Friday, July 1, 2011

Dorfler's Meat Market

-Grubbing in Chicago (land)
Where the locals shop.

Well I hope y'all enjoyed 'travel month' @chibbqking as we head into July, a month all about the grilling, I thought now was the perfect time to share one of my favorite meat markets in Chicagoland. I first visited Dorfler's last summer after I found myself all the way out there in da burbs and remembering reading about their meats somewhere. I'm glad I stopped in because what I found is one most excellent meat market that the people of the North Central suburbs are lucky to have. I'm from the middle of the city but have found myself making the extra trek up there when I was already halfway there in other suburbs. If your going to be around BG at all before the 4th of July or anytime this summer I would highly suggest stopping in.


a popular locals favorite in Buffalo Grove, IL

Located (like everything else out there) in a strip mall this family run butcher shop/deli has been doing it up the right way since 1978. Dedication to quality and the customer is what they give and do and I was very impressed with my first visit and each one since. With baseball in this town becoming irrelevant and almost unbearable to watch, they have most everything you need for a great day of grilling in the summer sun. They get USDA prime beef and dry age it for up to six weeks. They also have a fresh seafood display case and a deli with sandwiches made from Boars Head Meats and prepared meals and salads are on display as well. Here is a little peak at the display cases and what I saw on my first visit.

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They have all your beef/chicken/sausage needs

Dorfler's also has many pre-marinated ready to grill items like fajitas, wings, kabobs, burgers and housemade sausage along with popular local products like natural casing Vienna Beef and other all beef wieners and sausages such as Leon's Polish sausage. I didn't get any fish but it looked nice and they had some huge scallops that I was tempted by but stuck with beef on this visit. I looked around and saw that skirt steak was their specialty and also one of my favorites so I knew I was going to be getting some of that. It comes to your liking as they trim it up to your request after you order. You can get their pre-marinated trimmed and ready to grill skirt steaks from the display case as well.


Skirt Steaks to your liking (to the left)

I ended up getting a little over 3.5 lbs of their skirt steak cut to my request and I had some great meals the few days it took me to eat all of it. They also take the leftover skirt steak trimmings and hunks of fresh skirt steak meat and will ground you skirt burgers fresh after ordering. The people here are really helpful and will do whatever you need and I'm sure would order you what you want if they don't have it. The skirt burgers were something else as you can see in the picture below, the fat content and marbling of the patty is very visible. read on to see what I did with them.

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Skirt steaks ready for grilling from Sunday night dinner (L) Fresh ground skirt burgers (R)

On top of a great meat selection they also have a really nice deli using the aforementioned Boars Head meats and also some great made in store salads and such. They have a sandwich menu for lunch which people were coming in and out of the store to order off of it on each visit I have made. I ended up getting some feta olive and macaroni salads for the fridge both of which were great. I've ordered a few different selections since those two and each one was great.


Nice large case with different deli options

I got hungry looking at all the meat and ended up trying the Dorfler Sandwich off the deli menu which is made with their house made roast beef served on a sub roll with a horseradish sauce and the other usual toppings. It was a mighty fine sandwich. I also like the hot giardineria sausage made in house that has the giardineria ground into the meat. Those are always a crowd please every time I grill them.

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House made roast beef and Italian sausage

If your ever in the area I would without a doubt make the stop at Dorfler's to fill up the fridge for the weekend. I thought the skirt steaks were as good as I've had and will have to stop up there and pick some up for the grill some point soon. They also have a freezer with alot of their popular specialties available frozen and they sell produce and have an aisle of regional seasonings and sauces. Nice place to have if your in that area. Places like Dorfler's are actually becoming near extinct in the city with all the garbage from big boys like Dominick's and Jewel.


Dorfler Sandwich made with their own roast beef

I grilled up some Dorfler's skirt steak burgers last summer and loved them greatly but might never make them again due to there being so many different styles of burgers I want to try. One things for sure, I'll be using their skirt steak patties again. I decided to top one of the burgers with a standard pickled onion recipe I like use on grilled skirts steaks and for the other I went big and did grilled onions with homemade bacon bits, real Wisconsin cheddar cheese and and a fried egg on top. Warning...reading forward will make you hungry for hamburgers.

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I come from the all burgers need onions camp


Grilled cheddar burger with sauteed onions mixed with bacon bits and a fried egg on top


Grilled skirt steak trimmings burger with Pickled Onions*

*Recipe

1 Lg Red Onion
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 TBSP Raw Sugar
1 TBSP Coriander
2 TBSP Olive Oil
Dash of red pepper flakes

1) Peel and slice the onion as thin as you can. Keep it whole before you do so so you have circles of onions to use as topping.

2) Combine water, vinegar and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil and proceed to pour it over the onions and then add the coriander, olive oil and red pepper flakes and let sit and cool. Drain the liquid before using although you might want to save it for other uses.


Simplicity has always worked well with hamburgers


Grilled Skirt Steak with loaded baked potato. Happy 4th!

Dorfler's Meat Market
1182 Mchenry Rd
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-1335
(847) 459-3060
Website

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