Bewildered at the Butcher

Grocery shopping abroad is not necessarily the same as shopping in the United States.  Portion sizes are different: ounces v. grams. Flavors are different: licorice and dried fish are very popular in Iceland. Selections are different: our markets in Austria have about 6 breakfast cereals (v. 40+ in the States), but 15+ types of flour (v. 2 or 3 in the States).

Every expat is looking for certain foods from home. One podcaster talked about the challenge of finding familiar cuts of meat at the butcher. After several unsuccessful attempts, she printed a diagram of the cow and pointed to the cut she wanted.

We decided we wanted carne asada with our weekly tacos. (We ordered masa online for tacos, and surprisingly our little local market carries jalapenos.) I looked up the German word for flank steak: Kronfleisch.  When I asked for it at the butcher counter of the market, I was met with a puzzled look. I explained -- in not-too-perfect German -- what I was preparing. The supermarket butcher employee got on the phone with the "real" butcher. We went back and forth until she showed me a slab of beef that looked like it would do. While she was slicing the meat for me, another employee who had been in on the treasure hunt showed me the butcher's bible. There was the familiar diagram of a cow, with each cut carefully numbered. Then he flipped the page to a list of cuts. There was Kronfleisch -- number 5.7. Back to the diagram, there was number 5.6, number 5.8 -- no 5.7! He had no idea where Kronfleisch was located.

Despite the confusion, the meat was just perfect for carne asada.

A few weeks later we wanted tacos again. This time I was shopping at the big supermarket in Salzburg. Surely they would be familiar with this cut. I even printed a diagram of the cow and brought it with me. Nothing could go wrong.

Well, the unfriendly guy at the at the counter gave me the same puzzled look I had seen at the first market. Another customer waiting at the counter weighed in and tried to explain to the employee what I was looking for. He was actually showing me pork, not beef. We needed help. Another employee came out, and was dogged in finding the right cut for me. Basically, they don't sell flank steak or skirt steak. They don't use that portion of the belly area.  Instead, she focused on what type of cut I was looking for and how I'd be preparing it. She also jumped on the hotline to the "real" butcher.  I ended up with a different cut than the first time, but this too turned out OK. I asked her to write down the cut I should ask for next time.

We'll see how that works out. Cooking Mexican food in Austria is never a dull experience.