searching for a Meat shop (Hilo, Waipio: rental, houses, neighborhood)

[barry64]

I'm looking for a good meat shop on the big island, someplace that has a good variety. Any ideas? I haven't been to the place in Hilo yet, but a few folks have recommended it. and if it has meat, how bout BBQ stuff, like sauces and rubs and various woods for smoking?
also, why do so many grocery stores carry frozen chickens from California? I don't like Foster farms, is there any other choice for good chickens out
there?

any suggestions welcome, thank you.

[Joliefille]

Feral chickens? Not Foster farms, but they're free!

[hotzcatz]

There's a meat shop in Honokaa on the road out going out towards Waipio. JJ's Meat Mart is what they were called when they were on the main street of Honokaa. Now they have more convenience store items as well. Most if not all their beef is grass fed and processed at Big Island Beef company.

We get beef and lamb from a farmer who has his processed at Kulana Foods, I could ask him if he had any more extra to sell. As for chickens, we had a commercial egg farm that went out of business a year or so ago, I don't remember that we ever had a commercial meat bird place. Del's and the other feed stores sell meat bird chicks in the spring or you can order in day old chicks from several different hatcheries from the mainland and they will mail them to you. We let the hens here hatch out a batch of eggs and since half the chicks hatched are roosters that means about half the chicks hatched are destined for the dinner table. They also taste like chicken, too, which is more than commercially raised chickens do anymore.

[Badatta2de]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

They also taste like chicken, too, which is more than commercially raised chickens do anymore.

LOL hotz! I did some of my chickens up a couple months ago. Funny how different they taste isn't it? Didn't know you did chickens too.

Barry- I have some waiwi wood drying right now. I'm told its fantastic for smoking meat. I honestly know nothing about smoking things. The best I have done is buying those jack daniels mesquite chips and threw em on the grill before making steaks lol! Depending on the weather it probably has another 2 weeks to go before it's ready. If youre close (not sure where you live) I could give you some if you'd like to try it.
As far as pork, I usually try to buy it from my neighbors. You can keep an eye out for pig hunting contests and such. Usually the "losing" porker meat gets sold fairly cheap.

[Balad1]

The culture in Hawaii isn't like the mainland so the butcher shop / bakery mentality isn't the same here. They have both here but it's not normally the same as most of us of European decent have known.

PS: Costco has some of the best meats available as a whole.

[hotzcatz]

True, it's hard to find a good bakery, especially since we lost a couple of good ones in the past several years. There is a really good baker up at the Parker School Farmer's Market on Saturdays in Waimea. He tows his bread oven there and bakes at the farmer's market. There is also a new good bakery in Waimea, but he's hard to find.

Well, if someone gives you the whole pig, that's pretty much the entire pork selection right there! Lamb is harder to find but I know some folks who raise them if you want one. Quail, chukkar and the other game birds are harder to come by.

For wood to smoke with, kiawe wood is the same as mesquite so no need to import the stuff from Texas.

Yeah, Badatta2de, we've had chickens for years. It's really hard to get good tasting really fresh eggs and chicken that tastes like chicken unless you raise it yourself. Part of being 2,500 miles away from the mainland, I guess. Lately I've been noticing the breed of chicken makes a difference as well as the age. Many of the feral chickens and most of the silkies have a gray colored skin and dark colored meat. Not my favorite eating chicken. Buff Orphingtons are a lovely meat bird. Rhode Island Red roosters are excellent eating, too! Especially since chicken soup cures crowing.

Right now, one of the rental houses in our neighborhood has become infested with fighting chickens and there seems to be a major amount of escapees. Maybe they just turn the ones they don't want anymore loose or something. One of my other neighbors has gone to war with the ones crowing under his window and is planning a rooster trap. Does anyone know if fighting chickens should be eaten? A different neighbor told me they were shot up with all sorts of steroids and stuff so they could fight better. Did you want any roosters, Barry64? They are really fresh! Still crowing counts as "fresh" doesn't it?