A Post reader recently asked via e-mail,
“Why is it so difficult, if not impossible, to find old-fashioned ‘peasant’ foods? Lamb necks, thick veal breasts with a pocket to stuff and pickled tongue were poor-man delicious foods that I cooked years ago, but those cuts don’t seem to exist anymore. If you do happen to find them they’re now luxury foods. Why? I’m sure the animals still have the same parts. Are they shipped overseas? I have to buy my good beef soup bones with cartilage or marrow at the halal butchers.”
The short answer is: The bones and cuts of meat she’s missing are out there — you just have to know where to look.
Adam Danforth, author of “Butchering Poultry, Rabbit, Lamb, Goat, and Pork: The Comprehensive Photographic Guide to Humane Slaughtering and Butchering” (Storey), which won both James Beard Foundation and International Association of Culinary Professionals awards this year, offers a broader perspective: “Quite frankly, we don’t have a culinary culture that values the entire animal, and, true to form, our cuisine doesn’t appropriately revere the animal.
Advertisement
"It's shown not only in our food but also in our approach to agriculture. Our priorities are very short-term. I don't think there ever was a truly broad demand for [such] cuts ... in modern, post-WWII America."
When we as a major-chain-grocery-store-shopping nation ring the little buzzer back in the meat department, we most likely interact with cutters, not butchers. Almost all the meat these days comes broken down and vacuum-packed, not in carcasses that can be dispatched into many parts.
Our inquisitive reader might find those lamb necks at Harris Teeter stores, according to corporate communications manager Danna Robinson, because HT cutters receive “chucks” of lamb to which some necks are still attached. But if no customers are requesting them, they probably won’t be put out for sale. The necks are fresh and sold daily at halal butchers. At Halal Meat and Seafood in Hyattsville, they go for $4.99 per pound.
Advertisement
Wegmans carries a wide assortment of so-called “variety meats,” including beef tongue and hearts, frozen/cut-up goat, turkey tails, veal brains, pig tails, knuckles and tripe. But they’re rarely considered regular-enough items to be in the case on any given day. The stores can turn around your special orders in a week’s time, says Jo Natale, the company’s vice president for media relations.
“The industry has shifted,” she says. “The cost of transporting whole carcasses and considerations of food safety, handling them multiple times, are all factors.”
Lots of those kinds of cuts are more readily available at ethnic markets. Gary Pavoni, a longtime wholesale buyer/seller at Spectrum Foods in Landover, says large-scale packers such as Cargill and National Beef sell directly to Hispanic and Asian chains, where the demand is greater and prices are kept fairly low. The Americana Grocery stores in Northern Virginia and Maryland carry a good selection of our inquisitive reader’s “poor-man delicious” foods.
Advertisement
“The demand comes from communities where the culinary culture reflects a zero-waste approach to eating animals,” author Danforth says. “It’s not always based on reverence, but it’s certainly based on wasting as little as possible.
Share this articleShare"These cultures also know what the most flavorful parts of the animal are, and that older animals are more flavorful. They can turn 'cheaper' cuts into delicious food, because the cheaper cuts often come from working muscles, areas of a body that develop deeper flavor. And to cook them takes technique. Areas like these — necks, cheeks, tails, feet, abdominal muscles — can't always be cooked on a grill, or quick-cooked ... so they aren't heavily marketed to Americans like 'middle meats' are," he says.
In fact, Danforth and others balk at the notion of “cheap” cuts, either because resourceful chefs are sourcing from small farmers where the true costs of meat production are apparent, the author says, or because meat is becoming more expensive in general.
Spectrum Foods’ Pavoni says beef tongue that cost $1.50 per pound a decade ago is now $3.25 to $3.50. At a butcher shop in the District, you might pay $9.99 per pound for beef tongue and slightly less for lamb necks.
Advertisement
“Blame the chefs,” says Pam Ginsberg, head butcher at Wagshal’s Market in Spring Valley. “Veal cheeks used to be $3.99 a pound. Now they’re $24.99.” (If I could write that number with the tone of voice in which it was delivered, it’d be all caps bold italic with tamped-outrage emoticons.)
“It depends on the quality you’re after,” she says.
Any vegetarians still reading?
And for the weekend ...
With sticky, cloudy weather in the forecast, you're not going to be braising and ragu-ing. So what to make? A refreshing cold soup. Check out the options in this week's Free Range chat or click on one of these from our Recipe Finder. They'll last into the week, fit for pack-and-go lunches or stay-at-home porch sitting. Some of them = no cooking. You're welcome.
What cheap cuts do you use and where do you find them? Share in the comments below.
Mango Gazpacho; Cool and Spicy Mango Yogurt Soup
Chilled Melon Champagne Soup; Chilled Blueberry Soup
More from Food:
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLmqssSsq7KklWSzsLvDaJ%2Bor12hrq6ujKecnKOjYq6vsIyvnJqkXZi1prHKrGSlp6OperW0xKKpZpuYmq6xecKuq2arpJbBtr%2BOa2dqbV9lgnB9lGiZbGlna390sYyfmG5xXWZ%2BpoCMcmdsaF2XgXh%2FkZyYnp6VbX6gv9OoqbJmmKm6rQ%3D%3D