Seasonal Meat
Jan. 5th, 2023 07:39 amIt is lamb season.
I am not actually buying any lamb, because getting it via the meat share is all like $20 a pound for the cheapest cuts. Heart is actually reasonably priced-- $13 for a two-pound pack-- but I have a strict limit of one weird mysterious meat that I don't really know how to cook and currently that slot is taken up by the oxtail which is still in my freezer and is likely going to stay there until the current COVID wave goes down because it's meant to be something Mathfriend and I do together as a big Saturday cooking project. (In an ideal world, joined by his partner, who is also a good friend and dropped in our Zoom call on Tuesday which reminded me how long it's been since I've seen her, and so now I'm even more like "Yes, both of you, come and play board games all day while the stuff simmers in the crock pot!")
So I'm not adding any new mysterious meats, thus no lamb heart. I'd buy tongue-- I do beef tongue by just sticking it in the crock pot for a while; I can't imagine lamb tongue is that different-- but I don't pay $16 a pound even for fancy cuts of things and I can get beef tongue for a bit less than half that.
Mind you, I'm not someone who buys into the whole "lamb is BEST MEAT" thing. Maybe it's just my indifferent cooking skills but I haven't noticed that much of a difference the times I've eaten it? Most things are better when they're not factory farmed, so maybe it would be different this way, but... who knows. (Maybe next year I'll have enough money and be confident enough in my cooking skills to feel justified in ordering something as a treat?)
Meanwhile, my extras for the next delivery are a pound of hot dogs, a pound of butcher's grind (which makes excellent meatballs), a pound of bacon ends and pieces, and one whole beef tongue. (This is on top of the standard 5-6 pounds of ground meat/sausages/whole chicken/occasional roast.)
I am not actually buying any lamb, because getting it via the meat share is all like $20 a pound for the cheapest cuts. Heart is actually reasonably priced-- $13 for a two-pound pack-- but I have a strict limit of one weird mysterious meat that I don't really know how to cook and currently that slot is taken up by the oxtail which is still in my freezer and is likely going to stay there until the current COVID wave goes down because it's meant to be something Mathfriend and I do together as a big Saturday cooking project. (In an ideal world, joined by his partner, who is also a good friend and dropped in our Zoom call on Tuesday which reminded me how long it's been since I've seen her, and so now I'm even more like "Yes, both of you, come and play board games all day while the stuff simmers in the crock pot!")
So I'm not adding any new mysterious meats, thus no lamb heart. I'd buy tongue-- I do beef tongue by just sticking it in the crock pot for a while; I can't imagine lamb tongue is that different-- but I don't pay $16 a pound even for fancy cuts of things and I can get beef tongue for a bit less than half that.
Mind you, I'm not someone who buys into the whole "lamb is BEST MEAT" thing. Maybe it's just my indifferent cooking skills but I haven't noticed that much of a difference the times I've eaten it? Most things are better when they're not factory farmed, so maybe it would be different this way, but... who knows. (Maybe next year I'll have enough money and be confident enough in my cooking skills to feel justified in ordering something as a treat?)
Meanwhile, my extras for the next delivery are a pound of hot dogs, a pound of butcher's grind (which makes excellent meatballs), a pound of bacon ends and pieces, and one whole beef tongue. (This is on top of the standard 5-6 pounds of ground meat/sausages/whole chicken/occasional roast.)