Gramercy Meat Market is a butcher shop in the Gramercy neighborhood of Manhattan that specializes in grass fed and organic meats.
The market is actually located in two shops right next door to each other. One of the shops sells seafood and the other one sells meat.
The store isn’t huge, but Gramercy’s meat selection is still quite extensive. In addition to beef, lamb, pork, and poultry, they also have a selection of less common meats such as kangaroo and buffalo. I decided to sample their Danish bacon and pancetta.
First, let me tell you about the pancetta. As you can tell from the following photo, the meat has a nice marbled appearance. It had been cured perfectly to give it that lovely sweet scent and taste that makes pancetta so appealing. We ate a few strips for breakfast this morning, but also saved a few slices to use on sandwiches for lunch.
Danish bacon has more in common with Canadian bacon than it does with American bacon. Danish bacon is cut from the pig’s loin, whereas American bacon comes from the belly. Here’s an illustration in case you have no idea what that means.
A piece of Danish bacon is often referred to as a “rasher” in Britain. This type of bacon is more common in England than the pork belly bacon Americans are familiar with. Danish bacon has a streaky mix of fat and meat just like American bacon, but because it comes from the loin instead of the belly, Danish bacon tends to have a bit more meat than fat, giving it a meatier taste. The process for curing and smoking Danish bacon is similar to the process for American bacon. So even though it is a meatier bacon, it still has the nice salty, smoky flavors that lovers of American bacon are familiar with. The Gramercy Meat Market Danish bacon is quite nice – it is a pretty straightforward bacon in terms of taste, but sometimes a nice uncomplicated piece of meaty bacon is all you need to start the day.
I cooked the Danish bacon on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, although length of time depends on the thickness of your bacon. I cooked the pancetta in a frying pan on the stove top. When the pancetta was done cooking, I scrambled some eggs in the remaining fat.
Following is a photo of the results of this morning’s efforts. It was a lovely breakfast courtesy of Gramercy Meat Market.
Gramercy Meat Market
383-B 2nd Avenue (between 22nd and 23rd Street)
New York, NY
212-481-1114