Buying 1/2 a Beef?

[drstratton]

I use olive oil for everything. Suet is good to have, and of course, lard makes the best pie crust. It is getting hard to find lard these days. Everyone is afraid of fat.

I use olive oil too, I just don't like to use it if I'm cooking at a higher temperature. I also use Avocado oil (stands up to high temp better than Olive oil), bacon grease, tallow and lard! Tallow is expensive, so I'm excited to make my own. It's hard to find lard that isn't hydrogenated. We are raising 2 pigs, I will also be rendering the fat from those for the lard! I think more info is making it into the mainstream that fat has been demonized based on false information!

 

[Ridgetop]

Absolutely!!! There was a big push against butter in the 40's. Butter was scarce during the war. Like beef it was rationed to provide the most for the troops. Oleomargarine was produced and used due to the scarcity of butter. After the war it was advertised as being cheaper and better than butter. Later butter was vilified as bad for you and types of margarine were supposedly healthier and lower in calories. Then a study came out proving that butter was nutritious, the same calorie count, and not bad for you By then everyone in our generation had been raised on margarine and a lot of people don't even realize you can eat butter like margarine! Amazing what marketing can do. LOL Butter is still more expensive if you use a lot, but it has a better flavor, and is not anymore fattening. I certainly never bake with margarine.

 

[drstratton]

Absolutely!!! There was a big push against butter in the 40's. Butter was scarce during the war. Like beef it was rationed to provide the most for the troops. Oleomargarine was produced and used due to the scarcity of butter. After the war it was advertised as being cheaper and better than butter. Later butter was vilified as bad for you and types of margarine were supposedly healthier and lower in calories. Then a study came out proving that butter was nutritious, the same calorie count, and not bad for you By then everyone in our generation had been raised on margarine and a lot of people don't even realize you can eat butter like margarine! Amazing what marketing can do. LOL Butter is still more expensive if you use a lot, but it has a better flavor, and is not anymore fattening. I certainly never bake with margarine.

Yep, I never use margarine now! I grew up using butter, but when I got married my husband was used to margarine and it was cheaper, it was a hard switch and one that I'm sorry I made, knowing what I know now!

 

[Ridgetop]

I have been considering returning to butter when DS2 and FDIL move out. Or when DH and I move out. LOL I will try it when we go on our next trailer trip with just the two of us. Won't be too expensive then.

 

[bethh]

Hopefully your butcher is a good one. Where is he getting his beef from? Is it local? What grade does it cut? You want to make sure that it hangs a long enough time and has good marbling. Short hanging beef with poor marbling will not be tender.

We just ordered a beef half from our butcher. When I called him to bring in the locker lambs he said he was really busy because these local steers were coming in. $1.78 on the hoof. Very large Angus steers, cutting prime or choice. Price comes out around $4/lb. Kent vouched for them and he knows his quality. The grower is excellent with beef. Otherwise I don't usually buy a half steer anymore. I actually prefer lamb and goat.

Usually the butcher will cut and package custom to instructions. I have it packed for number of people eating every night. If I want a large cut for family holiday dinners (16 or more) I tell Kent how many people will be eating it. A good butcher knows the yield of what he is cutting.

Simpleterrier and Farmerjan: My mother used to buy what she called "hanging tender" years ago when it was an inexpensive cut but beautifully flavorful and tender. I think she said it is the meat hanging under the steers neck. Is that right?

Also, if you want the innards and bones for your dogs, ask up front and the butcher will save them for you. He has to pay to dispose of that stuff so is happy to give it to you to take away. Offal is the part predators eat first. The intestinal contents of getting vegetable vitamins. LOL Your wolf dog should love the offal served to it raw. The Eskimos prefer wolf dogs for their lead sled dogs I understand.

Here is a good story for you BYHers who have all met similar people. Years ago, when we had a lot of dairy goats, I got a call from a woman who wanted to buy goat milk. At the time milk sales were only legal for animal consumption unless you had a grade A dairy (see Babsbag's struggles). After telling her this, the woman said she wanted it for her sick wolf. She had a wolf she had somehow managed to buy without a permit for wildlife. She loved her wolf but in spite of her special diet for him, his hair was falling and he was lethargic. The vet didn't know what was wrong with him and she thought goats' milk might work. When I talked to her abut this she said she was feeding him boiled wild rice and vegetables. NO MEAT! Apparently, meat was carcinogenic.
She had done no reading about wolves or their diets, although "she loved them passionately". She was feeding this organic and vegetarian diet because it was healthier! I sold her the goat milk and gave her some organ meats (we had just received our annual fair meat (half steer, 1 hog, 3 lambs, 2 goats, numerous rabbits, and our freezers were full. I also referred her to the local wildlife rescue organization. She was irate at them because they had told her she had no business having a wolf. I could see why! I also referred her to some excellent books and studies on wolves, none of which she had read or heard of before acquiring her poor wolf.

Next she wanted to know how to cook the organ meats so thy would be "safe". She wanted to boil them for an hour to kill any cancer causing pathogens! I told her absolutely not to cook them but to feed raw. Then she decided she could soak the meat in food grade alcohol for an hour to make it safe. After half hour explaining why she should not do that, I told her that the wolf would be dead of old age before it contracted cancer from raw meat. Finally, she agreed to feed the raw organ meat to the wolf. After a week eating the raw organ meats, the wolf was better, and his hair was growing back. By now she was giving me 2x daily updates on his progress.
She confided her ambition was to buy an acre or so with a little house in the middle of the country where she could let her wolf run free. !!!!! I told her that someone would shoot it if she did that. She was horrified and asked why anyone would do such a horrid thing to her sweet wolf. I told her that I would certainly shoot any wolf I caught running free through my pastures! I asked her what she expected from ranchers whose livestock would be at risk from a wolf raised in captivity who had not learned to kill wild prey came after thf would do what was natural to it and kill or mutilate livestock. She stopped calling after that.

Oh yeah, she was a vegan and card carrying member of PETA. This is why I frown on trouble making organizations whose members do not do their homework about wildlife, livestock, farming practices, and woodland understory maintenance! Of course, people that know about those things do not join PETA.

Oh my, owned a wolf and a member of PETA.

 

[Baymule]

I rendered lard from our hogs. I love using lard. I committed the offense of having leg of lamb cut into round steaks, deboned and tenderized so I could chicken fry it. I fried some last night in lard, dang that is good stuff! I have a fantastic recipe for pie crust that uses lard and REAL butter, it is the best! We have two feeder pigs now, one is pre-sold. When we take them to slaughter, I keep the fat, the butcher grinds it up.

The cracklin's are delicious. ​

I also keep the offal and can it for the dogs, they love it mixed with their kibble.

We bought a calf this week. When the pigs go to slaughter, we'll get the calf and raise it over the winter. I'm going to keep the fat from it too.

LARD

I rendered l rendered lard for the first time yesterday. This is a thread for us to discuss lard, rendering it, canning it and using it in cooking. @frustratedearthmother @Britesea @Mini Horses @NH Homesteader and anyone else please add your experience to the thread! So yesterday I took out...

www.sufficientself.com

 

[drstratton]

I have been considering returning to butter when DS2 and FDIL move out. Or when DH and I move out. LOL I will try it when we go on our next trailer trip with just the two of us. Won't be too expensive then.

Once you do, you'll never go back!

 

[Baymule]

I quit using margarine years ago.

 

[drstratton]

I rendered lard from our hogs. I love using lard. I committed the offense of having leg of lamb cut into round steaks, deboned and tenderized so I could chicken fry it. I fried some last night in lard, dang that is good stuff! I have a fantastic recipe for pie crust that uses lard and REAL butter, it is the best! We have two feeder pigs now, one is pre-sold. When we take them to slaughter, I keep the fat, the butcher grinds it up.
The cracklin's are delicious.
I also keep the offal and can it for the dogs, they love it mixed with their kibble.

We bought a calf this week. When the pigs go to slaughter, we'll get the calf and raise it over the winter. I'm going to keep the fat from it too.

LARD

I rendered l rendered lard for the first time yesterday. This is a thread for us to discuss lard, rendering it, canning it and using it in cooking. @frustratedearthmother @Britesea @Mini Horses @NH Homesteader and anyone else please add your experience to the thread! So yesterday I took out...

www.sufficientself.com

Thank you for the link...looks like I have another group to join!!!

Do you find that it works better to have it ground up?

 

[drstratton]

I quit using margarine years ago.

So did I!