It pays to bribe your butcher!

[radio]

With smoked snacks, that is!:D

I usually buy my "Boneless beef ribs" at Harter House when they run them on "sale" for $4.99 per pound, but have bought other meats at a market in a small town closer to me. I've chatted with the meat manager there before and he has given me some good deals on chuck tenders, baby backs and such. This morning I sliced off a big chunk of smoked beef log and dropped by to give to him and we chatted about beef prices.
I asked if he got in whole shoulder clods, and he went in the back and brought one out. We looked it over and discussed what cuts butchers do from the clod and I asked him what price he would charge me for 7-8 pounds of the best area including the heart of the clod. He got his cost sheet out and said I can let you have it for $3 per pound!!!
He needed all he currently had for the meat case, so I reserved a big hunk of it for Friday after the new shipment comes in.
I will be taking this guy more snacks in the near future!!:D

 

[normonster]

Wow, what a magic few words!!! "whole shoulder clods".....say it with an evil echo.....Normy likey.

Sounds like you "greased" the right wheels radio ! Good work.

 

[radio]

Wow, what a magic few words!!! "whole shoulder clods".....say it with an evil echo.....Normy likey.

Sounds like you "greased" the right wheels radio ! Good work.

I learned a long time ago that some stores only get meat that takes very little cutting and with a few strokes of the knife, it's ready for packaging, or worse yet, prepackaged like wal mart! This store has an honest to gosh butcher who trims, cuts and packages everything from big honking hunks of meat! The meat case is pretty small and the selection doesn't compare to bigger markets, but the small town service is way above average. I asked about brisket packers as I never see any there and he said they just don't sell in his store.
If you haven't tried smoking some shoulder clod, you are missing a treat! Kind of a chuck roast on steroids!:D

 

[normonster]

radio ....I like the sound of that. I have some good excuses coming up to smoke too.

Cheers!

 

[radio]

radio ....I like the sound of that. I have some good excuses coming up to smoke too.

Cheers!

smoke away, and post it up! If you ever get to the Sierra foothills, get off the beaten path and find some dead Manzanita wood. That stuff makes an incredible flavor on fish and chicken!!!!

 

[normonster]

As luck would have it I've got 40 acres in Mendocino that is covered in Manazanita, White Oak, Blue Oak and Madrone.

I have yet to try the Manzanita but I do have a pile of it seasoning under a tarp! Having grown up there I must have eaten a full 200 lbs of Manzanita berries in my life. That and Quail!! haha. Never did smoke one with the other.

 

[SonnyE]

Very good!
I talked to a Butcher at our local Sam's Club once. I was asking about roasts and could he cut it for jerky for me.
He went in back and got a lady to be an interpreter. :confused:
I got some roast already cut into slices, and made my strips from it.

I asked the wife to get a Bottom Round Roast when she went to Costco. She didn't see any, so she asked.
The guy had no idea what she was asking about.

If I have any questions, I think I'll ask you guys... for obvious reasons.o_O

 

[radio]

Very good!
I talked to a Butcher at our local Sam's Club once. I was asking about roasts and could he cut it for jerky for me.
He went in back and got a lady to be an interpreter. :confused:
I got some roast already cut into slices, and made my strips from it.

I asked the wife to get a Bottom Round Roast when she went to Costco. She didn't see any, so she asked.
The guy had no idea what she was asking about.

If I have any questions, I think I'll ask you guys... for obvious reasons.o_O

LOL! I have talked to several butchers and some are reluctant to tell you about where the cuts come from like it's a trade secret or something! Like your wife's experience, others have been confused when asked about various cuts. The last chunk of "Boneless beef ribs" I did a couple of weeks ago was not cut to my liking, but I only discovered that when I was prepping it for the smoker. The meat manager I usually deal with was not in that day and a younger guy cut it for me. This piece had a large piece of gristle, or flat tendon running from one end about 6 inches into the meat. Definitely not the "Heart of the clod" that I asked for! I sure am glad I asked at the smaller market! I will get the cut I want and save over a third on the cost.

 

[SonnyE]

It is quite possible we, the wife and I, happened onto grinder operators, or dressed-in-costume case stockers. :rolleyes:
To me, a Butcher is a guy like Pops, Been There, Done That, and Can Educate on every aspect of it.

 

[petehalsted]

One of the deciding factors for buy my slicer. I use shaved beef in my breakfast burritos must mornings, and about have the butchers I ask to give me 5 pounds of shaved beef get a dazed look on their faces. I have learned to not even try to explain it any further because what I end up with can be all over the map. From London broil slice the wrong way and priced as London broil (ouch!) to some stringy mess with so much connective tissue in it, its practically unuseable.

when you find a REAL local butcher treat them well!

 

[radio]

One of the deciding factors for buy my slicer. I use shaved beef in my breakfast burritos must mornings, and about have the butchers I ask to give me 5 pounds of shaved beef get a dazed look on their faces. I have learned to not even try to explain it any further because what I end up with can be all over the map. From London broil slice the wrong way and priced as London broil (ouch!) to some stringy mess with so much connective tissue in it, its practically unuseable.

when you find a REAL local butcher treat them well!

The days of "Real" butchers are numbered! Most swinging beef is quartered and broken down at a large facility and cryo packed for shipment to markets that still have meat cutters.
Kinda like me, I'm a dying breed as an old school Silversmith making hand fabricated jewelry instead of buying pre made pieces and selling at huge markups and claiming it's "hand made" like so many others I see doing these days.
petehalsted post up your breakfast burrito recipe please

 

[petehalsted]

petehalsted post up your breakfast burrito recipe please

Fairly simple <G>:
Toast Tortilla, add cheese and salsa.
Scramble Eggs
See what left overs are in the fridge, toss them in skillet with some onion, garlic, peppers, and tony's.
If no left overs, then brown some shaved beef with the onion, etc.
Assemble and enjoy.

I do 2 burritos most mornings, one for me and one for the boss. I do everything in my single carbon steel skillet. Here's is always bacon for the protein. So I do the tortillas, then her bacon. Dump bacon grease in cup, but leave pan "lubricated", do the eggs, then finally do my protein sneaking a bit of the bacon grease back in the pan. I assemble her's while my protein is browning up.

Quick rinse and scrub with my stainless halo scrubby, dry the pan with paper towel, then wipe with the paper towel I used to degrease her bacon. Let me tell you after a year of doing this at least 80% of the mornings, my carbon steel pan has a patina that is to die for. Who needs non stick cookware? My carbon steel pan stays on the stove top and is used for nearly all of the meals I cook inside. Unless its is something sauce based, I rarely break out the stainless anymore.

 

[radio]

Fairly simple <G>:
Toast Tortilla, add cheese and salsa.
Scramble Eggs
See what left overs are in the fridge, toss them in skillet with some onion, garlic, peppers, and tony's.
If no left overs, then brown some shaved beef with the onion, etc.
Assemble and enjoy.

I do 2 burritos most mornings, one for me and one for the boss. I do everything in my single carbon steel skillet. Here's is always bacon for the protein. So I do the tortillas, then her bacon. Dump bacon grease in cup, but leave pan "lubricated", do the eggs, then finally do my protein sneaking a bit of the bacon grease back in the pan. I assemble her's while my protein is browning up.

Quick rinse and scrub with my stainless halo scrubby, dry the pan with paper towel, then wipe with the paper towel I used to degrease her bacon. Let me tell you after a year of doing this at least 80% of the mornings, my carbon steel pan has a patina that is to die for. Who needs non stick cookware? My carbon steel pan stays on the stove top and is used for nearly all of the meals I cook inside. Unless its is something sauce based, I rarely break out the stainless anymore.

pretty much as I imagined them, but one never knows what kind of twist you will uncover by asking.:D thanks for posting it

 

[petehalsted]

Over the years, I don't think there has ever been a left over protein in the fridge that I said (nah that won't work in a breakfast burrito) LOL Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish, it don't matter its all good, and I am doing my part to keep the fridge cleaned out !

 

[SonnyE]

I learned a long time ago that some stores only get meat that takes very little cutting and with a few strokes of the knife, it's ready for packaging, or worse yet, prepackaged like wal mart! This store has an honest to gosh butcher who trims, cuts and packages everything from big honking hunks of meat! The meat case is pretty small and the selection doesn't compare to bigger markets, but the small town service is way above average. I asked about brisket packers as I never see any there and he said they just don't sell in his store.
If you haven't tried smoking some shoulder clod, you are missing a treat! Kind of a chuck roast on steroids!:D

What chaps my hide is to open what looked good in the package, and find it's been painted to make it look red and fresh. :mad: On the bottom the meat is not what you would buy.

Incidentally, I never buy meat at Walmart... The Son and DIL shop at Walmart all the time, and they throw away as much meat as they eat. I just shake my head.
Being such a tightwad as he is, is quite expensive.