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Caslon, neither Chief nor I said you go to a butcher store. He said, and I quoted, the phrase "Ask at the butcher shop part of the store". You know, "Meat Department". I shop in modern grocery stores, chain-style stores, and each of their meat departments has real-live, breathing butchers that operate meat saws and grinders and such - whether it is the 3-store chain at the corner or the nearly 100-store grocery chain that is my usual shop. Had you bought your meat there, smiled nicely, and asked politely, I bet you could have gotten a qualified butcher to slice the roast. And before you get any idea that I live in a thriving metropolis, my town has about 11,000 residents. Our daughter lives in a town half that size and even she has access to a major grocery store (Giant Eagle) with a staffed meat department.

Thank you for the clarification.:)

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Sorry, I didn't see that both of you weren't describing a butcher's shop, but rather your butcher at your favorite supermarket.

Another thing I just noticed shopping for my beef jerky meat. More and more cuts of beef are being put out on the shelves at major grocery chains that aren't butchered in the back room. More and more general cuts of beef are set out that are butchered far away, packaged and labeled for sale locally, much like you see when buying lamb roasts that are a product of New Zealand or wherever. Supermarkets are doing less butchering on site now I've noticed...and it's a bit alarming to me. They're relegating to outside companies more and more cuts of beef they used to butcher at the supermarket, including such regular cuts as top round roasts, to far away independent packaging companies. I never saw that before, until just recently.

When I asked the butcher, he could only say..."that's how we get them now...that's how they come to us."

P.S. I'm not talking about just one major chain, but all 3 major supermarket chains in my area.
 
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Caslon, that's a bummer! I knew that Wal-Mart started that practice ages ago, and Giant Eagle in OH was getting some pre-packaged meats in the early 2000s, but I didn't know that practice had gone "viral".

We have 7 or 8 different grocery chains within a 25 mile radius of our house. I know for a fact that Price Chopper, Market Basket, Wegmans and the little chain that has a store in our town all have in-house butchers. The butcher for the store in town actually lives about 5 doors up from us! They even grind their own beef in-house - no pre-ground beef there. I guess having this "luxury" in rural Massachusetts makes me thing it's available everywhere.
 
I'm not saying I can't go to the major 3 chain supermarkets and buy a roast that was butchered on site. I'm just noticing that more basic cuts of beef (beef roasts in particular) are now showing up pre-packaged like lamb roasts seen on the shelves. It's not alarming yet, but things are changing.

I used to never see a Top Round roast in other than the foam tray and shrink wrapped that was butchered in the back room. Not anymore to a degree. Things are changing at a few major supermarkets I shop at...like Vons, Ralphs, Safeway, Albertsons (Albertsons is now Haggen stores).
 
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To "steer" things back to topic, I'm thinking of using fattier cheaper cuts of beef for my beef jerky. It's not jerky that's gonna last, but I like a bit a fat in my jerky. Jerky that's not meant to last and has some fat in it sure tastes good.
 
The butcher shop I go to has complete animal halves delivered every day from the Midwest. When I lived just a couple of doors from the store in Everett, you would see a large 18-wheeler pull up every morning with a delivery. I don't get there very often today as I am dependent on Spike for a ride. But there have been many times I could ask for a special cut and then have to wait for it to be done. And then there is a shop up the street where I live now. The only drawback is that he can be on the pricey side. We also have a butcher shop down by our police station. They have been there for years. You can still buy a rabbit with the fur on. Most of the butchers there are way past old and will speak only Italian to you. They also make some of their own Italian cold cuts. It has been eons since I have been in that shop. So we still have the butcher shops in this part of the country. You just have to be willing to find them and then go out of your way. :angel:
 
We have a couple of butcher shops in the area, but they're quite pricey. I've asked for special cuts at the grocery store meat department occasionally and the butchers are happy to have something different to do other than their everyday work.
 
We're lucky to have a Fareway in the area, where they also have real butchers. The only issue I have with them is you buy your meat priced per pound before they cut it up, and if they trim it, they keep the scraps. When I buy a loin there, I take it home as is, and cut it up myself, keeping my own scraps.
 
We're lucky to have a Fareway in the area, where they also have real butchers. The only issue I have with them is you buy your meat priced per pound before they cut it up, and if they trim it, they keep the scraps. When I buy a loin there, I take it home as is, and cut it up myself, keeping my own scraps.
I would want my scraps too. OTH, maybe that's the "charge" for cutting it up to your specifications. :rolleyes:
 
We're lucky to have a Fareway in the area, where they also have real butchers. The only issue I have with them is you buy your meat priced per pound before they cut it up, and if they trim it, they keep the scraps. When I buy a loin there, I take it home as is, and cut it up myself, keeping my own scraps.

I had a butcher like that years ago. An illegal practice here in Mass. I used to make him wrap the scraps up and I would take them home. Fortunately, Spike worked for him in the store, (he was about 12 or so.) so he couldn't say very much. Or I would make him weigh it again with all the trimming gone. Then he could price it. Also, that was when the sales tax came into being here in Mass. You are supposed to tax all the items as group, not individually. I caught him doing that a couple of time and threatened to report him. That practice came to a halt real quick.

I worked in the tax department at the time. I learned a lot just working there. :angel:
 
I would want my scraps too. OTH, maybe that's the "charge" for cutting it up to your specifications. :rolleyes:


That's sort of the explanation I got the first time I bought a loin there and asked for my scraps.
 
I remember buying a bagful of chicken breasts (bone-in). I asked the butcher to debone them and save me the bones. He didn't believe me. Why on earth would I want the bones?
 
I remember buying a bagful of chicken breasts (bone-in). I asked the butcher to debone them and save me the bones. He didn't believe me. Why on earth would I want the bones?

Like asking if they have any fish frames to make fish stock. :angel:
 
I've opted out of having a butcher take a roast and slice it for me. I just bought a Top Round roast on sale at $3.99 lb. I wanted to try this cut of roast for jerky instead of a London Broil (which is just the lower slab of a Bottom Roast) or the too expensive Flank Steak. When I unwrapped the 2.65 lb. Top Round, there was quite a bit of fat that needed to be carefully cut off, which they don't show you when they package it. Also, a top round roast is somewhat cleaved in parts, which means I have to cut those areas apart, which is fine. It'll be a little harder to get uniform thick slices, but I'll manage with the help of my newly arrived jerky cutting board and 10" knife they provide. That's why I opted not to have the butcher cut off the fat and slice it for me...I can do it better I believe. Afterwards I ended up with just over 2 lbs. of trimmed meat from a Top Round roast that started out at 2.65 lbs. for $10.50 (on sale at $3.99 a lb.)
That ends up to about $5 a lb. for my jerky meat after trimming and before drying. Not bad, not economically great either. Top Round is supposed to have more flavor than Bottom Round and is considerably cheaper than Flank Steak for jerky. Btw...packaged jerky costs $6.99 for a 3 oz. package!

Yes...I have a question.

I had some pieces that were too irregularly shaped to cut into thin slices, so I pounded them thin and flat with a meat hammer. Is that OK to do for making beef jerky? Anyone recommend against it? Does it possibly mess with the jerky? I have more irregular jerky meat to prepare tonight, not pounded out or dried yet.
 
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I've opted out of having a butcher take a roast and slice it for me. I just bought a Top Round roast on sale at $3.99 lb. I wanted to try this cut of roast for jerky instead of a London Broil (which is just the lower slab of a Bottom Roast) or the too expensive Flank Steak. When I unwrapped the 2.65 lb. Top Round, there was quite a bit of fat that needed to be carefully cut off, which they don't show you when they package it. Also, a top round roast is somewhat cleaved in parts, which means I have to cut those areas apart, which is fine. It'll be a little harder to get uniform thick slices, but I'll manage with the help of my newly arrived jerky cutting board and 10" knife they provide. That's why I opted not to have the butcher cut off the fat and slice it for me...I can do it better I believe. Afterwards I ended up with just over 2 lbs. of trimmed meat from a Top Round roast that started out at 2.65 lbs. for $10.50 (on sale at $3.99 a lb.)
That ends up to about $5 a lb. for my jerky meat after trimming and before drying. Not bad, not economically great either. Top Round is supposed to have more flavor than Bottom Round and is considerably cheaper than Flank Steak for jerky. Btw...packaged jerky costs $6.99 for a 3 oz. package!

Yes...I have a question.

I had some pieces that were too irregularly shaped to cut into thin slices, so I pounded them thin and flat with a meat hammer. Is that OK to do for making beef jerky? Anyone recommend against it? Does it possibly mess with the jerky? I have more irregular jerky meat to prepare tonight, not pounded out or dried yet.

I would have done the same thing you did.Great buy.
A little work, yes.But well worth it in the end.Because you did it!

It's perfectly ok to pound them down with a meat hammer. Or not.
What you would have if you decide it's just too hot today to make jerky leave them in bite size.Nothings wrong with a good chew.I've made bite sized pieces before.They turned out great.
They will take a little longer to to dehydrate.That's ok to.Take notes on the dehydrating times of them.Mine took about 4 hours if my memory is correct.It's been a while.

The great thing about dehydrating is the experimenting part.
I would recommend drying the irregulars last.Keep an eye on the ones you think are ready and pull them out.

Now that I think about it.Do you have a meat grinder?
If so grind it up.Roll it out.Score it with a pizza cutter.Dehydrate it.
The meat will all be in uniform size.No fuss, no muss.

Have fun!:chef:
 
I'm not into ground beef jerky yet, I may want to check out that cheaper way to make jerky treats for me. Jerky is still expensive to make. Cheaper than famous brand store bought rawhide, that's for sure. I'm going back to inexpensive roasts on sale. No more flank steak for jerky. $3.99 a lb. roasts, not $6.99 lb roasts. I have a batch going now, London Broil. Sliced with the grain, but very thin. Hoping it being thin it won't me chewy.
 
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I'm not into ground beef jerky yet, I may want to check out that cheaper way to make jerky treats for me. Jerky is still expensive to make. Cheaper than famous brand store bought rawhide. I'm going back to inexpensive roasts on sale. No more flank steak for jerky. $3.99 a lb. roasts, not $6.99 lb roasts.

I hope you're not eating rawhide. That's skin, not meat. You know, for dogs.
 
I hope you're not eating rawhide. .

I'm afraid so. I just took out my batch of jerky from the dryer. I had cut it thin WITH the grain. The batch came out chewy. I thought it wouldn't because of how thin I sliced the meat.

I have another batch going...not thin cut slices with the grain but rather thicker pieces cut against the grain. I think thicker cuts against the grain is what I want. That's what I have going now. I think I'll be happier with this batch. It was a lesson learned. Jerky meat cut with the grain...chewy...no matter how thin you slice it.
 
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Here's something I've never thought of before for jerky. When you remove the jerky from the marinade, it's still very wet.

Maybe put the meat in a salad spinner to get all the excess marinade off the meat slices before placing it in the dehydrator. I usually place the meat on paper towels to get the excess marinade off the slices. That takes a lot of paper towel sheets and sometimes sponges off too much marinade.
 
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