People today have a meat-heavy diet, largely due to the fact that meat has become more and more accessible and is conveniently packaged in plastic, meaning that consumers have lost any connection with where the meat actually comes from. Understanding and learning where different cuts of meat originate from on an animal not only helps you to be more economical but it also gives us, as home cooks, a better understanding of the ingredients we are cooking with. In this section I outline some of the cheaper cuts of meats and meat products, many of which are included in recipes throughout this book. Give them a try, and you will be happily surprised by the results!
Finally, while I love my meat, I do think it’s important to keep a balance, so try to eat a varied diet and cook some meals that are not completely centred around meat.
It’s important to ask questions about the meat you buy, and this goes for pork in particular. With it being such a regular part of modern everyday diets, corners are often cut in the production of pork products. Ask for meat from pigs that have been reared slowly with natural feed. Good-quality pork meat should have a soft pale-pink colour. The main retail cuts of fresh pork are shoulder, loin, belly and leg. Some cheap cuts to ask for are:
Pork shoulder
The discovery of this cut while writing this book was a real revelation for me. It’s incredibly cheap, really delicious and feeds a crowd. Try using it in my Porchetta. Meat from this cut is quite fatty, so it suits slow roasting at a low temperature for incredibly tender meat, and produces beautifully crispy crackling.
Pork belly
Pork belly is a widely popular cut of meat in Asia, and is loved for its fantastic crispy crackling and tender meat. It’s very affordable and easy to cook.
Pork kidneys
Ask your butcher to prepare these for you into nice strips. You should soak the kidneys either in water with lemon juice or in buttermilk for an hour or so, to make the flavour milder and remove any bitterness.
Ham hock
A ham hock is an extremely cheap cured cut of ham from the thigh of the pig. Hocks need to be boiled for an hour or two to make the meat tender, after which the meat can be shredded and used in a huge variety of dishes; it also freezes nicely.
Trotters
Also known as crubeens in Ireland, these may not be the most attractive of pork cuts but they are certainly tasty. They are wonderful added to stocks or stews to produce a rich, thick gravy, as they contain quite a lot of gelatin.
Sausage meat
For a cheaper alternative to minced pork, you can buy sausage meat from most butchers. Use it wherever you would minced pork, or add seasonings, wrap in puff pastry and bake in the oven for homemade sausage rolls.
When buying more expensive cuts of beef, such as fillet or sirloin, make sure to look for meat with a deep, rich, red colour and good marbling (little streaks of fat running through it). These streaks of fat melt away during the cooking process, essentially keeping the meat moist. Try to avoid meat that looks grey, or meat that is a really bright red colour, which can indicate that it hasn’t been hung for long enough. With the cheaper cuts of meat, you will find a lot more fat and muscle tissue; these add a richness to the meat when it’s cooked slowly over a low heat. Inexpensive cuts to look out for are:
Beef shin
When cooked slowly in the oven, shin of beef becomes meltingly tender and delicious. Use it on the bone; it will enrich any stew or casserole you add it to.
Skirt steak
Skirt steak has a good marbling of fat and is often best used sliced up in stir-fries. However, make sure not to overcook it, as it can become tough.
Chuck steak
Chuck steak is an inexpensive cut from the neck and shoulder of the cow. It can be quite tough, so does not suit fast cooking methods, but it is ideal slowly braised or chopped into pieces and stewed.
Beef brisket
Beef brisket comes from the lower chest of the animal and, like many of the cheaper cuts, is quite tough, so requires slow braising to make it beautifully tender. It is a boneless cut of meat, which makes for easy carving and is perfect for pot-roasts.
Oxtail
Oxtail is perfectly suited for slow braising and stewing and is wonderful for making rich beef stock. When the tough muscle tissue is slowly cooked over a low heat you are left with beautifully tender meat. Try this in my dad’s oxtail!
Mass consumption of chicken has meant it is no longer a special-occasion ingredient but an everyday one. If your budget allows, choose free-range and/or organic chicken, for the health of the birds, ourselves and the environment. When you buy a whole chicken, use all the meat and save the carcass to make stock. If you buy portioned poultry, legs and thighs are cheapest and the most flavourful. Also, don’t forget turkey; this underused meat is cheap, but tasty, and turkey mince makes a healthier and cheaper alternative to pork and beef mince.
Basic rich chicken stock
1 Put at least 2–3 roasted chicken carcasses into a large 9-litre (16-pint) pot and fill with cold water to just below the rim.
2 Add about eight black peppercorns, an onion sliced in half (with its skin on), two bay leaves, two peeled carrots and two celery stalks.
3 Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 2 hours, skimming any fat or froth from the top every now and then.
4 Strain the stock through a sieve or colander and discard everything but the liquid.
5 The stock can be used in soups, stews, sauces and more. If you want to freeze it, allow to cool before dividing amongst freezer bags and placing in the freezer.
Portioning chicken in 5 easy steps
Buying a whole bird is by far the most economical way to buy chicken, and learning how to portion it into eight pieces is a good practice which allows you to use each part separately as needed.
1 Place the chicken on a chopping board breast-side up and use a sharp knife to slice off the wings, one at a time, by inserting the knife where the wings meet the carcass. You should be able to get the knife into the socket and slice through easily.
2 Pull one of the legs upwards and slice in between the leg and body until you meet resistance at the socket. Slice down through this and remove the leg. Repeat with the second leg.
3 Pull the leg and thigh away from each other and then insert the knife at the join and slice through. Repeat with the other leg.
4 Slice the remaining carcass in half horizontally to remove the backbone, and save this for stock.
5 Flatten the breasts on the board and use the knife to slice down the centre to separate the two halves. You now have eight separate pieces of chicken: two each of wings, thighs, legs and breasts.