Making meat go further

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Making meat go further
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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Tue May 10, 05 8:36 am Post subject:

I am good at this in principle, but very bad in practice. I seem to have to very lucky dogs! they generally get anything that isn't enough to freeze for another meal, as is. Stews and things are not such a problem, as they generally are so full of veg, that a little meat goes a very long way.

Part of this is lack of a good butcher, as I cant get beef bones and so on without paying delivery, and a monthly box is too big for one month, and not enough for two, so I have difficulty using it all up, before the next is due. I always make stock if I can (the dogs love this, as they get the strained stuff minus the bones) and a roast chicken does us for three meals and the dogs for two, but I think there is room for improvement. I may have found a good butcher, so we'll see. What goes to the dogs is a substitute for their meat, so I suppose that salves my concience a little!

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Tue May 10, 05 10:39 am Post subject:

Shin of beef gets used in most meat dishes, tasty, cheap and makes great stock if needed. On the w/e I made a stew that fed 8 with two inch thick slabs of shin, plus loads of veg, pulses and a stock made from roasted bones

A good organic chicken should feed you for three days, main meal, leftovers (curry etc) and a fine stock with the carcass for soups or a risotto.

If I use something like chorizo then it can form part of a meal which is mainly rice and vegetables, likewise a mexican stew can use a small amount of chorizo and be bulked out with butter beans.

We also eat a lot of offal, my last trip to the butchers I got shin, liver, kidney, , stock bones and a large piece of silverside. The total bill was £13 and the silverside made up £9 of it.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Tue May 10, 05 11:14 am Post subject:

The way meat is served definitely makes a difference with us. A couple of weeks ago I bought a piece of topside - from this I made some posh burgers, and then sliced up the rest to freeze in various marinades for stir-frying. Tonight it is chilli beef stir fry - 95g between two people which is plenty. Had I just roasted or pot-roasted the topside, we would probably have snaffled half of it in one go!

The same goes for chicken. A roast chicken just disappears too quickly, so I normally joint them and freeze for separate dishes. Then I go over the carcase and cut off anything that is left - again there is usually enough to freeze in a chinese marinade for noodle soup. Livers get frozen until there are enough for pâté, and the giblets and carcase are rendered down separately for stock. The dog then gets anything left that is edible from the stockmaking.

Perhaps we should have a "how many meals can you get out of one organic chicken?" competition

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Tue May 10, 05 5:51 pm Post subject:

Tonights tea has inspired a couple of suggestions

We are having chicken wings in a thai curry

a 5-6lb chicken can feed two for 4-5 meals

you get 2 breasts both of which can be used in stirfrys pasta dishes
2 leg/thigh bits which can be roasted to be used in salad, fried rice
2 wings to go in the freezer till youu have 4 for a meal for 2
a carcass which if you portion like me still has lots of meat on it enough to make a stock then provide cooked meat to go in whatever you do with the stock, soup risotto etc or to go into the freezer till you have enough carcasses to make stock for the number of people you actually cater for

On the right chicken you can get breats which are 150-200g so if you bulk out with pulses you can probably serve 4

Secondly here is a nice recipe to go with lamb on the bone you can get shanks or neck quite cheaply

Harira

First I finely chopped, an onion, some celery, some garlic and a large bunch of fresh coriander.

Then the lamb shank was put in the pan with 2 litres of water and boiled for 5 minutes, skimming off the scum as it arose.
Then the chopped veg was added to the pot along with rounded 1/4tsps of ground cinnamon and turmeric, a rounded 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger a pinch of saffron and some nutmeg shavings. This was left to simmer for 30 minutes (It was covered at this point).

Then I added green and yellow split peas (both had been soaked for more than 4hours) and left to simmer for another 30 minutes uncovered. After this the shank was pulled out of the water and the meat pulled of the bone, chopped up and re-added to the pan along with tomato paste, the juice of a lemon and some (about 2 dessert spoons) of plain flour slaked with 50 mls of waters.

The spoon was simmered now untill the split peas were tender (about 10minutes) then butter and chopped fresh coriander were stirred through along with some
seasoning and it was served with warmed bread

Gertie

Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 6:26 am Post subject:

There are some very good tips that have been mentioned.

Personally, I don't eat meat, so I'm no help whatsoever.

If you live in Yorkshire it is traditional on a Sunday to have your Yorkshire Pudding (with gravy) first before you have your meat and vegetables. Apparently, this was to give you something to fill you up in the hope that not much of the beef would be eaten and kept back for another meal.

That's Yorkshire folk for you

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28120
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 6:32 am Post subject:

Gertie wrote:

It that tradition still current?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 9:45 am Post subject:
I never ever make any kind of curry that doesn't include vegetables or pulses, usually the meat content is lower than the veg. And I hardly ever cook boneless meat, the bones not only add to the flavour but also add to the visual bulk of the dish.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28120
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 10:01 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

I never ever make any kind of curry that doesn't include vegetables or pulses, usually the meat content is lower than the veg. And I hardly ever cook boneless meat, the bones not only add to the flavour but also add to the visual bulk of the dish.

I will always do some vegetable side dishes, but I am partial to say a Rogan Gosht, which aside from Tomatos and Onions is primarily meat. Not sure that one is one you can stretch as a dish. A lot of other curries like say the good old Vindaloo, has a veg base to complement the meat anyway.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 10:46 am Post subject:
In something like that I'd add some peppers, or at the very least a sprinkling of chopped greens, fenugreek, spinach or the like.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28120
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 11:19 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

In something like that I'd add some peppers, or at the very least a sprinkling of chopped greens, fenugreek, spinach or the like.

Naaa, I'll stretch a lot of things, and certainly eke things out via the side dishes, but certain dishes are all about the meat.

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 11:55 am Post subject:
I make sure that whan I buy a chicken I get one with giblets, so that I can make pate as well. Too many suppliers leave the giblets out, I only know of one at the farmer's markets that includes them!

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 1:55 pm Post subject:

I always do masses of veggies - even with a roast, if you looked at the plate, I reckon only fifth of it would be meat, crammed in amoung the roasties, stuffing, yorkshire pud, regular veggies and bread sauce or whatever.

Steak and chips is served with garlic mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, salad and roasted veggies, and thats a 'treat' meal. Burgers are my big failing. Onion in them, and on them, and it my case thats about it. I hate salad crispy - I can't even imagine what its like warm and limp in a burger!

Pilsbury

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 6:10 pm Post subject:
lots of veggies and pulses in a stew and a good flavoured sauce with a lump of meat, it coats the meat then takes up extra room on the plate and gives you something tasty to dip veg and potatoes in with a good meat flavour.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 8:48 pm Post subject:
funny, I never think of it as eking out the meat (I know traditionally that's where it started) but I like a stew with lots of veggies, and all the pastry, barley, yorkshire puds and stuffings and things. I do think you need meat in it, but not much.

nettie

Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 5888
Location: Suffolk

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 8:53 pm Post subject:
Me too WW, and in a way it's more important to have the meat stock than the actual meat itself.

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