Went to the bootfair today (garage sale on a huge field for our foreign readers) as we do every Sunday.
We have been buying our meat directly off the back of this truck for the last 3 years, and I can honestly say that we have never had bad meat from him. And Nicola and I are not easy to please when it comes to meat. Prices are also much lower than in the shops.
The business side of the truck, usually 3 guys inside, one selling and two prepping/cutting/chopping whatever you asked for, and in this case one of his sons on the outside on a tall podium, collecting money and giving you your goods.
Part of the reason why I enjoy buying there is that the main seller is very clever and knows how to work an "auction" they start with a specific cut of meat, lets say Sirloin Steaks..... he tosses them into a hanging scale up to a price of lets say £10.00 then he asks if you want anything else, and will toss on two whole chickens, a pack of sausage and some bacon, saying you can have the lot for £20.00
Clearly, this is a bargain, now he will ask if you want to round it up to £30.00 with some minted lamb and burgers.
The next buyer often cannot get the last guy out the way fast enough to get his bargain as well.
Last week I asked him for some Silverside in a "Salmon cut" so basically the whole muscle in one. This is to make Biltong/Beef Jerky with. Today he had 3 in stock for me to choose from, one would cost me £20.00 (which is a reasonable price) I asked him how much for 2, to which he replied "£30.00 to you sir" I then asked for one pack of his 96% beef burger patties (usually 3 packs of 4 for £5.00) to be topped up to £10.00's worth of deboned chicken breast. He first weighed out the £10.00 chicken and tossed in the burgers, so that I felt I had got a decent deal.
When I got home I repacked the chicken and froze some up, some for a curry tonight, and kept some for BBQ along with the burgers later in the week.
The two Beef joints were 5kg on Nicola's kitchen scales, so worked out at £6.00/kg which is a lot less than the supermarkets.
First job is always to trim any sinew and fat away from the joints, which is a bit wastefull, but I tend to dry the offcut bits as treats for the neighbours dog, after all, if we were cooking the joint, it would all go in and be served up.
Cleared of most of the chewy bits.
In the background are the spices I mix up to use for seasoning once the beef is cut, has spent at least an hour in loads of salt, which draws off a load of fluid from the meat, after which ever piece is hand washed in vinigar, which sterilises and washes any excess fat of the meat.
The meat strips are now layered on top of salt and then covered in salt before adding another layer.
After at least an hour, drain off the fluid that the salt has drawn off, then rinse the meat in vinegar, squeeze dry and next up use secret combo of herbs and spices to cover the meat.
I seem to have lost the hooks I normally use, so got some armoured cable from the neighbours stash and made thinner hooks from it, not as nice, but seemed to work just fine.
I also made some Chilli bites, thinner strips, covered int he same herb/spice mix but with quite a bit of crushed chilli into the mix.
Lastly, hung up in my custom made dryer...... this should last up to a week to dry what is in the cabinet..... then NOMMM !!
Manky pieces in the front are the dogs treats.
Progress reports once the thin bits get to be dry enough to test.
So I know Lewis1234567.... does some seriously good meat processing, Bacon IIRC .
What do you guys do to keep busy, or to make something really special that your nan or grandad used to make ?
Progress report once the thin pieces get to a "testing point"
We have been buying our meat directly off the back of this truck for the last 3 years, and I can honestly say that we have never had bad meat from him. And Nicola and I are not easy to please when it comes to meat. Prices are also much lower than in the shops.
The business side of the truck, usually 3 guys inside, one selling and two prepping/cutting/chopping whatever you asked for, and in this case one of his sons on the outside on a tall podium, collecting money and giving you your goods.
Part of the reason why I enjoy buying there is that the main seller is very clever and knows how to work an "auction" they start with a specific cut of meat, lets say Sirloin Steaks..... he tosses them into a hanging scale up to a price of lets say £10.00 then he asks if you want anything else, and will toss on two whole chickens, a pack of sausage and some bacon, saying you can have the lot for £20.00
Clearly, this is a bargain, now he will ask if you want to round it up to £30.00 with some minted lamb and burgers.
The next buyer often cannot get the last guy out the way fast enough to get his bargain as well.
Last week I asked him for some Silverside in a "Salmon cut" so basically the whole muscle in one. This is to make Biltong/Beef Jerky with. Today he had 3 in stock for me to choose from, one would cost me £20.00 (which is a reasonable price) I asked him how much for 2, to which he replied "£30.00 to you sir" I then asked for one pack of his 96% beef burger patties (usually 3 packs of 4 for £5.00) to be topped up to £10.00's worth of deboned chicken breast. He first weighed out the £10.00 chicken and tossed in the burgers, so that I felt I had got a decent deal.
When I got home I repacked the chicken and froze some up, some for a curry tonight, and kept some for BBQ along with the burgers later in the week.
The two Beef joints were 5kg on Nicola's kitchen scales, so worked out at £6.00/kg which is a lot less than the supermarkets.
First job is always to trim any sinew and fat away from the joints, which is a bit wastefull, but I tend to dry the offcut bits as treats for the neighbours dog, after all, if we were cooking the joint, it would all go in and be served up.
Cleared of most of the chewy bits.
In the background are the spices I mix up to use for seasoning once the beef is cut, has spent at least an hour in loads of salt, which draws off a load of fluid from the meat, after which ever piece is hand washed in vinigar, which sterilises and washes any excess fat of the meat.
The meat strips are now layered on top of salt and then covered in salt before adding another layer.
After at least an hour, drain off the fluid that the salt has drawn off, then rinse the meat in vinegar, squeeze dry and next up use secret combo of herbs and spices to cover the meat.
I seem to have lost the hooks I normally use, so got some armoured cable from the neighbours stash and made thinner hooks from it, not as nice, but seemed to work just fine.
I also made some Chilli bites, thinner strips, covered int he same herb/spice mix but with quite a bit of crushed chilli into the mix.
Lastly, hung up in my custom made dryer...... this should last up to a week to dry what is in the cabinet..... then NOMMM !!
Manky pieces in the front are the dogs treats.
Progress reports once the thin bits get to be dry enough to test.
So I know Lewis1234567.... does some seriously good meat processing, Bacon IIRC .
What do you guys do to keep busy, or to make something really special that your nan or grandad used to make ?
Progress report once the thin pieces get to a "testing point"
