my god I though Oxtail was a 'cheap' cut of meat?

[captainmummy]

Went past the butchers yesterday, saw a small tray of Oxtail in the window. My mum used to cook it, and I loved it, but i've never cooked it myself. So I went in and bought the tray - about 1.5 kg, enough for 5. Hell's Bell's it came to £9.36!!!!!!!!.
Was nearly £7/kg.

Same for lamb shanks. Used to be able to get 3 or 4 for a couple of quid but recently saw 2 in a pack in tesco for ?9.50. I think the 'cheaper' cuts are now very trendy and with increased demand the costs go up. I think the cheaper chicken cuts (thighs legs) will go the same way.

Not all butchers charge poncy prices are on a well heeled high street. Look for one that is in a down market area, but popular, just as good in my experinece. Considering the time it takes to cook oxtail, that price is just insane. On the other hand, only proper cooks now know how to prepare the dish, so it has become a gourmet dish. Mad. Anyway hope you enjoy it!

Cooked it all day in the slow cooker with carrots - the meat was very flavourful but very oily, even after i trimmed off fat and skimmed the stew. was plenty for 5 with mash and veg but don't think i'll be buying it again. I've been looking at cheaper cuts of meat - have been tempted by heart, which is supposed to be like beef if sliced thin and stir-fried.

This is what happens when poncy TV chefs get onto the stuff plebs like me cook.

ideally if I cook oxtail or shin of beef with the bone in, I cook it one day, and then into the fridge overnight, that way you can skim off the solid excess fat which comes from the marrow in the bones before you reheat it the next day.

Oooh love oxtail, yummyness, my butcher isn't too bad tbh which is great - I can recommend asking if they have anything on offer that they are trying to flog off!

Its actually been pricey for quite a while now though even in down market areas. Ive not cooked it for ages due to the ridiculous price.

yes that hugh fearlessy-eatsitall has a lot to answer for making shin popular....I have noticed the prices going up.

do try his recipe with the apple juice and soy sauce though, it's gorgeous.

I LOVE oxtail but its hard to get round here and none of the supermarkets seem to stock it

Good tip Catsmamma, re the fat.
Again, find a butcher shop that deals with the whole animal, so they can sell the cheaper cuts, at a reasonable price. feeling hungry now I went through a phase of buying lamb kidney, say 4 or 5, pan fried with onion, mushrooms, paprika, oragano, squeeze of lemon and finished of with a bit of cream. a la stroganoff. Generous for 2 people and yummy, the kidneys cost soooo little. Always pays to shop with an eye to what is good value, rather than sticking to a list. I haven't seen oxtail in a while, so will be on the look out. Happy eating everyone.

thanks for the morrisons tip
theres not one near me sadly but maybe if i pass that way it would be worth dropping in!

I have just bought a kilo to do Hestons oxtail, was sure he said 3 hours in pressure cooker, will watch again on 4OD before I ruin it !! I couldnt believe how much ...

Really? Its the fault of TV chefs for the price of cheaper cut meat??? Nothing to do with the price of fertilizer, fuel, grain, overheads etc!!!

Believe it or not the farmers are not making anymore money on their stock, overheads are excessive and the reason why we have no totally rid of all our stock.

Price rises start from the begining of the food chain - its not science no one is ripping you off.

Due to demand, people will use the cheaper cuts which will push up prices. The price of a whole carcus (50% more) has to be recovered - nose to tail, which is good, as many years ago meat was too cheap and pieces were taken for dog food.

Bacon, if that were the case re; stupidly inflated oxtail prices, then all cuts would have gone up as much %wise.

Its got faff all to do with overheads, its down to the butchers/retailers seeing a trick and knowing they can charge more now as popularity has increased.

Fair play to them, they are running a business after all.

Still pisses me off though.

Yes same with shoulder and neck of lamb! Is sooo annoying.

Lamb is a ridiculous price - at the retail end anyway. I think you can get a whole carcass for peanuts (used to, anyway) but once it's cut up into cutlets and the nicest choicest bits it's astronomical. I haven't bought lamb in ages. I buy much less meat, and use stuff like mince/sausages/bacon much more now. And fish, which is also not as cheap as it used to be.

bacon i know farmers have it hard, and meat should not be cheap -that leads to intensive farming and BSE!
Incidentally, why is meat on a farmshop more than in the butchers? Surely it's gone through fewer 'middlemen'?

Change butcher! I bought oxtail from our local butcher's recently (more than enough for 4, did it in the slow cooker like you) and it was only £3.80!
It was blooming lovely.

Second Morrisons, we had (very cheap)rump steak from there recently and it was gorgeous, the quality of their meat is fab.

Things like oxtail, lamb neck and other "cheap" cuts often don't actually make it back from the slaughterhouse, they just vanish. Taking that into consideration I can see why a butcher might charge a high price for them if they are becomming more popular due to TV. (And of course fashions change prices as well as cost of rearing the meat, remember monkfish used to be cheap as chips before it became the darling of the restaurant world.)

We go to a farmshop that is a lovely farmer selling his meat for a shed. He just chucks stuff like neck or oxtail in for fre or a couple of quid depending on his mood, he doens't see the point in charging for stuff that he doesn't always have because it goes walkies. Sad for him but great for us!

I agree that Morrisons is extremely reasonable for meat.

bacon, my friend raises pigs (she only has a small farm) and the butcher only wants sausages now off the whole pig! She said she finds it painful to turn the whole pig into sausages but that's what is demanded of her/them

I agreed we should eat more of the poor animal - after all it's the whole pointof it's life. And I love stewsand casserolesmade with lamb neck and oxtail, but at that price i could buy prime beef! And i checkedwith another butcher - still over £7/lb.

I do think there?s a big element of fashion here. I bought pork belly from my butcher a few weeks ago that was £10 and fed only 3 people! And while all pork belly is fatty, this was beyond fatty and not that nice.

I find you get good deals at the supermarkets if you keep an eye out. I have just ordered a pork belly joint from Ocado on a sale which I?ll stick in the freezer and haul out in due course. It cost £3.20 for 800g.

All the cheap cuts are more expensive now they are trendy, it's so irritating. Chicken thighs, pork belly, lamb shanks. And mackerel too - it used to be a really cheap way of getting oily fish but it's gone up about 100%. Kippers are still cheap though.

" bought pork belly from my butcher a few weeks ago that was £10 and fed only 3 people"
Think you were had there. I bought pork belly at the weekend from Waitrose (pre pack) for just over £2 and it was easily enough for two.