I've Got Friends in Low Places

[sablebrush52]

Well, me too, but I was talking about cuts of meat within a cow.

Sure, but I was responding to Karam, and he wasn't limiting his observations to cows.

 

[OzPiper]

I grew up in a household with a Grandmother who was a farm girl.
Back in the days when “snout-to-tail” cuisine wasn’t a culinary trend.
Just what you did. When nothing was wasted.
Pork fat was rendered into lard for cooking.
Vegetable trimmings went into the stock/soup pot. Etc., etc.
Dad was keen on hunting. Everything was brought back to be served as food.

I laugh at people paying $$ for marketed items like “alkaline“ water and the such.
Buy REAL food instead

 

[warren]

It's interesting to me how beef cuts are named in different area of the US and can even be variable in the same town. Years ago a rib steak was bone-in while the rib-eye was the same cut without the bone. T-bones did not include a full sized tenderloin. A standing rib roast was just that and included the bones. A prime rib roast as just that, a standing rib, bone-in graded "Prime".

Sadly, today we settle for beef which is flavorless for the most part, bathe it in sauces to cover for the lack of flavor.

I find Irish beef to be the tastiest. Unfortunately I can't import it. A five year old steer might be less tender than the young crap available today but, you could taste the meat, grass and all. It's way too expensive to raise tasty beef these days, a pity. Eaters today consider a soft textured tasteless bright red hunk of flesh, to be top quality, hence the A-1, bearnaise, etc. Sad, very sad the way the customer has been manipulated into less quality for a lower price. Logical but, sad.

 

[UB 40]

View attachment 288667View attachment 288668
I'm not gonna post a picture of my massive Tiki collection because it's too hard to photograph all at once but you get the idea.

Great bike, and this time it’s not the most usual, boring Harley status symbol much of the wealthy, elder guys of my generation prefer so much. Not that I wouldn’t appreciate the Easy Rider Saga, but that was long ago and the aura of harleys hadn’t decayed as it did. I like Yamahas, my sister drove one in the 70s.

 

[OzPiper]

It's interesting to me how beef cuts are named in different area of the US and can even be variable in the same town. Years ago a rib steak was bone-in while the rib-eye was the same cut without the bone. T-bones did not include a full sized tenderloin. A standing rib roast was just that and included the bones. A prime rib roast as just that, a standing rib, bone-in graded "Prime".

Sadly, today we settle for beef which is flavorless for the most part, bathe it in sauces to cover for the lack of flavor.

I find Irish beef to be the tastiest. Unfortunately I can't import it. A five year old steer might be less tender than the young crap available today but, you could taste the meat, grass and all. It's way too expensive to raise tasty beef these days, a pity. Eaters today consider a soft textured tasteless bright red hunk of flesh, to be top quality, hence the A-1, bearnaise, etc. Sad, very sad the way the customer has been manipulated into less quality for a lower price. Logical but, sad.

It’s far worse with chicken
When was the last time you had a roast chook that tasted great ?
I was very lucky a few months ago when a good friend invited me for a home dinner of roast chicken. Sauce was just the pan juices.
Served with simple steamed potatoes and peas
Restored my faith in chicken totally

 

[Sigmund]

French beef is meh. Beef here is cut different than in the US. The US cuts uber prime pieces and the rest is hamburger. Yes, we eat hamburger here but nothing like the quantity of the US. As a result you get subprime cuts of meat with nerve and crap left on your plate you cant eat. No one would serve it in the US. Of course you can get filet and clean cuts at a premium. But its not as good. They dont hang and age it. You can buy real aged beef. Im talking about normal stuff. Its fresh cut. As Karam stated, shanks and such are just amazing cooked properly and with a nice sauce. Moist and melt in your mouth goodness. I will eat rare duck breast or lamb way before beef.

One of the things you see everywhere is lowbrow becoming highbrow. The right application of technique to many products make the difference. Of course some stuff is just junk but most food ingredients can be made into something really good in the right hands. Heck..remember when chicken wings were almost free and only poor people and student food? Marketing in a powerful but often sad thing.

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

A good example of something low brow becoming high brow is video games. Some of them very valuable, one Mario game from the 80s going for as much as a million squid.

 

[Sigmund]

Ha..Im not sure. I think that falls into the "More money than sense" catagorey.

 

[OzPiper]

One of the things you see everywhere is lowbrow becoming highbrow. The right application of technique to many products make the difference. Of course some stuff is just junk but most food ingredients can be made into something really good in the right hands. Heck..remember when chicken wings were almost free and only poor people and student food? Marketing in a powerful but often sad thing.

My favourite part of the chicken has always been the wing esp the mid-section

 

[Daddypants]

My favourite part of the chicken has always been the wing esp the mid-section

The pulley bone is the best part of the chicken. Too bad no one cuts it out like my Maw Maw did. I spent many a dinner and supper making a wish with her. Them fighting roosters make for fine eating even if there ain’t a ton of meat on them. Pearl white bones. Nothing like the grey or brownish bones that are in the steroid injected commercially raised chickens.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

My brother called me and wanted to get me a steak dinner at which at the time was one of St Louis’s most expensive steak houses. It was called Sinatra‘s. He ate there regularly so everyone seemed to know his name. I was impressed until they brought him his Ribeye steak. He ordered it well done and next to the plate the waiter offered him his usual, a bottle of A1. My brother was in heaven. He looked at me and said, “Now this is how a good piece of meat should be served.” To my credit I said nothing. It was his $100 dollar steak to do as he wished.

Well, at least he didn't ask for ketchup!

 

[PA Piper Mike]

I am not a "brand" snob. I don't want a Dunhill for the white spot, but because I like the pipe. I used to joke about grinding the nomenclature off of my pipes, but I could really do that and be ok with it.

But some things are just better than others. Take filet mignon verses a tough cut of beef shank. There's a reason one is more expensive than the other. Sure, sure, some people have never even tried filet mignon, so shank is ok with them.

I pretty much couldn't care less about the cut of meat. Sure, filet is tender and amazing, but for me, if it moos, I'll eat it with a smile on my face.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I pretty much couldn't care less about the cut of meat. Sure, filet is tender and amazing, but for me, if it moos, I'll eat it with a smile on my face.

I think that to fully appreciate a filet mignon, you have to of chewed a skirt steak or two. Every part of the cow should be eaten or used, IMO. Wastefulness sucks.
Same for cigars I guess. I even tried a grape swisher once, just to try it. I wouldn’t do that again. Been there done that.

Same goes for women… how can you full appreciate a 10, unless you’ve… been there, done that, ha ha.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

Reading about steaks reminds me of something that could in fact be its own thread.

Every man I've ever met, believes that they know the secret to making a great steak.

Every man.

You go to their homes and they grill their steaks and recite their secrets. Then you sit at the table and pretend that they are so wonderful.

I think this is where Low Brow and High Brow somewhat intersect - only authentic high brow is paying someone else to cook the steak.

No one likes a poor grade of meat. Even if is knuckle meat, it best be of a certain quality.

Beef Bourguignonne is just the high brow way of making a great beef stew. But take my word, this stew doesn't have to come from a French Restaurant to be delicious.

Lamb stew, Guiness Stew, and so many more great dishes come out of humble places but the quality of the food is anything but humble.

I take pleasure in knowing that in this forum I am surrounded by many, many like minded people who know a good thing or too and know that it doesn't have to come from a gloved hand to be good.

To all the food you mentioned...

That said, give me any specialty dish made by some 85 year old Southern Grandma, Nonna, Abuela, Oma, etc. with their stories and I'll take that over fine dining at Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Capital Grille, etc...

 

[PA Piper Mike]

...squirrel gravy...

And give me ox tail tacos any day of the week.

Please....go on.

 

[sablebrush52]

A good example of something low brow becoming high brow is video games. Some of them very valuable, one Mario game from the 80s going for as much as a million squid.

I don't equate level of brow with price. Ever walked through a Las Vegas art gallery? Lots of very expensive, sometimes well executed, trashy clichéd kitsch.
But this business about $500,000 games is more to do with the still entirely theoretical nature of the existence of human intelligence or values.

 

[JOHN72]

Now that the moderator doesn't see me. My rubber ducky and I have decided, unanimously. Kick your sweet, velvety asses, like a fresh cauliflower.

 

[burleybreath]

I always thought lowbrow vs. highbrow had to do with the intellect, but I'll play. I drive a Chevy Impala; I used to sell Rolls-Royce motorcars (the official plural). Lots of 'em. I prefer the Chevy for daily use.

 

[telescopes]

I always thought lowbrow vs. highbrow had to do with the intellect,

A common slur by those who live in Indian Wells.

 

[Kobold]