Review of Turner & George

Turner & George offers distinctive steak for the discerning steak eater. .

Turner & George is a distinctive butcher, it seems far too tidy, modern and organised for a butcher. It felt like walking into a Gin bar that had meat on display rather than a place where chunks of beef are turned into amazing steak. I had heard that this butcher offers steak that you cannot find in other butchers, so I had to check it out.

Prior to visiting the butcher itself, I had a look at Turner & George’s website  to get an idea about the types of steak that they sold. I was at once delighted and then crestfallen when I saw that they sold Galician beef but that their rib cut was sold out. I made my way to Angel aiming to buy the remaining Galician sirloin. If you’re wondering what’s up with Galician beef obsession then you can read my article about what makes this Spanish steak so special.

I was welcomed as soon as I walked in and promptly served. I talked to a female butcher (the first female butcher I have come across in London) who had good knowledge about the various cuts and breeds. When I spoke to her I asked if they had any other cuts of Galician beef. She pointed to large chunk of Galician rib steak right under my nose. My eyes widened, heart started racing and my glucose levels spiked and I blurted out appropriate blasphemies then immediately bought all of it.

As the butcher prepared the steak, I realised I had not done my homework so tried to back track a bit. I asked about the breed (it was Rubio Gallego), I asked how it was fed (on grass), I asked how long it had been aged for (40 days). I then asked what age the cow was slaughtered and she was not sure so went to check – it turned out to be 10 years, which is less on the mature side as Galician beef is quite often slaughtered at 14-18 years.

As the butcher was responding to my interrogation, I caught a stunning steak out of the corner of my eye. It was dressed in dark red with great curves. It was a T-bone from an English breed called Hereford, which was also grass feed and aged for 40 days but butchered at a much more tender age (under three). I decided to buy a half kilogram of that as well. I went to pay for the steak and I was able to pay with contactless, I grinned in glee thinking that they had made an error in their pricing only to realise I had just spent £73 on steak from a butcher. My purchase of all of the Galician Rib steak had cost £56 for 1.35kg while the T-bone had cost £17, all of which makes this one of the most expensive butcher reviews ever.

The Galician Rib Steak

The steak did not disappoint. The Galician rib steaks were richly marbled, would achieve prime usda rating if the cow was a tenth of its age. The Galician rib was cut into two 700gm pieces and I left the steak out for about 3 hours. I was nervous about overcooking such pricey steak so it’s fair to report that I ended up cooking a very rare, borderline blue steak.

Eating the rib steak was an exercise in gluttony with fat literally falling off the steak. I gorged on the rich and immensely beefy steak. The steak was surprisingly tender, dissolving and giving way to the slightest pressure from the tongue – which differed from the previous times I’ve had Galician rib steak where it had a lot more resistance.

The Hereford T-Bone

After finishing the rib steak, I thought I’d take a break from steak and wait an hour before going onto the T-bone. The T-bone had an enormous fillet section and was gorgeous to look at, even if it lacked marbling which so many people desire. If the Americans were to rate this steak it would be a lower “Select grade” due to the lack of marbling. The T-Bone tasted very different from the Rib steak. Whereas the Rib steak threw it’s taste in your face the T-bone steak was more subtle. The initial bite into the T-Bone delivered a sweet taste almost with a scent of hay that became more beefy every time you chewed. The tenderloin section was tender as expected but the Sirloin section was unexpectedly very tender.

Which steak was better?

It’s hard to say which steak was better. The steaks offer different qualities and vary so much because they come from different breeds of cow that were slaughtered at different ages. The steaks were also cut from different parts of the cow. The Galician Rib steak has massive taste while the T-bone had variety and tenderness.

The Verdict on Turner & George

Turner & George offer brilliant steaks with good, friendly service. If you’re a bit bored of the traditional butcher, whom invariably offer Angus steak, Turner & George offer a broader and rarer variety of fine steak but at a premium to your local butcher.