In the end, I put about 700g in my little blender to try and make minced meat - not quite as good as a real mince machine would produce but it did the job! I have been searching for mince for weeks so it was lovely to be able to make a spaghetti bolognese at last (I also slipped in the red wine Evs brought me from the plane - delicious!).
I have frozen 1 kilo of chopped beef, which I shall no doubt put in a stew or casserole of some type, and I have frozen a steak of 350g for Bertie and I to enjoy one evening (with a glass of orange juice for maximum iron absorption!). I was feeling rather cheated as I surveyed the big bone that was included, until mum came up with the obvious suggestion of making beef stock and that is now boiling up with some veg and a bay leaf - umm, it smells lovely!
Following all this beefiness, I decided to have a look online for more info on this subject and I found this website of particular interest. Bertie has assured me our cow was definitely grass-fed (no grain-fed cows in Guadeloupe he said emphatically, and judging by all the cows randomnly grazing in fields along the side of the roads I can believe that!) and it was nice to find out how good for us that is! It is lower in fat and saturated fat and higher in Omega 3 fat and vitamin E - hurrah! However, I was interested to note that as a result of it being less fatty, it is much easier to overcook, leaving you with dry food. I had noticed this in my bolognese, so I will have to pay more attention to the cooking process next time.
I have been reading about people who buy half or quarter of a cow straight from the farmer and I am musing on the possibility of doing this back home. You would need a mighty big freezer - and what happens if the power goes off for a long time... Oh yes, that only happens here in Guadeloupe!
Anyway, if you have any beef recipes that you would recommend, do let me know!
2 comments:
Sounds as though Mum has paid her way from her assistance rendered in this section!! I can appreciate the hard work. I have had to prepare the vegetables for the soup in your dear Ma's absence myself, and being a tall fellow it's a a back-breakibg, neck-cricking job, which cannot be done quickly or with shortcuts. However I do blend the softened veg in the pan instead of taking a bit out at a time to put into a small container which I think is what Mum and Evie do. So that saves some time, and energy.
Yes i blend in the pan too - great invention the stick blender. Evs said over my shoulder (when i originally read your comment) that she does too.
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