Filet mignon, really?

Filet mignon, really?

anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

But filet mignon is just expensive, not good. It has a lovely texture, but that's not worth much of anything in a sandwich.

But...but...if its expensive, it must be the best-tasting thing, right?

A great piece of advice in Michael Symon's cookbook is to ditch the expensive flavorless cuts of meat (filet, pork tenderloin) in favor of actually tasty cuts, or cuts you can do much more interesting things with.

They have an $18 steak sandwich at Turner Field. My ticket costs less than that.

Why's he calling me Meat? I'm the one driving a Porsche.

Or they could spend the three innings, you know ... watching baseball.

Sure, but its the mets.

Actually, when I go out on an expense account I tend to get the fillet if its a very good resturant, as its often the only thing on the menu that comes in a almost reasonable portion size. Rib eyes are the best, but I can never get a 6 ounze rib eye and they are so tasty I cant not eat it all.... both fillets at Brand in in the Monte Carlo in Vegas are truly remarkable, as is the fillet at the steak house in the Aria. If you go to Brand and sit at the bar, tell Gustavo that Scott said hey... Also when Ri Ra in Mandaly Bay had their Bays and Moor, that fillet was really impressive... say hi to Sam there... she's really cool..

yea, I spent 6 months on an expense account in Vegas this year. It took me nearly a month and a half just to find decent beer, but after that I was rolling, and know about 10 bartenders at the various casinos.

A 6-ounce steak is an appetizer.

I was there, I had no idea it was the debut night for the sandwich. Of course, it was still less than the (totally insane) Shake Shack line. It's a hamburger, people! For ####'s sake!

Ribeye all the way. Expense accounts are great. I can't imagine having one in Vegas for six months - If I didn't get gout, type II diabetes or a massive heart attack I would be around 350 pounds.

I just worked in a butcher shop for a year. I am here to answer your beef questions.

A great piece of advice in Michael Symon's cookbook is to ditch the expensive flavorless cuts of meat (filet, pork tenderloin) in favor of actually tasty cuts, or cuts you can do much more interesting things with.

Well, pork is generally pretty darn cheap and it is extremely easy to add flavor to pork. Whereas with beef people generally just don't do much to it. There is about 1,00 different things you can do to a pork tenderloin so I'm not really sure why you would want to skip it since it is easy to buy/prepare/cook compared to a ton of other pork cuts.

If you have a properly competent butcher you can't beat a flatiron steak for cost and succulence. Of course a crappy butcher will get a chunk of chuck in yor cut and you'll end up with nasty connective tissue, so know your butcher.

I just worked in a butcher shop for a year. I am here to answer your beef questions.

1. Where is it?

#16 - San Francisco Bay Area

"It" was meant to = "the beef". Oh well, win some, lose some.

Its not Ver Brugge in Oakland is it? Oh I loved that Butcher... very sad when we moved, as Little City, the Butcher in north Beach where we live now is never open when we are home. Also they dont have fish.

Where in the Bay is or was the shop you worked?

As for vegas expense account, I was very careful to order just really expensive small items (quality over quantity), and lots of beer. I gained about 10 pounds, which I'm just starting to lose. I worked from 7am till 8 to 9pm, so my time to gorge was small enough to save me I think, and I always came home on the weekend. The hours were brutal, and I hardly ever saw my wife, but there are worse places to have an expense account... like Bakerfield, where the three days I traveled there last year, were three days too many.

"It" was meant to = "the beef".

Dammit! That was my fault.

It's not Ver Brugge although I know that place, and it's pretty good.

I just worked in a butcher shop for a year. I am here to answer your beef questions.

Ok! What would you say is the best value cut for the money? (note: I am poor)

Conversely, what should I avoid?

How much fraud do you think goes on in terms of meat "really" being organic or local or sustainable or grass-fed or whatever?

#16 - San Francisco Bay Area

I'm eating at One Market restaurant in about one hour on someone else's account, I won't be getting a filet (and I do like filets and ribeyes, and pork tenderloin and other cuts of pork, but yeah, other cuts (aside from chops, do take some time).

Ok! What would you say is the best value cut for the money? (note: I am poor)

Conversely, what should I avoid?

I think flat iron or skirt steak (from a real butcher) is the best cheap red meat move you can make.

I still think the best cheap meat purchase is the pork shoulder, but do allow for proper cooking time, whether it is slow cooker, smoker, etc.
surprisingly, I think the public is coming around to buying chicken thighs and legs, as well as whole chickens, prices are getting above 'cheap.'

avoid, yeah, avoid filet, cuz if you want an actual good filet, you're talking $17-$28 a pound depending on your market and whether you can get 'prime' from a butcher.

avoid round steak unless you have a meat tenderizer. It is cheap but hard to work with w/o proper care. not good w/o a gravy or sauce of sorts.

What would you say is the best value cut for the money?

The thing I would take home most often was what's usually called a "chuck eye steak." Basically it's a continuation of the ribeye. It's the same group of muscles. The closer you get to the neck, the less tender meat there is, the more fat and sinew and chewy stuff. But on most cows you can get 2-3 really good chuck steaks that, if you're lucky, the butcher will be selling for a third the price as the ribeye that came from centimeters away. But if it's from too far up the neck, it's more of a braising cut, so you have to specify. Hanger and flatiron are also good ones.

Those are all for steaks. Braising cuts are usually very cheap and if you know what to do with them, terrific.

Conversely, what should I avoid?

I dunno. I don't think filet mignon is usually worth the cost. Sirloin steaks (and other cuts from the legs like london broil or top round) are cheap but they usually aren't very good. It's better to splurge on one of the loin cuts (Ribeye, NY, T-Bone, Porterhouse).

How much fraud do you think goes on in terms of meat "really" being organic or local or sustainable or grass-fed or whatever?

Oh, probably a decent amount. I visited this farm in Marin recently, and the farmer spilled the beans on a trendy new term: "pastured" beef. Pastured basically means that it's standing on grass but it's still eating corn.

That guy's beef is 100% grass fed. As a result, it's not very good in the winter and spring, because his cows are not fat enough. But it's exceptional in late summer, when they're at the peak of fattiness.

I still think the best cheap meat purchase is the pork shoulder, but do allow for proper cooking time, whether it is slow cooker, smoker, etc.

You can cube a pork shoulder, season the chunks, and roast them at...400?...and have them be fall-apart tender in about an hour. You'll want to stir/flip/agitate them every 15 minutes or so.

A bone-in skin-on chicken thigh, seasoned with only salt and pepper, then put under the broiler is a fabulous thing. Don't skimp on the salt, cook it for about 10 minutes skin-side down, then skin-side up until it comes to 165 degrees. Meat + salt + pepper + fire is all you need.

What the hell should I do with very thin (about 1/4 inch) beef shoulder steaks (I think they're the same cut as a cross rib steak)?

I would personally stay away from cheap chicken for a variety of reasons. As many know California recently banned fois gras, but I would be surprised if they were anywhere near the cruelty and scaryness of mass market cheap chicken farms, and a hell of a lot safer to eat.

Another thing about organic/local food. I don't know how much outright fraud there is. But there is certainly marketing chicanery. A lot of people no longer trust the "certified organic" label. Now that Walmart, Target etc have all their own organic lines, especially. These companies can afford to be as efficient and cheap as possible while just barely satisfying organic requirements, ignoring the spirit of the law, and driving down prices which small farms can't keep up with.

Also, it's expensive to get certified organic. Here in Northern California there is no organic slaughterhouse anywhere close by. So very little of the Bay Area's best local meat is certified organic.

"Sustainable" of course isn't a real certification, it's a claim that anyone can make, and I'm sure that many of those claims are false.

What the hell should I do with very thin (about 1/4 inch) beef shoulder steaks (I think they're the same cut as a cross rib steak)?

That's a weird way to do that cut. Cross rib is usually used for pot roast and such. I would just cube them up and braise them.

Another thing about organic/local food. I don't know how much outright fraud there is. But there is certainly marketing chicanery. A lot of people no longer trust the "certified organic" label. Now that Walmart, Target etc have all their own organic lines, especially. These companies can afford to be as efficient and cheap as possible while just barely satisfying organic requirements, ignoring the spirit of the law, and driving down prices which small farms can't keep up with.

Know your meat supplier. The above frustrates me a lot.

They're _really_ thin. Cubing them up is essentially grinding them up.

This is the only thing I found that actually seems to call for what it is I have. Everything else wants a thicker cut.

Beef Shoulder Steaks with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce

I loathe mushrooms and don't tend to have red wine handy.

ah, waiting 3 innings.

went to my first and only game at Dodger Stadium, mid-1980s.
just after the All-Star break, iirc, and a matchup of studs Hershiser and Andujar.

went to get a Dodger dog in the top of the 4th, line had about 10 people ahead of me, but ok I'm hungry.
3 full innings later, I got my dog.

#customerservice
#inanLAminute

I would personally stay away from cheap chicken for a variety of reasons.

I'll give you a reason - that Ross 708 broiler bird you're buying goes from egg to carcass in 42 days on the button. That's nowhere near enough time for that bird to develop any flavor in those hypertrophied breasts. You give that broiler another 6-8 weeks and it's like the difference between a vine-ripe summer tomato and one of those reddish racquetballs you get in your supermarket the rest of the year.

Ooh, a steak thread! I'm a big fan of strip steaks - good flavor, excellent size and not obscenely expensive. But the chuck eye sounds interesting.

In the Lounge, Harvey once told me I'm not a man because I've never had a porterhouse. That stung.

You're half a man apparently.

Right now my favorite cheap cut is the pork porterhouse. Get them at Eastern Market. Two of them are like 8 bucks total.

In the Lounge, Harvey once told me I'm not a man because I've never had a porterhouse. That stung.

The truth is what makes it hurt so much. But yeah...bones are flavor.

Well, he could be eating a KC strip steak.

that's why you buy a pork chop with the bone as opposed to pork chops w/o.

bottom line, pork doesn't get the love it deserves, lots of ways to drew it up.

Just had a fantastic Double cut pork chop at 21st Amendment in SF. Hmmm..

#32 thanks for the info. the main problem I have with cheap chicken, and cheap meat in general, is that you have to cook the hell out of it to make sure you dont get some alien bacteria or something. i like rare to medium rare with steaks and medium rare with pork and lamb, and juicy with chicken. its why i almost never order chicken out unless I know where they got their chicken... My wife insists on chickens (and eggs for that matter) from Petaluma. At the price of the cheap chicken in the market i assume it will either not be worth eating or kill me.

For some reason people think if it costs more it is healthier or more sanitary. That isn't really true. The cheapness or expensiveness of the product doesn't determine whether or not you get sick from it. The cut, how long it sat on a shelf or in your fridge, how it is prepared and how YOU handle it or cook it will determine whether or not you get sick from it 99% of the time.

There are no fly by night meat companies looking to make a quick buck and then skedaddle.

WE've been marketed to the point of brain washed on price equaling safety or lack of it. It's how companies increase their profit margins.

I've never had a pork porterhouse, but it sounds fantastic. For a beef porterhouse, I really just salt/pepper and either pan-fry or grill. I sometimes use a store-bought rub for tougher cuts (I know, I could make my own that tastes better, but this one is pretty good and I can't beat the convenience).

I've got a nice rub that I use for boneless porkchops to make them a little sweeter, since the boneless cuts are a little bland on their own. What would you recommend for the pot porterhouse?

What would you recommend for the pot porterhouse?

A pipe made out of a beef bone?

A good cheap cut of beef is short ribs, basically rib eye. Braise those babies up.

I've got a nice rub that I use for boneless porkchops to make them a little sweeter, since the boneless cuts are a little bland on their own.

If you ever run out of your rub, I recommend olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and a grill. Quick, easy, cheap and the pork comes out very juicy. Toss it all in a zip-loc bag with the chops and they are a nice add to any bbq.

I just worked in a butcher shop for a year. I am here to answer your beef questions.

How much more expensive is it to buy meat at a butcher, vs. a supermarket?

I think sirloin is getting a bad rap here. Yeah, it can be tough, but marinated properly it has a lot of flavor.

You should go to the butcher and get a good cut freshly ground if you're having tartare, though I have to admit that I'm not always careful with the raw beef I'm eating. OK, I'm very rarely careful.

They have an $18 steak sandwich at Turner Field.

The $26 "Boomstick" at Rangers Ballpark laughs at Turner Field's $18 steak sandwich.

The $26 "Boomstick" at Rangers Ballpark laughs at Turner Field's $18 steak sandwich.

And I'll laugh at the people buying that too.

For a pork porterhouse you can do a maple syrup brine. I think I posted a recipe for one on BTF before. Yep, found it

5 cups cold water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup kosher salt
2 cups Maple Syrup
2 T Molasses
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ginger

and then it trails off. I'm pretty sure the recipe also included star anise, it might not contain cinnamon. That might be one of the little changes I made to the recipe.

And if you want to double down you can then make a maple syrup demi. Grill the porterhouses off, place in a pan, with the demi a 1/4 to a third of the way covering and finish in the oven to desired doneness. The grilled porterhouse will add a smokey flavor to the maple demi.

Outside that favorite one of mine there are a zillion brine recipes that are available.

Do you cooking folks have any recommendations for websites with good cooking discussions? I enjoy the tone and content of these sorts of discussion here but, obviously, as this is a baseball site they don't happen all that often...

The $26 "Boomstick" at Rangers Ballpark laughs at Turner Field's $18 steak sandwich.

Alright you primitive screwheads. Listen up! See this? This is my boomstick!