cheaper cuts of meat

Thrifty cuts of meat

cheap cuts of beef
Brisket, skirt, chuck, shin/flank, silverside (even topside, unless well hung), oxtail

All of these make a great "pot au feu" or Bouef en Daube or any other slow cooking dish. Essentially, you start with an onion base, brown the meat, add stock, flavouring & vegetables and leave it to cook, slowly, for a couple of hours. You can add variation with different vegetables/flavourings, including wine, brandy (cheap version only!).

If you have a mincer (unlikely) or food processor (possible) then you can buy a cheap cut of meat and make mince yourself. True ... a processor won't create the thin sausage-like threads of mince, but the meat will be minced (don't overdo it, or you'll end up with finely ground meat. OK, but maybe not what you want).

For homemade burgers, we buy skirt. Generally can be quite tough, but makes excellent tender burgers.

Skirt or chuck makes an excellent steak & kidney pie. Or minced (processed) a bolognese (ragu)

If you buy an expensive roast cut remember to use the leftover bones to make a beef stock. Freeze it and use as a base for a future slow cook beef dish. And recycle the meat as a Cottage Pie (it came about as a dish to use up leftover roast beef, not as one for using fresh, raw mince).

Cheap cuts of lamb
Scag end (neck), shanks, shoulder (honestly!)

Trendy braised lamb shank is a cheap cut, but you pay a premium for it if you eat out! Cook it long & slow (as with all cheap cuts of meat). Just braise some onions & garlic. Brown the shank, add flavourings, stock & veg and you have a classic restaurant dish.

Scrag end or neck makes Lancashire Hot Pot - just the lamb, layered with potatoes. Traditionally served "as is" but add veg or serve a side dish, if you prefer.

Shoulder - can be fatty, but this should melt during the cooking process. Just place the joint on a rack inside the roasting tin. The fat imparts the most beautiful flavour and makes the roast very tender. Use any leftovers for Shepherd's Pie (traditionally made from the roast leftovers, not raw minced lamb).

And then, use the bones to make a stock. Freeze and store until you have the next cheap of cut of lamb that you intend to slow cook.

Cheap cuts of pork
Hock, trotters, belly

If you can get decent quality (free-range or organic) the belly will make a good roast. It's the cut used to make streaky bacon or pancetta. Or it can be slow cooked, perhaps with prunes or apple. Or it will make a great oriental flavoured dish. Or the great claissic French Cassoulet!

Trotters - are an acquired taste, but tasty they are! And do use the left over bones, gristle and cartilege as a stock. The gelatine, in particular, has a beautiful flavour. Freeze the stock, and use it as a base for Pea & Ham soup!

Hock - often called the rich man's trotter as it has equally good quantities of gelatine .. and flavour. You can joint it to make spare ribs or boil it with lentils or another pulse. It makes a great stock or pick off the bits from the bones for a hash or soup....

HTH

Brisket often gets a good mention here. There are recipes in our recipe collections which you can find by using the "Indexed Collections" sticky at the top of the board. There are recipes in both the Old Style collection and the Slow Cooker one.

There may also be (I can't remember 'cos I've indexed so many things lately) some threads listed that talk about brisket.

Good advice is to ask your local butcher. He'll not only tell you about economical cuts he might even suggest good ways of cooking it

Edit: I can't believe I haven't collected any brisket threads :eek:

Recipes which state stew/braise are generally referring to cheap cuts of meat because those are the one's which need slower cooking.

So ....

Beef: (cuts of beef - diagram)
Bladebone
Brisket
Flank
Oxtail
skirt or chuck

Lamb: (cuts of lamb - diagram)
Breast of Lamb (very fatty though!)
Neck (scrag end)
shoulder

Pork: (cuts of pork - diagram)
Belly
spare rib



HTH

A hand of pork is also very cheap and and is extremely versatile, you can roast it whole and use the leftovers, there will be loads, oryou can remove the meat from the bone before cooking and you should get enough for 3 or 4 casseroles or curries.

Shoulder of lamb is much cheaper but cooked properly it's a much juicier cut of meat because it has a higher fat content.

Neck of lamb should aready be cut up into pieces, I just bung them all in a stew and let the kids have the pleasure of picking them up and gnawing the meat off the bones.