OT Beef at the supermarket. butcher shop?

[micky]

OT

Trying to confirm my recollection, that it used to be that one could get any cut of beef he wanted at the supermarket meat department.

Now it seems that some cuts are available some weeks, and others not. Some are only sold for a few days a month. But whatever day it is, not all are for sale, like they used to be.

Is that correct?

For example, it's not often I see a standing rib roast for sale, and then when I do, they have a bunch all week.

I think the slaugtering of cattle used to be done in Chcago or Omaha, but the butchering was done locally, even on the east coast.

My impression is that now** , even the butchering is done in Chicago, Omaha, etc. and that makes it possible to divvy up the meat and send lots of one cut to a grocery chain that has it on sale, and lots of other cuts to other chains. The first chain doesn't have room to display or enough customers to buy lots of the sale cut, and a little of every other cut. So they don't order some of the other cuts. That might make them cheaper so another chain orders them, but none of the cut that is on sale at the first chain.

**to save rail costs, by not having to ship parts of a side of beef that won't get eaten?? Is there that much that won't get eaten? The only thing I've noticed for sure is that most of the fat is trimmed off. The supermarkets say they do that for the customers benefit, but I think maybe it's done in Chicago to save shipping costs. ??

(I could check this out by visiting all the chains in one city in the same week, but havent' put that much effort into this.)

Or maybe it doesn't vary by chain but by region. That is, two or three states are in that first category above and 2 or 3 neighboring states are in the second category. That would make shopping different chains unproductive.

[philoÂÂ]

One of the great things about my job was that I got to go to every type of company there was.

That was also one of the "not great" parts of my job too.

I live in Milwaukee and there are several large meat processing companies here. One of them does the slaughtering locally.

I always found it so ironic that the processing plant is located right next to the gambling casino and every time I went there I saw bus loads of gamblers (in my mind at least) "going off to the slaughter".

Being exposed to all this :

I no longer eat red meat.

I do not gamble in the casinos or play any lotteries.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Yeah, because to cut costs, most supermarkets no longer do their butchering in-house. Most processing plants do it all from the slaughter to the packaging. The supermarkets can order by the cut, or by the part, and do the final cutting and packaging themselves.

Even the smaller butcher shops can purchase just the parts they need. There's a little bitty one down the street from me that specializes in steaks, chops, sausage and burgers - basically, what backyard grillers will be cooking. If I want a roast or some soup bones, I have to order in advance from them, or drive a little further to the full-scale butcher shop.

[Zaky Waky]

philo wrote in news:lc85du$rlj$ [e-mail]:

Good for you philo. I especially like how you wrote all that b.s. about yourself and never came close to answering the question.

BTW, do you eat pork? That's considered white meat.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Only by the Pork Council, which invented it as a marketing term.

I was actually part of the consumer test groups for that promotion. It was an eye-rolling moment to see everyone obediently repeating the catch phrase that ran in the ads.

[philoÂÂ]

Yep, I don't care what other people do. It's none of my business...but as I get older I am amazed at how well marketing sucks people in.

[dadiOH]

Pretty much.

Used to be that butchers got whole sides of beef and cut them. Now they get "cryopaks" - large packages of various cuts - which they then slice up and package (crummy side down). That's a big advantage to them because they can buy just what is locally popular and avoid the necessity of selling the rest.

In reality, supermarkets no longer have butchers. A while back I was in a Publix market (Florida) looking at the meat selection. It was sparse and poor. I was particularly interested in flat bone sirloin and asked the meat guy if he could cut one for me. He said they no longer got bone-in meat and if they did there was no one who would know how to cut it.

Along the same vein, how long has it been since you saw a USDA grade stamp on a piece of beef? Sure, they *say* it is US Choice but is it? And did you know that there are different levels of Choice (in all grades, not just Choice)? There is choice, choice+ and choice-; gee, I wonder which the markets are selling as "choice"? .

Even the quality within a grade is different. I have no idea whether regs have changed but I am dead certain that today's "choice" is very different - for the worse - from the choice of years ago.

The same goes for pork. Hogs are slaughtered very young now because agribusiness determined that was the most profitable way. Good for them, bad for us because the animals don't have time to develop some fat and the fat - especially with pork - is where the taste is. Our Xmas ham had virtually zero fat and a rind that was as thin as the skin on my arm; it was edible but was a far cry from the wonderful hams of my youth.

Of course, the producers say the reduced fat is in response to consumer demand. Strange, I don't recall the anti-fat riots; perhaps I was living abroad then.

Chicken? Forget it, The normal chickens available at supermarkets aren't even close in taste to what a chicken should be. They are even the wrong color. And you used to be able to go to a market and get broilers, fryers, roasters, even stewing chickens. Capons too (fresh, not frozen).

[philoÂÂ]

Of course you still can get the good stuff, but just not at a regular grocery store... and of course it costs more...but is worth it.

[dpb]

That is fairly common in the large chains and particularly the lower-margin ones; not necessarily so in all. The Dillons (now a Kroger subsidiary) still have full butcher shop...of course it helps a little that the major packing houses have moved from Chicago to IA, NE and especially KS. There's slaughter capacity for almost 50000 head a day within 80 miles of where I presently sit, 5,000 of that only about 5 mi away and 2 from the local Dillons.

There are two major reasons for the change, the first being that there really are very few relatively any more that know the difference to begin with and even fewer that actually cook anything at home that they can't just do it w/ as little preparation as possible. Consequently, even if there were a butcher behind the counter, he'd basically be unoccupied 90% of the time. The second is simply cost but that's related to the first...it's not feasible to support the overhead for the lesser demand.

The answer is, of course, to find the local meat shop that does what you want if it is important to you. We, being rural, have the luxury of having neighbors who feed so we can stayed retired from the cattle business but still fill the freezer with a half when need be--best of both worlds. :)

...[most diatribe elided for brevity]...

...

Must have had head in sand for last 40 yrs on the campaigns waged by Surgeon General and CDC, Am Heart Assoc, etc., etc., etc., on the "dangers" of red meat and high cholesterol and on and on and on, then...

It most definitely is consumer demand driven by mostly imo, fearmongering. It doesn't help that there's a sizable contingent with a lot of money whose end (unstated) objective is to end animal agriculture entirely.

You can be sure that if there were market share of any size for older feed patterns, there would be somebody filling it--that's the way markets work. That there's not is the chief indication that the demand isn't there.

[Vic Smith]

Bakery goods and fruits and vegetables have likewise suffered. Can't remember when I had a good peach or plum. In the 90's when I was traveling in Georgia during peach season.

[Tom Fields]

Our local supermarket stocks both. Both are profitable.

For folks that care about their health and want great tasting food that is nutritious, there is GMO-free organic.

For people that don't care and want to save money, there is the pesticide/herbicide soaked GMO mass market stuff.

[Terry Coombs]

We buy 90% of our meat from a local market that does have a butcher on duty at all times . They also sell meat that isn't injected with "solution" . Yes , it costs a little more but is worth it to us - mainly because their meat is also grown without chemical additives in the feed . Have you noticed the last few years that children are reaching puberty younger ? We believe that to be due to the hormones fed to the anumals , which is also one of the reasons we'll be raising chickens ourselves next summer .

[dpb]

...

Which would that be? And where located?

Mass markets are what they are; specialty or smaller chains or areas of large and/or (especially) prosperous populations of course have much higher selections than does Wally_world and the like.

[dadiOH]

Bingo. The same is true about many other things. ________________

Unfortunately, there is none. Not within reasonable distance at least. We have supermarkets and independents who sell "Heavy Western Beef", whatever that may be. _________________

I quit paying attention to them when someone decided that Scotch whisky contrubuted to cancer :)

And I don't doubt that too much fat/red meat isn't good for you. A serving need not be 16 oz. _______________________

[dpb]

On 1/28/2014 10:59 AM, dadiOH wrote: ...

Have you ever asked "what ever may _that_ be???" I'm guess it's probably a politically correct version of a longer and perhaps higher quantity as well grainfed ration and therefore a higher slaughter weight than the packer targets. That would translate to higher fat content and assuming quality animals to start with, more marbling which is what has been reduced drastically by the stress on "lean cuisine".

Ayup and a glass of the Glenlivet to ye... :)

...

Moderation is one of the few things that cannot be overdone...

Much also has to do with the number of calories one is burning in physical exertion and all as well-an NFL lineman during training camp is a little different than an old retired computer jock, say... :)

[David L. Martel]

Micky,

I don't think much has changed. The "usual" cuts are on display and if you ring the bell the butcher will trim them or cut whatever you want off the side in his freezer. We're talking beef here. While the butcher does grind hamburger there are tubes of factory made burger which are cheaper. The butcher ground burger comes with a choice of fat content, though. There's a lot more lamb available and veal seems to be disappearing where I live. A seperate fish counter is common in a lot of the newer store. This is true in all of the chains where I live. Some of the small non-chain places still make sausage but that's now pretty rare. Pork is like beef, if you don't see it, ask.

Rib-eye syeaks are always available which means your butcher always has rib roasts, ask him. Nothing much is on sale but all the chains have satellite banks where you can take out a second mortgage and pharmacies where you can get Paxil, for shopping.

[Cindy Hamilton]

What's your evidence that GMO-free organic tastes better? Don't forget, it doesn't matter if it tastes better to you. If you want to sell someone else on the taste, it has to taste better to them.

Cindy Hamilton

[Tom Fields]

Actually, several area supermarkets have both.

I'd estimate that 20% of the produce section at each store is non-GMO organics.

And of course there's

if you're lucky enough to have one nearby.

[bob haller]

This discuusion makes me wonder???

The tV show Farm Kings is based around pittsburgh:)

I am going to stop and buy some chicken and beef and taste test it.

I do know Egglands Best eggs, make everything taste better:)

Its worth the extra buck for their eggs

[dpb]

That's got to be a sizable (and reasonably affluent) market then for folks to have the wherewithal and time to worry over nothing...