Polansky's Market Article – May 6, 1973

Lorain County is lucky to have so many great meat markets.

No, not that kind of meat market. I mean the type where you can get beautiful steaks, chuck or (if you'll pardon the expression) rump roasts, pork shoulders, etc. – all custom cut and wrapped for you with care by people who want you to be satisfied with your purchase.

Fligner's, Polansky's, Vermilion Farm Market, McConnell Meats... the list goes on and on. I'm sure everyone has their favorites.

Speaking of Polansky's (a favorite topic on this blog since I shop there occasionally), here's a nice article from the May 6, 1973 Lorain Journal that profiles the couple that started the business: Steve and Sophie Polansky. 

It notes that they first "took charge of an anemic meat market at Long Avenue and 14th Street in the 1930's." From that one store they built a small empire consisting of three stores. But in the late 1950s they decided to consolidate their efforts at the Dewey Road location, where the store continues on to this day.

In the article, it is noted that "They buy only local beef, lamb and veal, and purchase as much local pork as the market allows."

Veal is one meat that never crosses my mind when I'm planning my meals for the week. It should, because Mom made a few veal dishes as Sunday dinners when I was a kid. Veal birds and city chicken are the ones that come to mind. (I always used to get them mixed up because of the 'bird/chicken" thing.)

Good thing I have my trusty Better Homes & Gardens Meat Cook Book, which has color photos of each.

Veal Birds

City Chicken

In the mid-1970s, Mom used to buy big boxes of frozen veal cutlets. (I think it was somehow related to her taking a cooking class from a gentleman named Otto, who was the chef who ran the executive lunchroom at U. S. Steel. We ate a lot of those veal cutlets when I was in high school.

And it's probably been forty years since I ate any veal at all.