Two years after opening a butcher shop and meat market in Conception Bay South, the owner says he is living a long-held dream: helping people enjoy their food.
Steve Canning opened Newlander Meat Shop in 2022 in a large red-painted building on CBS Highway, offering homemade sausages and cuts of beef, pork and chicken.
Canning compared the role of his butcher shop to that of a sous-chef, offering advice and assistance to his customers.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it. Don’t be overwhelmed if it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined – it’s OK. At the end of the day, it’s food,” Canning told CBC News.
“You work at it and get better the more you do it. But you shouldn’t stress about it. And if the brisket turns out a little tougher than expected, that’s OK too. It will work out.”
He said people associate barbecue with cuts of meat like roast beef and rib-eye steaks, but in recent years more people are using slow-cooked, low-temperature cuts of meat like beef brisket, beef shoulder, beef cheeks and beef ribs.
“We’re used to just going into a supermarket and seeing different cuts of meat and stuff like that. But you know, at the end of the day… it’s about the process. It’s not just a simple thing where we get boxes of something and put it on a shelf here, right.”
His work also has a sustainability aspect, he said, because he only uses animals that are treated humanely.
Living the dream
Canning said opening a butcher shop had been a long-time dream after working in a butcher’s shop about 20 years ago.
“I’ve always had a passion for the butcher’s trade,” he said. “That’s where I started.”
In his previous job, he managed a nursing home and was a “passionate hunter.” Butchering began as a hobby, when he would cut up moose for other people. Over the years, he and his wife Andrea began to think about turning their passion into a career.
“The timing was right. The opportunity came along right when this building was built and we just took it. We are extremely happy with it. We couldn’t be happier. I have a great staff here,” Canning said.
“We are living the dream.”
Since turning professional, he has equipped the shop with all kinds of butcher’s equipment, including a meat saw, a meat grinder, a sausage stuffer and a smoker for bacon and sausage.
Expansion
Canning said they make their own seasonings for chicken, steak and pork, and that they also have an all-purpose seasoning in development.
His steak seasoning is like Montreal steak seasoning, but not as salty, he said.
“What we’ve got in there is of course garlic, onions, coriander, mustard seeds – there’s a bit of dill in there too. Pepper, a bit of chili flakes,” he said.
The chicken and pork seasoning blends contain a slightly sweet note created by adding ingredients such as brown sugar, salt, cumin and paprika, he said.
“Some of those deep, bold spices we use on barbecue and chicken and pork.”
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