Putting In The Order For The Butcher

[magnetic]

I had raw lamb liver yesterday for the first time, and it was delicious!  A little strong by the end of my meal but definitely tasty.

Regarding placing orders for meat, what do you specify?  The lamb I have been eating over the last month was my first grass-fed animal and I was pretty happy with the butchers, they saved me the fat trimmings, the liver, heart, kidneys and tongue.  They also gave me the hide and head. 

However, there was no tripe or intestines.  I asked for all of the organ meats but these seem to be left out.  Do I have to specify these exactly?  I thought I would get the lungs also but no lungs were included.  Also there should be glands, shouldn't there? 

Do you find you have to be very specific about each and every part being saved?  I mean it is all edible, right?

Also, what do you do with the bones?  I want to eat it all raw so broth is not an option for me.  And I don't have a dog (shame, I know).

[FRANCIS HOWARD BOND]

A pity, because you wanted to eat the whole animal including tripe and intestines but were unable to retain all these parts.   If you had paid for the whole animal you mind have been able to insist on keeping everything after it was butchered.    Some carry out their own butchery to achieve this.

[eveheart]

I get lamb halved or quartered. That way I can hang the parts in the refrigerator and I don't have to freeze anything. As far as offal, I get it all when I buy a whole lamb from a farm, but market butchers often don't order all the parts, only the most popular ones.

I eat the marrow from bones. I use a regular hacksaw on lamb bones, and have the butcher cut beef bones lengthwise to get at the marrow. There was a thread about uncooked bone broth a while back. As I recall from that discussion, there are a lot of minerals that leach into the water at room temperature.