Maine Meat

My husband and I have been searching for a specific cured meat that most butchers we called in our area said «what’s that?» when we asked if they had it.
We happened to be in the Portsmouth area one weekend, stumbled across a Unilocal review for MEat, and decided to give them a call. Not only did they know what it was, but they said they had some curing in the basement and would bring it upstairs for us by the time we got there!
The owners are super knowledgeable and helpful in a way that doesn’t make you feel dumb when asking (possibly dumb) questions. The meat we purchased there was amazing and we’ve been back a couple of times since. Now we find thinly veiled excuses to drive up to Maine to visit their shop! It is pricey but well worth it.

This is a really cool butcher shop. Everything is locally sourced and there’s probably no place where you can feel better about having carnivorous tendencies. The guy behind the counter steered the conversation away from the word «organic» but the difference was lost on me.
Maine Meat is also a relatively pricey place with $ 10/​pound pork chops and ground beef being the least expensive things I saw. I went for the Kalbi Ribs because they looked really cool and were supposed to be good to grill. The meat had plenty of flavor but unfortunately it were ridiculously tough and hard to eat. We had talked about various marinades and how to grill them but it didn’t really work out.
There are some other things that look like they’d be fun to try but I’m not likely to find out because there are butchers closer to home that I’ve had such good luck with. I’m giving them 4 stars because it’s a good looking shop full of good looking meat, and conversations with people who live close make me think that my experience wasn’t typical. I’m a big fan of the buy local concept but what I buy has to be good.

This is the place I’ve been searching for.
I’ve had beef, lamb, duck, pork, and chicken that will all knock your sox off. If you don’t get the pastrami you should be ashamed of yourself, they should not thank you for buying it you should thank them for allowing you to leave this planet and visit heaven for a few brief moments. I’ve also been lucky enough to score some hard to find beers here.
Do yourself a favor stop next door to Lil’s and get a cruller then go to Maine Meat and buy one of everything.
Don’t worry if you drool they sell awesome shirts too.

When «the Best Steak Ever» Is Not an Exaggeration
and believe me, I know from exaggeration. My VA. mother was the queen of «that is the BEST thing I have ever put in my mouth.» (To her, we would nod; to each other, we would roll our eyes.) We all know the danger of hyperbole– if you over-​use it, no one believes you any more.
I’m hoping my review record is pretty well balanced between raves and disses, because I really hope some of you will treat yourself to a steak purchase from MEat in Kittery. We drove up last week (right next to Portsmouth, ~ an hour north of Boston) for a rare culinary hat trick– lunch at Anju Noodle Bar and meat shopping from the next door MEat shop followed by noodling around and dinner at Black Trumpet.
Inspired to go to MEat by an earlier CH post, we bought a number of their (all local farms) meats and house-​made sausages; and this one organic bone-​in ribeye steak– dry aged by them 32 days– we really splurged on (WholeFoods level prices.) We wood grilled it tonight, and i felt compelled to tell you. First of all, the aroma. The aroma told us that we had never had anything like this before. And I can’t find words to describe the flavor– just that it was robust and very clean, like cedar. Maybe one of you will taste it and be able to describe it. I just hope you will treat yourself to it sometime!

You just can’t do better than this. Period. The ultimate butchery for fantastic cuts, sausages, hamburger, poultry and more and it’s all food you can feel good about too. Local, fresh, and yes you will pay for top quality but you can’t get better and you’ll definitely feel like you got your money’s worth when you are eating. If you are lucky you’ll catch them on the days they have their beef and bacon grind hamburger which makes unbelievable burgers. I really like their sausages and their pork chops are insane. If you want the best, this is where to get it.

Expense and they don’t stand by their products when there is an issue.
I had issue w kim chi being old. Their first response was correct. Sorry. Bring it back.
Then they reply, we tasted another jar it was fine. We called guy that made it. It was fine. Contact him as we had nothing to do w it.
Wtf.
Im not supporting this business or Anju next door. I did nit care about the money, i wanted fresh. For what i paid for that small jar it should be fresh.

a bit over priced but you get what you pay for. very helpful when i went there to get some steaks for father’s day. i went with the cliché choice of a tbone for my dad. they helped me with writing down cooking instructions for each item. now they have sandwiches. also awesome that this place was funded via kickstarter.

Delicious home made beef jerky, paleo heaven. What a treat to have a real butcher shop with both a conscience and knowledgable staff. Hope they offer classes in the future.

MEat is a small, clean, friendly, brand-​new local butcher shop in downtown Kittery Maine, funded by Kickstarter. They do all in-​house, whole animal butchery of 100% local, natural, organic meats from farms within 100 miles –organic chicken, local duck, local beef & pork cuts, and several kinds of housemade sausage!
The Good:
Friendly, helpful, knowledgeable staff.
Clean & welcoming shop located right downtown.
Affordably priced local meats.
High-​quality, locally sourced, housemade meat cuts, housemade bacon & sausages! Whole ducks, whole chickens, beef cuts, pork cuts, as well as cheeses, olives, eggs and other local goodies!
Was fun to watch sausages being cased right behind the counter!
The Bad:
It’s all good! Support local food!
The Food:
Can’t wait to try their house charcuterie when its ready — for now, they have housemade sausages and bacon with some other thoughtfully sourced items like cheese, legumes, sauerkraut, olives, eggs, veggies and much more, all local! Don’t forget Pearl hot dogs — «We leave the hot dogs to the professionals» the owner told us :) but added that they’d be doing rabbit hog dogs as well as duck and fois gras hot dogs in the future!
The Service:
Friendly, and knowledgeable staff, ready and willing to answer questions and talk meat!
Overall:
AWESOME! We are so excited to have this awesome butcher shop close by. We love that they use organic, local and natural meats. We look forward to what they’ll be doing next! They sold out of the showcase housecured bacon while we were there and quickly grab more from their downstairs chamber– check this place out, they rock!!!