Petty Vents
- Thread starter Alix
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Caslon
Executive Chef
I don't have a Costco card but will get one and check their lamb to make my lamb curry. I've been making this dish since the 70's with mostly good luck, that is, up until about 7 years ago when US lamb raisers changed the way they feed their stock. It used to be that US lamb was fed grass feed up until near slaughtering time when they switched to hay feed. Nowadays, US lamb growers start feeding hay feed right off the bat (I've read). This results in US lamb that hardly needs any hand trimming of fat and sinew. It also results in lamb that has no lamby taste and stews up with a fibrous like texture that's just like beef. Properly raised lamb has a non-stringy non-fiberous texture when stewed up, which is what I loved about the lamb I used to buy for stew. It has simply come down to the prohibitively high cost of properly raising US lamb now. As far as going to a private butcher store to buy lamb, wow...they charge way too much for lamb. I'll check out Costco's lamb and maybe even buy shoulder chops (if not priced too high) and cut them up for my lamb curry stew.
P.S. What part of the lamb do they use for stew meat packages? I ask this because my local Albertsons carries Superior Farms (USA) lamb cuts. Their shoulder chops DO have a pretty good lamb flavor and texture, but their packages of lamb for stew are just awful. They're just big chunks of what looks like beef cubes (hardly any fat or sinew on them). Please excuse my long post.
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GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
I never buy pre-cut "stew meat" of any type because it's generally scraps of mixed cuts that are not necessarily the best for stewing. Buy neck and shoulder cuts and cut them up yourself. It's worth it as an occasional treat.
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Caslon
Executive Chef
That's what bums me out. It used to be relatively inexpensive to make my lamb curry stew. Now it's gonna be an expensive treat (as you implied) to make up a big batch and freeze into portions. It didn't used to be like that. A decade ago, I could buy "lamb-for-stew"at Albertsons that took me a long time to trim off the fat and sinew, but it was worth it with how it stewed up. To get 2.5 lbs. of lamb stew pieces, it took me a good 45 minutes to trim the lamb stew pieces of sinew and fat (back then). I didn't mind, it was well worth the time with how my lamb curry stew tasted like lamb curry stew.
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Kaneohegirlinaz
Wannabe TV Chef
This is just something that I want to say out loud, somewhere, to the Universe and this is as good as any...
It's not just housing. Honolulu also has the nation's priciest g - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL
This article was in the Hawaii news this morning.
52% higher for groceries in Hawaii than the Nations average...
199% higher in housing than the Nations average ...
Then let's talk about how dang crowded its become...
There's about ONE MILLON people on that small Island of 180 miles around.
OH MY GAWD!!!
DH is constantly saying he wants to move back to Kaneohe,
ARE YOU INSANE?
As one of my theme songs goes ... "Let it go, let it go ..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk
Ok, I'm done now, thank you all for listening.
It's not just housing. Honolulu also has the nation's priciest g - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL
This article was in the Hawaii news this morning.
52% higher for groceries in Hawaii than the Nations average...
199% higher in housing than the Nations average ...
Then let's talk about how dang crowded its become...
There's about ONE MILLON people on that small Island of 180 miles around.
OH MY GAWD!!!
DH is constantly saying he wants to move back to Kaneohe,
ARE YOU INSANE?
As one of my theme songs goes ... "Let it go, let it go ..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk
Ok, I'm done now, thank you all for listening.
Cooking Goddess
Chef Extraordinaire
That's nuts, K-Girl. I will never complain about house prices around here again. Maybe. 
I can back up the opinion that COSTCO has good lamb. I usually by chops, but sometimes by a rack of chops. Basically the same thing, different form.
You can definitely tell it is lamb. No confusing it with beef. But, it is not too gamey, either.
I like to sous vide the chops, and hit them hard with the Searsall for a nice crust, while maintaining that red-rare color inside.
CD
About 15 minutes ago, I started sneezing, and my nose started running. I have no idea why. I haven't been outside for hours, and haven't done anything to change my interior environment. My petty vent is that I hate it when stuff like this happens for no apparent reason. I'm pretty good at solving problems, but how do you solve a problem when you don't have any clues about what is causing the problem?
CD
CD
buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
Did you happen to eat any prawns? You might be allergic.
Try replacing them with shrimp. Food and Wine says you won't have the same reaction since they're a different animal.
Try replacing them with shrimp. Food and Wine says you won't have the same reaction since they're a different animal.
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
That's nuts, K-Girl. I will never complain about house prices around here again. Maybe.
What folks forget though is that almost all of its' lumber, produce for food, and now pineapples, are imported. Utilities? Imported oil from the mainland. The only thing I can think of at this moment that is local, are the coconuts.
tinlizzie
Head Chef
Petty vent - Hurricane Irma messed with my well, so I'm buying bottled water. Some grocery store plastic bottles are flimsy plus filled to the very top. If held tightly enough to unscrew the cap, water overflows. Grrrr.
Just Cooking
Master Chef
Kaneohegirlinaz
Wannabe TV Chef
Addie, over the past, oh, maybe 15-20 years or so (at least on Oahu) there has been a big push to grow, buy, eat local. Here's the grocery store that I frequented (still do when we go home):
https://www.foodland.com/elt
I like going to the farmer's markets as well when on Oahu, in particular the KCC Farmers Market! Saturday mornings at KCC are a blast and there's even a shuttle you can take from town rather than fight the traffic and hunt for a parking spot.
We went last time the day after we arrived. We rent a condo not far from KCC and could get there very easily. The best Avocado I've ever had! And the plate lunch was ONO (delicious)!!!
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
I imagine there's a lot of local fish and seafood, in addition to several crops, including pineapple.
http://www.netstate.com/economy/hi_economy.htm
Kaneohegirlinaz
Wannabe TV Chef
Well GG, even Hawaii's local seafood is exported.
Granted, there are some local restaurants that get their fish at the auction, but the cost you a bundle to eat there!
On our trip back in 2012, we got up at the crack of dawn to go to the Fish Auction at the Piers...
DH only made til about 8am and went out to the car to go back to sleep!
We had a lovely breakfast later of fresh fish over a bowl of hot rice, MMM!
Granted, there are some local restaurants that get their fish at the auction, but the cost you a bundle to eat there!
On our trip back in 2012, we got up at the crack of dawn to go to the Fish Auction at the Piers...
DH only made til about 8am and went out to the car to go back to sleep!
We had a lovely breakfast later of fresh fish over a bowl of hot rice, MMM!
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
At one time there was a place called Parker Ranch. Is it still in existence? They supplied most of the meat for the islands. I still swear that one day I bought a piece from there and the dang thing kept mooing all the way home. I wanted to take it back to Parker Ranch and cook it over an open fire out on the range.
Kaneohegirlinaz
Wannabe TV Chef
Addie, Parker Ranch, one of the largest Cattle Ranches in the United States, is still in operation.
http://parkerranch.com/
As to where our Beef comes from, it's mostly shipped in from elsewhere.
http://parkerranch.com/
As to where our Beef comes from, it's mostly shipped in from elsewhere.
Here is one for you to ponder.
Last summer, my dad walked into one of the six bathrooms in their house, and the floor and rug were soaking wet. He naturally assumed there was a leak in the nearby sink plumbing.
Upon further investigation, he found a collapsed gallon water jug, capped, in a cabinet under the sink. None of us can think of how the water got out of the jug, and my dad is an engineer.
BTW, my parents live in Hurricane country, too, so they always have jugs of water stored up during hurricane season, just in case.
CD
250,000 acres? Pfffffft. About one-third the size of the King Ranch in Texas.
CD
