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Cheaper Cuts of Meat

Pig's heads? You mean something like this?
 

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Ha i get pigs heads from the butcher fairly frequently. If you get the whole head they are dirt cheap. I butcher it down for stewing meat - the cheeks are delicious if slow cooked.

Just need to skim the fat a bit as you have to render a little away or it can be a little too fatty for my tastes.
 
Pork cheek is delicious, well cooked, I agree. Similarly ox cheeks, but our butcher, who's main business is to the trades- care homes and hospitality never have any ox cheeks as they have become too popular with the restaurant scene.

Similarly, although I can buy bones for stock, we can't buy carcasses from him - much to my chagrin.
 
Liver is where it's at. The most nutrient dense food in the galaxy, for pennies. Guaranteed immortality and tastes like life itself.

BRB...
 
I’ve just found myself a local, well reputed butchers on a farm. Now I need to learn what to ask for and how to cook it! Any good links to get me started ?
 
I once got a local farmer in the Isle of Man to bring me in a pigs head at work. He duly obliged and brought it in on a day I was off. He put it in the fridge and freaked my employer’s PA out!
 
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Tipetoo said:
Depends how big the pig head is, I have had dubious honour years ago carving the meat off a roasted boars head, it did not feed every one there.

I rip the cheeks and the fat bit at the top off to put in the sausage mix, the rest gets buried deep with the guts.
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Oh no! What a crime! Pig cheeks are the best part of a pig. My Dad always swore at my mum when he found out the pigs cheeks were left in the pot for brawn.
Brought up on home-skinned rabbit & hand-plucked pheasant (both with lead pellets), brawn, scrag end, stuffed pigs hearts, pig & lambs liver, Xmas-treat Ox tongue with jelly (pigs trotter provided), lambs kidneys and Xmas Muscovy ducks from the orchard opposite. Oh and black pudding with nice chunks of fat (not like the modern emulsion) and fried haggis. I use pigs trotter, cow heels & chickey feet in my weekly running broths.
 
Lotties said:
Oh no! What a crime! Pig cheeks are the best part of a pig. My Dad always swore at my mum when he found out the pigs cheeks were left in the pot for brawn.
Brought up on home-skinned rabbit & hand-plucked pheasant (both with lead pellets), brawn, scrag end, stuffed pigs hearts, pig & lambs liver, Xmas-treat Ox tongue with jelly (pigs trotter provided), lambs kidneys and Xmas Muscovy ducks from the orchard opposite. Oh and black pudding with nice chunks of fat (not like the modern emulsion) and fried haggis. I use pigs trotter, cow heels & chickey feet in my weekly running broths.
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Chicken feet? Yes in certain countries they are fried or grilled as a snack.

Pigs trotters usually have a bit of meat on them too, don’t they?
 
Listlad said:
Pigs trotters usually have a bit of meat on them too, don’t they?
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The front end trotters have a bit more meat than the back end ones, I do not bother saving them in the brine.

Great to eat with a beer or three...
 
Listlad said:
Chicken feet? Yes in certain countries they are fried or grilled as a snack.

Pigs trotters usually have a bit of meat on them too, don’t they?
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Yep & Yep.
I use chicken feet & cow heels exclusively for broth.
Pigs trotters just hang aound in the stew until the cartilage falls off the bones and I just pick those out as and when.
 
HSSS said:
I’ve just found myself a local, well reputed butchers on a farm. Now I need to learn what to ask for and how to cook it! Any good links to get me started ?
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HSSS - a couple of years ago, we set ourselves a challenge to discover new cuts of meat, and my challenge was the cheaper cuts. My OH chose different meats - sort of buffalo or bison sort of thing.

We have a butcher we've used for years, so I explained my bit of the challenge and asked for help. He pointed out the generally cheaper cuts (many of which I knew about anyway), but he would also give me the heads up of anything that looked particularly nice and so on.

He never stopped, but it means we're often aware of bargains we might not have been looking for, and as he understands we get that fat = flavour, if the bargain of the day you is, say, pork loin roast, he'll magic up a slab of rind/skin for basting and of course eating.

It's really worthwhile, if you think you're going to be regulars at this place to build a bit of a relationship if you can.
 
Did I hear chicken feet? A delicacy in these parts....


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DCUKMod said:
HSSS - a couple of years ago, we set ourselves a challenge to discover new cuts of meat, and my challenge was the cheaper cuts. My OH chose different meats - sort of buffalo or bison sort of thing.

We have a butcher we've used for years, so I explained my bit of the challenge and asked for help. He pointed out the generally cheaper cuts (many of which I knew about anyway), but he would also give me the heads up of anything that looked particularly nice and so on.

He never stopped, but it means we're often aware of bargains we might not have been looking for, and as he understands we get that fat = flavour, if the bargain of the day you is, say, pork loin roast, he'll magic up a slab of rind/skin for basting and of course eating.

It's really worthwhile, if you think you're going to be regulars at this place to build a bit of a relationship if you can.
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Yeah I’m hoping to do that but there were at least 4 behind the counter and I didn’t really even know where to start. The questions I did ask kind of got blank looks. Eg I asked about sausages without fillers/rusk and got offered gluten free. I tried explaining it wasn’t about gluten but carbs and got more blank looks. They were unable to give me quantities of carb/filler/rusk and repeated go for the boring gluten free plain pork as they had no fillers at all. They had faggots. Same issues. So I think I need to go looking for ingredients for now and make my own having some idea of what I’m looking for. I did get some nice liver and belly Pork though.
 
Whatever happened to beef sausages? They used to be a staple in my family, but now i# cannot find anyone who makes or sells them. Not even the Farmers Market.
 
HSSS said:
Yeah I’m hoping to do that but there were at least 4 behind the counter and I didn’t really even know where to start. The questions I did ask kind of got blank looks. Eg I asked about sausages without fillers/rusk and got offered gluten free. I tried explaining it wasn’t about gluten but carbs and got more blank looks. They were unable to give me quantities of carb/filler/rusk and repeated go for the boring gluten free plain pork as they had no fillers at all. They had faggots. Same issues. So I think I need to go looking for ingredients for now and make my own having some idea of what I’m looking for. I did get some nice liver and belly Pork though.
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In your shoes, I'd ask what was in the sausages, or faggots. Our butcher does high meat sausages, but they do contain gluten, so out for me, and their GF sausages not only are devoid of gluten, but texture and flavour too!

They don't make their own GF products as they are too scared of cross contamination, which seems fair.

I have sausages from Asda of all places, but don't have them too often.

If you're looking at cheap cuts, then as about offers. I'd be looking at shin, cheek, skirt, liver, belly, neck or breast of lamb, offal if you care for it. I'd also be asking them about bones for stock. Our butcher, when asked, disappears into the butchering room and comes back with a carrier bag full of whatever they happen to be butchering at the time, or a similar amount, but frozen. No charge. I never, ever fail to be amazed by how much meat remains on the bones, to contribute to both the flavour of the stock, but to the body of a soup. The only bones I don't favour are lamb. The generated stock isn't to my taste.

If the butchers are any good, they'll even suggest how to cook some things.

A decent question that put us on to salmon cut beef was "if you're having beef/pork/lamb at home, whichever cut do you have?" The answer isn't always what you're expecting, but usually worth noting.

We bought our Christmas boneless rib of beef in earl yesterday December because the butcher stated it was at its absolute prime, and the other boneless rib inthe aging cabinets weren't quite as good. Who knows if it was a let's clear out as much as we can early tactic, but our festive meat was stunning.

We love our butchers, in a wholesome way.
 
My biggest issue is having no idea how to cook or what to do with these less common cuts that I might end up with. Any good resources you know of?
 
I’ve bought beef sausages fairly recently. Maybe Sainsbury’s, I shop all over the place so can’t be sure but definitely a supermarket
 
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