Tips & Tricks

Meet the 8 local and regional makers bringing exceptional flavors, handcrafted products, and New England favorites to our shelves.

When you walk into The Flying Butcher, the meat case is usually the main reason for the trip. But if you take a look at the shelves, coolers, and freezers surrounding that case, you’ll find something just as carefully chosen: a handful of incredible local and regional makers we’re proud to carry.

Each one of these eight makers earned their spot on our shelves the exact same way every cut in our case does. We tasted their products, asked how they were made, and decided they were exceptional enough to put right next to our name. Here’s who they are, why their craft matters, and how to put them to work at your own kitchen table.

Why We Hand-Pick Our Local Vendors

A shelf tag that simply says "local" doesn't tell you much. To us, what really matters is whether someone behind the counter can tell you who made the product, how they made it, and why it's worth taking home.

Think of our shelves as a recommendation from a neighbor who loves to cook—it only means something if that neighbor has actually tried it themselves. We hold every vendor to that exact standard. Small-batch makers care deeply about the final product because their name is right on the label, just like ours is on everything at the butcher block.

If you're ever curious about something on our shelves, just ask! Our team loves talking food and pointing you toward the perfect pairing.

1. Clement Farms (Brookline, NH) — Why Fresh Eggs Cook Differently

Our eggs come straight from Clement Farms in Brookline, NH, and farm-fresh quality makes a night-and-day difference in your skillet.

A truly fresh egg has a firm, thick white and a tall, rich yolk. As an egg ages, the white thins out and the air pocket inside expands (which is why older eggs float in a glass of water). That difference really shows up when you start cooking: fresh farm eggs hold their shape beautifully when poached or fried, whip into cloud-like meringues, and set up silky and clean in quiches and custards.

Pro Tip: Fresh eggs can be trickier to peel when hard-boiled. If you're making deviled eggs or egg salad, grab your carton from us a week early and let them rest in the fridge first!

The Butcher Pairing: Pair a dozen with thick-cut bacon or breakfast sausage from our case, and weekend breakfast is officially covered.

2 & 3. Pre-Cook Rubs & Post-Cook Sauces — Mastering Two-Stage Seasoning

Great seasoning happens in two distinct stages, and two of our favorite makers cover both sides of the grill.

Rub Smoke Love (The Pre-Cook Dry Brine)

Rubs belong on your meat before it hits the heat. Most quality rubs contain salt, meaning they act as a natural dry brine. Apply your rub anywhere from 40 minutes to a full 24 hours ahead of time.

The salt draws out natural moisture, dissolves into a flavor-packed brine, and gets reabsorbed deep into the muscle fibers through osmosis. Pat the surface dry right before cooking to guarantee a deep, caramelized crust.

Apply these rubs to pork shoulders, St. Louis ribs, and chicken thighs. And for prime steaks, we also carry our own signature Flying Butcher Steak Rub at the counter!

F’n Hot Sauces (The Post-Cook Finish)

While rubs build flavor inside the meat during the cook, F'n Hot Sauces belong right at the end. A few dashes over pulled pork, crispy wings, or a morning egg sandwich adds a kick of heat and bright acidity that cuts right through rich, savory meats.

4. Beefy’s Own Potato Chips — The Magic of Frying in Beef Tallow

Beefy's Own makes potato chips the old-school way: fried in pure beef tallow. Before vegetable oils took over supermarket aisles, home cooks and classic diners relied on rendered tallow for incredible crispness and flavor.

Tallow is a super stable fat with a high smoke point around 400°F, meaning it doesn't break down or get acrid during frying. The result is a crunchier chip with a rich, savory depth you just can't get from neutral seed oils.

The Butcher Pairing: Open a bag alongside one of our custom-blend smash burgers, a steak sandwich from the deli, or your game-day spread.

5. Pot Pie Bar — Freezer Staples for Easy Weeknights

Some nights, you need a delicious home-cooked meal without any of the kitchen prep. That’s where Pot Pie Bar comes to the rescue.

Their pies—including Classic Chicken and Braised Beef—are crafted in a USDA-inspected kitchen, held to the same high standards as the meats in our butcher case.

Kitchen Secret: Always bake these straight from frozen! Thawing them first leads to a soggy bottom crust, but popping them in hot straight from the freezer creates a buttery, flaky crust every time.

The Butcher Pairing: Keep two in your freezer at all times for busy nights. One pie comfortably feeds 3 to 4 people. On nights when you do want to cook, pair them with our ready-to-cook marinated meats and scratch-made deli sides!

6. Kettlehead Brewing (Tilton, NH) — Local Craft Beer & Meat Pairings

Our craft beer cooler is packed with New England favorites, and Kettlehead Brewing is a staple on our shelves.

Known for their vibrant, hop-forward hazy IPAs, Kettlehead brews are built for barbecue and rich meats. The bright hop bitterness and lively carbonation cut cleanly through animal fats, resetting your palate between every single bite.

Pair a hazy IPA with a smash burger, smoked sausage, or a rack of ribs. While you're at the cooler, you can also grab our own Flying Butcher Takeoff IPA—just ask our team for a recommendation and we’ll point you to something that fits what's on your menu tonight!

7 & 8. Modern Pastry & Jake’s Ice Cream — Dessert Without Turning On the Oven

No feast is complete without something sweet, and we trust two legendary New England makers for dessert.

Modern Pastry: A Boston North End institution for decades. We bring their famous cannoli, cheesecakes, Boston cream cake, and rich chocolate mousse cake straight to Amherst.

Jake’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream: Handcrafted right down the road in Nashua, NH. We keep their richest creamery pints stocked in our freezer case.

The Butcher Pairing: A slice of Modern Pastry cheesecake with a scoop of Jake's Vanilla on the side is the easiest, most impressive way to finish off a prime steak dinner.

Everything You Need in One Stop

These eight local partners sit right alongside everything else we do best as your neighborhood butcher shop:

• Custom cuts trimmed to order right at the block
• Signature house-ground burger blends
• Fresh seafood & scratch-made deli meals
• Hot made-to-order sandwiches
• A friendly team of meat experts ready to help you plan dinner

Stop by The Flying Butcher in the Lowe's plaza on Route 101A in Amherst, or give us a call at (603) 598-6328 to see what's fresh in the case today!

As late New England autumn rolls in and the evening air turns crisp, our kitchen routines naturally start to shift. While there's still plenty of great weather left to fire up the grill or smoker, fall also invites us back inside to slow down, relax, and let something warm and comforting simmer on the stove.

Walk up to any butcher case in New England and you’ll see the usual suspects lining the tray: ribeyes, strip steaks, pork chops, and boneless chicken breasts. They’re classic for a reason. But if you stop there every single week, you’re missing out on some of the absolute best flavors, textures, and culinary flexes in the entire shop.

No matter the season, the late-afternoon clock is unmerciful. Between work deadlines, family commitments, and running from one obligation to the next, the clock hits 5:00 PM faster than ever.

When you're hosting a summer cookout, the menu can spiral fast. A protein here, a side off a Pinterest board there, a last-minute run out for chips and ice, and the day before the party starts to feel like a part-time job. The fix is the same one professional kitchens use: start with the protein, and let it set everything else. Pick what's going on the grill first. The sides, the apps, even the timing all fall into place once that anchor is set. You shop in one trip, you cook in one window, and you spend the cookout with your guests instead of your tongs. Here's how to build the whole thing out, and a few grilling fundamentals that make the cook itself go smoothly.

At The Flying Butcher, we’ve noticed that the best cooks in Amherst and Goffstown all have one thing in common: they started young. They were the kids hovering by the butcher block, eyes wide, watching our team hand-trim a ribeye or mix a fresh batch of sausages. We don't just want to be the place where you buy your meat; we want to be the place where your family learns the craft.

There’s a specific kind of magic that happens in New England during the first few weeks of May. The air finally loses that stubborn winter bite, the grass turns that impossible shade of neon green, and—if you listen closely—you can hear the synchronized sound of grill covers being pulled back across the neighborhood.