lets get back to basics... starting with the butcher

PennyForThem_2

lindseykim13 wrote: »

I want the cheap stuff, so i'd be looking for mutton, lamb hearts, game ect do butchers even sell this type of cheap meat? I read before that most of our cheap cuts go out of the country.
I find i can only get the hearts in morrisons and t's only seem to have a stuffed more expensive version.

Can anyone recommend more cheap cuts to ask for in the butchers?

.

Ox cheeks = stew

Pig's cheeks = with lentils or slow cooked with apples and onions in cider

Feather steak - marinade in lemon or lime juice for 10 minutes or so then do like ordinary steak or use in an up-market casserole

There is also another steak cut - flat iron steak or butlers steak which is as good as rump

Ox tail - not tried this yet but Waitrose sell it - thinking soup here or cheap casserole - it is on my list.

Silverside - braised and cut into thick slices with the veg you use as a rack and the gravy it produces - yummmyyyyyy

Skirt (beef) for stew

Pork belly is also good but can be fatty (obviously)

Pork ribs can be cooked up as a stew ingredient (slow cooked) and then before serving can slip out the rib bone.


All sold by Waitrose but should also be sold by a butcher

Lambs hearts are sold by Our branch of Morrisons - get 2 to a pack - not stuffed.

maman

A._Badger wrote: »

I think Cooltrikerchick has made a valid point with a helpful thread.

I agree and it's certainly got me thinking.

I do have a problem with many local butchers going upmarket because only the wealthy could afford to use them (may not be true but a perception none the less). Also I'm not sure that some butchers aren't just supplying the same meat as supermarkets but presenting it 'rustically' IYSWIM. However, I've remembered a butcher in a nearby town I'm going to this week. I'll check out his prices.

PennyForThem wrote: »

I think that schools should teach basic cookery.

Michael Gove has a plan to do just that. What he hasn't explained yet is how it's to be done in schools with no facilities or fitted in to a curriculum that is geared up to cramming for the league tables he loves so much! That being said, it wasn't all rosy in my school days. I had a couple of years of cookery lessons where a cheese and potato pie is the only recipe I remember but do remember spending hours scrubbbing down wooden table tops. I then had to drop cookery to take chemistry. I reckon following recipes and doing experiments must be a similar skill!

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Edwina, you mention it practically in EVERY thread on the food forum, and to be honest.. it feels as though you are pushing it down people's throats in every thread.

:rotfl:

frugal_shopper_2

Gigervamp wrote: »

Yes, we did actually buy a rabbit from one of the fishmongers in Swansea market! Hubby wasn't keen on it though and I didn't like cutting it up as it looked too much like a skinned cat! :rotfl:

If you don't like the look of rabbit then I suggest you steer clear of squirrel too they look like skinned rats (taste nice though).

I rarely pay for rabbit as they are used for target practice around here & people are happy to offload them, most butchers in the area do sell them at varying prices from £1 each to £3.50 each much more meat on a hare though.
Pheasant is another one I don't pay for as a farm about 400 yards up the road organises shooting parties & many of the people shooting have no interest in eating the birds they kill.

As a last resort game meats can always be bought from online butchers if there is nobody local to you selling them but delivery can make it expensive & you don't get to see the quality of the meat before you buy it.
http://www.wildmeat.co.uk/wild_game_meat_products.htm?ac=M9JZI-I

A._Badger

maman wrote: »

I agree and it's certainly got me thinking.

I do have a problem with many local butchers going upmarket because only the wealthy could afford to use them (may not be true but a perception none the less). Also I'm not sure that some butchers aren't just supplying the same meat as supermarkets but presenting it 'rustically' IYSWIM. However, I've remembered a butcher in a nearby town I'm going to this week. I'll check out his prices.

I think it's like anything - there are butchers and butchers. Some will aim to stray in business by heading up-market, some will try to do it by offering better produce at better prices. Some, as you say, are little better than the supermarkets.

I tend to avoid the upmarket kind with the grossly overpriced and hideously overhung beef and also the 'farm with a shop attached' farm shops, which are little more than lifestyle outlets. A good farm shop selling local produce is a fine thing but far too many are just selling overpriced stuff they buy in from the same wholesalers. They are just in business to make Sunday supplement foodies feel good about themselves.

The best butchers (at least here, in Kent) don't buy-in whatever they can get. They cling on to life in high streets and prominently display signs telling you which Romney Marsh farm supplied the lamb, where near Canterbury the beef came from and so on. We still have a few of those left and they are, for me, worth every penny I spend with them.

Good luck finding a shop like this where you live.

gailey_2

I like the principle of this thread.

There is alocal buthers shop nearish me but hes so grumpy i never went back so sourcing different butchers close by.

I have a book by jaimie oliver its big thick hardback and shows all different cuts and is really informative.

I think river cottage do a meat book too.

Im going to try

farmers market
local farm shop
nearby village butcher

when hubby gets paid another 7days away yet.

if cant get butcher waitrose is the next best thing,
Im keen to try some of the meat boxes from online farmshops not supermarkets.

Its about making time. Where i used to work the road had very good butcher and they queued outside on sat morning and thats inner city location couple years ago.

blackandwhitebunny

maman wrote: »

Michael Gove has a plan to do just that. What he hasn't explained yet is how it's to be done in schools with no facilities or fitted in to a curriculum that is geared up to cramming for the league tables he loves so much! That being said, it wasn't all rosy in my school days. I had a couple of years of cookery lessons where a cheese and potato pie is the only recipe I remember but do remember spending hours scrubbbing down wooden table tops. I then had to drop cookery to take chemistry. I reckon following recipes and doing experiments must be a similar skill!


:rotfl:

I do teach my pupils basic cooking skills, I think more and more schools are changing from Food Technology back to Home Economics or a Catering course (which has lots of basic skills) I even do a module on budget cooking. What we're all waiting for is for Michael Gove and all the others to realise that this only becomes really possible if they start funding ingredients. In my school we fortunately have some money to help pupils who don't bring in ingredients but if we're making say Spaghetti Bolognese I'll always have a few pupils turn up with everything except the meat and if I asked them to bring in something unfamiliar or that they don't usually eat they'll vote with their feet.

pavlovs_dog

any recommendations for cheap cuts of lamb and beef for slow cooked casseroles?

PennyForThem_2

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

any recommendations for cheap cuts of lamb and beef for slow cooked casseroles?

I can do beef - tend not to do lamb casseroles.

Shin - gelatine content makes for thick gravy - I always have at least 1 part shin

Skirt - try and get thick part

Ox cheeks

Feather steak

Any beef that is on offer/reduced

(Mostly I use shin, skirt and ox cheek to make goulash).

maman

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

any recommendations for cheap cuts of lamb and beef for slow cooked casseroles?

Completely agree about shin. However (and bear in mind I'm still using supermarkets for the time being) you can buy a large joint (usually Irish beef) for the same price per kg as shin. I've been buying them lately and cutting them up myself into small joints and casserole pieces. Take a look at mysupermarket.

sharnad

My local burgers are really expensive. There is a good
Wholesale place called prime cut hat Incan get too though that's cheap and good