Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

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AL37
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by AL37 »

Lorna,
I didn't intend to sound as if I was trying to have a go or be judgemental.
If it came across like that I sincerely apologise. :oops:
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secret squirrel
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by secret squirrel »

I`m sure you didnt. (f+ Thanks anyway. (f+ Its a pain not having all thses lovely little shops. We used to have a corner shop where you could buy 2 slices of ham and a couple of ounces of cheese and stuff like that. Thats how i taught my children to go shopping. I used to send them across the zebra, with their shopping list either to the corner store or the greengrocers (in pairs) when they were still at junior school. I used to sneak a peep from the window when they first started going. We really missed the shop when it closed. Not once did I go in and he didnt have what.
Your right when you say that you pay a tad more, but for me I dont mind that.

People think that in the south east you can get ANYTHING. No you cant, and sometimes it horrible. Its not as affluent and as rosy as you would imagine. The cost of living is astonomical , life flyes at an amazing pace and is often very stressful.
One day, you never know, I might get my chance to live more rurally. The finer things in life arent necessarily those which money buys. (f+
lorna
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by misty »

Kate, that's a town not a village, well it's nearly a city!
10,000 that's a crowd. We have a diner, no pub, no shop. The nearest village is actually a town but doesn't have 10,000. On Sundays we get our papers from post office off a paste table not the newsagents. Local food is still hard to get hold off though as we are arable so we try to grow our own.
Our local butcher retired and it is now a kebab house. If is wasn't for bl**dy defra I would have a few sheep and a dexter but it isn't worth the agro. My brother in France slaughters his sheep in a barn so the spy in the sky can't see him! The meat tastes delicious from lamb kept in his garden.
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AL37
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by AL37 »

Misty, I am of the opinion the defra paper work etc is worth doing.
My small holding neighbour has pigs. ( I have posted about this before)
but within the next week the little piggies I helped into the world will be going to slaughter. And one of them will be in my freezer a few days afterwards.
dont get me wrong here little piggies are realy very cute and just like puppy dogs with the fun they have but it was always in my mind these will be sunday roasts.
I am content that they have had a good life and wanted for nothing so they will taste good.
Sorry gone off on a bit of a tangent there Orfy :oops:
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Dinchy
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by Dinchy »

Just had to add to this, though this is off at a tangent too. Hubby lost a friend on facebook last week cos he put a post on that he was going up to the field with his broomhandle to kill 2 cockerals that we had been growing up for meat. They had lived well, had been well looked after and the end was quick and quiet. More than can be said for a lot of meat available. This woman said it was sick and disgusting and immediately dropped him. I would guess she doesnt go for a kebab after a night on the town :-D
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by misty »

Hi Orfy, some years ago we used to keep sheep. The abatoir was about ten minutes away, the guys were great I knew what I was getting on the end of the week after it had been hung. Because the tiles were the wrong colour or some such it was closed, the abatoir is now huge and I am sure the animals are frightened and I wouldn't know who was going to do the deed. I get most of my meat from a butcher without a shop who I trust (but I could be wrong).
If I am hacking my horse in the forest I can be stopped and asked to produce a passport within three hours. Who can get back to a lorry sort out a horse (or more) and get to a police station within three hours. The fine, £5000. I could mug an old lady for less.
It's a jobs worth department that could be cut to the bone until common sence prevails. Oh, and don't get me started on animals and mud.
I would have had one Dinchy. We are still thinking of getting some chooks for meat.
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by Lilo-Lil »

Dincy, I frequently have the same sort of conversation at work. People can`t believe I eat chicken, but I only buy ethically sourced free-range meat from a local farm. I have tried to explain that I buy meat which I know has been raised in a good way, with the animals leading outdoor natural lives, able to display natural behaviour. The animals are slaughtered on site and treated with respect to the end. They wonder how I could do it as I have chickens, but my girls are my pets, not for meat.

How on earth do these people think their food is produced? Farms produce food due to demand, if there was no demand, then there would be fewer animals on farms.

I had a bit of a ding-dong recently with someone who was trying to lead the good life with his wife and small kids. He was self employed person who lives on a private estate (in a rented cottage) so his kids can grow up in the country. The estate includes a comercial shoot. He didnt agree with shoot was as he felt it was "too comercial" but if that`s the way they run their business, then so be it. They have to make money to enable the estate to survive. He does go along as a beater, which surpised me as he obviously didnt agree with it. I got the impression he wanted to do the whole "country squire" thing. He has two "pet" sheep, both males, which the farm manager suggested to him might eventually have to go for slaughter, as they cannot serve a use and are surples to requirements. He couldnt understand the logic of this, but surely this is the way of farming. All he needed was the chickens and the black working Lab! He said he was country born and bred but seeme to have little understanding of the hardships farmers face these days and the difficult decisions they make to keep their livelihood. My comments didnt go down well, but I got along like a house on fire with the farm manager! I was accused of not understanding the countryside (or how to work a Lab, which I have done). I suspect I am more aware than him of issues in farming today, and didnt mention my girls, rescued working dog or veggie plot to him, couldnt be bothered.

Suspect he buys his food in T`s too!
Neutered pets are happy pets! Please spay or neuter your pets. There are thousands in rescue waiting for loving homes, and not enough people to take them on.
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by secret squirrel »

OH has had discussions at his work when trying to explain why we are having chickens, but why we wont eat them if they die, if you dont know what they died from. They think chickens are 2 or 3 years old when they are slaughtered for eating. They simply have not idea where food comes from or how it gets to the supermarket.
He tried to explain that egg laying hens are different from hens bred for meat, but they didnt get it even when he said` well I wont be eating the cat when he dies` hes a pet. Our egglaying hens will be pets with abonus of eggs, but if I was having hens which we reared to eat, thats slightly different.
Thats what you get them for and they are looked after with the same care but the time span and outcome are different.
We always have a freerange turkey at christmas. Yes it costs a fortune but at least I am satisfied that it had a good life and every scap is enjoyed .
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by misty »

Had some of the 'butcher's' steak tonight. Oh it was so good. Make sure it was out of the fridge for a couple of hours, it's about 2" thick so just a light touch of crushed garlic and peppercorns, cook on a very hot griddle. It was red in the middle but no blood and was so tender and tasty. I only order a few bits and they should last for months but we tend to have them at the week end, when it's gone it's gone.
We now have so many peacocks round here there's a possibility they will be on the menu so don't know how many of these people would eat them?
So many people will not eat rabbits, pheasants, wild duck and would sooner buy supermarket blackberries then go five minutes down the road and pick some.
Venison season should just about be here, yummy.
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Dinchy
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by Dinchy »

Stop it Misty, you are making my mouth water )eat( Our butcher will buy a brace of venison from people he knows and sells them in his shop. Delicious! And I love venison!
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by misty »

I got in touch with Thetford forest who told me the butcher in a nearby small town sells their venison. It is so good for you, good gravy and mustard mash!
Mind you we have deer here it's just catching the b*ggers!
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by kate egg »

A bit )ot: I have just read Liz Jones 'Exmoor Files' its very entertaining but OMG she has such strange ideas about how the countryside works. She doesn't seem to realise that if no one ate meat (like Liz) there would not be any animals in the fields. Farms are businesses whether they have a few acres or thousands. What does need resolving and I doubt it ever will be is the way the animals are reared and slaughtered......
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by Steve the Gas »

Lilo the bloke you spoke about has no idea as you said, I actually doubt he was brought up in the country ( I'd ask him for details )de: ) If he was he must have been wrapped in cotton wool in a small room most of his life, jeeeezzz )gr:
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by cluckyclaire »

I have to say i'm loving raising animals for the table. I get chickens specifically bred for meat as well as eating excess cockerels which we have hatched. We have 5 lambs which we got from a local famer and have hand reared. 3 are girls and will be kept to bred from next year but the boys will be going in the freezer. Currently have a duck being stored at the local pub until we have enough stuff to make it worthwhile switching the secind freezer on or we have enough people around to make it worth cooking it, and the geese are growing well for christmas.

I love the fact that i know where my food is ciming from and that it has had a good life but many friends and family don't understand me. I grew up in the town and never had any real contact with the countryside til 5 years ago when i met my boyfriend.

It's weird though how one day someone can ask how on earth i can eat something i have raised and then the next be asking if i'll sell them a goose for xmas!!!!
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Re: Beef Cheeks. - Not for vegetarians...

Post by secret squirrel »

So how do you cook goose then? I had one about 3 years ago , which my daughters, then boyfriend, aquired. I was expecting more from it I think than it produced. I had never had goose before and although we enjoyed it I dont think I did it justice. )dwn:
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