cheaper cuts of meat

Little_Vics

beef brisket for us all the way - great in stews, as steaks, roasts - just so yummy.

Paulie'sGirl

Hi,

I'd agree about the ham hocks, they do us a huge pan of soup (maybe 6/7 portions) and at least two meals. I like to use it in a quiche.

In terms of beef, shin, blade and chuck are cheap stewing cuts but they do need a longer cooking than normal. Oxtail used to be cheap, but its having a bit of a revival and its gone up in price here!

Pork shoulder is a cheaper alternative to leg.

Offal is cheap, hearts, lites, liver, kidneys. I can't stand the stuff personally though!

I often get packs of cooking bacon from Sainsburys. It often contains massive loin pieces which are quite thick. I trim these up and use as bacon steaks. I then use all the other trimmings for Alnwick stew, quiche, chicken and bacon casserole or to add flavour to soup.

PGxx

boo81

Hi

I am trying to help out a friend who is not a great cook and is scared of the butchers!!

I eat many cheap cuts but her family are a little more fussy and im struggling to advise.

Her husband wont eat:
Pork
Fatty meat
Anything tough

She has a slowcooker so I assured her it wouldnt be tough, but many cuts seem to be fatty. Any help would be much appreciated, I cant bear to see them living on chicken breast!

quintwins

what about beef shin? it usually does have abit of fat but if goes really soft, it's acually the main beef we use, and ofcourse chicken thights in the slowcooker fall off the bone and is alot cheaper than breast/fillets

jcr16

why not you cook her a meal in the slow cooker and give it to them to try.

sometimes it can seem daunting trying a new cut of meat when your really unsure, but onces you've eaten it and it is really nice ti gives you the confidance to try it yourself.

JulieGeorgiana

Chicken thighs and legs
Beef (braising or shin)

TBH the fat 'melts' in the slow cooker giving it the wonderful softness which makes it better then more expensive meat which you cook faster!

LJM

you can ask the butcher if you buy over the counter to trim the extra fat, yes the cheaper cuts of meat may be fattier but i pre trim and trim off once cooked my oh is a jack spratt so ive got used to doing this

RAS

boo81 wrote: »

Hi

I am trying to help out a friend who is not a great cook and is scared of the butchers!!

I eat many cheap cuts but her family are a little more fussy and im struggling to advise.

Her husband wont eat:
Pork
Fatty meat
Anything tough

She has a slowcooker so I assured her it wouldnt be tough, but many cuts seem to be fatty. Any help would be much appreciated, I cant bear to see them living on chicken breast!

OK, I hate fat; makes me gag and and really picky about gristle and sinew etc. Also just cannot eat tough meat.

However, I eat a lot of stews and things like Navarin of Lamb, made with neck joints, where I can pick the meat out of the fat easily.

With meat that contains a small amount of fat, the trick is to make the meal the day before and let it cool. Then skim the fat off the top and re-heat it properly (meat underheated is tough). I find that micro-waving it makes it tough as well, so re-heating to piping hot is better.

The other tricks are that you either cook meat for a very short time and then give it time to relax (for the muscle fibres to lengthen), or you cook it for ages.

Because I am picky, I never buy stewing meat that has been chopped up by a butcher; I always get the meat as a piece. That way I can trim the the fat and sinew off the meat before cooking and cut it into pieces. I always render the fat from this and fry the meat and veggies in that to add extra flavour.

Does his majesty eat things like stir fries?

If so, one option is very small amounts of more expensive meat, sliced very fine and cooked quickly.

For stews, there are always cuts like skirt (actually the diaphragm I think), which are very lean.

zippychick

Hi ive merged this with our cheaper cuts of meat thread for you

This thread is slow cooker specific

Zip

rachbc

A few recipes I've seen recently that I fancy use 'flank' steak - seems to be a cut you can either cook slowly like braising steak or cut thin and stir fry/ grill for fajitas etc - the recipes are mainly US ones - is it the same as beef skirt or a different cut anyone know?