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In article >, (Victor Sack) wrote:
>Phred > wrote:
>
>> Hmm... If you really "get what you pay for" then this part of the
>> world clearly sees some cuts of beef (especially beef) as better
>> quality than others.
>
>The price is usually determined by supply and demand, not necessarily by
>taste. As to supply, there is much less meat suitable for steaks on the
>cow than for other cooking methods. As to demand, obviously, good
>steaks are popular because of their taste, but also because they are
>much easier to cook than most other cuts of meat, requiring only a few
>minutes of cooking and no prep work. Demand may be determined by
>convenience as much as by taste considerations, often even more so.

I agree. The inferior cuts need a lot of bloody work to make them
edible. :-)

>Now consider, for example, a good stewed or good barbecued (in the
>southern-US sense of the word) meat. These methods of preparation
>require tough cuts of meat totally unsuitable for a steak and usually
>costing rather less than most steak cuts. Are these dishes inferior to
>a good steak? I would say they are not. Some prefer the one, some the
>other, some like both equally well and it may just depend on the mood of
>the moment. There is nothing inherently bad in a tough cuts of meat, on
>the contrary, such cuts are often enough more flavourful.

Yes. Given the effort and time you can make a good meal from such
cuts. In fact, I do enjoy stews and similar in the winter months --
and some of the effort involved can be spread around by freezing the
excess for subsequent "easy cooking" meals. (I *always* end up
with five or six servings when I make a stew or curry. ;-)

>> Actually, one of my favourite breakfasts is liver and bacon -- but I'm
>> buggered if I can make it properly. :-( [In truth, I don't think
>> *anyone* can make it properly since the days of steam on Queensland
>> Rail. Don't know how they did it, but the delight (the *only*
>> delight of travelling by rail for two days down the coast of
>> Queensland covered in soot, was the dinning car breaky of liver and
>> bacon served at one point of the trip. I'm drooling with the memory!
>
>Sounds good. Was the liver just pan-fried? Myself, I like Jewish-style
>chopped liver (which is best made with meat grinder/mincer). I also
>like the Spanish preparation of chicken liver fried with onions, garlic
>and white wine. Also chicken liver crostini.

Well, I'm not sure how they did it (if I knew maybe I could duplicate
the results

but if you mean "was it served as lumps of liver" then,
yes, but not as giant slabs of the stuff. Somehow Qld Rail managed to
create the perfect blend of liver and bacon embedded in a rather
thick, very tasty sauce.

[Snipped details of eel capture, disposal, and cooking suggestions.]

>> Had a look around our local supermarkets this morning to see if your
>> "Matjes" had made it this far from home.
>
>If it is available, it likely to be at a specialised fish monger's and
>then maybe only in such big cities as Sydney or Melbourne. However,
>here is a menu of a restaurant somewhere in Western Australia. They
>offer matjes, so it must be available somewhere.
><http://members.ozemail.com.au/~thelily/Restaurant/Menu.htm>
>
>> But all I could find were
>> bottles of "marinated herring"; and something called "Rollmops" which,
>> I'm led to believe by a mate with most catholic tastes, are inedible!
>
>Personally, I heartily agree with your mate, as I can't stand fish
>marinated in vinegar, but a lot of people like it. Anyway, rollmops is
>a very different thing. The bulk of good matjes is sold just like fresh
>fish either whole, right out of the barrel, or filleted, not prepackaged
>usually. It has to be refrigerated. Matjes can also be sold frozen.
>Matjes packed in oil or brine is available, it is said, but it doesn't
>seem to be at all popular either in Holland or in Germany.

When you say "right out of the barrel", are you referring to salted
fish/fillets? I notice that the restaurant you mentioned above says:

"Matjes Herring fillets - salted herring with chopped onions, spelt
bread and salad"

Assuming the possibility of finding them here in a deli or similar,
what preparation is needed of those "salted herring" fillets before
dining on it?

[Incidentally, that place is flogging plonk at $6/glass, but only
around $18/bottle -- enough to make drunks of us all!]

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID