Meat Question

[Dan Morris]

For the last few months, almost every piece of beef that I buy
from Safeway/Kroger or Albertsons...Roast, London Broil or
steaks is so darn tough you can hardle chew it! I've tried oven roasting/grill and fried.No, it's not my teeth!
Any one else notice this? Crock Pot is ok...just no flavor. I'm thinking of going pork, fish or chicken.Deer and Elk in freezer is running a lil low!Hey, I was raised in cow country....even grass beef shouldn't be like this!
Dan

[skeet]

Tough meat in the west?? It can't be so!! To tell ya the truth the meat in Wyoming is terrible. We occassionally get a tender or somewhat tender piece of beef but not often. The good eating is sent back east I think. I grew up in meat country too but raised my family on deer. We also had lots of hog meat and chikin...but we raised out own except for the deer...and my crops paid for a lot of them. You're right Dan..meat is tough out here.

[FIJI]

the best we've found lately is from Costco & Sams Club ! I gave up buying it from my local small specialty butcher - told him he was selling cardboard.

[muledeer]

Haven't notice any meat that we've purchased being tough. Rib eyes at Cosco and Safeway are great. Did a teryaki London Broil last week and it was tender and tasty. Even did a tender meat loaf
muledeer

[Dan Morris]

As I have cards to both, guess I'll give it a try....gracias

Dan

[multibeard]

IMO The country has been sold a bill of goods by the Angus Beef Industry. It is susposed to be healthier for us due to being leaner.

I bought some ground angus chuck a while back as it was the only ground chuck on the shelf. Dang stuff ended up making the driest toughest burger I have ever tried to eat.

I eat alot of chuck roast. If I make the mistake of buying angus I end up with a pan full of water and dry stringy meat.

Another problem you guys might be running into out west is that the farmers are not grain feeding the cattle due to the high coast of corn. Grass fed beef will not compare to grain fed beef.

The last I knew Ponderosa Steak houses were using Argentine beef that came right off the range. That is why you get that funny taste and feeling in you mouth after eating one of there stakes. The tenderizer marinate they have to soak the meat in to make it chewable leaves that funny feeling in your mouth.

[jmarriott]

Independant Grocier Association.

My local IGA still has a butcher shop. Lean ground beef, T_bones with meat on both sides of the T, 3/4 inch porterhouse.

Have to stop my keyboard is going to get wet.

[skeet]

We have a few IGA stores around here. Their meat is just as bad ...if not worse than some of the other places. The meat from Sam's Club and Costco is ok though. Wally World is ok sometimes. Don't like spending too much money in WW but the local stores are 30% higher on many prices. IGA is the highest. Saw bananas at WW yesterday...58 cents a pound. Stopped at IGA on the way home and bananas were 89 cents a pound...and not as nice.?? But they don't have the buying power ya know. I am planting an acre of field corn just for feed for one of our beef critters. Just to finish him off ya know. And now momma wants some chikins so she can have fresh aigs. Darn woman is crazy. She wants to let 'em run loose...and we got coyotes up the wazzoo. Can ya bait coyotes legally??? Shot one last night with the S&W 28 I got the other day. Bout 40 yds and trotting . Guess it wasn't his evening

[Brother Rockeye]

if yer stuck buyin beef,look for Galloway.It grades finished on grass and with grain prices like they are...that counts.
I run Galloway cross and just butchered a 2 yr old for the freezer.He didn't get anything special before I plugged him and he turned out great.Super lean and tender,you can cut roast with a fork.I hung him 10 days before I cut/wrapped and like any meat,it makes a difference.

Hyland breeds finish better on less/no grain.

[Dan Morris]

Thanks for the comments...on deer/elk, I always hang for a week...no problems. In the city, I kinda gotta buy from the store.
I agree with the Angus hype. Growin up, we ate grass Herefords..
hung and no probs.
Dan

[skeet]

Angus..was ok but a bit fat and the last we used the fat was a bit rancid...something like deer fat. Charolais.. Worst piece of beef we ever raised. Ended up grinding the whole thing up. Some of the best tasting beef we ever had was Holstein...believe it or not. Course we were raising from calves. Herefords were ok too. We actually got some hamburger at the IGA in Powell Wy that was the toughest hamburger I ever ate. Tough hamburger?? Sheesh! Oh I always hung deer for a week..or longer if cold enough. Beef as long as we could hang it up to 2 weeks. We hung a holstein in the barn during some cold weather for 20 days. Most tender piece of meat we ever had. When we cut it it had very light ice crystals in the meat. Easy to cut too. When we did the hogs I sugar cured the hams. Oh man. they were good. When we killed a hog we didn't do shoats like they do now days. We killed HOGS. 390 to 450 lbs. A pork chop was more than half a plate itself. Did our own bacon , sausage and scrapple. We quit using the lard for cooking though. Momma thought it was bad for us. Course my Father in Law lived(at our house) till he was 97. Ate lard most of his life.