Meat

[Beth Gallagher]

Who doesn't like to discuss meat?? Let's talk about it, shall we?

I went to HEB earlier because they have prime beef on sale. I got 2 ribeyes, 2 chuck roasts, and a gorgeous chuck steak. I will be vacuum sealing all of it to put in the freezer.

The chuck steak was an impulse purchase because I have never bought a chuck steak in my life. I've bought plenty of ground chuck and chuck roast, but chuck 'steak' seems like it would be shoe-leatherish. I picked this one up because it has gorgeous heavy marbling and just looks like a great steak. I'll have to study up on how to cook it, in case a marinade would help tenderize.

Do you grill chuck steak? What's the secret? And share your meat-related posts!

 

[Krystal Shay]

I never cared that much for chuck steaks. When we use to butcher our own beef, I always had the chuck steaks ground into hamburger. I thought the chuck steaks were a little too tough for my liking. If you slow cook or braise them, they can be more tender. That is my take on chuck steaks anyway. My brother on the other hand, always took as many steaks as he could get out of a beef. He just likes steaks. They do a lot of grilling on their gas grill. I don’t like gas grills and do not have one. If I am going to grill, I want it to be charcoal grilled. I’m more picky about flavor and tenderness of my steaks.

Also, I used to have a lot of round steaks. Round steaks are considered a cheaper cut of beef, with less flavor. But I like round steaks if they are cut thin enough. A couple of our favorite dishes for round steak is German Rouladen and Swiss steak. I slow cook these 2 recipes and the meat is very tender and favorable. Rouladen has mustard, bacon, onion, and dill pickle wrapped inside it. The Swiss steak recipe that I make is baked or simmered in a Marinara sauce or a tomato base of some kind with chopped green peppers. onions, and carrots.

 

[Don Alaska]

Chuck can be used in long-cooked dishes such as stews, and may even be the preferred cut as the very connective tissue that makes it tough can add flavor that leaner cuts do not have. Long ago, we used to buy chuck steaks and roasts and grind it into our own "hamburger" so that we knew what was in our ground meat. I don't think I would grill chuck steaks, as it could not be tenderized in the short time it was on the grill.

 

[Ed Delabama]

Good afternoon to all- Now, here's what I do with those "less choice" cuts of beef- either roast cuts or steak cuts...

Take the cut of meat- drop it in a cast-iron skillet that will fit on your outside grill. I use a big Green Egg, but this works on any grill that can be closed up and slow-grilled.
Pour a can of cheap beer over the roast in the skillet- use the entire can. the beef should be swimming in beer.
Slice an onion over the beef. Add what seasonings you like. Add a lot of seasoning.
Have a nice slow fire in the grill- you're looking for low and slow- not hot and fast.
Cover the beer-beef and skillet with alum foil.
Put the skillet on the grill- use a heat deflector if your grill has one.
Let that skillet and beef slow cook for about an hour and a half. Carefully lift the foil covering to make sure the beer is bubbling and the roast is cooking.
Re-cover the roast and let the slow cooking go for another hour. You don't want the temperate to get over 300. 250 degrees is better.
After about three hours of slow grilling in beer, that roast should be tender and easy to either slice or pull like pulled pork for sandwiches.

The main thing is, never let the level of beer get low- add more beer if needed.

That's it.

We eat this slow-beer grilled beef a lot...

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I never cared that much for chuck steaks. When we use to butcher our own beef, I always had the chuck steaks ground into hamburger. I thought the chuck steaks were a little too tough for my liking. If you slow cook or braise them, they can be more tender. That is my take on chuck steaks anyway. My brother on the other hand, always took as many steaks as he could get out of a beef. He just likes steaks. They do a lot of grilling on their gas grill. I don’t like gas grills and do not have one. If I am going to grill, I want it to be charcoal grilled. I’m more picky about flavor and tenderness of my steaks.

Also, I used to have a lot of round steaks. Round steaks are considered a cheaper cut of beef, with less flavor. But I like round steaks if they are cut thin enough. A couple of our favorite dishes for round steak is German Rouladen and Swiss steak. I slow cook these 2 recipes and the meat is very tender and favorable. Rouladen has mustard, bacon, onion, and dill pickle wrapped inside it. The Swiss steak recipe that I make is baked or simmered in a Marinara sauce or a tomato base of some kind with chopped green peppers. onions, and carrots.

I like round steak too, Krys. Rouladen and Swiss steak are 2 of my favorites, plus I just like to pound round steak into cutlets to tenderize, then make chicken fried steak and gravy.

I'm going to do some reading on chuck steak, though I may end up thin slicing it to use in stir fry or something.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

Chuck can be used in long-cooked dishes such as stews, and may even be the preferred cut as the very connective tissue that makes it tough can add flavor that leaner cuts do not have. Long ago, we used to buy chuck steaks and roasts and grind it into our own "hamburger" so that we knew what was in our ground meat. I don't think I would grill chuck steaks, as it could not be tenderized in the short time it was on the grill.

I agree that chuck is very flavorful and makes the best ground beef.

Hmmm, I wonder what our "sous vide" master @John Brunner will have to say about this chuck steak dilemma.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

Good afternoon to all- Now, here's what I do with those "less choice" cuts of beef- either roast cuts or steak cuts...

Take the cut of meat- drop it in a cast-iron skillet that will fit on your outside grill. I use a big Green Egg, but this works on any grill that can be closed up and slow-grilled.
Pour a can of cheap beer over the roast in the skillet- use the entire can. the beef should be swimming in beer.
Slice an onion over the beef. Add what seasonings you like. Add a lot of seasoning.
Have a nice slow fire in the grill- you're looking for low and slow- not hot and fast.
Cover the beer-beef and skillet with alum foil.
Put the skillet on the grill- use a heat deflector if your grill has one.
Let that skillet and beef slow cook for about an hour and a half. Carefully lift the foil covering to make sure the beer is bubbling and the roast is cooking.
Re-cover the roast and let the slow cooking go for another hour. You don't want the temperate to get over 300. 250 degrees is better.
After about three hours of slow grilling in beer, that roast should be tender and easy to either slice or pull like pulled pork for sandwiches.

The main thing is, never let the level of beer get low- add more beer if needed.

That's it.

We eat this slow-beer grilled beef a lot...

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

Oh my goodness, Ed. You are speaking my language with beef and beer... two of my favorite things. Do you ever cook this inside on the stovetop or oven? Any particular kind of beer?

 

[Mary Stetler]

I have come to the point that I tenderize everything solid. I don't know how many teeth hubby has left. I got a good deal on a QUANTITY of Adolfs no msg. tenderizer years ago. Or I go with straight papain but for not too long or it will liquify a steak. My personal favorite steak is sirloin. I bought a round roast this morning which I cut up. I put tenderizer on one piece and put it in the fridge for this evening. I will probably butterfly it somehow or just cut it into a couple of steaks. I also love flank steak cut on the bias. But we eat a large amount of hamburger in various ways especially since a nearby farm has set up a farm to table business and will deliver 30 lbs or more free. Most roasts I slow cook with the leftovers becoming beef vegetable barley stew. And in summer I love hamburgers on a wood grill.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I have come to the point that I tenderize everything solid. I don't know how many teeth hubby has left. I got a good deal on a QUANTITY of Adolfs no msg. tenderizer years ago. Or I go with straight papain but for not too long or it will liquify a steak. My personal favorite steak is sirloin. I bought a round roast this morning which I cut up. I put tenderizer on one piece and put it in the fridge for this evening. I will probably butterfly it somehow or just cut it into a couple of steaks. I also love flank steak cut on the bias. But we eat a large amount of hamburger in various ways especially since a nearby farm has set up a farm to table business and will deliver 30 lbs or more free. Most roasts I slow cook with the leftovers becoming beef vegetable barley stew. And in summer I love hamburgers on a wood grill.

We also eat a lot of hamburger; it's so versatile for so many things from meatloaf to tacos. Somehow I never got into the ground turkey/ground chicken thing, though. I really don't like either of those, and when someone says they "can't tell the difference" from beef I have to roll my eyes, haha.

 

[John Brunner]

I agree that chuck is very flavorful and makes the best ground beef.

Hmmm, I wonder what our "sous vide" master @John Brunner will have to say about this chuck steak dilemma.

America's Test Kitchen has done a chuck roast sous vide. They liked it because the chuck is more beefy-flavored than other cuts, and sous vide makes it tender. They seared it before putting it in the vacuum bag and cooking it, which I have never done or seen before. Then they roll the roast in coarsely ground mustard seeds and black peppercorns and bake it @475 for 15-20 minutes just to set the crust (I've baked a sous vide brisket coated with coarse salt and coarse black pepper to put a crust to it.)

This is a 5 year old episode, but I happened to catch it a week or so ago.

I would think that doing chuck steak sous vide would yield similar results. I've done a roast (I forget what cut) and as I mentioned, brisket. The juices make a great gravy base, you just gotta be careful to not put too much salt on the beef (I coated the brisket with a thick layer of salt and pepper as though I were gonna smoke it and the juices were not usable, but the juice from the roast was fantastic.)

Like @Don Alaska I've made burger from it using my Kitchen Aid grinder. It really is much more flavorful than buying pre-ground burger. You just need to decide what type of fat you're gonna add when you grind it. I ground the fat I trimmed from the chuck and I think I stretched it with ghee (I had no lard on hand) to get roughly near an 80/20-85/15. In order to get the fat evenly distributed, I ground the roast at a coarse grind, spread it out onto a cookie sheet, put the fat on top on an even layer, then used a spatula to pick up slabs of beef/fat and ran them through the coarse grind again to get the fat through the meat. You don't want to over-grind the beef so I did the coarse grind twice.

 

[John Brunner]

Regarding meat, I really don't do a lot of beef anymore. And the beef I used to do was mostly either steaks or various uses of burger (hamburgers, meatloaf, stuffed peppers, etc.) I could never make a decent roast so I've only done that a few times, although I didn't really pay attention to what cuts I was buying. They always came out tough. Since I made that brisket and that roast using sous vide, I'll not cook a roast any other way. But I still have servings of each in the freezer.

I do like chicken. I grabbed an interesting chicken recipe from the newspaper back when there was the weekly Food section. It was braised chicken thighs put in a roasting pan with papaya, mango and rum. That was very good. But even at that, when I do chicken, it's usually grilled parts.

I used to make cornish game hen every once in a while. It was perfect for a single guy. The only place I see those anymore is in the frozen food section. You used to get 2 paks of it in the fresh meat section.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I'm kind of weird about chicken; I mostly like the breast and I can't do ground chicken. I like Buffalo wings, though. I also like roast turkey but no ground turkey; it gives me the ick.

I remember buying cornish game hens when I was a young wife; I thought they were so elegant. It's been a while since I even thought about those.

 

[John Brunner]

I'm kind of weird about chicken; I mostly like the breast and I can't do ground chicken. I like Buffalo wings, though. I also like roast turkey but no ground turkey; it gives me the ick.

I remember buying cornish game hens when I was a young wife; I thought they were so elegant. It's been a while since I even thought about those.

I like chicken breast if I'm making chicken salad. Other than that, I like the thighs. I used to always buy whole chickens (49¢ per pound) and part them out, making broth and stock with the carcass and doing whatever with the meat (roast, grilled, fried.) These days I'll mostly buy paks of thighs and either fry or grill them.

Since I'm all about sous vide in this thread...cooking chicken breasts sous vide at 140°F makes them very tender. They shred like pork done in a crock pot. I cook them this way if I'm making chicken salad. Dark meat came out funny the only time I tried it sous vide, but I've read others who say they really like it cooked this way. I may try it again. It just doesn't seem to get hot enough to break down the sinew & gristle. It's cooked but still bloody.

 

[Krystal Shay]

We also eat a lot of hamburger; it's so versatile for so many things from meatloaf to tacos. Somehow I never got into the ground turkey/ground chicken thing, though. I really don't like either of those, and when someone says they "can't tell the difference" from beef I have to roll my eyes, haha.

We don't like ground turkey or chicken neither. Those people that can't tell the difference between beef and ground turkey and chicken "just aren't right".

 

[Krystal Shay]

Good afternoon to all- Now, here's what I do with those "less choice" cuts of beef- either roast cuts or steak cuts...

Take the cut of meat- drop it in a cast-iron skillet that will fit on your outside grill. I use a big Green Egg, but this works on any grill that can be closed up and slow-grilled.
Pour a can of cheap beer over the roast in the skillet- use the entire can. the beef should be swimming in beer.
Slice an onion over the beef. Add what seasonings you like. Add a lot of seasoning.
Have a nice slow fire in the grill- you're looking for low and slow- not hot and fast.
Cover the beer-beef and skillet with alum foil.
Put the skillet on the grill- use a heat deflector if your grill has one.
Let that skillet and beef slow cook for about an hour and a half. Carefully lift the foil covering to make sure the beer is bubbling and the roast is cooking.
Re-cover the roast and let the slow cooking go for another hour. You don't want the temperate to get over 300. 250 degrees is better.
After about three hours of slow grilling in beer, that roast should be tender and easy to either slice or pull like pulled pork for sandwiches.

The main thing is, never let the level of beer get low- add more beer if needed.

That's it.

We eat this slow-beer grilled beef a lot...

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

I make a recipe called Drunkin' Pot Roast. It is slow cooked in beer in the crock pot. It's pretty tasty and easy to make. My kind of cooking these days.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I like chicken breast if I'm making chicken salad. Other than that, I like the thighs. I used to always buy whole chickens (49¢ per pound) and part them out, making broth and stock with the carcass and doing whatever with the meat (roast, grilled, fried.) These days I'll mostly buy paks of thighs and either fry or grill them.

My husband and I are the perfect match; he likes the dark meat chicken and I like white meat. The only time I buy whole chickens these days is when I grab a rotisserie bird for a quick meal. Those carcasses make good stock.

 

[Beth Gallagher]

I make a recipe called Drunkin' Pot Roast. It is slow cooked in beer in the crock pot. It's pretty tasty and easy to make. My kind of cooking these days.

OK, I need this recipe ASAP.

 

[Ed Delabama]

Oh my goodness, Ed. You are speaking my language with beef and beer... two of my favorite things. Do you ever cook this inside on the stovetop or oven? Any particular kind of beer?

Good evening to all- Beth- I use cheap beer- not the good drinkin' beer. Busch is good for both cooking and drinkin'. I've never done this inside, but there's bno reason it would not work.

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

 

[John Brunner]

My husband and I are the perfect match; he likes the dark meat chicken and I like white meat. The only time I buy whole chickens these days is when I grab a rotisserie bird for a quick meal. Those carcasses make good stock.

I'll buy a rotisserie chicken, pick the meat off, throw the carcass, bones, gristle, extra skin, etc into a stock pot, add chicken broth, simmer/strain, and thicken it. Then I freeze individual servings of Chicken & Gravy. It's real handy and obviously versatile. I've mentioned before that I'll get 2 meals from a large Marie Callender pot pie by stretching it with a serving of chicken & gravy and frozen mixed veggies.

 

[Don Alaska]

Oh my goodness, Ed. You are speaking my language with beef and beer... two of my favorite things. Do you ever cook this inside on the stovetop or oven? Any particular kind of beer?

I have seen this done in an oven @Beth Gallagher. I have not seen it grilled. It is a beer braise and can be done with London Broil as well.