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Oddly enough, Waitrose where I live has a dry aged beef cabinet. I like to get a BBQ, (green egg) seriously hot, and then sear the oiled steak. I cook straight from the fridge and the steak to be almost still alive. I rest it when seared and that gives me sufficient heat penetration to the core.

I prefer to buy a piece of ribeye, sirloin or fillet and cut the steak slices myself. I think it improves it greatly when it is much thicker than typically sold. I also adopt pro chef seasoning - by which I mean a lot of seasoning!

However, I used to eat beef a lot. Now I hardly ever eat it. I think quality is very patchy, including from local butchers and Waitrose (which is the only proper supermarket near the village where I live) and I have had far too many tasteless or tough beef steaks. I also cut back on red meat a lot and forced myself to eat more fish and vegetables. Healthier I think. In winter, slow cooking takes over.

It is practically impossible to get Venison where I live. Waitrose do sell venison steaks occasionally, and venison burgers. But the absence of fat seems to equate to an absence of flavour.

Or that lack of flavour may be that the venison in Waitrose is farmed from NZ.

Even some of the burgers etc that say UK venison will have a proportion of imported meat.
 
This is what Waitrose say:
Where does Waitrose venison come from?
Our venison comes from red deer aged 12-27 months, which are reared on British and New Zealand farms. Raised naturally, with minimal interference, the deer thrive on a grass-based diet, producing tender, well-flavoured meat. All our venison can be traced back to the farms and estates where it was raised.

I had no idea. I assumed that as deer is plentiful here and farmed, it must be UK sourced. I suppose they will say the UK economy needs trade deals with New Zealand :rolleyes:
 
I greet the deer I bump into when out on the estate with a bow
read that which ever way you like,
But is has been nigh on impossible to get decent venison recently and the salami making has really suffered. I have 9Kg of boar in the freezer waiting to meet some tender bambi
 
Venison's probably cheaper here than in the Land of the Long White Cloud. My sister is a naturalised Kiwi, and when she comes back she always comments that NZ lamb is cheaper here than it is there.
 
Camping breakfast this morning.

Another acceptable way to eat steak. :cool:
Prepare it before you go. Shallots, garlic, basil, par boiled spuds cut small and rib eye.
Made up for the rain last night! What a weekend to go camping.
*' I've paid for it we're blood* going!'
 

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Camping breakfast this morning.

Another acceptable way to eat steak. :cool:
Prepare it before you go. Shallots, garlic, basil, par boiled spuds cut small and rib eye.
Made up for the rain last night! What a weekend to go camping.
*' I've paid for it we're blood* going!'
You can nick the threaded rod idea!
 
Not had wagyu, maybe one day when my wallet is heavier. I can heartily recommend an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking of meats. Totally transformed my steaks etc, even a cheap thin cut is vastly improved.
 
In an emergency I have found the little vacuum bag machine for sous vide makes an excellent small parts veneer press
 
Yes. Very expensive. Genuine Japanese and the supplier has a reputation for quality though.

I need to try sous vide. I have a vacuum drawer in the new kitchen, but no Sous Vide machine or immersion unit. A US friend of mine, who is a but of a nutty professor (maths - he is an actual professor), went on and on about sous vide a couple of years ago, though I didn't bite. But he has now moved on. The latest "in thing" is to get a dry aged effect on the cheap by finely grinding a special rice, which still has all the bacteria in it (available on line) and rubbing it into the meat and leaving for a coupe of days. Allegedly turns ordinary beef into as good as dry aged.

No 1 offspring and I are trying it separately. If it works out I will post up details.
 
Koji is the rice you are looking for, a type of moulded rice, miraculous properties I am told.

An immersion circulator is definitely worth it, ours is only a £50 Aldi version but it's great.
 
Thanks for the reminder. Koji. Yes. We ordered some off Amazon, but it came in bags in liquid form, which was not what I was expecting. Tried it anyway, and it definitely changed the flavour for the better, but was not the authentic process. We will be trying again.

Do you reckon that an immersion heater is as good as a proper sous vide bath? I balked at the latter because they are such big ugly lumps and quite expensive if I don't use it much. I will keep my eye out for the Aldi one.
 
Is the Aldi one a small unit you put on the side of pan not a dedicated machine Rorshach? I think I saw that once in there with a small shrink wrapping unit but it I held off it as an impulse purchase (right or wrong). I'm looking at doing the kitchen next year and I only hear good things about sous vide from a couple of mates who are really into their cooking. I know this is a slight swerve from topic but make hay while the sun shines.... sorry Ajb. Any advice on machines guys?
 
Yes ours clips onto the side of a container. You can use a saucepan or similar. What you want is something that is deep enough to submerge the sous vide cooker and food, but not so massive that you are heating gallons of water.
I went to a discount hardware shop and found a small plastic storage box with lid, it's big enough to do a couple of steaks or chicken breats, holds a couple of litres of water and has the lid to hold in the heat and stem. I made a cut out to fit around the immersion circulator. Works a treat.

To use it I pour water from the kettle into the container and have a jug of cold water as well. The IC tells you the water temp on it's screen so I try my best to approximate it by mixing. Hot tap water would work for some recipes too as that is almost hot enough for a rare steak. You then set the temp you want it starts moving the water around and heating it up. Once you get the right temp you put in your meat and set a timer. Time is not critical, I cook chicken breasts for 1.5 hours but you could leave them for 3 or 4 hours no problem. You will never get a juicier piece of chicken then from a sous vide, makes the best chicken salad as well.
 
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This is what Waitrose say:
Where does Waitrose venison come from?
Our venison comes from red deer aged 12-27 months, which are reared on British and New Zealand farms. Raised naturally, with minimal interference, the deer thrive on a grass-based diet, producing tender, well-flavoured meat. All our venison can be traced back to the farms and estates where it was raised.

I had no idea. I assumed that as deer is plentiful here and farmed, it must be UK sourced. I suppose they will say the UK economy needs trade deals with New Zealand :rolleyes:

All the supermarkets use NZ venison. Often branded as UK but it won't be 100% from the UK.

The Supermarkets all need a product that is uniform in size, colour, flavour and texture which you just don't get from wild deer which is why, the majority of deer culled in the UK end up on the continent.

Crazy.

Anyway In my opinion red deer has the least flavour wild or farmed of the six species we get in the UK. Farmed has less flavour than wild.

Muntjac and Sika being my favourite.

Fallow has a more gamey flavour than the rest

Roe is kind of a half way house.
 
Venison's probably cheaper here than in the Land of the Long White Cloud. My sister is a naturalised Kiwi, and when she comes back she always comments that NZ lamb is cheaper here than it is there.
Not sure about venison price comparison as I'm lucky enough to have a neighbour who's a hunter so I get my venison and boar pretty cheap (and fresh).
You're right about the price of lamb though and the quality here is lower. Most NZ quality lamb is exported leaving us the poorer quality meat which IMO is still overpriced. Some of that is due to the declining size of sheep farming here (60 million in the mid 80's down to 30 million now) with a shift towards dairy and beef. Luckily, I am not a lover of lamb so don't miss it.
Pete
 
Luckily my butcher has his own herd and 2 dry aging cabinets. Means I can buy what I want and then age it. Aged a big sirloin on the bone last year for my birthday, barbecued on the kamado were easily the best steaks I’ve had.

sous vide works for tender but doesn’t make up for flavour. Koji really ups the umami and can help turn bland into inter

Currently enjoying a lot of rare roast beef. Heavy seat in pan, then into oven at 110c and steam till internal of 57c. Absolutely fanastic

this was last weeks tritip
871B5CE0-CD8F-4E82-AF1D-2E7371C4DB8E.jpeg


And if you want a good burger- dry aged rib trim with bone marrow on a coarse grind.
 
Yes. Very expensive. Genuine Japanese and the supplier has a reputation for quality though.

I need to try sous vide. I have a vacuum drawer in the new kitchen, but no Sous Vide machine or immersion unit. A US friend of mine, who is a but of a nutty professor (maths - he is an actual professor), went on and on about sous vide a couple of years ago, though I didn't bite. But he has now moved on. The latest "in thing" is to get a dry aged effect on the cheap by finely grinding a special rice, which still has all the bacteria in it (available on line) and rubbing it into the meat and leaving for a coupe of days. Allegedly turns ordinary beef into as good as dry aged.

No 1 offspring and I are trying it separately. If it works out I will post up details.

Hi. The best way to do this is actually use Asian fish sauce, paint a teaspoon on for every 200gs and seal in a bag for 3 days and leave in the fridge. This will give the umami, nutty flavour you get from a well aged steak.
 

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