I’m sure all the carnivores out there have drooled over that perfect steak..
Sirloin?
Scotch Fillet?
They’re the crème dela cream of cuts and there’s a reason why…
Prime cuts taste amazing and only take 5 min to grill to perfection on a summer BBQ. That’s also the reason they can cost more than $60 per kilo! But as the meat melts in your mouth we can all agree it’s a small price to pay!
Interestingly prime cuts make up as little as 0.07% of the average beast. So what happens to the rest of it?
We got our plates dirty trying to find out.
3 Adults, 9 kids, a vegetarian and one deep freezer set out to discover what eating nose to tail really means.
The Half a Cow Challenge.
After chatting to David at Hunter Natural we signed up for half a cow that we would split between two families. $1200 later we had a kitchen table full of beef. Things we were completely familiar with like…
And things we’d herd of but were'nt really sure what to do with like...
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Silverside
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Topside Roast
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Ox Tail
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Stock Bones
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Blade Stake
Either way we were ready to get our hands dirty and see if eating nose to tail is really an option for young families and the odd vego…
Just shy of a year later there are still a few cuts hanging around in the freezer but all and all I think it was a success and we all learn’t heaps! Well most of us did…
Here are the big lessons…
1. Make sure you have a big freezer – storing delicious meat in various family freezers doesn’t work. Your meat will happily get eaten…
but not by you….
2. Learn how to make bone broth – this was something completely new to me. Foodie friends were all over it but I’d put it in the too hard basket. Mainly because bones weren’t walking through my front door, but now I there was no stopping me.
The bone broth was also great for cooking the tougher cuts of meat in, preventing them from drying out and giving them a delicious rich flavor. So my bone broth tips (after a few failures)… add more bones than you think you’ll need and it doesn’t need to cook for three days, one is enough! Right or wrong the kids also loved playing with the jellied stock once it was packed in snap lock bags.
My kids didn’t lap up the broth on its own but the neighbours kids did so that made me feel better. Perhaps there is hope
3. Low and slow is the way to go - you don’t need a slow cooker– For all of the bigger roasts I did them at 100-120 for 4/5hrs in a crockpot. But remember, put in a fair bit of liquid and turn the meat regularly so one side doesn’t dry out!
4. Sausages and Mince are KING for kids– my tribewas most at home with these favourites.
5. Nose to tail saves $$ - it was a great way to get more for your dollar and we always had larger cuts in the freezer for when friends came over.
6. A vegetarian can cook 100kg of beef and make it taste pretty good –550 servings, 95 meals, $2 per serve. I think that’s a tick!
7. You’ll enjoy it so much more if you know where your cow came from and how it reached your kitchen table in little cryo-vac-ed portions!
So next time you’re looking for a red meat meal, think out side the steak and try one of the less used cuts that make up the other 99.3% of a cow.
Go on set yourself a challenge…
