The Goriup family really know their meat!
Before moving to Canada, Slovenian-born Mario Goriup owned a much-loved European butcher shop in Johannesburg, where his notorious prosciuttos, pork sausages and salamis drew sell-out crowds.
By Doug Eglington
In the mid 70s, Mario settled in Oakville and opened Florence Meats. The rest is a meaty success story of how his son, Damian, is carrying on the tradition.
Q) Rumour has it you grew up with a meat cleaver in your hand.
A) Yes, you could say that being a butcher is in my blood. I worked hand in hand with my dad for 25 years and today, with the help of my wife, Carol, and our children, Michael and Alina, helping out when they can, we run a thriving “good old fashioned” butcher shop using our traditional recipes and techniques combined with the latest machinery.
Q) Why does it always smell so good in your shop?
A) It’s the gently roasted coriander we use when we’re preparing the biltong. The aroma is delightful and when you combine it with the soft, pleasing texture of the lean meat, it creates an irresistible taste and scent. People come from far and wide for our biltong. Our weekly batches don’t last long in the store or at home because people gobble them up quickly. Regulars will just fly in and grab a bag of biltong on their way home. All our recipes are made with fresh spices and when you couple that with our in-house smoke house, it’s no wonder that customers love the smell of our shop!
Q) So you’re a “biltongista”?
A) My father learned how to make and serve biltong when he lived in South Africa. We take lean marbled steak from the inside or outside round and, using his special recipe, hand season the meat and hang it to air-dry. It’s then hand cut. Biltong lovers eat it as a low-fat, high-protein snack. We freshly shave it into paper-thin slices. Some people like a soft, moist, more pleasing texture, and others prefer it drier, harder and chewy.
Q) Preparing everything by hand must take time and a talented team.
A) You guessed it. And there are family secrets that we’re obliged to protect. Florence’s staff and apprentices come from a culinary background so they know what fresh meat is supposed to taste like when it’s on the plate.
Quality is number one for us. It is so important that our butchers know every facet of the production. They must know how to break down carcasses, what to cut away, how to season and prepare the products, how to pound or salt meat, how to control the brine and so on…all important steps.
With this hands-on approach, we can handle specialty orders and have perfected items like our popular bacon without sugar, our biltong and our gluten-free sausages.
Q) Tell us about your “BEP”—Biltong Expansion Plans?
A) Yes! Our biltong is on the move. The popularity of this product has grown so much that it has warranted a home of its own. This will give us the capacity to increase our volume and market
special biltong charcuterie boards for VIP tastings at wineries.
Q) Does your “best it can be” philosophy mean using only the finest local meat?
A) Not really, but we are discriminating. We have been supporting local long before it was popular to purchase local. Having said that, I’m glad that our industry is highly regulated and scrutinized. Our beef is from the Beef Farmers of Ontario and our chickens come from the Mennonites.
Now under t
he Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) jurisdiction, Florence Meats is visited weekly by meat inspectors and is subject to a mandatory yearly plant audit. Good Manufacturing Practices, which involves record keeping in every step of our production, have become routinely incorporated into daily operations.
Q) You mention your employees often and how they make the difference.
A) The quality and retention of our workforce is a primary reason our butcher shop has been able to maintain consistent quality. Our dedicated workers create amazing products day in and day out, and it’s their conscientious attention to detail, hard work and flexibility that guarantees the end results that our customers love. We couldn’t do it without them!
Doug Eglington is a South African who sells European appliances to Canadians.
