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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in thinking sainsburys did not explain properly re xmas beef?

179 replies

kitchensrus · 29/12/2021 22:03

I spent over £20 on a 30 days matured taste the difference beef joint for xmas day from sainsburys. My guests in their 80s had not eaten outside their home since pre covid so i wanted it to be nice and they preferred this to turkey.

There was no mention of any cooking instructions on the outer packaging. When i opened it on xmas day i found it had to be cooked in liquid and was not the roast I expected. Googling silverside i can see that all silverside is recommended to be cooked this way otherwise it is tough but i had no idea. All the silverside joints were mixed in the cabinet with rump joints as each was individually priced. I never even considered there would be a difference and as it was such an expensive joint I just presumed it was a a traditional roast. It was labelled "British beef silverside joint".

AIBU to think Sainsburys should have explained this on the packaging as surely I am not the only person who doesnt know this. I wouldnt normally have beef except for the visitors.

OP posts:
Mouseonmychair · 30/12/2021 10:13

Wow. Well consider this an education then. It isn't Sainsbury's job to fill in basic missing knowledge of cooking.

TurkeyRoastvBubbleandSqueek · 30/12/2021 10:27

@kitchensrus

Certainly no camels back! I just wanted xmas dinner to be perfect for an elderly couple in their 80s who hadnt had a meal out of their house in 2 years. We didnt even want the beef and we had a lovely turkey and pigs in blankets but as they wanted beef I wanted it to be lovely for them too.

Obviously I blame myself for not knowing but I genuinely didnt know and wouldnt have known in hindsight. This is despite everyone on here thinking I am stupid.

I am used to labelling being excessive ie may contain nuts on nuts and cooking instructions on everything and overall time and have come to expect it on everything as i shop in supermarkets.

Well I am in my 60's @kitchensrus and I did not know that about it either, so I must be stupid too. I definitely expect things like meat to be sold with like for like meats, so IMSillyO Sainsbury's should definitely have had an easily seen warning note on it.

I hope it didn't spoil the whole day for any of you. You will laugh about it in years to come! You sound lovely OP, please have some 💐 and 🍫 xx

Rainartist · 30/12/2021 10:32

Yabu - you bought the wrong thing....

BrioNotBiro · 30/12/2021 10:39

@kitchensrus

I ignored the instructions to add 900ml of stock as my guests wanted roast and i covered it in fat and basted it and followed recipe online - obviously i didnt just stick it in the oven.

It was only as an addition to the turkey for my 2 elderly guests so didnt think i needed an £80 joint. I did a gorgeous roast beef for xmas dinner last year from Aldi but sadly my relatives were in lockdown and didnt join us. No idea what joint it was but it cost less than this year.

I would have shopped in Aldi again but Sainsburys sent me a voucher for £10.50 off £60 which tempted me. I really wish they hadnt or I would never have considered going there as it is so much more expensive.

You certainly don't need to spend £80 for decent roasting beef for two people. I got a lovely (single) rib of beef from Waitrose for £21, it would have served four easily.
LittleBearPad · 30/12/2021 10:43

You can roast silverside but it would need to be carved thinly particularly for older people. But it isn’t sainsburys fault.

lightisnotwhite · 30/12/2021 13:03

My mum bought silverside from Sainsbury’s for our Christmas beef as that was all that was left.
She’s an amazing cook and used to cooking beef this way. Moist and juicy and really tasty.

EerieSilence · 30/12/2021 15:15

Wow, that was a BU if I ever saw one. If you don't know how to cook it, just google, plenty of recipes.
It's not Sainsbury's problem that you didn't read the label but tbh, if you saw that it was supposed to be cooked, you should have done so, instead of trying to make up a recipe with a cut of meat you don't understand. The elderly relatives have a choice of eating it or breaking their teeth on a chewy meat.

Shade17 · 30/12/2021 18:01

A braised piece of silverside can be absolutely delicious and something I sometimes do for Sunday lunch. If I’m roasting a joint it’s normally a piece of sirloin from my trusted butcher, but sometimes a rib joint or a fillet of beef. The joy of a cheap/tough bit of meat is that you can turn it into something beautiful, see also beef cheeks and shin.

100problems · 30/12/2021 19:28

The price is not the issue for goodness sake; for comparison I bought a beef topside in Waitrose that cost £15 and fed 3 easily on Christmas Day. It would've done twice as many olds as they eat like birds usually.

I've also roasted Silverside low and slow (which is also the way I cook Turkey) and it's been ok. I've never in 35 years cooked it in water, and if I was slow cooking I'd get brisket.

The main issue is the joint itself. Topside and silverside are NEVER good joints in Sainsbury's, a piece from almost anywhere else would have been better.

TractorAndHeadphones · 30/12/2021 19:52

@VodselForDinner

OP: AIBU to be upset that Sainsbury’s didn’t give me explicit cooking instructions for the meat I bought?

Vast majority of posters: Yes! YABU.

OP: Well I am not being unreasonable! Elderly people!! Cabinets!!!! Nuts!!!!!!
Also, I read the instructions and ignored them so I’m definitely not being unreasonable.

😂😂😂 this made me laugh
Georgeskitchen · 30/12/2021 19:58

I have never cooked silverside in liquid!! Always roasted slowly and it turned out fine

kazillionaire · 30/12/2021 20:00

But did it ruin Christmas?

Sportslady44 · 31/12/2021 14:14

yes absolutely your right they should tell you,

roasting jonts dosent mean anything. Tell them.

Best place to go is a butchers though. Service and help. They know their trade.

Nonnymum · 31/12/2021 14:22

Why didn't you roast it in liquid? It would have tasted much better and been lovely and tender. The liquid could be turned into gravy. You could have still served it with all the trimmings like a normal joint. I don't think your guests would have been disappointed just because it hadn't been dry roasted. They probably wouldn't even have noticed.

Eleganz · 31/12/2021 14:31

I do really think it is on you to know how you are going to cook a large and expensive joint of meat before you do it. Especially as there are usually lots of different ways to cook meat and any "instructions" you do get are just a guide anyway.

I this google age you can easily find out how to cook something anyway. It's not like we all just have Mrs Beeton's to rely on!

I got my turkey boneless breast joint from the butcher's with no instructions on or other labelling at all. I would have been a right arse to go back to them and complain if it was too dry because of how I cooked it!

Nonnymum · 31/12/2021 14:40

from sainsburys for a fiver and they've always had cooking instructions

This one had cooking instructions just not on the front of the label . Which seems quite standard I think.

AlDanvers · 31/12/2021 14:42

This doesn't even make sense.

Maybe if all Sainsburys other meats didnt have instructions on i wouldnt have got used to it but I am so used to just looking at overall time on the outside packaging to know when to get it out of the fridge.

So you actively looked for the cooking instructions, and it wasn't there? All their meat usually does and you didn't think that was strange. And bought it anyway. S

Then you found the cooking instructions but ignored them and were surprised it was rubbish?

hivemindneeded · 31/12/2021 14:45

YABU. It is the ultimate in learned helplessness to not know how to cook the food you buy and to blame the supermarket for not telling you!

In future , plan your menu, research recipes, choose your food, check it is what you are after, buy it and cook it according to plan. Like a grown up.

Cas112 · 31/12/2021 15:10

You picked up the wrong beef, you didn't read the labelling properly, your problem. Not theirs

KiloWhat · 31/12/2021 15:31

If you buy an egg do you expect instructions on the outside?

GalaPie · 31/12/2021 15:48

When cooking such a special meal, I would have been checking any instructions and checking again from about three days before. Weighing and weighing again....20 mins per lb plus 20, does that still make two hours 5 mins? It did yesterday. Were those scales really at zero. Foil or no foil or half-time foil. Is there one of those horrible presentation pads hidden under this thing. Poke poke. Prod prod. Rub with mustard or sprinkle with garlic. Weigh again.

LittleBearPad · 31/12/2021 16:09

Why on earth would you weigh something three times? The weight’s on the label

simonisnotme · 31/12/2021 16:49

i rarely follow instructions for meat - always cook it for longer that it says

LittleBearPad · 31/12/2021 16:51

We’d balance one another out. I always cook it for less!

GenerallyVeryUnreasonable · 31/12/2021 16:56

YABU. You should have googled before you left the shop if you didn’t know that silverside is for pot roast. It’s your job to work out what to buy and how to cook it if you’re the chef.