A few months back, I got roped into joining in on a co-op purchase of a whole cow that was estimated to come in at around 600 pounds. It was grass fed, organically raised, and was to be humanely butchered, packaged, and frozen. I made an initial $200 deposit, and this morning I paid the $290.50 balance at what was billed as a "Cow Party". Thirteen of the "partners" got together at 11:30am to draw lots to form a line to take turns choosing individual cuts from the cow. Though it was just one entire cow, the butcher threw in some additional tongues, testicles, and other additional offal for us to select from as well. Here's what was included in my 18 turns: 1.2 lb New York steak, bone in 1.0 lb New York steak, bone in 1.2 New York steak, bone in 1.4 lb Ribeye, bone in 0.5 lb top sirloin steak 0.5 lb top sirloin steak 2.4 lb bottom round roast 2.5 lb beef tritip large 0.4 lb top sirloin steak 1.9 lb beef short ribs 1.1 lb stew beef 1.1 lb stew beef 1.1 lb stew beef 1.2 lb beef cheek 1.4
Chris, I only occasionally (a few times a year) ate beef when I was growing up in the West Indies. Small mountainous volcanic islands don't have the flat land and resources to raise cattle. I ate chiefly fish, chicken, goat and lamb and the fish were almost invariably freshly caught that day. The chicken was always purchased frozen and was imported.
My wife is a vegetarian. The kids and I are not but we infrequently eat beef outside of the weekend summer burger. And in recent years not even that. My son won't touch beef so we've switched to turkey burgers from the local poultry farm.
How are you doing to eat that much beef that quickly? How will you prevent freezer burn? Looking forward to seeing your recipes.
