Meat cut identification help please 8217

Janet Bostwick

Not usually a real bargain, with cryo primals you typically lose more in scrap than you saved on price. And you really can't see what you're buying with that type of packaging... I find it more economical to buy roasts that are already prepared-trimmed... just wait until there's a sale and then buy a few of the largest nicest looking ones you can find. It hurts nothing to stock up the freezer with the less tender cuts like chuck and round, but it's really stupid to freeze expensive tender cuts, like from the rib and sirloin.

All your concerns just proves you need to own a decent meat grinder. Buy the bone-in roasts, they are less expensive, then debone to roll and tie your own roasts, and use the more difficult configured parts to make your own stew and ground beef... you can cut away some of the fat from the roast and stew beef and add it back to the ground... and freeze all the bones for when you need a really rich stock-soup... nothing wasted. I'll often trim a few chuck roast bones so they are kind of meaty, then use them directly in soups... and gnawing the meaty bones is a cooks treat.

Hint: Always rinse well any meat containing sawn bones, especially with steaks, with pot roast bone slivers settle to the bottom but a gritty steak is just awful... many otherwise fine restaurants fail to rinse bone sawings from their steaks, especially a crime when it's USDA Prime you're paying for... rinsing a steak in cold water and blotting dry before cooking harms nothing... and may save one a trip to the dentist. Many a restaurant has paid a substantial out of court settlement for causing broken teeth-bridgework because of bone chips embedded in their steaks. You can't win a case against a butcher for bone chips (proper prepping is up to the consumer) but a restaurant most definitely... even a guest dining at your home will win a case, even if it's from a bone chip in a burger off your grill... beware serving mystery meat burgers to guests.

Sheldon