Open the doors of Strip District Meats and step into a family-owned butcher shop from mid-20th-century, small-town America, complete with country curtains on the windows. Cases of freshly cut meat, friendly butchers waiting to guide you through your options. Don’t see what you want? Just ask; every effort will be made to get it for you.
“We started selling hanger steaks at least 20 years ago,” says owner Ray Turkas. “No professional magazine was talking about them. There are so many cuts that just went into the grinder because nobody knew about them. Then I began selling them.” They proved to be very popular indeed.
Strip District Meats (SDM) was founded 75 years ago in McKees Rocks and is still owned and operated by the Turkas family: Ray and daughter Christie Bengele, with her husband Brad and son Ray III (matriarch Roberta is retired).
Christie was encouraged to pursue a career, knowing that she’d join the business eventually in order to “continue its legacy.” She explains: “I was a teacher and loved it with my whole heart”—a beautiful statement indeed. She came on full time after having her first child. Brad joined then as well, leaving his job as an elementary physical-education teacher; he misses it “greatly,” but is now all in on the “craft of butchery, cooking, and the benefits of eating meat.”
All of that well-honed, attentive expertise will be in full gear for the upcoming holidays—starting with bringing you a farm-fresh, all-natural, moist turkey that was never frozen.
“Turkeys are primarily for Thanksgiving,” says Christie. “We get ours fresh from Hidden Hollow Turkeys in Woodbury, Pennsylvania, near Altoona; it’s a Mennonite-run family farm. We’ve used them for two years and absolutely love their turkeys.” Also available are turkey breasts and parts, everything but the gobble-gobble.
“Turkeys are sold on a fast turnaround,” Christie explains. Adds Ray: “I can place my order on Monday, get it on Thursday, sell it on Friday. It’s immediate. The birds were roaming at the beginning of the week.”
Are the prices for a Turkas bird competitive with commodity birds?
“Absolutely not!” exclaims Ray emphatically. “Grocery store turkeys they are selling for 89 cents a pound; we’re paying $3 a pound.”
“It’s just not the same turkey, Dad,” Christie quickly adds. “That’s not what we want to deal with. We want that fresh, local, moist bird. You will know the difference.” It’s a perfect way to treat your family.
SDM is a microcosm of the changes in meat tastes during the holidays, those choices beyond that beloved turkey or ham. In past holidays ham used to be de rigueur for Christmas. It is not now.
There’s also Japanese Wagyu beef. “Everyone’s very interested in that,” Christie points out. “The cost is $99.99 a pound, but it is very rich tasting so you don’t need much.” Why not try it? The holiday season deserves some taste adventures.
Christie notes that pork crown roasts are also popular during the winter holidays. Lamb racks are also available.
SDM goes even further, offering an almost endless list of options for those who are food curious.
Instead of turkey try a different fowl. There are duck and geese, of course. But what about poussin? Poussin chicken are very young, typically less than 28 days old, weighing about a pound and exceptionally moist.
Expanding culinary horizons even further are partridge, pheasant, and quail, each of which only weighs about eight ounces. SDM sells them semi-boneless so they can be served two or three on a plate in true haute cuisine fashion.
What about that second protein if you don’t want pork or beef to partner with your poultry choice?
“About 20 years ago a local company got venison and elk chops and couldn’t sell them,” recalls Ray, “so I took them.” They sold right away. Christie chimed in that those meats are really popular, offering, “You could do something like a venison, veal, or an elk rack. That would be like an authentic first Thanksgiving.” In the odd chance that you have leftovers, try making venison chili. Actually, almost anything you do with beef can be done with other horn and hoof animals.
“If you are looking for meat to add to the meal, we have it,” Ray says proudly. Without question—and we still haven’t plumbed all the options waiting for you, those meats coming under the broad heading of “exotics.” Take python, for example. Yes, python. “It’s a big Asian thing,” says Ray. “But it’s become harder and harder to get even though it’s raised in this country.”
Can’t cozy up to the idea of python? Try alligator, either cubed tail meat or tenderloin. Still not tempted? Check out a long list of offerings that includes ostrich, camel, and kangaroo. Having eaten the latter in Australia, I can vouch that it is good. So is alligator, actually. Happily, you have the option of buying SDM’s convenient one-pound packages, just right for trying all those interesting meats to decide which you like best.
Christie says, “My dad is the kind of guy who wants to get anything he’s asked for. He prides himself on that.” Nevertheless, bear and moose, plus caribou and reindeer have proven elusive. (I’ve tried bear; don’t bother.)
Obviously, SDM has a lot of meat to manage. “The basement in the main building is one huge freezer. There are also three big freezers upstairs,” Ray says. “Orders are made daily and they come in daily so there’s lots of product moving around. It’s everybody’s job to work rotating and maintaining stock.” Learning how to do that is part of basic training at SDM.
“Ordering is a very big job that my dad and husband do,” says Christie. “You need to know what you have, what holidays and events are coming up, and what product is coming in. There’s a lot going on.”
Is anything made in house? Of course! No butcher shop with any pride would be without its version of that Pittsburgh favorite, kielbasa, not to mention its own large smokehouse. SMD makes its own jerky, beef sticks, and smoked sausages. They are able to make a wide flavor range of fresh sausages that changes weekly; check their website to see current and upcoming offerings. Christie suggests trying alligator andouille sausage instead of kielbasa for a holiday celebration.
There’s a lot of food excitement at SDM, brought to you by dedicated, forward-thinking people who pass their love of meat down across the generations. Despite the unmatched variety, SDM truly remains an old- fashioned, service-oriented butcher shop. It’s a delicious place to get meat for all your holiday meals— especially turkey!
Cynthia F. Weisfield is a freelance writer whose articles about art and food appear regularly in multiple publications. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago and has recently completed a biography (as yet unpublished) about noted abstract expressionist artist Sonia Gechtoff. She lives in Mt. Lebanon.