If you could choose only one, which would it be?

As most of you know, we limit our meat consumption to only a couple of days a week. Tomorrow is time to place the monthly coop order and I want to get a nice beef roast for an Italian Pot Roast or something similar, slow cooked or braised. I want something that will be the tenderest once it's cooked.

I'm not good at the choosing meat so I put it to the experts here. Here are my choices.

Thanx!

and back in the good old days when I ate meat, I tried to pick the one with the least amount of marbling. Because I was cooking it slowly in liquid, it didn't need all the fat to make it tender or juicy.

It also tended to hold together well enough to slice thinly for open face roast beef sandwiches later in the week.

We are card carrying members of the "cheaper cut makes a better slow cooked roast" club. Fat and connective tissue matter. Sounds gross now that I'm typing it :D, but it does matter to flavor and tenderness.

Soup, stew, roast, crock pot - the list seems endless to me.

I do make an Italian beef in the crock pot that is good using Chuck steak, but is AMAZING if I use sirloin. I grab it only when I see it on sale. Wait, who am I kidding? I don't buy any meat unless it's on sale! :rofl:

Price isn't necessarily a consideration here. Ordering through the coop is spendier but the quality, safety, local and sustainably raised issues trump those for us. But that being said, I'm not going to be able to order a tenderloin, either. ;)

I sometimes make it with star anise or five spice powder. Add carrots and potatoes for the last 45 minutes, and you have a feast, IMHO.

Good luck!

According to Julia Child, when the carcass is suspended upside down, the blood flows to the neck or chuck area giving the meat a superior flavor.

I have to agree. Hamburgers made with ground chuck are always so full of flavor.

This kind of chuck roast.



Although we use sirloin or similar depending on price, and simmer it in a wine broth for about 6 hours and it's delicious too. Shouldn't say we, hubby is the one that makes that one.

Looks like chuck is the winner.

Thanx, everyone! :hi:

Could have ordered a boneless but I think the bone adds to the flavor when it's cooked, does it not?

:)

But it's been so long and I wasn't as good a cook back then as far as knowing these kinds of things.

Tell him I said thanx! Did he enjoy his email pizza and cartoon? LOL

:D I can be patient when it comes to working a good joke.

With the roast - We would crock pot it and add veggies later, better flavor, but they stew well too.

"It's not me, I don't make messes!"
:rofl:

the EXACT same reaction I got. :rofl:

:rofl:

The standard, marbled chuck roast like that in the picture above is without a doubt the tenderest and most flavorful. BUT I sometimes use a chuck shoulder, which is much leaner, generally a lot less expensive, and pretty darn close to the same result without anywhere near as much fat.

AS to eye of round - I never really liked because it is so lean that it is generally pretty dry and flavorless. And then one day I thought, what if I marinate it? Duh! So now when I buy one of those I marinate it in a combo of some au jus mix (about 1/2 a package just mixed with some cold water) along with a little diced onion, tomato paste, a little wine, pepper, garlic and let it marinate overnight. NOw when you roast it, it is much more tender and flavorful and gives off an amazing amount of juices. We slice it thin for French Dips (sliced roast beef, grilled baguette type roll, sauteed onions, horseradish cream, and a side of jus. Yum! Some put cheese on it, but I don't think it's necessary, but fine if you prefer it that way.

I use thinly sliced bottom round pounded and floured to make Alton Brown's Swiss steak recipe which is a big favorite.

And right now I have a large top round defrosting to make a Mexican type casserole with rice, tomatoes, olives and kidney beans and I want the meat to be a little firmer when it's done.