In about 4 weeks...I need to be more specific with my order....as in how many sausages I want in a bag....what roasts, silversides....how many chops in one bag ....how much mince in each bag....etc.....
For that one low price...I get it all bagged, labelled and ready for the freezer...I have already asked to keep the edible organs...although I have never 'liked or tasted' them..lol...I want to make the most of the animal and using the organs. Even to make the best darn stock I ever will; would make me happy....But I have always taught my children to at least try something first, then if you don't like it, at least you tried it....so If I order a very local grass fed beast...I think I should at least taste everything I can....or use what I can in other ways......I'll never know If I never try it....
I'm willing to give it a go with such a fresh local source.....I'm keeping all the bones and fat too...I'm not allowed to have the blood...that by law stays at the abattoir ...so I won't be trying blood sausage...which doesn't really worry me...lol....I do have mixed feelings with the tripe...although I have put in the question of whether they prepare it.....I think I will try to find a smaller piece to try first before going down that path...there's just so much of it....what if it actually does taste good...lol.....
The butcher said I can have the organs and bones etc, as they just get tossed otherwise, so I don't think it is a cost I will have to bare... they get charged 2 cents per kg to have them carted away.....As far as I know they will be free to me, but I will be asking first to be clear.....I may have misunderstood this part......and as for discarding the bones once used...I am decomposing chicken and chop bones with the bokashi method....sprinkling bokashi powder over the bones before burying them in the garden is working, as I found some yesterday when digging too deep....they just crumbled in my hands....
I will be keeping an inventory of what goes in the freezer....
I don't think I will try curing any silversides, I'll leave that to the experts for now...maybe when we retire...lol...I have already decided thin sausages, not thick sausages......I will also be packing a few smaller meals too.....
It will be a pleasure having locally produced grass fed meat in the freezer
BUT
I really need to think about what parts of the beast I want to keep.
So I am conducting another experiment
So far....I have sourced from a beast the following....
As I blog about each organ, I will link back to this post.....I know that after researching, preparing, cooking and tasting each meat....I will be able to make an informed decision as to what organs to keep....if any.
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Have you saved and eaten organs from a beast? Do you buy your meat in bulk? Would you think about buying your meat in bulk at this price? Do you think the savings in meat per kg will outdo the cost of storing the meat? What cuts do you favour more than others?
Any comments are greatly appreciated.
Oh My Goodness, lucky girl. Home kill grass fed meat.. what a treat. We have been looking for something similar but it is out of our price here in Melbourne. What a dream if your butcher shipped :-) We have to pay about $11.00 per kg
ReplyDeleteI have eaten offal meats and they are cheap and tasty, if you use your imagination in ways to cook it. It is perhaps an acquired taste. I do not do tripe though, due to unpleasant childhood meals.
"The pluck" internal organs are best slow cooked. The cheek is tender and tasty and ox tail is beautiful in soup or stew, or deviled kidneys. How much frozen stock can be made from the roasted bones. My Nan used to make brain fritters.. I think the mentality of many of us, is why eat offal when we can have a roast of beef, but for me, to eat the entire animal is honoring the animal..the pagan in me ;-)
Sounds like a great deal nellymary!
ReplyDeleteI was reared on mutton and have no problems consuming offal. My mum made the best sheep's head soup complete with brains and tongue, her braised liver with gravy was delicious too. There was not much wasted from the sheep as times were tough! Stuffed rolled flaps yum, oh the memories lol...Hubby however refuses to eat any offal what so ever, he is totally repulsed by it lol!
Crumbed brains is also good apparently, sorry I dont remember ever tasting them, but know people who do.
We live out in the desert and raise one cow a year to butcher. Our cost equals $1 US per pound. We have butchered ourselves, but the effort outweighed how little it costs to take it to the butcher.
ReplyDeleteWe end up with 500 lbs and yes I take all the waste as I make dogfood for my two Great Pyrenees with a recipe tweaked from Rhonda Jeans.
We are not a tripe family. My husband has terrible memories of it. We use some of our meat as barter because it is all hay/native desert grasses so cost low but allows us to have work done on our farm that we could not do ourselves. We bought a piece of land raw-meaning it was not cleared and never had homes on-that is in the desert with mesquite/thorns and briars galore. So we steadfast work, adding things. This year we have paid for a fence line to be cleared with beef, as well as the labor to put on a roof for our home which we will put on in Sept.
My husband and I have been considering charging to raise one other cow perhaps 2-3 dollars a pound to pay for the costs of our cow, their cow and then a bit to tuck away and still not cheat the buyer as in US stores the cheapest ground beef costs 2.99 a pound.
Sorry about the long winded comment. I guess I have been thinking aloud here. Blessings on your beef~
Jennifer
We used to always by our meat in bulk. But, with hubby in medical school budgets change. I did just buy 1/5 of Angus beef. I did get a section with cut bone with meat on it. I plan on using it for stocks and soups. We have done pigs also. I have 5 freezers full of food and meat. I am working on canning a ton on my meat. We love the quick easy access to already cooked canned meats. I wish you the best of luck with all your experimentation and will be following you along. Can you render any lard from the tripe? I am sure you will be super creative. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteWendy: If I could ship it, I would, but I think it is going to be a battle in itself lugging it all home, I may have to do it over a few days.....Oh dear..I hadn't even thought about the brain....err Thanks!..lol
ReplyDeleteTania: I remember eating mutton, you can't get it anywhere nowadays...nothing wrong with it either...I wonder how big a cows head is..hope it fits in my pot.
Humble wife: Hi Jennifer, How great that you can raise your own meat...I live in town though, so I don't have that option...I'm sure I will be making some dog food as well....I don't mind you thinking out loud, and it's certainly not long winded.
Kids and Canning Jars: Hi Melissa, I think I will ask for the larger bones to be cut up also, It's no point having them to big to fit through the dog door..lol...I might look into pig or sheep next time, not sure we have a local source for it though. It always amazes me at what you are canning...I love it. You are amazing...I can't imagine 5 freezers full of food and meat.....I've already decided not to go with the tripe, but that's another post.
Hi there! It's the first time I comment, but I've been following for a few weeks now :) First of all, congratulations on the blog, I find all your post very interesting and I learn a lot from you. Second, about the organs, here in Portugal it is not uncommon to eat them : in fact, the beef tripe is one of the traditional meals in the north of Portugal and it is very appreciated (as for me, I don't like the texture very much, but I've eaten worse) - it's cooked with beans, carrots and cabbage, some portuguese sausage (chouriço) and served with white rice. The tricky part is that you have to wash it thoroughly and cook it for about half a day. The tongue is one of my favourite dishes ever, you just have to cook it for a long time, or use a pressure cooker, for it to get really tender. The liver, well, it is a strong taste, but I love it, simply fried with garlic and olive oil and some bread on the side (my mouth is starting to water). The heart, kidneys, brains and tail are also eaten, but I've never tasted anything made with them, sadly. I really think we owe it to Nature not to be wasteful with the meats we eat, and veggies too by the way : we consum a lot of the earth's resources anyway, so we should make the best use of them as we can. I'm looking forward to read you posts about the ways you can cook these organs! Sabi @ Thought Bubble
ReplyDeleteSabi: Hi, thanks for commenting on my blog, Welcome! I am glad you are learning a lot from my blog...I didn't like the texture of the tripe either...I can't imagine having to wash and prepare it myself though...Yuck!..You will see now that I have added links to posts writing about the tongue, liver, heart and tail and also the tripe....I haven't sourced kidneys or brains yet, but I guess I will be trying them soon too.....I believe too that I owe it to the animal to use as much as I can from it...I will certainly be doing that.....Thanks for reading, but most of all, thanks for your first comment on my blog...Hope it isn't your last.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! We're planning to get a butchered cow soon, going halves with another family nearby.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to get your butcher's name from you, for next time we do pigs (or sheep, or goats, or...).
Once you've eaten down the beef a bit and have some freezer room, let me know if you want pigs. I can put you in touch with a guy...
Catch you later!
We send a home grown, mostly grass fed, beast to the butcher a couple of times a year as we go halves with the eldest son and his family. The beasts are Brahman cross. As for organs, youngest DD and I eat corned tongue and it's very tender. All the corning is done at the butchers and though I know it's done with a corning liquor and not in salt I am unable to corn it at home. Liver is eaten fried or used to give more body to soups/stews, kidney goes into steak and kidney pudding or pie, we don't eat tripe, tail becomes soup and heart is a treat for the cats as there's no point me trying baked heart if I'm the only one who wants to taste it. Smaller bones are used to make stock and the rest of the bones are dog food.
ReplyDeleteHave fun experimenting and write it down or you'll forget what you did by the time you need to order the next carcase.
Cheers,
Robyn