Water in beef

[rovers90]

I bought two 6 month old pigs from an organic farm I shoot and had them slaughtered and placed in a chiller for 4 days, got them back watched a demo on how to butcher a carcass on youtube and put 65 lb of pork in my freezer and the same in a mates for less than £1.50 per lb.

You would'nt belive how easy it is to do and how rewarding it is to cook and eat meat when you know exactly where its come from and what its been fed on.

For my next trick im going to buy a mincer and have a bash at making sausages.

 

Have always wanted to raise a few pigs - not a big fan of pork but love sausages, ham, bacon, salami, etc and think it would be fantastic knowing exactly where it came from.

[NFG]

Hi Dean et all,

 

Sorry to see your mince was watery

 

Unfortunately, this practise of interfering with food seems widespread. Whilst the label states 100% beef, there is a degree of water in meats. This becomes a problem if & when water is added, or if the rules relating to what can be called 100% beef are massaged/abused.

 

Being fortunate to reside in France with a bit of land, we produce a fair amount of our own food, mainly fruit & vegetables along with a few eggs we know theyve been sprayed with only rain water (well, hopefully) & no added preservatives etc. We also make our own Eau de Vie distilled from fermented plums which is used to make a variety of fruit Pineaus - fortified wine like Sherry & Port.

 

Meat here is good, but a little dearer then the UK so we eat it less & try to source locally or from the Saturday market supporting petit producteurs. It may cost a bit more but if you dont support your local shops then they eventually get done in by the big supermarkets. That said they do a nice leg of New Zealand lamb in Leader Price. We have a mincer so can buy cheap cuts & mince - maybe dearer than mince but we just eat it less often.

 

I think it important that people should try and source a little of their own food, in the UK we had a tiny garden but managed to grow loads. Its also important to pass these skills to the next generation otherwise the risk is total dependence on large markets & thats not good.

 

Thats my thoughts anyway

 

N

[difflock]

Forty years ago my father was complaining about the Abbotoir practise of hosing down the absolutly just throat cut carcass with icy water.

To prevent them bleeding out properly, thereby retaining more weight.

Cover story was "food hygine", need to get the meat chilled quickly.

Plus,

Brother got an animal "beefed" a while ago, a low value Cow helfier or sommat, absolutly not a high value bullock.

Had it hung for an extra 2 or 3 weeks.

The carcass lost an extra 20% in weight.

BUT was absolutly supberb eating, hardly needed cooking, def didnt need a steak knife or even teeth.

YUM YUM

Oh, and the mince was very very good since the guy who butchered it said, better throw some of the poorer cuts of meat in with the mince, you will have mince worth eating.

he was right.

So if a butcher is hanging his meat longer, he needs more £ per lb to compensate for the Angels share.

A joint of meat, if taken from the home freezer, and having been bought fresh, should NOT be surrounded by a puddle of watery blood when it is left to thaw overnight.

Nor should frying steak boil in the pan.

Quite disgusting.

Edited April 13, 2013 by difflock

[Dean Lofthouse]

It may cost a bit more but if you dont support your local shops then they eventually get done in by the big supermarkets.

 

N

 

Nail hit squarely on the head there

[geoff]

I watched this documentary a few years ago. In one part a butcher compares the meat sold in supermarkets to meat sold in a butchers, and shows you the common tricks used. A chef also shows you the difference between factory farmed chicken and free range one. They also show you how much fat is in modern factory farmed chickens.

 

Supermarket Secrets part 1

 

I just watched them,bit of an eye opener.

[Taupotreeman]

Next time you're in the supermarket have a look at the bacon and see how much water is added on the ingredients list. Some bacon has over 20% water in it. I'm not paying for water, I can get that out the tap thanks!

[breffni]

The thing is with the butchers we find is that it isn't much more expensive a d when u get to know them they always through in some extra as well!

 

 

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[Taupotreeman]

The thing is with the butchers we find is that it isn't much more expensive a d when u get to know them they always through in some extra as well!

 

 

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Always rounding down or throwing in a bag full of dog bones free. Something I don't like about buying meat on a styrofoam tray and wrapped in cling film, swimming around in blood. Prefer to be able to tell my butcher what cut I want from a hunk of meat hanging out the back.

 

 

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[breffni]

And being able to find out exactly where the meat comes from

 

 

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[Mike Hill]

I would rather Water in my Beef than "Welshmans Relish" in my Lamb.