Pre-packed beef in supermarkets?

competitionscafe

Supermarket beef is never hung properley or for long enough as it costs money to do this. Beef should be hung for 3 to 4 weeks. That's why supermarket beef is often tough and usually a bright red colour - it should be a dark red (like in the picture below). Beef should also have some fat - as that keeps it moist and adds flavour - most of it will melt away during cooking anyway.

A good butcher is not necessarily more expensive than a supermarket - mine is a similar price for a much superior product. The supermarkets also don't usually say what breed their beef is from (if they do it's Aberdeen Angus) but usually it's from one of the continental breeds which are reared on a large scale. Beef from suckler herds (reared for beef production) is usually 'better' but it is estimated that 50% of the cattle used for beef production in GB consists of progeny from the national dairy herd. Beef from a so called rare breed like Longhorn or Dexter does I think taste superior (as long as it's been reared, slaughtered, butchered and hung properly). The best beef is also usually fed on grass not grains, at least over the summer.

It also depends on the cut - no matter how good the beef is, it will still be tough if it is cooked 'well done' - cuts like steak need to be cooked fast in a very hot pan, same idea with a rib of beef - fast in a hot oven, while silverside or topside needs to be cooked long and slow. You also need to rest meat after cooking so the juices are evenly distributed.



Once you taste 'proper' beef it will be very hard to go back to supermarket stuff (even Waitrose and M&S I have found don't compare to a good butcher or farmers market supplier) Even if it does cost more, I would rather have great beef once a fortnight than have mediocre beef once a week.

Pssst

I support my local butcher and buy my meat there. His produce is second to none and the price is competitive. He does lots of community stuff. He runs a breakfast club for the local primary school,has special healthy eating/slimming ranges etc,,a top bloke. Being in his shop on a Saturday morning is like going back to a better bygone age..the freebie cooked sausage samples,the banter,the old butchers bike outside...sigh..if we dont use em,we will loose them. Then we will have no choice but to buy crap.

ClaireLR

nirelandguy wrote: »

My OH blamed me and the way I cooked it, I said you can't polish a turd, and she said well we will see.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I don't buy much meat from other supermarkets other than Morrisons, I've always found their meat to be ok, not as good as the farm shop when I go there but ok for what I pay for it. I've bought all sorts of different beef from there, steaks, braising etc, I think as other posters have said it all depends on the way it's cooked.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

competitionscafe wrote: »

Even if it does cost more, I would rather have great beef once a fortnight than have mediocre beef once a week.

Good Lord, you can afford to have beef once a fortnight? :eek:

Things must be bad - I have started dreaming of roast chicken (a once a month treat, if that) and I can honestly say that I have never in my life been able to have a lump of animal like the one on H F-W's book. I think the last time I had any roast beef was...erm...erm...about 10 years ago and the source was - shall we say - a little bit 'woo', a little bit 'waa'.;)

In fact, I am sure it would horrify a great number of people here to think that it has been crossing my mind recently that my Granddad taught me to hunt and dispatch bunnies/game.:eek:

Think I'm a bit too old and fat to outrun anyone these days, though, so it'll have to stay a slightly dodgy 'I wonder if...'

competitionscafe

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Things must be bad - I have started dreaming of roast chicken (a once a month treat, if that) and I can honestly say that I have never in my life been able to have a lump of animal like the one on H F-W's book.

I can't afford one like the lump on the book cover once a fortnight no - that's a rare (medium rare!) treat - birthdays, Xmas that sort of thing. But a nice big juicy rib-eye steak - that I can stretch to once a fortnight. Five or six quid from the butcher/farmers market for a slice of tasty, tender beefy deliciousness.

Bombchelle

Don't think Waitrose doesn't sell "turds"! I've completely stopped buying fillet from them now because it's always filled with gristle. We buy our red meat from Woodford Meats and they're usually quite good. Costco's free range chickens are huge and about half the price of Waitrose! :eek:

hotcookie101

competitionscafe wrote: »

Once you taste 'proper' beef it will be very hard to go back to supermarket stuff (even Waitrose and M&S I have found don't compare to a good butcher or farmers market supplier) Even if it does cost more, I would rather have great beef once a fortnight than have mediocre beef once a week.

I agree, we don't have beef often, but when we do-mmm a nice steak from local butchers, great.
I am intrigued by your river cottage book, I have this, its one of my favourite books-but the picture is different, is that a foreign edition or a very early one? Mine was a gift, and am sure was soon after publication-2004? Sorry for geeky q-am a bit of a HFW junkie :rotfl:

Odette

This is part of the reason I became veggie - I just dont trust those packets of meat, producers will inject them with anything to put the weight up, just turns my stomach.

(Im not critizising those who do eat meat)

competitionscafe

hotcookie101 wrote: »

I have this, its one of my favourite books-but the picture is different, is that a foreign edition or a very early one? :rotfl:

Hi, yes it's the North American (Canada, US) edition.

hotcookie101

Thanks-I knew it was one I hadn't seen here-obviously the (north) americans don't have the same feelings for hugh's face as some people here do! and that is a generic "some people" not me at all .....:o:rotfl: