Sunday, November 29, 2009

pounds and pounds


Of meat?
A couple of weeks ago, Bill went to pick up our yearly allotment of beef. It is raised by a fellow that Bill's brother went to school with. It was a full side of beef that weighed in at about 400 pounds. It was all pre-cut and labeled into steaks, various types of roasts, stew beef, hamburger, and a couple of bags of brisket. I had never heard of brisket before and the first year that we purchased a side of beef (a quarter actually) I really had no idea what to do with it. Eventually, I decided to treat it like a roast and cook it slowly in the oven. WOW! It was the tastiest and most tender meat that we had eaten in a long time! Lots of fat and bone, it is true, but the flavour was amazing.
When you get a whole side of beef, it is really amazing how many T-bone steaks there are! I think that we are set for the next year. It is really wonderful to know that the meat that we are eating had a good life, lived out doors, and was slaughtered as humanely as possible near the place where it was raised.

5 comments:

mira's papa said...

Actually, it was a guy my brother and I both went to university with, and who I played rugby with. My brother was only there for two years of his university, and me for three. But that doesn't matter a whole lot.

But you're right that it's good that we are at least getting organic, free range beef that had not been fed anything but forage (no high protein feed or drugs) and that have bred "normally".

And for those who are looking, that photo is missing meat that had already gone to the freezer, including a 60 lb box of hamburger.

Oh, and Jackie is right on with the "brisket is so tasty" comment. It really is amazing. And not something you see in the stores here.

Julia said...

Nothing is too good for my girl and her family... good looking meat.

To keep my frozen food as fresh as possible I put it in plastic bags and remove the air and then put it in Ziplock bags.

Anonymous said...

I just got my deep freezer; I'm hoping we can do this next year!

~S

Dave Daniels said...

OH!
MY!
GAWD!
I'd be set for life with 400 pounds of meat!
Brisket is a wonderful cut, and slow cooking is THE way. Toss in a few veggies like potatoes and carrots the last 30-45 minutes. Mmmmmm.

David T. Macknet said...

If we ate meat....

I think that wrapping in plastic and foil, both, prevent frost buildup. Dunno.

Oh, to have a deep-freeze!