grandbabies) this weekend, so into the freezer they go. Also sadly, my wife had recent oral surgery and is not a fan of steaks anyway, so I think I'll have to freeze the ribeyes as well.
I'll probably take two of the five smoke sausage links and put into a Portuguese soup with our CSA kale that I picked up today, so all is not lost.
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