Buying half a cow?

[blissful]

Ask for the marrow bones! and the heart. That sounds about right. I think the last time I bought 1/2 a beef, I had 275 lb of meat. You will need a freezer large enough. I had my ground beef packaged in 1-1/2 lb and had the roasts cut, boned, and tied.

CWS--I asked for the soup bones and I have (5) 2 lb packages, the heart is 4 and 1/2 lbs. I had the roasts with the bone. And hamburger in 2 lb packages which is big enough for a meat loaf and 2 days worth (at least) of meat. Meat loaf on day 1, meat loaf sandwiches on day 2.

 

[blissful]

...and one tri tip since it's only half a cow.

Roadfix--I still don't know what a tri tip is all about--'it's all the rage these days'. Aren't they illegal in the midwest? Thank you though for the suggestion.

 

[blissful]

Blissful--I just got 1/2 a deer, including the heart. I pierced it and slide slices of garlic in it, put it in a pot with water and the type of spices on uses for corned beef. I simmered it until it was about 180 F. It was tender and oh so delicious (hot, and on sandwiches). I would do the same with a beef heart. They are large, however, so you might want to cut it in half and just cook 1/2.

St. Patricks day is coming up very soon. Do you think it would be good aged in some corned beef brine and spices and then made this way? My son's birthday is around that day, and we usually do a corned beef dinner.

OH roadfix, actually constance--forgot to mention, we received (2) 1 lb containers of beef liver--it's all for me since no one else here loves it like I do. It's good for iron deficiency, so I sometimes crave it.

 

[CWS4322]

St. Patricks day is coming up very soon. Do you think it would be good aged in some corned beef brine and spices and then made this way? My son's birthday is around that day, and we usually do a corned beef dinner.

I didn't brine the heart, just used the spices (probably a bit more bay than one uses with corned beef). I didn't think of brining it...I don't know why it couldn't be done...did you try a search on the web? The meat tasted more like pickled tongue (if I had to explain how it tasted). I like heart, so I like the "beefiness" of it, but I couldn't get the DH to even put a sliver in his mouth--he doesn't eat organ meat...I tried to explain heart is MUSCLE, not at all like liver or other organ meats...

 

[simonbaker]

watch out for bone chips in the ground beef. Sometimes that has been known to happen.

 

[taxlady]

Danes often brine the tongue, similar to corning beef, before cooking. It's so yummy. Makes a fabulous cold cut.

At a restaurant (in Denmark), one of my uncles was listening to the list of cold cuts and said, 'Ew, no tongue for me. I don't want to eat something that has been in someone else's mouth." Waitress, "What would you like?" Uncle, "Egg." and then he burst out laughing.

 

[blissful]

CWS--I did google brining the heart--I think I'll do that starting tomorrow and then cook it as our 'corned beef dinner'. I'm going to have to have a friend cut it up for me--take out the veins and whatnot--otherwise I'm not sure I could eat it.

Simonbaker--good point--we did get a sample package of ground beef before we decided to go with this processor. It was lean, no bone chips. It's a woman and her husband and they do it all themselves. I was warmed in my heart at meeting them, they seemed happy and well organized and truly kind. I told her how nice it was to see a couple that was married and also worked together. She just shined. They are the kind of people I want to know.

 

[Andy M.]

Buying Half A Cow????

Why buy half a cow if you can get half the milk for free???

 

[blissful]

taxlady, AndyM.......

everyone knows what comes out of a chicken's butt is better than what comes out of a cows mouth!!!

Okay here's the approximate inventory: almost 268 lbs, the first number is the number of packages, then a description, then lbs/package on average, then total weight.
1 suet 12 12
6 stew meat 1 6
48 hamburger 2 96
5 short ribs 3 15
2 rump roast 3.25 6.5
8 chuck blade roast 3.5 28
3 chuck blade arm roast 3 9
8 round steak 2.75 22
7 sirloin steak 2 14
2 sirloin steak 1 2
3 rib steak 2.5 7.5
3 rib eye steak 1.5 4.5
3 t-bone steak 2.5 7.5
2 porter house steak 3 6
5 soup bones 2 10
3 tip roast 3.5 10.5
2 liver 1 2
1 tongue 2.75 2.75
1 heart 4.5 4.5
1 oxtail 2 2






So now if anyone is thinking of buying half a beef, they have a little more information than they had yesterday.

 

[Andy M.]

That works out to $3.50 a pound on the average. Not so good for ground beef but very good for steaks.

 

[blissful]

That works out to $3.50 a pound on the average. Not so good for ground beef but very good for steaks.

Andy M, can you show me your work? (I always wanted to be a math teacher, just so I could say that.) Maybe I'm not calculating it right.

On our meat celebration day (today), we made some hamburger, noodles, green and red peppers, onions, black olives, creamy sauce and macaroni--the meat was so lean, no fat after frying--fat is good for brain development, leading me to believe that the lack of fat is causing the math problems.

 

[Andy M.]

$1.90 per pound carcass hanging weight + $0.42 per pound cutting and wrapping = $2.32 per pound. x 405 pounds = $939.60 total.

$939.60/268 net pounds = $3.51 per pound.

I'm expecting an 'A' for this.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

$1.90 per pound carcass hanging weight + $0.42 per pound cutting and wrapping = $2.32 per pound. x 405 pounds = $939.60 total.

$939.60/268 net pounds = $3.51 per pound.

I'm expecting an 'A' for this.

Did you have to take your socks off?

 

[simonbaker]

In my adolescent years, on the farm, My mom would boil the tongue then peel it. She would slice it real thin. Then, my dad would make a real sour brine with onions in it & keep it in a glass gallon jar. It actually did not taste to bad if you did'nt think about what you were eating.

 

[Poppinfresh]

taxlady, AndyM.......

everyone knows what comes out of a chicken's butt is better than what comes out of a cows mouth!!!

Okay here's the approximate inventory: almost 268 lbs, the first number is the number of packages, then a description, then lbs/package on average, then total weight.
1 suet 12 12
6 stew meat 1 6
48 hamburger 2 96
5 short ribs 3 15
2 rump roast 3.25 6.5
8 chuck blade roast 3.5 28
3 chuck blade arm roast 3 9
8 round steak 2.75 22
7 sirloin steak 2 14
2 sirloin steak 1 2
3 rib steak 2.5 7.5
3 rib eye steak 1.5 4.5
3 t-bone steak 2.5 7.5
2 porter house steak 3 6
5 soup bones 2 10
3 tip roast 3.5 10.5
2 liver 1 2
1 tongue 2.75 2.75
1 heart 4.5 4.5
1 oxtail 2 2






So now if anyone is thinking of buying half a beef, they have a little more information than they had yesterday.

You bought half a cow. A cow has 2 tenderloins. Why didn't they give you one?

 

[FrankZ]

Was there a package of tenderloin? How about loin (strip steaks)?


And only 2 pounds of liver? Did you get the right or left half?

 

[taxlady]

You bought half a cow. A cow has 2 tenderloins. Why didn't they give you one?

Isn't the tenderloin in the T-bone and Porterhouse steaks?

 

[Poppinfresh]

Isn't the tenderloin in the T-bone and Porterhouse steaks?

The smaller portion of the meat in the "T" is tenderloin, yes.

But a tenderloin is....substantial. If you ever go to a place like Costco or the like, take a look at a whole one - they're 2-2 1/2 feet long. A couple of T-bones aren't going to come anywhere near what a whole tenderloin represents.

 

[taxlady]

The smaller portion of the meat in the "T" is tenderloin, yes.

But a tenderloin is....substantial. If you ever go to a place like Costco or the like, take a look at a whole one - they're 2-2 1/2 feet long. A couple of T-bones aren't going to come anywhere near what a whole tenderloin represents.

That same part of the Porterhouse is tenderloin as well. So, got some of the tenderloin. I know I would be disappointed if I didn't get the whole tenderloin.

 

[FrankZ]

That same part of the Porterhouse is tenderloin as well. So, got some of the tenderloin. I know I would be disappointed if I didn't get the whole tenderloin.

Disappointed is NOT the word I would use...