/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Look up a local butcher I guess. Normally I get my meat from a super market but if I'm in the mood for a decent steak or if I need to get some lamb/mutton I get it from the butcher down the street.

Occasionally a few guys show up at the farmer's market with beef/pork from the animal they killed recently.

About 90% of my meat ends up getting grilled over charcoal or roasted. I can't imagine getting tired of a grilled pork chop with a couple of sides. Grilled meat with rice, beans, steamed veggies and a biscuit or cornbread is my idea of a nice dinner.

>>10368

Get yourself a thick base cast iron skillet.

>>10369

I have one, actually.

Or, I suppose, my mom has one. They're a real pain in the ass to clean though, aren't they?

>>10371

in what way?

>>10371

Nothing a good soak, steel wool, and elbow grease can't fix.

>>10388

>>10389

I dunno, don't you have to clean it in a special way or leave it out to dry or something?

Whenever I find the usual stuff not doing it for me, I go for bison meat. It's basically better cow, I would definitely recommend.

>>10403

Oh shit, that's the good stuff. It's like, ten bucks a pound, though.

>>10390

Surprisingly, no. The "special treatment" is to protect the seasoning of the pan - the baked on layer of oil that turns into a nonstick coating.

I go so far as to use a disc sander to get it down to a smooth bare metal raw iron surface (but only when it's really bad), then wipe on an ultra thin coating of oil, then bake (upside down) until the oil dries

And as far as the meat goes, you can buy better meat than supermarket pretty easily. Sear then roast.

>>10434

I put mine in a self cleaning oven.

>>10456

Some of us don't have self cleaning ovens.

Realistically, normal handwashing and drying are completely workable, unless you scorched on bacon or were simmering tomato sauce.

Nothing to be afraid of, certainly nothing a mostly normal cooking inclined person couldn't accomplish.

>>10365

For good, fresh meat, random farmer's market dudes or local butcher.

I don't get any hard to find meats, aside from deer which is basically more delicious beef.

Chicken really tastes like nothing. Boil a piece of chicken. It tastes like wet dog. That's why you have to season the shit out of it.

For the meat boredom, try different dishes. Try different marinades, seasoning, sides.

>>10371

If your cast iron is hard to clean it's not seasonesmd right. It should literally just wipe clean. Wipe, rinse with hot water, dry, coat lightly with oil before storing.

>>10459

Buy better chicken, dude. Some farmers markets and butchers, especially in bigger cities, will likely sell heritage breed chickens, which have VASTLY more flavor- most modern chicken breeds are selected for fast growth and large breast size rather than flavor.

>>10365

Find yourself a good butcher or farmers market. Some things to look for/try:

>dry aged beef

If you've never tried it, it's worth it- head and shoulders better. ~40 days is ideal. Basically enzymes in the tissue break down protein strands, making the meat more tender and more flavorful.

>duck

The red meat of birds. Really deeply flavored and delicious. Whole ducks tend to be comparatively cheap. Break them down, cook the breasts and legs, roast the frames- use the bones for duck stock and keep the rendered duck fat for cooking.

>goose

I'd contend these are even better than duck, though way harder to find. Goose fat makes GOAT potatoes.

>elk

Probably really hard to find, although they are farmed in some places- but worth it. Incredible flavor, best eating mammals imo. Easy to overcook though, and get dry as fu k if you do.

>bison

Think 'beef plus' in flavor. Same issue as elk above- really lean, and so really prone to overcooking.

>heritage breed pork

Really worthwhile. Way more flavor, more marbling, often softer, tastier fat. Berkshire is probably easiest to find, but others (Duroc, spotted, mangalitsa etc) are better.

>less typical cuts

Some cuts of beef, pork etc are great but hard to find because they're not well known or popular. Hanger steak and skirt steak are like this to an extent, in that many grocery stores don't carry them, but there are tons of others- ask a good butcher and they'll point some out. Cheeks are another good example, especially pork cheeks- really flavorful, and get spoon-tender after a comparatively short braise.

>seafood

Depends on where you live, but near the coasts there's a huge variety out there and a lot of oeople never try most of it. Octopus, for instance, is god tier if cooked well. Also look into fish cheeks- they tend to be the meatiest, sweetest part of a fish.

>cooking methods and spicing

There's a virtually unlimited scope of ways to prepare your food. If you're getting bored, look to try new spicing (sri lankan? Jamaican? North african?), improve cooking techiques (when roasting chicken, use an animal fat like lard or duck fat- something that's 100% fat, unlike butter, and flavorful- and rub it under the skin as well as over the surface. This will prevent steam from forming that could moisten the skin, and effectively fry that skin from both sides), or use new accompaniments. Try some new veg. Make pasta if you never have- homemade ravioli or other filled pasta are GOAT, and homemade pasta will make bolognese feel totally different.

There's lots of stuff out there, you just need to look for it.

>>10657

Excellent post.

Check for CSAs in your area. You basically pay and get a certain amount of certain kind of cuts each month from a local ranch. The ones I've used in the past have been as good as possible, without being faggy organic. That is, they give sick cows medicine and use hay when droughts are making grass harder to come by. What kind of cuts you get depends on how much you pay, but for example $200 got me 30 lbs of meat, including 2 lbs of steak and some nice organs, with slabs of brisket and roasts. If you're in a spic-heavy area you may have a hard time getting stuff like the tongue or glands, so if you like to cook with those then you'll still have to shop, but it'll take care of most of your meat if you're willing to adapt.

>>10365

>Guys, I'm dying to know: Where do I get some good, fresh meat?

Where do you live? Any UK town or city will have at least one good quality butcher around, well worth trying out every one in the local area and seeing which are good.

>And what the fuck is up with chicken? Why is it so hard to make some tasty chicken without adding all sorts of shit to it?

Cheap chicken is mostly water and largely tasteless, not really worth the effort of cooking.