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Im a cheap date, I love my Victorinox paring knives.

I've done this a couple times- a couple bison, a couple steers and then we got a whole steer during Covid and 2 sets of friends split another whole steer. It is very commonplace to have a standard cut sheet from the processor that you can deviate from. IE-how thick you want steaks, (and what cut of steak you want), how much burger per package, stew meat, etc etc. My experience is that if you are getting a half or whole, you can specify how you want your cuts. Those farms that offer 1/4s typically do a standard cut only. Regarding meat inspection in the US- there are different types of inspection and most of these type of purchases (whole, half, quarter animal) fall under what is considered custom exempt. There is an inspector assigned to the slaughter facility but they are not being inspected for retail sale (ie, your local butcher counter at a local meat shop). Example of a custom cut sheet-

Definitely a good idea. There is no reason to pay for USDA inspection if you are buying a whole or half animal. Inspection is only required if the farmer wants to sell individual retail cuts. Fractional carcass sales are exempt. This kind of USDA inspection has nothing to do with meat quality. It is purely a food safety inspection and the inspectors are from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Quality grading is done by a different USDA division, its Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). In my experience small processors generally don't offer grading. Price-wise I think you did great! It is expensive and a heck of a lot of work to raise quality animals in the most humane manner. You did right by not buying an indoor-raised hog. Pigs need room to root, forage, and run (they are surprisingly fast).

My kind of dinner!

They look spectacular to me!

I noticed today @ Tj's , some ' dry farmed ' early girl tomatoes . I saw them mentioned somewhere , but could not locate that ref. I looked them up , and , aside from the Buzz , they seem to be farmed in a water restricted way thus ( possibly ) enhancing flavor and sweetness. So , has anyone tried these @ TJ's ? they were only slightly larger than Campari , my ' lottery ' tomato of choice , when they look good . they are not giving these Dry EG's away , but , if they look good , I'll try a pack . please report if you've tried them Early Girl was my tomato of choice when I had a garden , starting the seeds here in NE in Jan , indoors a vey tasty tomato from my home garden for years .

Shisito's--garlic, oil, salt, lemon juice

BLTs again, this time with lettuce!

Ive had grass fed beef twice , from a local farm that raised and butchered the meat and sold it frozen at the town's farmer's market, in various cuts. 100 % grass . the butchering was a bit uneven , where a slice of meat varied in thickness for each cut and was uneven , the meat was very lean . these were sirloin cuts. both issues were solved w SV , then a torching. the taste was quite different from feed lot beef , and I enjoyed it. these pieces of meat would have been ruined by ' standard steak cooking , of your choice ' ending up tough and dry. this thread got me thinking to go look for that truck on Saturday .

Some years back I had a grass-fed beef burger at some upscale country club and it was wonderful. It's hard now to remember whether it was strictly due to the flavor of the meat, or there was something special about the bun and condiments as well. I haven't had as much luck myself with grass-fed beef burgers, but that was because my husband always wanted more fat in his, and strongly preferred hot Italian sausage and chopped onions mixed in with it. Someday I'll finish my stock of those burger patties we made, and then I'll be in a position to try the grass-fed beef burger again. I would have asked for some stew meat rather than having all the trimmings ground into burger. Other than that I'm not sure what else I'd suggest from your list. Echoing an earlier question: did you get the tail? What about a cheek?

Safeway has Foothills Creamery Moon Mist ice cream now, which I understand is a Nova Scotia...specialty. Bubblegum, grape, banana, cherry flavour. I've not had it yet, but am equal parts horrified and intrigued. Is it good? Or does it taste as bizarre as it looks?? I've had the Breyers Nanaimo Bar ice cream. It was ok. Pleasant, a bit overly sweet for ice cream, nothing exciting. Part of the appeal of Nanaimo bars is the distinct textures of the three layers when you bite into it, which is missing when it's all mixed up in an ice cream.

I got a lot more ground beef than I expected. That makes me wonder what I missed out on! I do like GB though. It is very versatile and easy to cook. Greg

Baguettes baked last night were still warm so covered them with a tea towel overnight, and sliced this morning. Made Moe a pot of cream of mushroom soup this morning and he had some for breakfast with toasted baguette. The best reason to bake bread is for the toast.

I was attempting to enable you. I ended up enabling myself.

Delivery from local chef who cooks out of his home. A giant chamorro with tortillas, refritos, rice and pico de gallo. Chamorro is a slow-roasted pork shank in an adobo sauce. We shared half of it for dinner; enough leftovers for pulled pork sandwiches for today's lunch. Cost of meal including tax and delivery was 190 pesos (just over 10 bucks USD).

Thank you, Jo!

羊肉粉 (yáng ròu fěn), Lamb Rice Noodles

Thank you for the detailed information. I'm using high-quality fats for cooking and eating now. No more seed oils for me. Tallow certainly fits into that, however, given the time it will take to make it and then keeping it stored and easily accessible to use, I think I'd rather just use olive oil or avocado oil. Thoughts? Is there higher omega-3 in Tallow? I'll have to check. That would make me more interested in processing it. Greg

I did a bit of research about how I wanted the half cow processed and this is the cut sheet that I came up with: Cut Sheet Notes: · Grind all usable meat trimmings and less-used cuts into ground beef. Do not include organ meat in the grind. Use only enough fat to achieve an 80/20 or 85/15 blend – target thirty lbs. · Roasts: ~3–4 lbs each or larger, standard trim o Chuck roast boneless – target six to eight roasts o Cut a rib roast off the chuck end of the ribeye o One Rump o Bottom Round – target two to three roasts · Steaks: 1.5” thick, 1–2 per pack, standard trim (~¼" fat) o T-bone with bone-in – partial filet (front part) – reserve the remaining tenderloin for filet mignon steaks – target ten to twelve T-bone and four to six filet mignon o Sirloin – target six to eight o Boneless Ribeye – target four o One Skirt o One Flank o One Chuck eye · Cut brisket into two portions, each containing part of the flat and point muscles · Include soup bones suitable for making broth (e.g., marrow bones, knuckles, neck bones); portion in ~2–4 lb bags so that I can make bone broth in batches · Please include 5–10 lbs of clean, external fat trimmings (e.g., suet or back fat), avoiding internal organ fat or gristle. Package in 1–2 lb portions for rendering or broth use · No organs I like to cook roasts, especially slow-roast with veggies, and I also like to use ground beef a lot. I eat about two ounces of GB each morning mixed in with two or three eggs and a bit of cheese. An 'Egg Bowl'. Quick and easy in the microwave and very nutritious and filling. I love to make comfort chili, which takes about four pounds of GB per pot. I would love to have input from the group on changes to make to the cut sheet notes for a future order. Greg

@BaxterBaker Thank you for those pics. I do recall that ' inspection ' can get expensive. Nice packaging on that burger .

Baxter, TN, just outside of Cookeville. Move here from Maine with my wife Laurie and built our home/shop about ten years ago. Actually still building! I don't think there is any grade to this cow. I saw 'USDA' somewhere in regards to this farm but I don't know if my cow was inspected by USDA. I will ask. When I spoke with the hog farmer, he said that the meat that he sells retail is USDA inspected. I don't know if that's a requirement or not. The inspection is optional when he sells a half or whole hog to a customer. The cost is an extra $200 approximately. I decided not to spend that because I'm certain that I'm getting the same hog that he would have inspected to sell retail, and is probably of the same quality. Good idea?? Here's a picture I took this morning - two small NY strips and 2lbs burg. Greg

Creamy polenta and fresh blueberries enhanced with lemon, yogurt, and butter. The yogurt adds some creaminess and a subtle tang, the lemon kicks everything up with a floral, citrussy background note, and the butter is the ribbon that ties the package together. The berries were excellent, perhaps the best this summer.

I know a good deal less about knives than other folks here, Rickbern in particular. I mostly use cheapies like the Victorinox or Kuhn Rikon. I have the Gesshin Rick recommends, and while it’s not my style, it probably checks all the boxes in your request as well as anything around it’s price. Somewhat unrelated comment, but some of the folks at Kitchenknifeforum taught me that the Tojiro Cstapedius recommended is sold in Japan as the Fujitora line. I like Tojiro and Fujitora very much, but I didn’t see a petty on Amazon when I checked.

Okay, I was in Sobeys last night, and their cooler section had an area newly dedicated to Chapmans' "super-premium" ice creams. I took a look, and sure enough the butter tart ice cream was there. As it happens I'd bought some frozen items on this trip, and had come prepared with an insulated carrier and a few frozen gel packs, so I grabbed a pint (I don't buy ice cream unless I have the means to get it all the way home without it melting). GF and I both tasted it last night, and it was pleasant enough. I don't think it quite replicates the flavor profile of a butter tart, but on the other hand it's not as cloying and overwhelmingly sweet as a butter tart either. My "ginger" likened it to a butter-pecan cake, but with raisins instead of the nuts. I thought it was reminiscent of rum & raisin ice cream, but without the rum flavor. It also had bits of graham-crumb crust scattered through it, which took me aback at first (nobody in their right mind would use a sweet graham crust with a real butter tart, because they're sugar bombs already), but upon reflection it made sense. Regular pastry wouldn't hold up very well in an ice cream, whereas most ice cream makers are already adept at using bits of graham-crumb crust in their concoctions. So overall we both liked it (rum & raisin is one of my personal favorites, so the similarity is a positive in my opinion). I don't know how often I'd buy it, because I eat relatively little ice cream and my GF has a lot of other favorites, but it's definitely pleasant. The quality of ingredients and production seems more or less on par with other "supermarket-premium" brands like Hagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's, and given the current "buy Canadian" sentiment I think the company has an opportunity to carve out some market share. If nothing else, the timing at least favors their entry into that part of the market.